Page 30 of Marriage Bargain With Her Brazilian Boss (Billion-Dollar Fairy Tales)

“Maybe,” he said with a laugh.

She growled and punched him and called him names and he gathered her closer. Just one arm around her shoulders, without betraying the demanding tightness of his own body.

Only then did he realize that she was shaking. That she was nervous around him, that this bridge they were crossing to a new place in their relationship wasn’t easy or simple or uncomplicated for her and that she’d still made the first move. That she’d thought this was worth exploring, worth being so honest about.

It was just his male ego that was flattered at her interest, he told himself and yet, the lie didn’t stick. It was more. The dark, empty corner of his psyche being soothed.

“I consider marriage sacred. Not a game, not a bargain, not a show we put on for others. Not an experiment we try until we get bored.”

“It’s not any of those things for me either.” He pressed his mouth to her temple, unwilling to wait another second for the taste of her skin. With his finger, he traced the arch of her neck and the pulse fluttering violently there. A soft gasp escaped her, turning him rock hard, but she still held herself stiff. “If it gets that bad, Nush, I’ll let you dump me.”

“You’re an arrogant, conceited bastard,” she said, looking up at him, “and I’m not—”

Suddenly, the sky opened in dense sheets of rain. In the breadth of a few seconds, they were both completely drenched.

Caio could no more stop looking than he could stop breathing as he gathered his jacket around her shoulders. The flimsy excuse for a top stuck to her skin, revealing the stiff points of her nipples.

Desire punched him, the pouring rain no match for the heat of his body. Caio bent and lifted Nush until she was safely tucked against his chest.

For all of thirty seconds, she was quiet, overtaken by shock, one arm clutched close to her chest. Then she was demanding to be put down, yelling that he was a caveman and that she wasn’t fragile and how dare he...

Hefting her up in his arms, Caio pressed a rough, sudden kiss to her lips. Like a fierce summer storm that didn’t last too long, her ferocity died and she clung to him, moaning, licking, kissing him back.

She tasted like cold rain and liquid desire, the tips of her fingers digging into his shoulder. He swallowed her moan of complaint as she tried to get deeper, delve closer. The depth of her desire for him, the explosiveness of her response left him shaking and his steps faltered as he wondered if he could keep her for a lifetime without letting her see all of him.

But he’d try, because the alternative of an empty future after he achieved his goal didn’t bear thinking about.

CHAPTER EIGHT

NUSHLOOKEDAROUNDthe luxury rear cabin of the private jet she’d been deposited into by a wet, thoroughly rumpled Caio.

She had no memory of the car ride except for snuggling up against the damp warmth of his body and the misery of being stuck in a bodysuit that clung to her skin like a wet rash and the constant pulse of pain radiating from her wrist.

She looked around the spacious cabin with its gleaming wood paneling and ultra-modern shower in the corner. The dark navy-colored duvet was soft against her fingers. She grimaced at the wet patch her rain-soaked clothes had immediately left on the bed and hopped away to sit on the single chair.

With her left arm tucked against her chest and the shoes wet and tight, trying to pull them off was a losing prospect. Except for a few unintended crunches for her ab muscles, she got no further. With a frustrated cry, she gave up. Instantly, thoughts rushed in like a tsunami.

A real marriage...to Caio.

A shiver ran down her spine and it had nothing to do with the dampness of her clothes. A lifelong commitment, a partnership and he would be hers...forever, in a way no one had ever been. She didn’t miss how high-handed he was being, bringing her aboard his jet, assuming she’d happily go wherever he brought her. His sudden decision that it would be a permanent partnership.

The sheer arrogance of the man took her breath away. It was also the same decisiveness that made her feel all warm and gooey inside. Because Caio moved through life with a conviction, a commitment that never wavered once he gave it. And that he was promising it to her was a breath-stealing temptation, a fantasy coming true. Beneath all her affront and outrage at his executive decision, the woman in her, the romantic fool in her wanted to grasp it with everything she had.

But the little girl in her—the one who’d survived a chaotic childhood, the one who faced abandonment at every turn—was terrified that she’d lose him if they did this, that he’d abandon her too if she let herself have this.

You’re mine, he’d declared with such raw, possessive intent that reminded her that there were facets of Caio she didn’t know. That he carefully controlled what he did share.

How would a relationship ever work if he didn’t even let her know him? If everything was based on logic and compatibility, or on the minimal facts that she was loyal and attracted to him? If he always controlled the reins of it?

Nushie, it doesn’t have to be any different from the affair you proposed, that same voice whispered again and Nush grabbed it with both hands. A quiet determination stole through her.

If he truly wanted this to be a real thing, then he’d have to give her all of him. He’d have to prove it to her. Until then, she’d treat this as a temporary madness they were giving in to. That way, at least she wasn’t leaving herself even more vulnerable to him.

“Are you kidnapping me?” she asked when Caio walked into the cabin a few minutes later. The question was nothing but token since they’d been airborne for a little while now. She also had no doubt that he’d changed his plan to accommodate her because of her broken wrist. Ugh, so much for starting off on an even footing.

“I’m taking you with me on a trip that’s been on the schedule for a while,” he said, without meeting her eyes.

What she’d thought a luxuriously expansive space just minutes ago shrunk with his broad frame in it. There was a strange tension to his frame as he moved around the cabin, grabbing things.

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