Page 39 of Marriage Bargain With Her Brazilian Boss (Billion-Dollar Fairy Tales)

Twin flames danced in her big eyes and he found himself floundering in them. How had he not realized that the quiet, shy teenager he’d teased had turned into a magnificent woman who could hold her own against him? How could he tell her that it was only with her that he felt even this much?

“You have to stop treating me as if I’m some imbecile teenager with a crush on you.”

“You know me more than I have ever let anyone else know me, Princesa.”

“I’m not in a competition with others in your life, Caio. Neither am I some kind of complimentary prize you’re letting yourself have. Because if that’s how you see me, then...” she swallowed and looked away, “then this is over. Now.”

Caio flinched at how close to the truth she’d got. “Threatening me, Princesa?”

“No. Setting some ground rules.” An ache he hated seeing glowed in her eyes. “I should’ve known that that’s the only way to get anywhere with you.”

“That’s unfair.”

“As unfair as hiding that you went against Thaata’s express wishes when you used your executive power to push through that acquisition? Or the way you distract me every time I get close to the truth?”

“I thought your loyalty was to me, Nush.”

If he thought the bitterness in his voice would shake her, he was wrong. “It is to you, Caio. I don’t care why you did it or even that you went against Thaata, to be honest. But you...you don’t respect me enough to let me—”

The clamor in his chest quieted as fast as it had begun. Ignoring her squeals of protest, Caio locked his hands at her back and lifted her out and when she could kneel on the edge of the tub, he kept her there. Miles of bare, wet skin greeted his hands and he stroked and petted every inch shamelessly. “You’re wrong if you think I see you as any less than the magnificent woman you are, Nush. Why the hell do you think I’ve let it come this far? Why do you think I jumped on the chance to make you mine forever?”

Her eyes widened in her face, her mouth trembled. “You’re not lying.”

“No. I choose you, Nush. Never believe anything else. And if it’s truth you want, then you’ll have it. In all its ugly glory.”

She stared at him, her mouth glistening, her eyes full of those unshed tears again. “I’m getting you all wet,” she whispered hoarsely, her breasts crushed against his chest.

“I don’t care,” he said, and then he kissed her.

It was a rough claiming. A branding, even he couldn’t deny it. An arrogant declaration that she was his to kiss, to rumple up, to tease and taunt as he pleased.

He poured every ounce of heat that had been simmering through him all day into the kiss. Fingers twisting in her hair, he laved at that lower lip until she opened up with a groan. He scored his teeth over her neck and licked a trail over the marks. When her spine arched and she pushed into his touch he took her nipple, covered by the flimsy fabric of her top, into his mouth and sucked at it. When she sobbed, he dragged the cup down and laved the aching bud with reverent strokes. When she grabbed his face with shaking hands, he plunged into the warm cavern of her mouth, as if he were a parched man finally reaching home.

And to him, after everything he’d put in motion today, Nush was coming home.

With a growl that made him impossibly hard, she bit his lower lip and that in turn gentled and calmed the ravenous beast inside him.

Drawing his fingertips down the line of her spine gently, he let her claim him in return. The twin swords of her innocence and her sensuality were like a cleansing fire that left him shaking. Her own aggression died down in a few seconds, like his had. Fingers clasped at the nape of his neck, she pressed her face to the hollow at his throat. Even then, her tongue flicked out and licked him there and he let out a guttural growl.

She hid her face again and a wave of tenderness shook him. “Why haven’t you slept with me yet then?” The question came out in a soft, cloaked whisper as though it had somehow slipped out before she could intone it better.

“I sleep with you every night, Princesa,” he said, keeping his own words free of tease. “In fact, I think it should be one of the primary tenets of our marriage. We always go to bed together, no matter what.”

Looking up, she searched his gaze as though to check if he was being facetious. “That’s a good rule. But I haven’t agreed to calling this a marriage yet.”

“Why didn’t I know how stubborn you can be?”

“Why didn’t I know how manipulative you can be?” she returned on the next breath.

Caio laughed and the sound was full of a relief that filled him. Hope sprung in his chest despite the bitter ground his mother had left behind. Could Nush see him for who he was and still want him?

“On an intellectual level, I know that it’s not because you don’t want me. But on another level, I know that you’re playing a game with me. Holding out on me. I might even call it sexual blackmail because I didn’t immediately fall into line with your plans.”

He tilted her chin up to face him. “I am surprised by your resistance, yes. But you give me diabolical motives I’m not guilty of. You know I’ve been too busy to even have dinner with you. And I wanted to give you time to get used to this.”

“So no sex until I give in to your permanent partnership deal?”

Smiling, he ran his fingers over her cast. “You’ve been using that hand too much with work and now cooking. I also...” he cleared his throat, searching for words so that he didn’t embarrass her, “know that you haven’t done this before, Nush.”

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