The Marriage Merger Read Online Free PDF Page A

the room.
    Her fingers were strong, smooth, and trembled ever so slightly in his grip. She dominated the challenging conversation that most men wouldn’t have been able to follow, and she never lost her footing. yet when he’d made his comment about her being different from her family, she’d stiffened and pain had flared in her cocoa eyes.
    Beneath that tight, buttoned-up demeanor was a tangle of passion, emotion, and mess. The best decision lay before him. Cancel the dinner. Back away from the deal. Move on.
    A woman like Julietta had the power to wreck his concen-tration, screw with his business, and make his life miserable.
    yet something pulled him to her. Twisted his insides with a raw need to strip her surface bare and make her face who she really was. The way she responded to his demand that she say his name spoke volumes. She had natural submissive tendencies, which intrigued his dominant side.
    What would she be like in bed? Her mind was so bent on constant control, he bet she had a hard time focusing on the pleasures of her body.
    He could teach her.
    His blood pounded and heated through his veins. She wouldn’t be an easy match, though. She’d be one major pain in the ass. Did he have time for this now? His long-held dream of building his own hotel empire lay right before him. Tying her up in his business could prove risky. But damn, tying her up in any way, shape, or form was too fucking tempting.
    Sawyer realized the past few years he’d been skimming the edges with women. He played at relationships to a point he wouldn’t know a real connection if it was advertised in blinding neon. Work had been his driving force for the past decade, and it remained his sole demanding mistress. His forays into pleasure were set ahead of time with ironclad rules. But many women slipped into clinginess and emotion he couldn’t handle, forcing him to end the relationship quickly. Julietta might be able to offer him a bit more depth, with the ability to keep business separate from pleasure.
    Most women couldn’t handle the limitations.
    He bet Julietta Conte handled any challenge thrown at her.
    Sawyer tapped his finger against his lips and analyzed all the options. Such a delicate line to walk between business and pleasure. Snakes twisted in a pit beneath him, ready for even one misstep. She’d need to be handled with kid gloves at first, before he switched to the delicious sting of the whip. He needed to learn what drove her, what she hid, and how best to yank away years of barriers. Was it too risky, especially when he was about to unveil his dream and his only reason for survival all these years?
    The answer coursed through him with a bone-deep knowledge he never questioned.
    And he made the decision he’d wanted to from the moment he met her.

Chapter Three
    Julietta glanced up: 4:58 p.m.
    The papers were spread neatly in front of her on the conference table. The room was quiet, and just the hum of low chatter and ringing phones drifted in waves. She had informed the board. Spoken with the lawyers. Made a call to Michael. Pounded out numbers nonstop through the night and refused to sleep. And came up with one decision.
    She’d be crazy not to take the deal.
    It would be her opportunity to do something on a global scale for the company. Though she’d been acting Ceo, it had only been a few years ago she’d been given full control.
    Her brother had true intentions but still kept the reins on her leadership role until he married Maggie and saw the error of his ways. Finally, she had leapt forward and started making deals on her own. When Michael had begun infil-trating top hotels in the States, Julietta had burned with the desire to push the bakery chain to a new level in Italy. She’d already conquered the street market, but she wanted to go after the hotels. The big ones. The failure of her last deal with The Palazzo still stung. She’d been completely prepared, and every pore of her body had craved a final