His Willing Wife

Chapter One

Luca Winters stared down at the image playing out before him on his cell phone. It wasn’t some kind of top-rate television show, nor was it any kind of porn. The video playing was of his wife.

His wife.

Those two words were still quite impossible to roll off the tongue, but they did. He’d never intended to have a wife, but when he saw an opportunity in taking over the Goodwin Empire, he’d decided to throw Tillie Goodwin into the deal. The youngest daughter, who had completely taken him by surprise. The Goodwin empire had been in trouble for nearly five years. He’d watched the gradual fall, until they had almost declared bankruptcy. Luca had his eye on the company for much longer than it had been failing. He’d waited for the right opportunity to strike. For three months, he sat in meetings with his lawyers and their lawyers, trying to negotiate terms, on how best to finally make the company his.

He’d just been about to close the deal, after working through it with her father, brother, and even her uncle, and then he’d gotten a visit just before signing day. Tillie had arrived in his office. Over the years he’d seen pictures of the young woman, but most of them had been blurry. She’d tried to stay out of the public eye, and seeing as her brother considered himself a Lothario, the media lappedup his shenanigans like it was the bread that fed them.

As for Tillie, she lived a quiet life, and for the most part he didn’t have a clue what she did behind the scenes, but she had come to him, pleading. Not for herself, like he had expected, or asking for more money. No, she had asked him to consider what he did with the company he purchased.

At first, he was shocked to finally meet the Goodwin daughter. The fact she pleaded for the workers, not for herself or her family, told him she cared for the workers.

“I have researched what you do and I know you … like to tear up companies, dismantle what you don’t want, discard what is draining money, but I want to remind you that none of this comes without consequences. There are hardworking people who have done an amazing job for Goodwin and they deserve to be treated as such. All I ask, no, all I beg, is you consider their livelihoods first.”

It had been a long time since he’d seen anyone so considerate of others. Tillie wasn’t what he expected. He’d known plenty of heiresses and hadn’t been impressed with most of them. Tillie wasn’t selfish like them.

She’d asked him nicely and then fought the case, and he’d been so completely lost in her argument he’d simply not said anything.

Once she realized there was nothing more she could do, she got to her feet, about ready to leave, and then it got interesting.

“Tell me, Miss Goodwin, just how far are you willing to go for your workers?” he asked.

“I’m not sure I follow.”

“It’s simple, really. If you want me to consider keeping your father’s empire without making too many changes, then I’m going to need something in return.”

“What do you want?”

“How about you become mine?”

“What?”

“Marry me, obey me, serve me, and I will make sure there is not a single good worker who loses their job. I’m not going to keep bad workers or lazy workers, but decent, hardworking people can stay. The others, I’ll cut them loose, but in return I get you, one hundred percent.”

This meeting had taken place three months ago. They had married two weeks ago, and on their wedding night, Tillie had served him another surprise—she’d been a virgin. Her family had been thrilled, if not a little taken aback by the sudden announcement of their upcoming marriage.

The sudden change in the relationship had come with a few … problems of their own. The first one simply being that negotiations had to change tactic. He owned the Goodwin empire, but her father and brother still remained in positions. Rather than making any decisions, they consulted him and he made the final ones. So far, it had worked, but it had only been three months, and it took awhile for some changes to be accepted. He wasn’t sure if her father or brother were happy, but he knew her uncle wasn’t.

Luca had discovered the uncle’s area in the business was draining money faster than it was making, and it had something to do with his technological approach. After much discussion and multiple presentations, it had been agreed his budget would be removed, the staff placed elsewhere, and the uncle let go. He’d so far been the only loss of staff, and from what Luca could see, the biggest cause of the whole company’s problems.

Now, his other little problem was his rather confusing wife. Well, Tillie wasn’t confusing. She was the same Tillie, only now she belonged to him, and, well, he didn’t know what to do with a wife. After finding out she was a virgin, he’d kept his distance.

He only allowed himself to look at her on the security cameras he had placed around his home.

Tillie was once again in the kitchen. It was late, a little after seven, but there she was, hair pinned back, apron on, and cooking or baking something. From the information he’d gathered from her brother and father, Tillie was a homemaker. She didn’t like the limelight or the cameras. She had a rather scary interaction with the press, and since that day, she had steered clear of them. He didn’t know exactly what it was that caused her fear, but he could imagine to a young person—which is what she’d been at the time—it could be rather frightening.

Luca didn’t understand her. He didn’t have a clue what made her tick, and how on earth did a twenty-five-year-old woman remain a damn virgin? Their wedding night had been a disaster, and he’d given her a break, allowed her to get used to the idea of being married to him.

He’d kept his distance, but his needs were starting to reignite. From the moment he had seen Tillie, he’d felt this overwhelming attraction to her that he couldn’t deny. The camera angle was all wrong, but he knew hidden behind that counter was a body he craved. Full, ripe tits with nice, large nipples, and they were more than a handful; he knew because he’d tested the weight of them himself. She did have a small waist, which flared out to wide hips, full thighs, and a curvy ass. One designed to constantly have his hand touching it. She’d pulled her long brown hair back into a messy bun to keep it out of the way. Behind the apron, he saw one of the many white V-neck shirts he knew she owned.

Tillie wore anything and everything. He’d seen her in jeans, pants, sweats, skirts, dresses, and she didn’t have a problem wearing the same things either. Again, he didn’t understand his wife.

Running a hand down his face, he had meant to be cruel when he offered her a marriage contract, but instead she’d taken the deal and now he had no choice but to follow through. There was so much that could be saved at her father’s company.

Luca watched as she dolloped mounds of what appeared to be cookie dough onto baking sheets.

What the fuck hadthis woman done to him? He’d never been so obsessed with a woman before in his life. They were a means to an end, and yet here he was, getting no work done, and instead watching a woman through the security cameras he’d set up when he married her.

****

The scent of chocolate chip cookies never failed to make Tillie feel comforted. The whole process of preparing, making, and then baking, filled her with a warmth so deep it was like being back in her grandmother’s kitchen all over again.

Unlike Andrew, her brother, who was more interested in the family business, Tillie had gravitated toward her grandmother. She hadn’t been close to her mother, who’d wanted to do the whole beauty pageant thing that Tillie never wanted to attend. It had taken her grandparents and father pulling rank over her mother to stop her from going.

She should have known it would cause some trouble with her mother, though, and since then, they’d never been close. Not even on her wedding day. Her mother had said how proud she was, andshe’d smiled and done all the cheering and looking the doting mother, but Tillie had known it was an act. All she wished was that her grandmother had been there.

Her grandmother on her father’s side had told her many times that she’d not been welcome in the Goodwin family. Coming from nothing, working in a greasy diner, she wasn’t the sophisticated woman the family had wanted for Tillie’s grandfather. According to her grandmother, he’d stumbled into said diner one night and seen her, and then the rest washistory. He wouldn’t have anyone else, and the Goodwin family had to concede, so he married the love of his life and didn’t allow for an arranged marriage.

The most romantic story Tillie had ever heard, and she had seen it. Even into their late years, the love between her grandparents had been palpable. She knew her own parents loved each other, but there were also fights, and it wasn’t the same kind of devotion her grandparents had.

Either way, Tillie missed them both. Her grandmother had passed away twoyears ago from cancer, and her grandfather died three weeks later, for no obvious reason, but Tillie had known it was because of a broken heart. He’d lost the love of his life, and his will to live, and he’d wanted to join her.

Tears filled Tillie’s eyes, and she quickly swiped at her cheeks and took some deep breaths. No tears could be spilled while baking her grandmother’s famous cookies. Being close with her grandmother, she had pretty much been raised by her. Her parents had loved the limelight, and Tillie preferred the shadows, so she learned everything at her grandmother’s knee, including her love of cooking and being a homemaker. Her grandmother had often said that even though she couldn’t help at the office or with the business, she did provide a safe haven for her husband to return to.

Her grandmother had loved keeping a nice house. Tillie also knew her father had loved growing up with his parents, and whenever it was time to go there for dinner, he was always excited.As for Tillie, she had loved being at her grandparents’ house, and when they passed, her grandparents’ house had to be sold. The business had already started to fail at that point, so there was nothing she could do to help pay the rising debt.

Now all she had were her memories, a few trinkets, photograph albums, and her grandmother’s recipe books. They were her prized possessions now, and Tillie treasured them. The only problem she had was her own marriage. She had yet to see Luca again, and she’d not seen nor spoken to him since the wedding night, which was quite absurd, as she knew he was home most of the time.

Yes, he did go out to work, but like now, she was aware of him in his office, working. It wasn’t like this was new to her—hiding from people living in the same house—she’d done it plenty of times growing up, especially when she upset her mother over the whole pageant thing.

This was different, though, because she had a horrible feeling he was avoiding her. She wasn’t avoiding him. Yes, their wedding night had sucked with a capital S, but so what. She imagined a lot of women’s first nights were terrible. She didn’t know if other women’s husbands would make the “virgin” word sound like it was dirty and offensive.

Shaking her head from her own confusing thoughts, she walked back to the oven, pulled it open, and inhaledHeaven. That was the only way to describe the onslaught of sensations exploding around her. From her sense of smell alone, these cookies were going to be amazing. She already had a glass of milk waiting for her.

Tillie pulled out one tray, and then put another straight back into the oven, and gave it a little pat. She gave it a couple of minutes, and then went about decanting each cookie onto the cooling rack. She hummed to herself as she did this, much like her grandmother.

After a couple of minutes had passed, she just couldn’t wait any longer, and armed with a single cookie and a glass of milk, she took a seat and had a taste test. One bite, and she was lost. They were sweet, but not too sweet, with just enough chocolate so it wasn’t overpowering. They were so good. She sighed, then crossed her legs and finished the whole cookie and milk before attending to the final tray.

Nighttime baking was the very best as she didn’t need to leave the scene of the crime. It was almost as good as deep-frying at the last minute. Who needed a dining room table?

“Am I interrupting anything?”

The sound of his voice caused her to freeze in place. At first, she wasn’t expecting it. He had a deep voice, guttural, and Tillie couldn’t deny the pleasure of hearing it.

With all the cookies out of the oven, she forced herself to square her shoulders and finally turned to face him.

Luca had his arms folded and leaned against the doorframe. Even though hehadn’t stepped foot into the kitchen, he somehow managed to make the space feel small with his much larger frame, purely muscle as well.

On her wedding night, she’d heard a couple of womenshe didn’t know whisper some nasty comments about herself. Something along the lines of she wasn’t “woman enough” for him. Luca was apparently a devil in the sack, and no woman had ever been able to tame the billionaire beast, or something like that.

Tillie wasn’t afraid of him, which again was strange for her. She never did well around strangers, and in a way, that was exactly what Luca was to her.

Through her family, she’d heard of him. The billionaire businessman who went around buying up businesses as if they were going out of fashion, destroying them, and only keeping what he deemed profitable.

To her, he sounded cruel, but she didn’t get that vibe from him. It was just business. Again, this confused her, as she’d never been the kind of woman who felt life was justone business decision to be made after another.

Rather than glare at him, Tillie offered him a smile.

“No, you’renot interrupting anything. In fact, you’re right on time.” She rushed to the fridge, grabbed the cold milk, poured him a glass, and then held a cookie between a napkin for him. “Come, eat.”

At first, Luca didn’t move. Theglare he held for the world was firmly in place, and he clearly didn’t trust her, not one bit.

She waited, and then, after what felt like an eternity, he finally stepped into the kitchen and approached her.

“What is this?” he asked.

“It’s a cookie. My grandmother’s favorite, and of course, her recommended beverage of choice to go with—a glass of milk.”

He took the cookie from her and Tillie forced herself to stand close to him. She didn’t want to give him the impression she was afraid. Again, she wasn’t, but closeness to people she didn’t know kind of unnerved her.

This man is my husband. Not a stranger.

It didn’t matter how often she said it, it wasn’t going to change the way she felt. Only time would help that.

Luca took a bite, and she watched the subtle changes on his face. He was happy with the cookie. There was a slight widening to his eyes, shock, and for a couple of seconds, he didn’t even bother to chew as she imagined the flavors exploding on his tongue.

Tillie smiled. “You’re welcome.”