Read The Convenient Wife (A BWWM Steamy Marriage of Convenience Romance) for Free Online Page A

“fixer-upper.” My face burned just thinking about it.

 
    “You think you can make it to the
door without my help? I asked.

 
    “I’m old, not crippled, girl. Just
come inside. Come and get yourself something to drink before you head on home.”

 
    “Better be nothing stronger than a
Coca-Cola,” I warned, narrowing my eyes.

 
    I saw my father visibly jump at my
expression, the same way he used to whenever my mother would give him “the
look.”

 
    “Ain’t got no more booze left after
last night, girl. Best I’ve got is some ginger ale,” he called, undoing the
locks on his door before going inside, muttering loudly. “Damn girl looks just
like her mother…”

 
    I sighed, looking at my father’s
house, knowing that in a few weeks it wouldn’t even be his anymore. Just
another in a long line of family disasters… There was no use crying. Life
wasn’t going to take me by the hand and give me the things that I deserved—I’d
have to go get them myself.

 
    Twenty minutes later I was alone
with my ginger ale, watching my father sleep in his favorite armchair.
Something told me he’d been up all night, and seeing him like this brought back
memories both good and bad. I was about to show myself out when the quiet ping
of a text message interrupted my peaceful reflection. A few simple words lit
the screen.

 
 
 
    -Dorian-

 
    I have a proposal for you.

 
 
 
    A proposal? What in the hell did
Dorian Lambert want with me now? He’d clearly shown how little he was interested. He didn’t even try to contact me after his
father’s funeral, and it wasn’t like I could help him flub up the terms of the
will now that it was public record. Whatever his proposal was, I knew somewhere
he could shove it…

 
 
 
    I glanced back down at my cellphone,
re-reading the message again. I have a proposal for you…

 
 
 
    A proposal.

 
 
 
    Oh hell no.

 
 
 
    It couldn’t be that. I just stared
at the phone as a second message came through.

 
 
 
    -Dorian-

 
    My office, two hours. Be there.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
    Just seeing her again was enough to
send a jolt of desire burning through my mind. As she sat and listened to my
plan, that feeling never went away.

 
    “This is insane,” Gigi said, shaking
her head as she turned her gaze back up to meet my own. “This is absolutely
insane.”

 
    “Is the idea insane, or is the fact that you’re considering it insane?” I asked, a grin spreading across my face as
I began to bounce— actually bounce!— in
my seat. I felt like a schoolboy who’d found a way to never do homework again.

 
    “All
of it!” she replied,
running a hand through her dark curls. “You can’t just—I mean, this isn’t
right!”

 
    “Why not? It’s not illegal—it isn’t
illegal, right?”

 
    “Not technically,” she said, her
eyes narrowed. “But—” She
stopped and shook her head violently. “No! We can’t do this! We’ve never even… You know…”

 
    “Held hands? Kissed under the Eiffel
Tower? Played footsies in a crowded theatre?”

 
    “Be serious Dorian,” Gigi said
sternly.

 
    “I am serious. I felt more for you
in a few days than I’ve felt for anyone in years,” I replied. “Look. I’m not
saying it has to be perfect. It just has to be believable. If things don’t work
out there’s always in vitro. We can treat the whole thing as a business
arrangement.”

 
    “The whole thing? You’re talking
about a baby!” Gigi protested.

 
    “Look me in the eyes and tell me you
didn’t feel it. We had a few days together while my grandfather prepped his
will. What would have happened that night if he didn’t,” Dorian began, but I
stopped him mid-sentence.

 
    “Maybe I would have went home with you,” she replied, adding an extra
“maybe” for effect. “But not for money. Never for money. I liked you Dorian…
I’m