Contracted To Love

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Blurb:

An arranged marriage, billionaire, BWWM romance novel. After her marriage tanked, Michelle made a promise to herself to steer clear of love. She has no time for it anyway: she’s currently battling for custody of her child and is way too busy working her tail off as a journalist.

Enter David Favre: a billionaire with a playboy reputation whose inheritance solely relies on him finding a wife. He offers Michelle an irresistible deal—marry him and he’ll help her get her dream job! Michelle can’t help but be skeptical. He’s handsome, sure, but he’s got a reputation for playing the field. Yet her feelings for him go from zero to a hundred real quick.

But when David starts to distance himself, Michelle is left wondering… Is she fooling herself by hoping for love in a marriage of convenience? Or could there be a genuine connection with David, hidden beneath his playboy facade? Get answers in this interracial, arranged marriage romance book by J A Fielding.

Chapter 1

The harsh New York winter felt particularly rough on Michelle Smith’s cheeks as she got into her car. She turned on the engine and rubbed her hands together to generate some heat, however little, as she waited for the vehicle’s interior to warm up. Her day had turned out a little differently than she’d planned. After all, the last thing she’d wanted to do was anchor the late night news, but the Syrian crisis was proving more serious than the Arab Spring. The latest development with the dead child on the beach had spread like wildfire. Michelle had been on several panels discussing the refugee crisis and even though the crisis had been the main headline for two weeks straight, the story just wasn’t dying down. And with good reason. As far as Michelle was concerned they had to keep talking about it if the world was going to be provoked to do something about it. Being a mother herself, she couldn’t really put to words what she felt.

She strapped herself in and reached for her phone. Working on that story, having to see that baby on the beach so many times had her feeling even more nostalgic about her past. About her daughter Andrea who was too young to understand just how bad life was. A smile played on Michelle’s lips as she looked at a picture of her daughter. She had so many photos of Andrea but no other photo made her feel this way like the one of her daughter on her fourth birthday. She was dressed as a poop emoji, which was ridiculous to most people but that was the party she wanted. A poop themed party. That was just how expressive Andrea was.

She tossed her phone over to the passenger side before she pulled out of the parking lot and began driving away from the building. She was tired… exhausted really, but in the back of her mind she kept on wondering how she was going to survive another two weeks before she saw her daughter again. With everything she’d been working on lately hitting so close to home, the terrible realities the world had to offer, she found herself missing her daughter more. After her divorce the judge had been kind enough to ask Andrea who she wanted to live with and it was no surprise when she’d chosen her father. After all, she saw very little of him.

She was the one who made most of the sacrifices. Always trying to get earlier shifts just so that she could put Andrea to bed, yet all the sacrifices she’d made had gone down the drain when the judge looked at her little curly-haired bundle of perfection and asked her who she wanted to live with. Before Andrea had even said anything Michelle just knew that she’d lost the custody battle.

It had been years and Andrea was no longer a child. Getting custody was going to be even harder now. She’d grown up without her mother for most of her life. No court would allow an absentee parent to be granted sole custody. Of that Michelle was sure and it haunted her. There was no telling if she was ever going to have a normal relationship with her daughter. Soon she would be a teenager and then she would go through puberty. The changes in her body, the changes in her life… Michelle wasn’t sure her ex-husband as ready for that.

Now she only got to see her daughter every other weekend, as per the agreement she and Jean had made. An agreement he hardly adhered to.

Once she got home, she kicked off her shoes and made a call to Jean’s place.

“Do you have any idea what time it is?” Jean asked when he picked up.

“It is a few minutes to eight, Jean. Andrea doesn’t go to bed until eight. Put my daughter on.”

“These few minutes might throw off the whole routine, Michelle.”

Michelle rolled her eyes. She knew all too well what he was trying to do. Keeping her daughter away was how he maintained the control. The prenup had ensured that he didn’t hurt her financially so he did the only other thing he could to make sure she got hurt: keep her daughter away from her. It was not the easiest dealing with her idiotic ex, but then again, it wasn’t like she had any option.

“Jean, I just want to say goodnight to my daughter,” she said in an exhausted sigh. “Is that too much to ask.”

There was a long moment of silence before Jean finally spoke again.

“Hold on—and you are just saying good night, right?”

Michelle rolled her eyes.

“Of course, yes.”

She sat down and balanced the phone on her shoulder as she reached for one of her daughter’s pictures in the living room.

“Hi Mummy,” Andrea’s voice finally came on and Michelle’s heart felt instantly warm.

“Hey, baby. How are you doing?” Michelle asked.

“I’m fine. I caught a ladybug today.”

“Really? But it’s almost winter. I didn’t think any animals would be out in the cold except for polar bears and maybe some deer.”

“Daddy says that’s why it’s special. I put it in my flower garden.”

Michelle smiled. A few months back Andrea had developed a green thumb. Honestly, Michelle didn’t know where she got it from. Neither she nor John could care for plants to save their lives. Michelle even had a cactus plant die once and it only needed watering once every six months. Andrea had since kept a small flower garden in both homes, giving Michelle a really hard time when it came to watering the plants. She actually had to set a reminder to do it. Otherwise, she would have failed her daughter again.

“That’s wonderful, baby. Listen, I know it’s almost your bedtime, so I was just calling to tell you I love you.”

“I love you too, Mummy.”

“Give the phone back to your daddy for me, will you?”

She waited to hear Jean’s voice on the phone before she spoke again.

“I’m going to need you to pack her special jammies. You forgot them last time,” she said and heard him exhale loudly.