Free The Billionaire's Convenient Bride: A BWWM Billionaire Love Story by Cj Howard Page A

in equality for all. He is humble and compassionate, strong and motivated, filled with a passion for life and a passion for me, and more than that, a passion for us and our lives and future. He will never hurt me or break my heart, he will never make me doubt or fear. He will always be there to support and encourage me, to build me up and help give me wings to fly so that I can achieve all my dreams and I will do the same for him in return. He is all of those things, and more than that. He’s mine.” She was gazing off into the heavens by that point, dreamily talking through the list she had created.
         “You know that I meant a real man, right?” Peter said, his heart encased in dejection.
         She laughed at him and said, “Oh, and he cooks me breakfast in bed sometimes and rubs my back without my having to ask him to do it.”
         Peter laughed at her more in defense of himself than in mirth, and said, “Now I know you’re dreaming.”
         Emmaline nudged him with her elbow and said, “Well, you asked, but you’re right. I don’t know if he exists, but I haven’t met him yet, so I’m just going to hold out for him until he comes knocking on my door.”
         “What if he comes while you are married to me?” he asked. He had to ask. It was a fear that gnawed at him with dull teeth and no lack of appetite.
         “Then he’ll love me enough to wait for me until my parole, when I can be with him, and he will respect me for my dedication to the commitments I have made,” she said resolutely.
         “He is a good man, Emma. He’s a better man than me. If I found you while you were married to another man, I would steal you away in a minute,” he said, thinking momentarily of what it would be like to steal her away from her another man.
         “Yeah, I know,” she said smartly. “That’s what got us into this mess in the first place. Your penchant for stealing women away from their husbands. The difference is, I want a man who would keep me.” She nudged him again and then patted his arm. “Well, I’m pretty wiped out. It was a long day.” She kissed his cheek and he closed his eyes when she did, living for that brief moment when her lips touched his skin, and her breath warmed his cheek, and then she disappeared below deck and he was left alone with his thoughts, which he told himself was a terrible thing to do to a man.
         Her words came back to him and whipped at him like the sails on a boat in the wind. “That’s what got us into this mess in the first place…” Him stealing women away from their husbands.
         That was what she really thought. She believed she was in a mess that he created, and she was stuck there, helping him until she could get out and leave him hoping to find a better man than him.
         She wasn’t wrong, he had created the mess. He had slept with another man’s wife, albeit it was unknown to him at the time he did it. It hadn’t been the first time, though, he reminded himself. He hadn’t cared if women were married or not and though it wasn’t something he sought out when he looked for women, it wasn’t a deterrent for him either.
         He thought of the man that she had described. Her ideal man. He was so far from it that there was no hope of him being graded on a curve. He wished like crazy that it didn’t matter. He wished that she could see past all of his faults and just want him anyway, just need him somehow, and perhaps even just love him in spite of himself. He let himself wish that more than anything, and he wished it on every star above him in the night sky, but then he promised himself that when the stars faded and the sun rose the next day, he was going to be the devoted, reliable, trustworthy friend that she believed him to be, and he was not going to let her down or hurt her, but rather, lift her up to follow her dreams as she had wanted. She deserved that from him, and much more, and he