A Negotiated Mating: Novella

by D.M. Mortier

I never anticipated this life. I mean, who would? I am married to one man but pregnant by another, pregnant by another married man. And at the blessing of both our spouses. Seriously, what kind of life is this? Who does this? Who would want to bring a child into the world with this kind of dysfunction?

Was I wrong to want him? Was I wrong in being happy that there was nothing artificial in our agreed upon insemination? We came together to give our spouses the child that they wanted, but in the process, we might have enjoyed the breeding a bit too much. Should I be concerned that this man seemed to have coveted his best friend’s wife long before his wife and my husband asked us to do this? Should I be at all concerned that he was a little possessive of me? The real fly in the ointment is that not only was I not concerned but I loved every second of his possession and didn’t want it to end. Too bad we both had spouses that were dependent on us.

Genres: Interracial Romance

98 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 20, 2021

About the author

The first romance novel I ever read was Cinderella! I devoured Disney’s version of romance until I was eleven, and then I discovered Mills & Boons. In those days kissing was the most explicit intimacy disclosed: the hero and heroine went to bed and came out the next day with smiles! I had no idea what happened, but I was intrigued. My mom had shelves and shelves of them. Over the long summer breaks, I barely left my bedroom! My busy parent had no idea what I was up to. I’ve always been fascinated with love stories. I started writing in college, but I never expected anyone would ever read my whimsical musings. LOL! Now years later, after husband and kids, and a solid career in finance I’ve started publishing those early ideas.

I write my stories so that every woman would be inspired to find the other half of themselves. With every story I tell, my Caribbean sisters are highlighted. Our culture is a melting pot of all ethnicities, where love has no color. We love who we love and make no apology for it. These stories are also infused with my love for sports and action thrillers. I’m an avid sports fan. Tennis, football, track and basketball are my favorites. I devour dramas and action movies. So it’s to be expected that my books have a healthy dose of adventure.

Writing romance novels has been a dream I never knew I had. It was born out of suddenly having a little extra time with the kids out of the house. I absolutely love this creative outlet.

Author’s Creed
I like women strong, and my men stronger!
I like my sex raunchy but meaningful!

Reviews

[Cherryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, this was hawt!

This was the most erotic story I've read. Boy, what you do in the dark always comes to the light. The truth always sets you free. With the confessions of Morgan and Armand, Simone and Marcus were given the ultimate gift of love by their spouses. Simone was already a loving and forgiving person, but Marcus had to learn that forgiveness was not for the person who offended and hurt you but forgiveness was for ones' self. They were now free to love each other and have their HEA.

This was a short easy read that I read in no time flat. I couldn't stop once I read it. It is well deserved on Facebook's BWSL's Top 2021 Book picks.

[Ty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Crazy 🤪

Ok idk what to say I feel sorry for Simone and Marcus bc of the things rhat happen to them behind their backs. I feel as thro Armand and Morgan should have just left them. The things they did omg but karma 2ill come full circle and it did ten times over...smh

[lakiesha brissett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Twisted love story

To say this book is a twisted love story is odd for me because when I first read the description of it I was like oh my gosh no I would never read this but then I was like you know what it also sounds interesting so let me read it and it is good entertaining it gives you the romance and lots and lots of drama. In the end it did become a beautiful love story I would definitely suggest reading it.

[Brittany A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story was a hot mess!! 😂

This story was a hot mess!! 😂 I read the description, but I still wasn’t prepared! 😫Marcus and Simone and are spending the holidays in a cabin with their sick spouses when they are given a contract. This story could have been on Jerry Springer, but instead the author came up with the idea to turn it into a romance. Totally unexpected, but wasn’t what I thought at all! Very entertaining and happy with the ending!

[A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Meant To Be Enjoyed In A Quiet Place…

I did it know that this book was coming out until the day before it did and was wonderfully surprised. Ms. Mortier is one hell of a writer. Although this one was a bit shorter than her usual, nothing was missing.

The synopsis of the book seemed complexed and hard to imagine one couple coming to terms with an unusual agreement with another couple, but as the story is revealed, the decisions that were made in the end make sense except for one of the characters in the story who I did not feel that they were sorry and would do it again if given the chance.

I added this book under my Unlimited Kindle account, then decided to purchase a copy after. It was really that good.

[ericia williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unconventional love

I eagerly awaited this story after reading chapter one on the website. It's different from the other stories I have read from the author but still a sweet love story albeit unconventional. I only have 2 sticking points.. 1 if Armand was paralyzed from the neck down, how did he wave his hand? 2. It was just too short. With so much to unpack, I needed just a little more drama. Overall a good short read.

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a tangled web of lies!

What an incredible story of two married couples; Couple A: Armand and Simone and Couple B: Marcus and Morgan.
The life of deceit and web of lies that Armand and Morgan participated in was enough to destroy lesser people once the truth was revealed but Simone choose to forgive and convinced Marcus to join her in forgiving their respective spouses.

A must read story of forbidden love, betrayal of love and trust, forgiveness and new beginnings. Incredible !!!

[Kay Dee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Visceral

Whoa, what a ride! Ms. Mortier, as always, delivers a swoony, angsty clutch my pearls, fan my face epic tale. I adore this genre (BWWM IR), and this is one for the books! No spoiler alerts here-just read to see the tea tip and splash all over the table!

[Deb Cochran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good, short book!

First off, Ms. Mortier is one of my favorite authors whose books I take much pleasure in reading! This book was no different, except for the fact that it was way shorter than her other books. This said, I still found extreme enjoyment in Marcus and Simone's love story! It was definitely original! Even though their friends had their faults, there was still love on everyone's part. Very good book, so please pick up your copy, you won't be disappointed!

[Cammyjoe · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Arrangement

Things are almost never what they seem…
This book is only 98 pages and can be read in one seating, but my goodness it is soooo good. The good part is you don’t have to wait too long to get the “tea”.
Well Marcus and Simone tell you why and how their respective spouses Morgan and Armand came up with “The Mating Arrangement “
I love it !!

[Cleo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, just wow!

Uncertain whether I would like this book, I started reading. And didn’t put it down till I finished it! What a tidy life they’ve lived! Marcus and Simone needed each other in so many ways. They were blind to everything going on stopping them! Ms. Mortier definitely surprised me with their story! Great read! Well done, Ms. Mortier!

[NRE · Rating 5 out of 5]

The truth will set you free

Wow! This book had more surprises and wow moments! The love of best friends and their secrets. Your best friends wife being your soulmate! Wow, lies and secrets don't stay hidden long! A definite page turner!

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW!!! OMG!!!

Great f&$@ing short story!! So beautiful, bittersweet, and sad. This is a must read. I don’t have much more to say since it’s 3:09am and I started reading at 10:30pm. LOL!! So worth the insomnia.

[Misan Bezi-Richardson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful and haunting love story

Where to begin, this story was full of intrigue, anger, sadness and love. This story brought out a lot of emotions. One could identify with the characters in some way. Great job by the author for an excellent book.

[Yvonne · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW!!! LOVED, LOVED IT ❤❤❤

I loved Marcus and Simone's story and what a story it was I could not put it down. I love Ms. Mortier's stories they really are passionate and provocative with lots of heat🔥. I would absolutely definitely recommend reading this book I don't think you will regret it. Great job as usual Ms. Mortier please keep these great stories coming. Thank you.👍🙏❤

[morganblake · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick enjoyable read.

[Alexandria Woods · Rating 4 out of 5]

*****Spoilers*****

Ooooh shoot! The amount of WTF in this short story makes for a page snatcher, racing to the next page to learn what's next. The combination of drama and passion really elevated this story for me, I'm normally dissatisfied with short works because they're over so quickly that I don't feel like I got enough. While I still feel a bit of that, the extras provide a level of entertainment value that I couldn't deduct from the rating this time. 

Marcus and his wife Morgan are friends with Armand and his wife Simone. The book opens two years after Armand and Simone's wedding with the four staying together in a cabin. Both Armand and Morgan are dying of cancer we're told and neither has much time left to live. Armand and Morgan propose that Marcus and Simone enter into a contract to have a baby together. Simone is horrified despite the fact that she's been crushing on Marcus for years while Marcus wants it and Simone. Badly. Ever since he met Simone, he's wanted her, but has used his wife to fulfill his lusty urges for Simone for years.

Marcus and Armand are both football players and grew up as friends but Armand is secretly in love with Marcus and has been for a long time even while married to Simone. Armand is also 100% gay and had been getting it in all over town while he and Simone were long distance dating for the four years prior to their marriage. However, the day after his wedding to Simone, a wedding they never consummated, Armand takes a hit meant for Marcus while they're on the football field and Armand is paralyzed from the neck down. Meanwhile, Marcus and Morgan have been together since they were 13 and 14 years old, respectively and are the perfect couple outwardly. Except Morgan has been out getting sexed, engaging in crazy ridiculous risky sexual behavior to tune of STDs. And she doesn't have cancer, she has AIDS that she left untreated while trying to hide her indiscretions and not wanting Marcus to know since she's on his insurance. That Armand had known but blackmailed Morgan into doing right by Marcus years ago by filming himself sexing another man while that other man was seeing her is hurtful. But it wasn't enough to deter Morgan forever and she got back into the risky sexual behaviors when she got AIDS. Marcus is thankfully clean, he always insisted on using a condom with Morgan and prior to when the book opens, hadn't had sex with Morgan in over a year and a half because sex had become too painful for Morgan with her "cancer" diagnosis. 

All of the drama eventually gets aired but in the meantime, Marcus convinces Simone to give the two of them and this situation a chance and they're off to christening all kinds of surfaces in the cabin while their spouses spend time together talking through the secrets and lies they've both been holding onto. Simone is like mother Theresa once all of the secrets are exposed and convinces Marcus to forgive his friend and wife while they're still alive since neither has more than a few weeks left to live.

While I was definitely entertained, this book does have issues. The things that an editor would catch and correct is one and so is how it makes no sense that rumors didn't reach Marcus's ears about his wife nor Simone's about Armand's sexuality, particularly since the men were professional football players. Fame means spotlight and spotlight means people in your business and airing dirty laundry. The author could've at least addressed that gaping hole. Another thing was the reason Morgan didn't get medical attention. Like your husband has a lot of money, go take that money to a discreet care facility and get yourself together. Anyway, won't point out all the flaws but again, the tea was everything.

[Brit Andrews · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was weird and I say this as someone who has read weird books but this? No words for this weirdness right here. The problem though aside from this insane proposal which kind of makes sense considering the situation. Kinda might be a stretch but I can get why the idea came up I guess. What made me not like this book though was all the lying going on. If Armand had been honest with Simone and they agreed to stay together anyway it would have been fine. But he tricked her and selfishly kept in trapped in a relationship/marriage where she never could have been happy. Cause right it’s fine for him to do what he wants but she is a virgin after being with this man all these years? And the whole thing with Markus is just weird like how do you spend YEARS trying to interfere in someone else’s relationship rather selfishly while you are married to someone else? Sure you didn’t cheat but the behavior is disgusting. Don’t see anything really to like about Markus but everybody wants him right? And I don’t even know what’s wrong with Morgan. All of these people are insane.

Despite the so much wrong in here the story isn’t bad and neither is the writing it’s just the people. Considering this is about four people and I can’t stand any of them it’s kind of a problem. I get that it’s a short story and I get why Morgan and Armand set this whole thing up. However I cannot take the lies and deception it’s way too much. And also cancer isn’t contagious you can’t pass it on to your child. So much nonsense so little time.

[Hawkeye K · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had read other's review of this story and I decided to read it for myself. As other readers have said, there is a lot going on in this story for a short story. Amazingly every aspect in the lives of these characters is fully explained. I felt that not one of them had a right to judge the other. Simone's lusting after her boyfriend/husband best friend was just as bad as Marcus lusting after her on his fiance/wife. He may not have physically cheated but his sexual actions with his wife was telling. Yes Morgan gets the I cheated on you with another off and on for years was pretty bad and her punishment was a painful disease death. Armand kept secrets that turned out to not be secrets, well some of them. HIs love for Marcus caused him to set in motion things that were selfish, but also loving. Even being blessed to take a natural approach to reproduction I still felt the jump in the bed was a bit quick which made me feel they were all equally guilty of their life choices. Yes there is a HEA but it felt too easy, too quick, too accepted for all that happened in the lives of these people and the reaping what you sow theme should have devastated all of them for their thoughts, desires as well as their actions. Yet saying that the writer pulled it together in less time than a major motion picture giving the reader something, actually a lot to think about.

[The Book Junkie Reads . . . · Rating 4 out of 5]

more than it appeared

I fell in love with Marcus and Simone. I was disgusted with a Morgan. I was in awe of Armand and a bit pissed with him. The blurb does not give the full picture of what lies beneath. I was expecting cheating and the such. In a way I did get that just not the way I thought. I love reading books from D.M.Mortier. They are rich and full. There was no real action to speak of for this one but it still carried itself.

The strength of character in this characters was strong and something to look for. When I say the characters some could be left off that list. Things were complex. Simone got hit from all sides with the proposal made to her. She had to wrap her head around what was being presented to her.

I would read this again.

[April Sunshine · Rating 3 out of 5]

TF did I just read? I mean, come on. Ok, let's put Marcus and Simone's story on pause and jump right into Morgan and Armand and their scandalous a$$es. Armand just could not live his truth and that's sad. Him willing to live a lie for the rest of his life with Simone?Pathetic and selfish. Now Miss Morgan. She needed therapy. Something was wrong with that woman. And Marcus knew about Armand but NOT Morgan being trifling?!!! Come on!!! I couldn't even get into the "love" story because this mess had me so tore up. 3 stars because it kept me like 🫨

[Victoria Ziglor-smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous Read

Reading this over 10/10/24 and it’s just as good as the first time, I just forgot to leave a review. Truthfully I don’t know why I didn’t leave one, because this is a great story I usually read a great story over and over. It’s a book I have that I bought in 2001 I have read it over 7 times it was that good, after reading it 3 times I turned around and bought a ebook of it. That’s what you do when you read a great story you’ll read it again just like I did with this one.

[Slinky]

Very interesting!

This is such an interesting concept that floors you when you first read it. And then D.M. takes you on a damn rollercoaster 😩. In the end I was definitely rooting for the MMC and the FMC the deserved the happiness they got. Worth the read, in less than 200 pages you are given a complete story that never really feels rushed. One last Christmas changed their lives forever.

[Janice Campbell · Rating 3 out of 5]

OMH

Morgan and Armando was two conniving $itches. Marcus was faithful, boring and straight and they used that fact against him To get some hard-core sex action and some voyerism which is the only way that Armand could get next to him sexually. They usr the fact that Marcus and Simone had strong feelings for each other but was loyal and faithful to their spouses which left their each of these relationship lacking .

[Carol B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Crazy Ride

That was one wild ride with deadly and shocking secrets. How three people were affected by the stretching if their triangle was amazing. The misinterpretation of motives and the secret desires added an insane nuance that did not allow you to stop reading before you know the whole truth and get past your shock and awe. Masterful imagination and writing, super hit as well.

[Louis Edwards · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well!!!!!

This was really weird! I have not yet read a book by DM Mortier that wasn’t an awesome read. I have to say that as weird as this story line was, she made it not only realistically believable but she also made it understandable. I can not with infidelity! So, I’ve not wanted to disappoint my reading streak of this author with finding this book lacking. This was a short read, but I’m glad I read it!!

[Veronica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book

I really enjoyed this story and the characters were very entertaining. Armand ans Morgan were really a trip. Marcus was blinded by love and consumed by lust. But the chemistry between Simone and Marcus was smoking hot 🔥! The journey that Ms Mortier takes you on is awesome. I highly recommend this book to my fellow romance readers you will not be disappointed.

[Alisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a little speechless

The story was well written with a different perspective on relationships then I expected. This short tale got right to the point and was like wtf! Before I was even halfway through it. A little thought provoking and a lot of karma.

[Trina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short and sweet

This was short book but very good and interesting. Held my attention, didn’t know what to expect when I started reading this and it has quite a few twists and turns.

[Renae · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great Read

My only dislike, the book ended to soon. I did like the twist with Marcus and Morgan. I did not swe that coming.