Page 65 of The Marriage Mistake

I stared at him. “Yeah. So what?”

“So you don’t have to believe all the shit he shoveled at you! You were a literal baby. You had no control over the outcome of your birth. Only a heartless prick would ever blame you for what happened to your mother.” His jaw bulged, and he jabbed a thumb at his chest. “Take it from someone who knows what it’s like to have a baby daughter who’s got no one to rely on but her dad. Your father was wrong to put that on you, and you don’t have to go the rest of your life blaming yourself for something that isn’t your fault.”

I reared back, gulping convulsively. I was having trouble parsing his meaning. His words were thoughtful. They made some kind of sense. But why did he sound so angry?

Angry men always poked that part of my brain that controlled fight or flight. It was the result of having grown up with one stomping around the house, looking at me like I was a good outlet for his rage.

I stood so fast the chair tipped back. “I need to go upstairs,” I mumbled, and I made my escape.

But I was not fast enough. I made it halfway across the kitchen before Jack’s arm went around my stomach, pulling me to a stop. Reaching out, I grabbed the edge of the counter beside me and dipped my chin to my chest, trying to control the trembling of my body.

“I’m sorry,” he said, his lips near my ear. “It wasn’t my place to say that. I’m sorry, Ember.”

His arm was still tight around me, his body a warm wall at my back. I sucked in a deep breath, trying to regain control of my rioting emotions. “Like I said,” I whispered, “Daddy issues.”

Jack hummed his disapproval. He did not let go of me.

And I didn’t move to make him.

It felt too good to feel his warmth, to be ensconced in his strength, his scent, his protection.

“I was worried,” Jack finally said. “You’re such a force of nature, Ember. To see you that sick really rattled me. All because of me. Because I wanted to hold you in my arms and kiss you that day. Selfish.”

My heart banged against my ribs. Slowly, I turned, lifting my gaze to frown at him. “What are you talking about?”

Jack’s gaze moved over my face. “What do you mean?”

“When did you want to kiss me?” Confusion was making my thoughts fuzzy.

Jack stared at me for a beat, and then a smile curved his lips. It wasn’t his fake charm smile. It wasn’t his teasing smile. This one was soft and warm, and it made my chest squeeze so tight I had to sip in little breaths past the constriction. “Ember,” he said, and my name sounded like honey on his tongue.

“What?” I whispered.

“I want to kiss you all the time. Every waking second of every fucking day. That day, when we were at the beach, I just—lost the fight against my own self-control.” His lips twisted. “And you got sick. Because of me.”

A trembling had taken hold of my fingers. I noticed it when I lifted my hands and placed them on his bare chest. “Um,” I said. Cleared my throat. I was having trouble making sense of his words. I reached for the things that always helped me in times of trouble: logic and reasoning. “You, um, you probably have sex pretty regularly when you’re not…faking being married to someone. So it makes sense that you would feel…desire. More desire than usual.” I gave him a sharp nod. A tremulous smile. “Your life will be back to normal soon,” I reassured him, patting his pecs. Pat pat pat.

Then my butt hit the cabinets. Jack’s hands circled my waist, his hips pinning mine to the edge of the countertop. “You think this is just because I haven’t fucked anyone in a couple of weeks?” he demanded in a low rasp. “This,” I gathered, was the erection prodding against my stomach.

My breath caught. “Isn’t it?”

His eyes were black, with only the thinnest ring of blue showing around the pupil. “You have no idea what you do to me, do you?” Jack asked, fingers tightening on my waist. “You have no idea that I dream about you. That every time I jerk myself off, I’m thinking of you. That other women haven’t even crossed my mind from the moment you sat down across from me and told me you’d pay me to marry you. You don’t realize what you are to me, do you, Ember?”

“I—” I blinked. Shook my head. Words escaped me. Heat gushed through my belly, flooding down my thighs.

Jack closed his eyes and sucked in a long breath. His hands loosened slightly, and I watched his throat bob with a hard swallow. “I know you don’t want this,” he rasped. “I—I’m sorry. I shouldn’t—I didn’t mean to say that. It’s just…this week… I’m relieved you’re okay. Seeing you that sick was difficult for me.”

He backed away an inch, his hands leaving my waist. When his eyes opened and met my gaze, I knew whatever happened next would change something between us.

If I said nothing—if I ran away—we would go through with our plan. File the certificate. Leave. Divorce.

The thought of it made my chest feel hollow. Like something inside me gave way. Collapsed.

This man had cared for me in a way no one else had. He’d nursed me back to health for days. He’d been there for me in a way I’d never experienced before. Even when he knew that I’d lied on the application, that we weren’t actually right for each other. He still cared.

Could I really go the rest of my life without experiencing this again? Could I go through with my plan knowing that right now, in this moment, I had the chance for something more?

Maybe it would never be love. I knew Jack wasn’t capable of it. I knew that whatever attraction existed here was probably surface-level, or at least temporary.