Page 40 of The Marriage Mistake

They looked completely in love. Utterly happy.

My heart twisted.

I’d taken that from Jack; he could have found someone like Sadie. Someone friendly and bright and willing. Instead, I’d studied everything I could find about him online and crafted my application to fit what I thought he’d need. I’d manipulated my way into this position just so we could both game the system and enrich ourselves.

I was pretty sure I was a terrible person.

Then again, my father had provided me with half my DNA. How could I not be a terrible person, when that was what I was working with?

“What do I think about what?” Darby replied.

Sadie’s husband laughed. “Come on. You know what. What do you think about Ember?”

Darby studied me for a beat, her eyes narrowing. “She’s weird,” she said. “But she’s okay.” She grabbed a handful of crackers and a few cubes of cheese and escaped before anyone could comment.

Jack had followed us to the table, and he blew out a breath as he watched his daughter go. He glanced at me, grimacing.

I shrugged. “She’s not wrong.”

A snort escaped him, and warmth went through me when he gave me that brilliant, irresistible smile. It was impossible not to react to that smile, to the force of his attention.

“I hear you saved one of our biggest clients,” a new voice said from behind me. I turned to see another man with the blue Mars eyes, him with an easier smile and hair a lighter shade of brown. “Looks like Grandma’s two for two on the mail-order brides.”

“That’s offensive, Bennett,” Sadie said, and she punched him in the arm.

He yelped, rubbing the spot she’d whacked, and laughed. “No, I mean it. Ember charmed Oren Blanchard and got an invite to a social function on top of it. We’ve been trying to get in his good graces since he signed the contract.”

“It was a nice coincidence,” I admitted. “I use his software every day for work.”

“Whatever you did, keep doing it,” Bennett said, then clamped his lips shut when he glanced at Jack. The sudden change made me look at my sort-of husband, and I was startled to see a thunderous expression on his face. His jaw was tight, his eyes flashing at his brother.

“I’m just saying,” Bennett said, lifting his palms.

“Oren’s an asshole,” Jack grumbled, eyes cutting to me. “I don’t like this.”

“We don’t have to go to the party,” I said. “I hate parties.” My eyes slid left and right, and I was suddenly aware I was at a party of sorts. “I mean, no offense.”

Sadie snorted, and Gideon smiled. Bennett all-out laughed.

Jack simmered. “We have to go to the party. We’re on the verge of losing the contract, and the party gives us a way to get back in his good books.”

He was mad again. Why was he mad? Because I was stepping on his professional toes? Because I’d solved a problem he hadn’t been able to fix?

Or…

No. It couldn’t be. I frowned at him.

“What?” His expression was mulish.

I planted my hands on my hips. “Are you jealous?”

“What?” Jack scoffed. “No. Why would I be jealous? Do I need to be jealous? How do you know him, anyway?”

“Bro…” Bennett cut in softly, shaking his head as he stared at Jack.

Jack ignored him, glaring at me. And why was he glaring at me! Oren wasn’t into me. I was just…a curiosity. A face to an annoying name. An amusement who occasionally helped improve his flagship software.

Now it was my turn to get mad. “You cannot seriously be jealous right now. Not when we’ve had women coming up to us for the sole purpose of making me aware that they’ve slept with you when I haven’t.”