Page 56 of The Marriage Mistake

But something had changed between us, and I was in unfamiliar territory.

Did I want us to go our separate ways? Did I care if Jack hated me? Why was I now thinking about the kiss we’d shared in my bedroom?

His steps were slow and measured as he made his way across the kitchen. I kept eating my oatmeal, staring at a big black knot in the middle of the pine dining table. He stopped beside me, putting one hand on the table and the other on the back of my chair. I felt his thumb against my shoulder blade, and I leaned forward slightly to break the contact.

“Ember,” he murmured.

“What?” I scraped the side of my bowl and took another bite. My eyes slid toward the door to the hallway. It was time for me to escape.

“Ember, look at me.”

I looked at him.

His eyes were the clear blue of a summer’s sky. They were utterly serious. There was no hint of that teasing light I’d come to love, no amusement or fondness or fun. His breathing was steady, and the way he leaned over me made me feel like I had nowhere to run. He smelled like strawberry smoothie and a hint of his cologne.

He’d found me out. He knew I’d lied on the application. We weren’t a good match. Jack had come into this with the belief that a powerful computer algorithm had determined we were nearly perfect for each other, and that had informed how he acted and the way he saw me. Even when I was weird or in the way, at the back of his mind, he knew we were supposedly meant to be. That fact had made me more interesting. It had made it worth his time to get to know me.

Now he was about to find out we really weren’t a match at all. When I was a burden on his and Darby’s lives—which was all the time—there wasn’t some magical computer that was going to tell him I would be worth the trouble.

Why did it feel like my heart was being crushed into a little ball? None of this was a surprise.

“Ember, did you lie on your application?”

A lump of burning emotion was stuck at the base of my throat. I blinked, caught in the snare of his gaze. “I might have embellished a few things,” I croaked.

“Did you look me up before you applied?”

My ribs were steel vises, slowly crushing my lungs and heart to a bloody pulp. “Yes,” I whispered.

“You wrote your application in order to be matched with me.”

Jack was a smart man. How had I ever believed he wouldn’t find me out? Maybe before I met him, I hadn’t cared. He’d been a means to an end. The signature at the bottom of the contract I’d pushed across the table toward him. The vessel upon which I’d ride to collect my million-dollar inheritance.

But he was so much more than that now. I knew I’d never actually had a chance to be with him, but it still felt like I’d lost something. Whatever tiny spark of potential for a happily-ever-after had been snuffed out.

And he was watching me, waiting for an explanation. I swallowed thickly, then nodded. “Out of all your brothers and cousins, you’re the one with the biggest online presence. You’re the face of your company, so I was able to find some interviews you did over the years…” I trailed off. Bit my lip.

He studied me, unblinking.

“It wasn’t ideal that you had a daughter,” I whispered. “That complicated things. But I figured it was a short amount of time, and it would be worth it for both of us. For all three of us.”

His eyes flicked between mine. The pressure bore down on me, immense.

Finally, I wasn’t able to take it anymore. I slithered out of my chair, putting it between us, and took a step toward the hallway. “I should go,” I said, and whirled.

Jack caught my wrist and tugged me toward him. I crashed against his chest as his other hand banded across my lower back. His eyes were alive, his body thrumming with energy. “You devious little liar,” he muttered, and his lips curled into a smile. “Every day I spend with you, you surprise me more and more.”

I sipped in little breaths, trying to stay conscious. Slowly, his words penetrated. “You’re not mad?”

“Babe,” he answered, voice warm. His smile spread. “How could I be mad at something that brought you here to me?”

My stomach swooped. He couldn’t mean…

The kitchen door flew open, and a woman’s voice called out, “Hello, hello!”

Jack’s arm tightened around my back as I tried to push off him, and we both turned toward the voice.

Gabi stood in the opening, her eyes wide as she took us in. “Oh!”