Page 53 of The Marriage Mistake

Still, we needed to be convincing. We needed to file that paperwork.

And then I remembered what I’d done for my fear of heights. For years, I’d had a strong fear that stopped me from even going out on balconies. I could fake it, work around it, and pretend it wasn’t there, but it had gotten in the way of my life, especially when the only apartment I’d been able to secure was on the seventeenth floor of my building. The only thing that had worked was inoculating myself against the fear. Exposing myself to it in slow, controlled doses.

I needed to do the same thing here. I wouldn’t fall in love with him just because my body wanted him. And I would prove it to myself.

Squaring my shoulders, I refocused on Jack. On my hands resting on his shoulders. On the weight of his attention.

I met his gaze. “I know what we need to do to make this believable.”

“Oh yeah?”

A sharp nod. “Yes. We need to practice.”

JACK

I’d never grown hard quite so quickly as I did in that moment. Between one heartbeat and the next, my cock was an aching bar against the zipper of my jeans. It was the determined way she spoke and the obstinate set of her jaw. The challenge in her eyes.

It was the thought of finally shoving that prim little pencil skirt up to her waist so I could bend her over the side of the bed and bury myself inside her. The thought of “practicing” with her until there was no question in anyone’s mind—including hers—that she belonged to me.

THIRTEEN

EMBER

Jack cleared his throat as his hands tightened ever so slightly around my waist. Cleared it again. Finally, he said, “Practice?”

“Yeah. Like this.” I stroked my hands down to his chest and back up again. One more time. I stroked his muscular pecs until the desire to wrench myself away from him faded, leaving only lightheadedness behind. My stomach felt like a big knot of pulsing heat. “See? Better already.”

He grunted. “Uh-huh.”

“You should probably kiss me as well.”

He stiffened, clearing his throat yet again. “Sorry?”

Although it was comforting that he was clearly uncomfortable, I couldn’t help feeling a little wounded by it. Had he been so awkward with all the other women that had come before? No, of course not. He’d charmed them, and they’d charmed him, and they’d done what beautiful, attractive people did when they were into each other. He probably didn’t hesitate to kiss them.

I, on the other hand, needed to suffer through this. Everything that had happened at The Pier had been a game, and now that I was asking Jack to actually kiss me, he wasn’t interested.

It was good, I told myself, because it was like the fear of heights. If he rejected me a little every time, it would make it easier for me to get used to it.

I was inoculating myself against his touch—and his rejection.

But we needed to sell this. His grandmother was smart, and Jack was right. I had to stop acting like an awkward teen at their first school dance every time Jack went to brush his hand over my back. We had to get married and make it believable if either of us was going to get what we wanted.

I swallowed, forcing myself to meet his gaze. “You should kiss me. So we can practice. Otherwise it’ll be obvious that we’re lying.”

A little wheezing breath escaped him. “Right. Right now?”

I backed away slightly. “I mean, if you don’t want to—forget I said anything⁠—”

“Right now’s good,” he said, tightening his hold on me. His voice was all crushed gravel, his eyes the deep blue of dusk turning to night. I was caught in their hold for a moment, all the breath rushing out of me as he pressed me to his chest and stopped me from running.

Maybe…maybe he did want to kiss me?

But then why would he be so hesitant? I knew he was a player. I knew he had women knocking down his door at all hours. I’d seen the way women flirted with him at restaurants and on the street and at school drop-offs.

It didn’t matter. This was for a million dollars. For my father to spend eternity cursing my name. My fresh start. My win over the awful childhood that had shaped everything about me. Whether or not Jack Mars found me attractive was immaterial.

I tilted my head up and gave him a sharp nod. “Do it.”