Page 103 of Merging Wright

“Don’t worry. Our secret is safe. I’m good at keeping them.” Lasers of hate beam from her eyes. The same eyes that once looked at me like I was the moon. She’s my sun.

My skin prickles. She can’t leave. “Jane, I have never thought of you as a dirty little secret. I’m not Ripley.”

“Nope, you’re not.” Jane huffs. “This might be worse.”

“Don’t you say that.” Chest heaving, my nostrils flare, and I inhale her summer rain scent, which muddles with my anger. I want to kiss her and be done with this argument. I want to toss her in the truck, take her to our bed, and remind her how important she is to me.

I love her.

The thought slams into me.

“As an employee of Impact, I can no longer ignore my responsibilities back in Chicago.” She swallows hard, choking back a sob. “Because that’s all I’ll ever be to you. A top-notch employee. Good old Jane. She gets the job done. But I’m finished here.”

“That isn’t true.” Doesn’t she see she’s more valuable to me than working for me? She’s beside me in Wrightwood, a place I swore I’d never return. She’s in my bed. She’s in my heart.

But I’m not about to declare myself to Jane before Myles.

“Last night you said you weren’t leaving.” My typically deep voice cracks. She was adamant she didn’t want to leave the town, staring at it from the hill-top house like a guardian angel.

“That was before I knew the truth.” Her voice is like venom and the sting hits me in the heart. Jane might actually leave, not only Wrightwood but me.

“But the fire . . .?” It’s my last-ditch effort.

“Oh man,” Myles mutters and I side-eye him, watching as he covers his face with his hand.

My hackles rise, spine stiffens. “Why are you here with him?” Is she so distraught she sought out Myles for comfort instead of confronting me? Instead of coming to me to discuss what she overheard?

“This is the part that’s between you and him.” Jane points between Myles and me. Then she pokes herself in the chest. “And does not involve me.”

“You were just hugging my brother. It involves me when my wife is holding onto my fucking twin.”

Jane shakes her head, hands balling into fists at her side again. “Your wife?” Jane huffs. “You and I have an arrangement, Mr. Wright.”

While I’ve always loved the sound of the title in her smoky tone, now it’s like a knife flaying me open.

“And we have an agreement with Myles.” Jane circles her hand, implying the three of us are connected. Myles stands to lose two million dollars if we don’t make Fischer’s deadline. But I don’t give a fuck about my brother or the money. I’m about to lose my wife.

“You promised a year.” The term of our marriage is one year. It’s only been a couple of months and I need more time with her. I need to fix this.

Jane looks at me pointedly. “And you promised a partnership. There’s no need to continue this act. You can finish the town on your own.”

“This act?” I whisper, my voice breaking. Maybe I’m the one in the wrong. Maybe while Jane has become more to me, the partnership has always been more to her.

There’s something else unsettling here, though. Something niggling at me about this shitshow. She mentioned that I’m ignorant. What am I missing? “Why am I an idiot?”

Jane stares at me, long and hard, before stepping to her right without answering me.

I block her retreat. “Jane? Enlighten me.”

Her eyes won’t meet mine. Truth warbles around me.

Is it Myles?

Or is it me?

“Tell me.” Tell me you want me inside you. Tell me I’m already in your heart as you’re in mine. I tip up her chin. Her eyes swim with liquid. The shimmering blue is sapphires under water. She’s a rare gem in this river town.

“I can’t do this.” She swallows hard and swipes at the corner of her eye. “Not with you, Mach. I’m going back to Chicago.”