Secret Kiss

by Melanie Shawn

  Eli was on her porch, holding what looked to be a half dozen red roses. “Hey.” He smiled when their eyes finally met.

  “Hey,” she repeated automatically before asking quickly, “What are you doing here?”

  “I dropped by to see if you wanted to go get that drink?” His eyes scanned the rest of their group.

  Oh shit. Jane had completely forgotten that she’d agreed to have a drink with Eli.

  “Hey, man.” Eli nodded in Adam’s direction.

  Her nana whispered to her papa, “She has a date?”

  “I’m Eli.” Eli stepped forward and stretched his hand out to her grandpa.

  “Oh, sorry.” Jane knew she was being rude, but in all fairness, she was a little shell-shocked. “Eli, these are my grandparents, Walter and Dolores Marshall.”

  “Nice to meet you.” Her papa shook Eli’s hand, and her nana looked at her with her best what’s-going-on-here-young-lady expression.

  As her grandparents greeted Eli, a voice sounded behind them.

  “Adam.”

  All at once, the entire group looked at the woman standing at the end of Jane’s walkway. Jane was momentarily speechless. Never had she seen a woman that beautiful in real life. And she’d met celebrities like Scarlett Johansson, Megan Fox, and Jessica Alba.

  This woman looked like a Photoshopped Victoria’s Secret model come to life. She had long, sandy-blonde hair that perfectly framed her angelic face. Her large, green eyes reminded Jane of a cat’s, and her lips would put Angelina Jolie’s to shame. And that was just her face and hair—the body on her defied physics! This woman had somehow managed to corner the market on exotic beauty and the-girl-next-door.

  It was a lot to take in.

  “Alexis,” Adam spoke, snapping Jane out of the beauty shock she was in.

  It wasn’t until that moment that she noticed that Adam’s hand was no longer on her back and he’d actually taken a step away from her. When she looked over at him, his jaw was set and he appeared hard. Closed off. Not angry, but definitely not happy.

  The next thing she noticed was the energy between the supermodel-girl-next-door hybrid and Adam. It was…intense.

  This is bad. Really bad.

  “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friends?” Alexis’ voice may have sounded friendly on the surface, but Jane had been around politics long enough to know that there was definitely a challenge there.

  Adam didn’t speak right away; he just stared at her. Jane felt like she was witnessing the mother of all staring contests. And even though she was pretty sure this was the exact moment her relationship with Adam was ending, it was like a car wreck she couldn’t look away from.

  Without even sparing her a look, Adam started walking down the path. “Let’s go.”

  He’d said that to Alexis, and Jane’s heart broke into a thousand pieces.

  He didn’t even look at me.

  “Now, Adam,” Alexis purred as he got closer. “Don’t be rude.” Stepping forward, she put her hand out straight towards Jane. “Hi. I’m Alexis Dorsey. Adam’s wife.”

  Jane felt like the time in fifth grade she’d fallen off the monkey bars. All of the wind was knocked clean out of her. She thought her heart was broken seconds before, but hearing those words had annihilated it.

  The world felt like it was spinning, and all she could hear was a loud buzzing and her papa whispering, “He has a wife?”

  Chapter 24

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  “So that’s it. The whole story.” Jane sniffed as she tried to hold back the tears that had been desperately trying to make an appearance since the second she’d heard wife come out of Perfect Barbie’s mouth.

  After Alexis had dropped the bomb, Adam had corralled her across the street. Eli, thankfully, had picked up that his timing wasn’t great and quickly said goodbye and then hightailed it out of there, which Jane was grateful for. She owed him an explanation for her odd behavior, though. He’d been nothing but a gentleman to her, so he deserved at least that.

  Jane had spent the last two hours trying to explain what was going on to her grandparents. She’d told them everything—leaving out the sexy, sordid details, of course—every way she knew how, but they still had more questions than reality-TV stars had breakdowns. All Jane wanted to do was crawl into bed and hide, but she’d made this mess, so she figured she should try to Swiffer it up. The most frustrating thing was that her grandparents kept circling back to the same question.

  “But you didn’t know we were coming. And you two were doing a lot more than working when we walked in on you.”

  Her papa sat up and cleared his throat. “I’ve been trying to tell you that she knew, Dolores. She’s smart. She figured out we were coming when we couldn’t make the call.”

  Jane tried to stay calm. She didn’t blame her grandparents for being confused. She was more confused than anyone and it was her life.

  “No. I didn’t know you were coming. That just…happened.” It wasn’t much of an explanation, but it was all she had.

  Her papa moved to the edge of the couch and leaned forward. “Well, now, missy, that still doesn’t explain when we interrupted your ‘self-defense’ lesson out in loverboy’s garage. And don’t try to deny it. I was born, but it wasn’t yesterday.”

  “That just happened, too.” Jane’s cheeks heated up with embarrassment.

  Her nana crossed her arms and raised her penciled-in brow. “Seems to me there was a whole lot that ‘just happened.’ I think falling in love just happened, too.”

  “No. Nana, it’s not like that.” Jane wanted this whole thing behind her, and even though she’d come clean, they still weren’t getting it. “Adam and I are not a real couple. He was just playing along for me. He’s not in love with me.” She was careful not to say that she wasn’t in love with him, because she was. She’d filled her lying quota for life.

  “I wouldn’t be so sure, bunny.” Her papa sat back against the couch. “I know what a man looks like when he’s in love, and that boy loves you. I don’t know who this wife is and why it’s the first we’re hearing about her, but don’t you believe for a second that he’s not in love with you. He is. The rest will just work itself out. It always does.”

  Jane’s papa always believed that things “just worked themselves out.” That philosophy seemed to work well for him. Jane, however, was a different story. That philosophy didn’t sit well with her. She didn’t trust a little cherub named Cupid, fate, destiny, serendipity, or whatever else people called it.

  She trusted her actions—they spoke louder than words. But this situation was making her second-guess the core belief she’d had since she was a child. Adam’s actions might have spoken loudly, but the one word Alexis had spoken had screamed. Wife.

  How was Adam married?

  How had she not known?

  Why had he moved here alone?

  Was Alexis traveling for work?

  Was she a model?

  Did they have an open marriage?

  Questions were flooding her mind, and she felt like she was in a rowboat with a hole in it. As fast as she paddled, she was still drowning and she didn’t have a life vest.

  “But why did you tell us that you had a boyfriend?” Her nana’s brow was furrowed.

  “Because I didn’t want you two to worry about me. Since I moved to Hope Falls, you both seemed extra worried, and with Papa’s health…” Jane started tearing up.

  “Bunny, you didn’t have to lie to us.” Nana patted Jane’s hand, her face etched with concern.

  “I know.” Jane nodded. “It wasn’t something I’d planned. I just didn’t want you to worry—”

  “That’s our fault.” Her papa’s tone was serious. “We never should’ve made you feel like that. You don’t have to worry about us. It’s our job to worry about you. Your nana and I are so proud of you, bunny. And we know that you’ll be fine. We know you can take care of yourself. We just don’t want you to be lonely. All we’ve ever wanted was for you to be
happy. And not just for you to tell us you’re happy, but to actually, truly be happy.”

  Jane sniffed again as she choked up more. “Thanks, Papa. And I am happy.” Her voice cracked.

  She was happy. Maybe not being-with-Adam happy, but happy nonetheless.

  “Walter, I think we should cancel going to Lake Tahoe. I’m gonna call Sue Ann and—”

  “No, don’t,” Jane jumped in. “I don’t want you guys missing out on the fun because of me. Plus, I think I could use a little time to myself. I’m just going to take a bath, crawl in bed, and binge-watch shows on Netflix.”

  “Oh, you should watch Orange is the New Black. It’s very good,” her nana suggested.

  Jane was a fan of Orange is the New Black, and she definitely didn’t want to think about her grandparents watching it too.

  “Well, if you’re sure, then we better getting going, Dolores,” her papa stated as he stood and cracked his neck.

  Jane had to smile. As sentimental and supportive as her papa was, he hated to be late for anything. Especially anything that involved slot machines.

  “Are you sure, bunny?” her nana asked again, clearly not convinced.

  “Yes.” Jane stood. “I’m sure. Go. Have fun.”

  Her nana’s face lit up as she clapped. “Hey, I have an idea. Why don’t you come with us? Take your mind off everything!”

  “No,” Jane answered a little too quickly, so she tried to cover. “I am exhausted. I don’t know how you two do it. You have so much energy.”

  “Carrot juice,” her nana explained as she gathered her purse and shawl. “Four cups a day.”

  Jane had sent her grandparents a juicer for Christmas a few years back, and she was happy they were putting it to good use.

  “I’ll make you a glass when we get back tomorrow,” her nana stated as she placed her hands on Jane’s cheeks, holding her head in place. “You listen to me, bunny. Your papa is right. Things will work themselves out. I promise.”

  “Okay.” Jane nodded and attempted to put on her most convincing happy face.

  As they were heading out the door, her papa turned and motioned towards Adam’s house, which was clearly visible through Jane’s picture window. “You know, it wouldn’t hurt to help things along and go over and have a chat with that young man.”

  “I think he’s probably a little busy with…Alexis.” Jane couldn’t bring herself to say the word wife.

  “Oh, no, bunny! She left hours ago.” Nana waved her hand.

  “What?” Jane figured her nana must be wrong. They’d only been home for two hours.

  “Yeah. When you went into the little girl’s room to freshen up, she screeched out of there like she was Dale Earnhardt, Jr.,” her nana explained, a knowing twinkle in her eye.

  Wait. Jane had gone into the bathroom as soon as Eli had left to take a minute to collect herself—and also because there had been a pretty good possibility that she was going to throw up.

  “You’ll never know the whole story until you hear it from the horse’s mouth. Sometimes, things aren’t how they look. I think you and Adam made that pretty clear these past few days.” Her papa winked before they headed out, arguing over whether they would be able to nap on the party bus.

  Once the door had closed, Jane sat on the couch as she weighed her options. Should she go over there and ask Adam what was going on? But what could he say? He hadn’t denied that she was his wife when she’d introduced herself as such.

  Technically, he didn’t owe her an explanation. They’d been intimate, yes. But they weren’t together.

  Oh, good lord. Jane was the other woman. How had that happened?

  She should stay home. There was no reason to involve herself in what was so obviously a complicated relationship. If Adam wanted to talk to her, he knew where she lived.

  *

  “Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow. Thanks, D.” Adam ended the call and zipped his duffel bag.

  He’d spent the last couple of hours on the phone with his lawyer, and it looked like the only way to resolve things was to attend mediation. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t put it past Alexis to come back there or even move there. And if he left, he knew that she would just follow until he sat down and talked to her.

  Which he might’ve done today if she hadn’t shown up out of the fucking blue. Turns out she’d been in town since yesterday. Yesterday. That was why she’d called so much, because she’d been waiting at his house for him to get home.

  When she’d tracked his phone and found out he was in San Francisco, she’d been on her way there when someone in town—Alexis couldn’t remember their name—had said that Mike, Nikki, Jane, and Adam were due back the next day. So she’d decided to wait. She’d let herself into his house and done a pretty thorough job of going through all of his belongings. Unfortunately, she had just found Jane’s robe in the garage when they’d all returned home.

  So, needless to say, she hadn’t been in a very talkative mood. She’d yelled, which had actually surprised Adam. He’d never heard Alexis raise her voice. Tears were much more her speed, not anger. She was more of a get-even-not-mad kind of girl. Seeing her that emotional had shocked him and made him defensive. She’d had a hell of a lot of nerve being upset because he was seeing someone.

  Hello, pot. Meet kettle.

  Not that he was even seeing someone. Especially not now.

  Fuck. Adam was furious at himself for not controlling his hormones and talking to Jane last night. If he had, this wouldn’t be such a mess. She would’ve known all about Alexis.

  Of course, there was the possibility that she didn’t even care whether he was married or not. He hadn’t been the only one with a surprise visitor. Eli had been there to take Jane out on a date. Which wasn’t okay with Adam. Maybe it should have been. Maybe he was being a hypocrite just like he’d accused Alexis of being. Maybe it was none of his business what Jane did and with whom.

  But even while he’d been trying to work out flights and figure out mediation on the phone with D, all he’d been able to think about was when they’d set the date up. Had it been the night of the fundraiser? Had she agreed to go for drinks with him when Adam was being an ass?

  Shit. He needed to talk to her. Tell her what was going on, that he would be gone for a few days but that he’d be back.

  Stalking through his house, he threw his bag by the front door and grabbed his keys. Adam had been in some sketchy situations in his years with the CIA. As a field agent, sometimes, he’d had a lot of intel, and sometimes, he’d had next to none. But the one thing he’d always had was an objective.

  Adam had no idea if Jane was mad at him. Hurt. Or if she cared at all. Hell, she could have been on a date with Eli for all he knew. He was going in blind. But his objective was clear. He needed to explain everything to her, and hopefully, she wouldn’t mind answering some burning questions he had, like what the hell was going on with Eli.

  He opened the door and saw that he wouldn’t have to go as far he’d thought for his mission.

  “Jane?” He’d said her name in question form only because she was walking away.

  After turning around slowly, she sheepishly raised her hand, not making eye contact with him. “Hi.”

  “I was just coming to see you.” Adam wanted so badly to pull her into his arms, but he knew he couldn’t do that.

  When Jane’s eyes finally met his, his entire body relaxed. For the first time since Alexis had shown up, he let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. Jane had that calming effect on him. When she was around, he felt centered. Safe. Home.

  That woman owned him, mind, body, and soul, and she had no idea. Time to change that.

  She wasn’t speaking and she was biting on the inside of her lip, which she did when she was anxious.

  “Do you want to come in?” he said softly, not wanting to do anything to spook her.

  “Okay.” Her voice sounded anything but sure as she stepped through the doorway and stopped when she saw his duffel
bag. Her eyes flew to his. “Are you leaving?”

  “I have to go back and take care of a few things. I’ll only be gone a few days. A week tops.” Adam knew how that must sound. His “wife” showed up and now he was leaving town. Jane had no reason to trust him, but he prayed that she would. “I’m coming back. I promise.”

  For a few moments, she remained stock-still, not going forward and not retreating. Adam’s gut twisted in so many knots that he wasn’t sure it would ever be the same again.

  After what felt like an eternity, Jane walked past him into the house. As she did, she brushed a stray hair from her face and that flowery, vanilla scent that was uniquely Jane wafted into the air.

  Every muscle taut with anxiety relaxed as soon as she stepped inside. Taking a deep breath, Adam sighed. “I missed you.”

  “We just spent two days together.” Jane grinned, but then she must’ve thought about what they’d done during those two days, because her cheeks pinked and she nervously licked her lips.

  Damn, he wanted to kiss her so bad. It was killing him to keep his distance, but if he had any shot at making her understand, he had to.

  Shutting the door, he motioned for her to sit on the sofa against the far wall, and he sat on the coffee table in front of her. The energy between them was so different than it had ever been. It was still filled with sexual undertones, but now, it felt like there was so much distance between them.

  Adam wasn’t really sure where to start. “So you’re probably wondering who Alexis is.” He figured he might as well start there.

  “She made it pretty clear she’s your wife,” Jane shot back.

  “She is. Or she was. I started divorce proceedings months ago, and she’s refusing to sign the papers.”

  “Why?” She looked upset, but she also looked like she was listening, which was all he could have asked for.

  “She wants to talk to me.” It sounded so stupid when Adam said it out loud. That that was what was holding his divorce up.