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Wyatt stormed into the cabana, slamming the door so hard behind him that the waterscape painting on the far wall tilted askew and almost fell off the nail. Kelsey froze at the side of the bed, her open suitcase lying in front of her.
“Un-fucking-believable! Goddamn it all. Why I fucking agreed to come to some party hosted by Satan himself—”
Kelsey shook her head, the tears she’d cried over the last half hour threatening to return. “I’m sorry, Wyatt. I’m so sorry . . .”Author: Roni Loren
His gaze snapped toward her, pinning her like a butterfly to a board. “What the hell are you apologizing for?”
“Someone figured it out, didn’t they? I didn’t say the right things. I choked.” She looked down at the bed. “I’m such a fucking disaster. I don’t even know how to appear normal.”
“Kelsey—”
“I’m so sorry that I’ve . . . embarrassed you. You should’ve just taken a normal girl here with you. I know how much your reputation��”
He was across the room in the span between blinks. She looked down at her toes, still fighting tears, but he pushed his fingers beneath her chin, forcing her face upward. “Listen to me. You didn’t do anything. Gwen told Carmichael. And a ‘normal’ girl? What the fuck does that even mean?”
“Normal. A girl who doesn’t have so many skeletons waiting to pounce, one who can go to a spa day with other women and talk about things like high school and college and her job without having to make shit up.”
“Stop it,” he said firmly. “I would never, ever be embarrassed by you.”
She closed her eyes, shaking her head. “You don’t have to—hell, I’d be embarrassed by me, Wyatt. The way some of those women looked at me today when I stumbled over my answers.”
Her stomach flipped over at the memory of it, settling down into the pedicure chair all smiles only to see that judgment in the others’ eyes when they started throwing probing questions at her. That . . . dismissal. You are no longer worthy of our regard.
“No,” he said, his tone as sharp as an ax through ice. “Do not give those women and their opinions that kind of power over you. I’m embarrassed that I even know people who would cast you aside because you come from a different background than they do. Fucking elitist bullshit.”
She shook her head, another awful realization hitting her, and tears snuck by this time. Those women had acted like they were on a mission today, like they were playing some kind of game they were sure they’d win. Kelsey had thought she’d attracted that shrewd speculation because she’d struggled with some of her answers. But if Gwen had told Carmichael, what if . . . “Oh, God.”
“What’s wrong?”
All of it started to make too much sense. “What if they know, Wyatt? I thought I’d made a mistake somehow today, so they’d figured out I didn’t come from money. But God, what if they weren’t just being suspicious and nosy but already knew it all? What if Gwen told them everything?”
Wyatt’s jaw clenched. “I’ll make sure she rues the day if she did.”
A sick dread washed through Kelsey. “They’re all going to assume you paid me to be here, that I’m a hooker.”
“Screw what they think. You and I know that’s not the case.” He looked from her, to the clothes clutched in her hands, to the open suitcase on the bed. “What are you doing?”
“What do you think? I’m packing. I already called and verified there’s another boat to the main island in an hour. We need to get out of here.”
He took the shirt she’d been holding in her hand and tossed it to the bed. “We’re not going anywhere.”
“What?” Her voice was shrill in the quiet room. “We can’t stay. Especially now. Everyone—”
“Can go fuck themselves,” he said, his eyes blazing. “Running away now makes us look ashamed, like we’ve been caught in some big scandal. We haven’t. Neither of us have lied—you like to cook, you want to go to culinary school, and you want a bakery.”
“We told them I was your girlfriend.”
He circled his arms around her waist, his expression softening. “So let’s make that the truth, too.”
She blinked up at him. “What are you talking about? We said—”
“Don’t freak out. I know we promised each other this was just for fun, that it would end when we get back home. But this week has been one of the best I can remember, and I’m not so ready to give this up yet. Are you?”
She averted her gaze, unable to handle the earnest look in his eyes. More time with Wyatt? It was about as alluring a prospect as she could imagine. But it was so risky. Anxiety curled in her belly, her heart waging a battle with her head, and her libido cheering for the wrong team. “Wyatt . . .”
“I’m not saying til death do us part or anything, love. But what does girlfriend/boyfriend have to mean beyond the fact that we’re seeing each other and no one else for a little while?” He stroked the base of her spine, sending hot chills along the column. “And all these assholes can move onto some other gossip when they see that you didn’t disappear the minute we got back to town.”
“Is that what this is about? Making the ruse look more real?” she asked.
