“No, she’s not. I know exactly who she is. She’s the most beautiful and honest woman I’ve ever met.” He put out his hand to Kelsey. She set down the drink and food and took his hand, letting him pull her to her feet. “And if you dare say a word to her again or to anyone else here about her, I’ll be sure your boss’s wife gets an email from a concerned friend.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You don’t have any proof of anything.”
Wyatt smiled and wrapped an arm around Kelsey’s waist. If someone else looked their way, it could be mistaken for a pleasant conversation. “Gwen, you’re a smart woman. So don’t push me because you won’t win.”
She pressed her lips together until they disappeared into a thin white line.
“Come on, love. I have some other people I’d like you to meet,” Wyatt said through clenched teeth.
Kelsey had the urge to say something sharp, to defend herself against the earlier comments. But despite the woman’s hateful words and motives, Kelsey couldn’t help but hear the truth in her warning: I fell in love with him, and he walked away without a scratch.
He will never be yours.
This will never be real.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Wyatt guided Kelsey away from Gwen before he could let his ire get the best of him and make a scene. But his jaw hurt from locking his teeth together and not saying what he really wanted. Before all this, he’d had nothing but respect for Gwen, but obviously she’d never shown him what a hateful bitch she could be. The horrid things she’d said to Kelsey . . . Anger pulsed through him with a raucous beat, making his head pound. How Kelsey had kept her class about it all and not stooped to Gwen’s level was a wonder. The girl must be made of iron.
Kelsey glanced up at him. “I’m so sorry I screwed up, Wyatt. I never thought to worry about the passport. When they took our bags to the main boat, I should’ve—”
“You should’ve done exactly what you did,” he said firmly. “You couldn’t have anticipated someone acting like a goddamned lunatic.”
“You think she’s going to say something to the others?”
“No, Gwen’s not stupid. She knows I wasn’t making an idle threat about exposing her relationship with her boss.” He leaned over and kissed the top of her head. “But I’m sorry you had to hear those hateful things she said. It’s my fault. I never should have left you alone, knowing she was around.”
Kelsey squeezed his hand as they began to walk again, though she looked much more somber than she had a few minutes ago, the mirth in her eyes gone. “I’m fine. Really. I’ve heard worse, and honestly, the whole thing just makes me feel sorry for her.”
That pulled him up short. He turned toward her, leaving them at the perimeter of the party. “Sorry for her? She attacked you.”
Kelsey shrugged. “She’s got a broken heart and a bruised ego. That can turn even a decent woman into a piranha. She’s gorgeous, smart, has a good job. For all intents and purposes, she’s way more suited for you than I could ever be, and she thinks she’s lost you to an air-headed floozy with a nice rack.”
“She and I aren’t suited at all,” he bit out, then smirked. “And you’re far from an airhead or a floozy.”
She put a hand to her hip and quirked an eyebrow.
“What? I can’t deny the nice rack thing. That’s simply a verifiable fact.”
She sniffed, but there was laughter in her eyes.
“And I don’t know where she gets this big broken heart sob story. I was very clear from the beginning what our relationship could and couldn’t be.”
Kelsey’s gaze drifted toward the water line and the crashing waves. “Sounds familiar.”
He frowned at the implication. “Hey, that’s not why I was saying that. This is a very different situation.”
She turned back to him, a small smile in place, but cynicism in the lines around her mouth. “No, it’s not. It’s the same exact thing. Only you offered me money for it. And it’s a shorter term of service.”
“That’s not what the mo—”
“It’s okay, Wyatt,” she said softly. “It’s what I signed up for, too.”
Before he could respond, a hand clapped him on the back. “There you are.”
Wyatt swallowed the rest of his words and turned to the newcomer, Kade Vandergriff. Wyatt had run into him a few minutes ago and had wanted to introduce Kelsey to him. But that’d been before he’d seen Gwen perch next to Kelsey with that predatory look.
Wyatt exchanged a quick handshake with Kade and nodded at Kelsey. “Kade, I’d like you to meet my girlfriend, Kelsey. She’s looking to start her own bakery. Kelsey, this is Kade Vandergriff. He owns—”