Trent’s jaw clenched briefly in a motion that was both annoyed and protective before he crossed the kitchen toward me. His palm brushed the small of my back and I leaned into him before I’d even thought about it. He didn’t hesitate to pull me closer, not looking at all embarrassed about this.
Instead, he looked straight at Alex with zero apology on his features or in his voice. “Did you not truly understand what you were signing us up for? She’s my wife. Of course, we share a bed.”
The silence that followed was delicious. Alex’s jaw flexed and Nate outright snorted, but he’d never been the type of older brother who thought that protecting me meant keeping myvirtueintact. He’d bought me a box of condoms the day I’d turned sixteen and told me never to trust men. That I had to protect myself if I wanted to stay safe.
He and I had talked about it once, agreeing that Alex and others could play the role ofcontrolling big brother. Nate had just wanted me to trust him and take his advice rather than his orders.
Meanwhile, I was stunned, but not because of Nate finding all this hilarious. Rather it was because of how easily those words had left Trent. There had been no awkward clearing of the throat orit’s not what it looks likespeeches. Just truth.
It was surprising because for so long, the stupidbro codehad been this invisible wall between us, a loyalty he’d clung to with exhausting stubbornness. But not anymore. In fact, right now, it felt like he was choosing me fully, making no half-hearted attempts to hide it, no excuses, and no pretending.
Trent even angled himself toward me slightly and I looked up at him, searching for some hint of doubt, but all I found was steadiness. Confidence. A softness he tried so hard to hide from everyone except me.
He guided me toward the fridge with a warm, easy touch at my back, like claiming me in front of two of the most important men in my life was the most natural thing he’d ever done—and maybe it was.
Because it suddenly became painfully, beautifully clear to me that when Trent Shepard committed to something, he didn’t do it halfway. And he really was committed to me. No matter how it had started or what threats we were facing, he’d been telling the truth.
He really was all in. Maybe it was simply time I figured out how to accept that without constantly feeling so damn guilty about it.
CHAPTER 44
TRENT
Ididn’t want to leave Charlotte. Walking away from her had been hell, especially while she’d still been wearing my shirt, smiling up at me like she was half asleep and a little in love, but Nate and Alex had practically herded her to breakfast like a pair of overbearing guard dogs.
Honestly, that was the only reason I’d let myself leave. She was safe with them and they all needed a minute together. If it had been up to me, I’d have taken her back to bed and kept her in my shirt while I licked her until she screamed my name, but judging by the look on Alex’s face when he’d finally comprehended that she and I weren’t just playing pretend anymore, I was assuming they needed to have a frank conversation.
What I needed while they were bickering about it was to face Douglas without her anywhere near the fallout. I’d been over this for some time now, the politics of it all, but after getting a taste of what life would be like with Charlotte once all the drama was over, I wasn’t about to wait for someone else to settle it anymore.
I understood that this was sensitive business. At its core, it was a family issue involving centuries’ worth of tradition andhow the Westwoods did things, but I’d given Alex and Douglas a chance. I’d taken a backseat as far as I’d been able to in order to respect their processes, but I was done with that now.
They weren’t doing anything except going around in circles. Mostly because Douglas had put them in a precarious position when he’d signed shit on Charlotte’s behalf that he never even should’ve had drawn up.
The Westwood house looked the same as the last time I’d been here, grand, cold, and sterile in a way that screamed old money and outdated expectations. It was the kind of place where conversations were really just political maneuvers with nicer furniture than was found in most public offices.
But it’s fine. I can play this game.
I knocked hard, letting my fist bang on the wood and then taking a step back. The butler clearly wasn’t expecting me, but he only blinked twice at whatever expression was on my face before stepping aside. I didn’t wait for him to announce my presence either, just brushing past him and walking straight down the hall to Douglas’s office, pushing the door open without knocking when I reached it.
Douglas glanced up from a stack of paperwork he was paging through when I walked in, his eyebrows drawing tight. “Trent? What are you doing here? This is an unexpected… surprise.”
“Good,” I replied. “That means I haven’t given you time to rehearse whatever excuses you planned on feeding me when I finally confronted you.”
His mouth tightened. “I don’t appreciate your tone?—”
“I don’t care,” I cut in, stepping farther inside. “We’re past the point of being polite, don’t you think? The way I see it, it’s time to just get honest.”
His gaze dropped to the ring on my hand, the one that meant his daughter was mine, and he let out a deep sigh. Leaning back in his chair, he pulled his glasses off his face, holding them inone hand while he fixed me with a look like I was the greatest inconvenience he’d ever come across.
“I assume this is about the situation with Charlotte.”
“The situation has a name,” I pointedly corrected him. “It’s Gregory and yes, it is.”
Douglas exhaled slowly, his head shaking a little like he couldn’t believe he had to explain this to me. “He feels slighted, Trent, and I must admit, I understand why. Everything was progressing well until you decided to insert yourself right into the middle of our negotiations.”
My jaw locked.Inserted myself. Right. Because Charlotte’s feelings are entirely irrelevant in this equation.
I strode to his polished desk and planted my hands on the edge of it, my gaze never leaving his. “Let’s get one thing straight. Charlotte is not the problem here and neither am I. You told her to get married and she did that. Despite how much she didn’t want or expect it at the time, she did it. For you.”
