Page 90 of Broken Blades

I stared at her hand. Didn't take it. "I know who you are."

Her smile flickered. Just a fraction.

Wyatt's hand found the small of my back—warm, grounding, possessive.

Warning me? Protecting me?

Both?

Barbara's eyes tracked the movement. Something dark flashed across her face.

"Wyatt has a… complicated history with younger women." Her tone stayed pleasant. Reasonable. "I'd hate to see you hurt."

"Funny." I tilted my head. "He's never hurt me."

Lie.

Sort of.

The hurt wasn't physical—wasn't even intentional.

But it was there.

Barbara's expression hardened. "Give it time."

I looked at Wyatt. His jaw was locked, his shoulders rigid, his entire body radiating tension I didn't understand.

"I don't have to," I said quietly.

Barbara folded her arms. The gesture somehow made her look even more untouchable. More perfect. "You're adorable. But you're not fooling me. I know this is fake. I know this is being done to protect the merger."

Something hot flared in my chest. Not anger exactly. Something fiercer. More primal.

I exhaled slowly and stepped slightly in front of Wyatt. Just an inch. Just enough to put myself between them. Protective without realizing.

"I'm not trying to fool you." My voice came out steadier than it had any right to be. "And maybe it started out that way. But I can't fake anything with Wyatt. Not after spending time with him."

Wyatt's entire body went still behind me.

I felt it—the way his breathing stopped, the way his presence shifted from guarded to… something else.

I pressed on, the words tumbling out before I could stop them. "Everything about him is real. Even the parts people don't like."

Barbara's eyes narrowed. Sharp. Calculating. Reading me like a contract she was about to tear apart. "You barely know him."

The accusation landed exactly where she'd aimed it. And she was right.

God, she was right.

I'd known Wyatt for days. Not weeks. Not months. Days. But my voice softened anyway—surprising both of us.

"Maybe." I swallowed. "But there's nothing I have to pretend with him."

The words hung there.

True.

Terrifyingly true.