Wilde at Heart (10 page)

“It’s okay.” She lifted a shoulder in a shrug meant to be dismissive, but he saw through it. He’d hurt her deeply with his careless remark, and he had no idea how to make it up to her.

“No.” He reached out, covered her hands with his. “It’s not okay. I was an ass.”

“Yeah, but you’re also not that far off from the truth. I mean, you’re paying me to be married to you.” She released a humorless laugh. “New low for me. It feels…sleazy. I really don’t want it. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but I don’t want your money, so let’s get the annulment when we get home, and I’ll figure something else out.”

His heart sank. Surprising, since he’d been conflicted about this plan from the get-go. “No.”

Her eyes popped wide. “What?”

“We’ve taken it this far already. Might as well see it through. I need your help with this blackmail problem.”

She huffed out a breath and leaned back in her seat. “I can’t—”

“Please.” He squeezed her hand. “And if you’re not comfortable accepting money from me, then at least take the protection of my name for the next sixty days. I don’t know much about The Headhunters, except that they’ve been around for decades, and I doubt they’ve outlasted their competition by being stupid.” Even though the motorcycle club was a criminal organization, they were also a business. And if Reece knew anything for sure, it was business. “They’re not going to attack a well-known businessman’s wife. Too much risk with not enough payout.”

Shelby said nothing in response until the plane pushed away from the gate and the flight attendants started their safety spiel. She glanced away from him, but not before he saw a glimmer in her eyes, something dangerously close to fear. “I don’t want my past hurting you. I’ve…done a lot of things I’m not proud of.”

“Shelby.” He waited until she lifted her gaze to his. Then he gave her the truth, point-blank. “Wilde Security is not going to survive if I don’t get this contract. We’re operating in the red, and it’s dragging DMW Systems down with it. And I can guarantee my deal with Irving James will not happen if that video or those photos leak. I need your help with this.”

She plucked at the cord of her headphones. “Okay,” she said. “I’ll help, but I’m warning you, it’s going to get messy and chaotic, and I know how much you hate that.” Without another word, she put on her headphones, closed her eyes, and leaned her head back against the seat, blocking him out.

He sat back and turned his gaze to the window, watched the ground drop out from under them as the plane took flight.

She was right. He did hate mess. He hated chaos. And his life had been nothing but since she flounced into it.

Jesus. He hoped he was making the right call here.

Chapter Ten

W
ASHINGTON,
D
.
C
.

R
eece’s apartment was…sterile. It was the only word Shelby could think of when she stepped through the door. He’d done nothing to the plain white walls. His furniture was black leather, and the end tables were all glass and metal and sharp angles. A huge island with a breakfast bar separated the kitchen and living room, and the space off the kitchen meant for a formal dining room was empty. The floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room offered breathtaking views of the city, which was about the only thing this apartment had going for it.

She looked as Reece. “It’s cold in here.”

“I’ll turn up the heat.”

“No, not temperature-wise. Just…unloved. It’s not a comfortable space.”

His brow wrinkled and he opened his mouth, no doubt to ask what the fuck she was talking about. She waved a hand, cutting him off before he made a sound. “Never mind. Where am I staying?”

He motioned to the hallway off the living room. “First door on the right. This apartment has top-of-the-line security, so you’re perfectly safe here.”

Maybe physically safe, but emotionally? Oh, she was in so much danger.

Adjusting her grip on Poe’s cage, she followed the instructions and found the bedroom was just as industrial as the rest of the apartment. The bed had no headboard, and there was no other furniture in the room—not even a dresser. But there was a massive walk-in closet and a small en suite with a shower. Good. At least she wouldn’t have to share a bathroom with Reece. That would be way too…intimate.

But if she was going to live here for the next two months, she had to make some changes.

She set down Poe’s cage and took the cover off. His gray feathers were fluffed up; the drive had made him anxious. She reached through the bars and rubbed his head to calm him. Best to give him time to adjust to his new surroundings before letting him out to explore, she decided. Traveling always ruffled his feathers.

As she straightened away from the cage, she spotted a bushy orange tail under the bed and squatted down. Reece’s cat reminded her of Garfield, fat and orange with big green eyes that blinked at her when she held out a hand to him.

“What’s his name?” she asked. Reece had followed her and now loitered just outside the door.

“The Cat.”

She gazed up at him in disbelief. “You didn’t give him a name?”

He shrugged. “It’s the one he came with. Sam the Cat.”

“So he’s Sam?”

“The Cat suits him better.”

She shook her head and peeked under the bed again. “Hi, Sam. You’re going to be a good kitty and not try to eat my bird, right?”

Sam inched out from under the bed until Poe let out a squawk from his cage. The cat’s tail poofed up and he hissed, then scampered between Reece’s legs and disappeared up the hallway.

“Sam the Scaredy-Cat is more like it.” She stood. “Is he always so jumpy?”

“I don’t know.”

“How can you not know? He’s your cat.”

“He’s only mine by default,” Reece said and walked away as if they weren’t in the middle of a conversation.

Shelby stared at the empty doorway for a second, then chased him down the hall to the master bedroom. He’d done a bit more decorating—if it could be called that—in this space, adding a large dresser and some nightstands on either side of the king-size bed. But it was still all very austere. “Hold up. You can’t have a pet by default.”

“Yes, you can.” He disappeared into a closet the size of her bedroom at the house she shared with Eva. And now Cam. Which reminded her she still had to find a new place to live because once this thing with Reece was over, she didn’t want to be the proverbial third wheel, stuck in a house with the newlyweds.

She shook her head to dislodge the depressing thought and walked over to the closet. Suits lined the bars in tidy rows, all pressed and neat. So different from her closet, which spewed a rainbow onto her bedroom floor. What would Reece do if she pulled one of his ties off those anal-retentive hangers and tossed it on the floor? Her fingers tingled with the urge, and she crossed her arms over her chest to keep herself from doing it.

Reece was shirtless and halfway through pulling off the slacks he’d traveled in. “Jesus, Shelby. A little privacy?”

She leaned a shoulder against the jamb and admired the view. He looked damn fine in a suit, but it was a shame he had to cover up all that lean muscle. “It’s nothing I haven’t already seen. I’m not understanding this whole pet-by-default thing.”

He heaved out a sigh and finished pulling off his pants. She’d always been a boxers kind of girl, but the formfitting briefs he was wearing made her belly jitter.

“Jude fell in love with the cat and brought him home from Key West,” Reece said and chose a fresh dress shirt. “Except he and Libby can’t have animals in their apartment. Cam and Vaughn took the cat for a while, but turns out, the twins are both allergic. And Greer’s not home enough to take care of an animal, so that left me until Jude and Libby’s lease is up.”

“You took in a cat for your brother?”

He stepped into a pair of slacks and looped a tie over his shoulders. “Wouldn’t you, for your sister?”

“Well, yeah. But—” He looked over at her and she closed her mouth without finishing the thought. She hadn’t expected that kind of commitment from a workaholic like him. Instead, she asked, “Where are you going?”

“I need to check in at DMW, then go to the Wilde Security office.”

“You know, most people take the evening off when they’ve been traveling all day.”

“Most people don’t have a blackmailer to find.”

“Touché.” She sketched a point in the air. “Reece, one. Shelby, zero.”

He scowled and buttoned his shirt. “This isn’t a game.”

“Sure it is. Life’s one big game. Everyone’s playing, but few realize that it’s rigged. None of us ever win—we all end up in the same place—so why not have fun with it?”

“You sound like Jude,” he muttered.

“I’ll take that as a compliment. Jude’s got his shit together.”

“Are we talking about the same Jude? Captain Annoying: the First Fuckup, champion of loudmouth little brothers everywhere?”

She gaped at him. “Did you just make a comic book joke?”

His face went blank. “No.”

“You did so!”

He turned to the door. “There’s a dinner party tomorrow night, and I plan to use it as our official debut as husband and wife. It should take the heat off the blackmail threat, and then we can work on clearing up your money issues. A stylist will be here at eight a.m. to fix your hair.”

“Uh, whoa.” She held up her hands. “I can do my own hair.”

He glanced back, his gaze assessing, almost cold. “It needs to be a normal color.”

Self-conscious, she tugged on a purple strand. “I know that.”

“We’ll keep the stylist appointment, then Libby will take you shopping tomorrow afternoon. She has a good eye for fashion and will help you find something appropriate.”

Shelby resisted the urge to tug on the hem of her skirt. The fact she even wanted to pissed her off. She’d never before been uncomfortable with herself, and she wasn’t about to let him make her feel that way. “If you think you get to order me around just because we’re temporarily married, you have another think coming. I’ll do my own hair and choose my own clothes, fuck you very much.”

His eyes flashed, but not in anger. Something darker, hotter, and her panties dampened. She caught her breath at the unexpected throb of lust and reached for him, but he abruptly turned on his heel and stalked out.

A moment later, she heard the front door click shut.

She blew out a breath and staggered backward a step until the bed touched the back of her thighs. She sank to the mattress and told her libido to calm down. But when he got all commanding like that… Whew. And the heat between the two of them? Holy hell. It put a volcano to shame, and she’d never experienced anything like it before, with anyone. How could she want to throttle the man and at the same time, want to jump his bones and ride him until they were both screaming?

Shelby groaned and dropped her head into her hands. She was used to getting herself in and out of trouble, but this time, she just might have stepped in over her head.

“R
eece. I didn’t expect to see you in.”

Reece glanced up from his computer at his vice president’s surprised voice. “Didn’t expect to see you here, either, Dylan.”

Dylan Porter smiled in his charming, too-slick way and sidled into the office. “No rest for the wicked.” He sat down in one of the leather chairs opposite Reece’s desk and leaned forward. “So I’ve been hearing this crazy r
umor going around about you…”

Fuck. Did he know about the blackmail? But how could he? Unless…he was the blackmailer. The idea sent a ripple of hot betrayal through Reece’s gut. Dylan was the closest thing he had to a friend, but yeah, the guy couldn’t be ruled out just because of that. A computer genius in his own right, Dylan certainly had the skills for blackmail. Not to mention, he was ambitious, and his vision for the future of DMW didn’t always line up with Reece’s. He didn’t want help from Irving James, and they had gotten into more than one argument over it.

Reece’s heart kicked against his ribs, but he kept his face firmly impassive. “You know better than to believe rumors.”

“I do,” Dylan agreed, his eyes crinkling with humor. “But judging by the ring on your finger, I’m guessing this one’s true. You really went and got yourself hitched?”

Reece gazed down at the band. Oh, right. That. Not the blackmail then. “Yeah, it’s true.”

A grin broke across Dylan’s face. “Congrats, man. You sure play things close to the chest. I didn’t even know you were seeing anyone.”

“It’s…” He thought about lying, saying the relationship had been going on for a while, but made a split-second decision against it. For one thing, he and Shelby would never be able to pull off faking a long-term engagement. And lying to Dylan sat like a lump of lead in his gut, so he settled on a half-truth. “It was a bit of a whirlwind.”

Whirlwind. Hah. Wasn’t that a fitting description of Shelby?

Dylan laughed. “Sweep you off your feet, did she?”

“Something like that.”

“Well, when you know, you know. I knew Alicia was it for me after our first date. ’Course, it took me three years to convince her of it. What’s her name?”

“Shelby.”

“You do realize Alicia is going to want to meet her? And she’ll probably want to drag us all out on double dates to the opera.”

Reece internally winced at the mention of opera. He wasn’t a fan, but Dylan and Alicia were and somehow, attending with the power couple had become part of his public persona. He was expected to go and mingle and pretend he gave a fuck, so he did, even though he was out of fucks to give at this point.

But the thought of Shelby at the opera was so ridiculous, a snort of laughter escaped before he could stop it. Shelby would give that lot of uptight pricks coronaries.

Dylan raised an eyebrow at him and Reece coughed to hide the laugh. “I, uh, don’t think Shelby’s the type to appreciate opera.”

“Really?” Dylan frowned. “What does she do?”

“She’s a small business owner.” Which was the truth, but it still boggled his mind. “She owns The Bean Gallery.”

“The place you like that serves horrible coffee?”

It could be pretty horrible, he had to admit, but come to think of it, the coffee had improved considerably in the last few months. Starting right around the time Shelby had bought out the previous owners. Maybe she knew what she was doing after all. “It’s not that bad, Dyl.”