Wilde at Heart (Wilde Security, #3)(25)

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, f*ck 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.

“Reece. 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 rumor 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 f*ck, so he did, even though he was out of f*cks to give at this point.