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

Reece shifted on his feet and, as unobtrusively as possible, folded his hands together in front of his body. At that moment, he kind of wished he’d melt into the floor, because the heat burning across the back of his neck almost surely meant he was blushing. And he didn’t blush. Goddammit. “It’s not…uh, I-I’m not…”

“Oh, you mostly certainly are, sweetie.” Standing, she gathered the deposit bag and turned to the wall safe behind the desk. Once the money was closed inside, she propped herself on the edge of the desk and studied him, amusement dancing in her eyes. “You’re cute when you’re flustered. I like that about you.”

“I don’t get flustered.”

She raised a sculpted brow and the hoop there glinted in the overhead lights. Her expression said it all—the hell you don’t—and frustration roared through him, chasing away the embarrassment. Nothing ever went smoothly when Shelby was involved. Nothing was ever easy, and if he had any goddamn sense left in his head, he’d bail out now.

Instead, he dropped his hands to his sides and stalked forward, not entirely sure what he planned to do until he caged her against the desk with an arm on either side of her body and crushed his lips to hers. He just couldn’t stand not knowing if her kiss was as spicy as her attitude. And, holy f*ck, she ignited in his arms as if he’d set a match to her. Fingers raked through his hair, nails dug half-moons into his scalp. Even though he was the one who had her caged, he suddenly felt trapped, captured.

Never breaking contact with his mouth, she pulled herself up to sit on the desk and used his tie to drag him into the spread vee of her legs. His mind scrambled through all the reasons they shouldn’t be doing this.

She was Eva’s little sister.

Cam would kill him.

They were in her boss’s office…

And his body was saying who the f*ck cared? He needed her out of his system. He needed to be able to think straight again and not like a teenager with his first crush. Most of all, he needed her to scream his name. His real name, not the stupid candy-themed nicknames.

He broke away from her lips and went to his knees in front of her, trailing his hands from her hips to her knees and then back up her inner thighs.

She wasn’t wearing panties. Why did that not surprise him? And she was all slick and soft and she moaned when he parted her, slipped a finger inside. Her inner muscles clenched, and he liked the tremble that shook through her body. He added a second finger, watched her head fall back and her nipples bead against the fabric of her tank top. He smiled before adding his mouth to the action, tasting her, circling her clit with his tongue until she finally cried out something that might have been his name. He couldn’t tell with the roaring inside his head and his own body about to combust—

Shit. What was he doing?

He jerked away from her and, panting, stumbled several steps back.

“Reece?” His name came out on a surprised gasp. “What’s wrong?”

Jesus. What wasn’t? This was all wrong. His attraction to her and…everything. “I should…leave. Yeah. I’ll go.”

She was leaning back on the desk with her thighs parted, eyes heavy, cheeks flushed, but at his words, she bolted upright. “What?”

He still tasted her on his lips, and it took far more willpower than he imagined to walk the six feet to the office door. “Go home, Shelby. This never happened.”

“What?” she said again.

“This. Never. Happened. And it won’t happen again.” He couldn’t look at her as he stepped into the kitchen. Ran trembling hands through his hair. Took a moment to gather himself…

And only then did he notice the smoke, stinging his nose with a strange burned coffee scent. Thick and black, it billowed along the ceiling, poured in from the front dining area, where he saw the dance of fast-moving yellow flames.

Jesus, no wonder he was dripping sweat. He hadn’t heated up. The room had.

“Fire!” He whirled to grab Shelby from the office, but she was already behind him. Fear chased away her indignant expression, and her complexion drained of color, leaving her so pale her faded purple lipstick stood out in stark contrast.

She raised a hand to her mouth. “Oh my God.”

“Where’s the nearest exit?”

She pointed across the kitchen to a spot on the far wall. Where the smoke was heaviest, naturally.

“Yeah, of course it’d be there.” He stripped off his suit coat and wrapped it in a makeshift bandana around her face, tying the arms behind her head.

“Wha—what about you?” she sputtered.

He untucked his button-down shirt and lifted the front to cover his mouth and nose. “All right?”

She shot a glance at the thickening smoke and firmed up her shoulders. Nodded. Her show of bravado would have been convincing if he didn’t feel her trembling when he closed his hand around hers.

“Stay low. We’ll be out of here in no time.”





Chapter Two


The walk to the fire exit seemed endless, each step taking them deeper into the blackness, until Reece shoved open the fire exit and pushed her out ahead of him. Shelby’s eyes and lungs burned, scoured raw by the smoke that rolled from the door behind them, thick and black. It seemed to reach out and wrap itself around them as if it planned to drag them back inside to their deaths.