Wilde at Heart (Wilde Security, #3)(36)

Reece had been right. These people had teeth, and navigating the room was like swimming through a shark tank with an open wound. Honestly, she’d be more comfortable mingling at The Headhunter’s bar, but then, she’d been born into that world. A different universe, really, full of guns and drugs and the roughest of rough men. This whole entitled, born-with-a-silver-spoon life was so far beyond her, she could see why Reece had suggested the dumb act. There was no way she’d fit in with these people as herself. At least you always knew where you stood with The Headhunters.

And how interesting that Irving James, a man with such strict expectations of proper behavior, had a wife who was less than half his age. Hypocritical much?

Shelby was just about to make up an excuse to leave the group when a gorgeous brunette in a sapphire dress sauntered up and gracefully cut in to the conversation. She handled herself like she was used to swimming these dangerous waters. “Oh, I’m so sorry to interrupt, Charlotte, but is this Reece’s new bride?”

Charlotte tittered. There was no other word for the delighted sound she made. Yup, their wedding was already providing fodder for the rumor mill. “Alicia, this is Shelby. Shelby, Alicia Porter. I’m surprised you two haven’t met before now.”

“We haven’t had the pleasure,” Alicia said and smiled at Shelby. “But I was hoping to see you here tonight. Dylan has talked about you nonstop since Reece told him about you yesterday.”

Dylan? Shelby froze, her mind drawing a complete blank. On the way to the party, Reece had briefed her on the names she’d hear tonight, but she didn’t remember a Dylan. Probably because she’d only been half listening at the time, too distracted by nerves.

Okay, process of elimination. Reece had only gone two places yesterday that she knew of—the Wilde Security office, and nobody but his brothers would have been there, and DMW. So this Dylan guy must work at DMW and, if he and his wife were here tonight, he must be high up in the company. Maybe even Reece’s second-in-command.

She turned on the slightly vacant smile she’d been sporting all night. “I haven’t had a chance to meet Dylan yet. It’s all been a bit of a whirlwind.”

“It’s so romantic,” Charlotte said. “You have to tell us how you landed confirmed bachelor Reece Wilde. I honestly never thought I’d see the day he married.”

“He was never interested in anyone before,” another of the women—Lena?—scoffed and plucked the olive out of her third martini. Probably pretty at one time, she was starting to show some wear and trying to hide behind a spray tan, bleach blond hair, and plastic surgery. She sucked the last olive off the swizzle stick. “Tell us, what makes you so special?”

“Actually,” Alicia cut in, “I was hoping to steal Shelby for a little chat before dinner.”

Several of the women frowned disapprovingly at Lena, who snagged another martini from a passing waiter.

“Ignore Lena,” Alicia whispered as she guided Shelby away from the group. “Before she married her husband, she had a thing with Reece that went nowhere fast, and she’s been bitter about it ever since. But can you blame her?” She motioned to an elderly man already seated at the table for dinner. “That’s her husband. She’s been drowning herself in martinis waiting for him to die, but he knows it, and he’s stubborn. At the rate she’s going, he’ll outlast her.”

“Oh my God. She’s such a stereotypical desperate housewife, she practically breaks the cliché—oh.” Realizing she’d said her thoughts out loud, Shelby winced. “And I probably shouldn’t have said that. I promised Reece I’d behave.”

Alicia laughed. “No worries. I’m glad you’re not as cardboard as the rest of those ladies. I’ve known Reece since college, and it didn’t make sense to me that he’d fall for an airhead.”

Shelby decided in that moment, she liked this woman. “He…might have told me to play up the dumb trophy wife act,” she admitted.

“Oh, Reece, you knucklehead.” Alicia rolled her eyes toward the ceiling, then laughed. “He means well.”

A waiter stopped to offer them glasses of bubbly. Alicia accepted and passed one to Shelby, then clinked their rims.

“I know he does,” Shelby said after a sip, then sought Reece with her gaze. He stood on the other side of the room with a handful of other men in suits. Who knew what they were so intently discussing, but he was in his element here. Poised and confident, so different from the man who bumbled every time she made a pass at him.

“That’s my husband, Dylan.” Alicia motioned to the handsome blond man standing beside Reece. “And that Jeff Bridges look-alike is Irving James. The third.”

So that was the man Reece wanted to impress. Not what she’d pictured. Come to think of it, she wasn’t quite sure what she pictured, but it hadn’t been a distinguished, slightly grizzled gentleman with crinkles around his eyes and a bright white smile behind his graying beard.

Belatedly, she picked up the note of disdain in Alicia’s voice and turned back to the woman. “You don’t like him?”

“I don’t like his politics. He has a very antiquated view of women in the workplace. Or, for that matter, women in general. I honestly don’t understand why Reece feels this deal is so important, but he’s the boss.”