Wilde at Heart (Wilde Security, #3)(8)

He opened the program.

The sender’s name wasn’t one he recognized, but the subject line hit him like a punch to the solar plexus.

SCANDAL! DMW SYSTEMS CEO HAS SEX WITH BARISTA AT COFFEEHOUSE.

What. The. Fuck?

He ran a virus scan, found none, and opened the attachment. Sure enough, there was a grainy video, like from a cheap security camera. It showed Shelby sitting on the desk with him between her legs and the screen went black right before he pulled away, leaving the viewer to interpret what happened next. Text appeared, followed by a string of numbers he could only assume was a bank account.

If you want this video to stay secret, pay up. $20,000.

Reece sat back in his chair, ran his hands through his hair, and just stared at the screen. This could not be happening. Not now.

Of course, logically speaking, this was the perfect time to hit him with blackmail. So it had to be someone he knew. Someone who had access to, or at least the ability to access the coffee shop’s security footage. Someone who knew his government contracts were running out this year and he needed Irving James’s investment if he wanted to keep both DMW and Wilde Security afloat. Someone who knew one moral misstep on his part would bring everything he’d built crashing down.

But who?

He stared at the bank account number. He could trace it but that would take time, a commodity he was preciously short on at the moment. And there was no guarantee it would lead him anywhere. If the blackmailer was smart, and Reece had to assume so, it would be an offshore account under an assumed identity.

He could try tracing the email, but it was from a free service provider anyone could sign up for. And again, he had to assume the blackmailer was smart enough to know how to cover his or her tracks in cyberspace. You don’t blackmail a computer geek if you aren’t confident in your own hacking skills.

Which left him with only one choice. Pay.

He rubbed his damp palms on his thighs and tried to think of another solution, any other solution, but he came up blank.

If he paid now, he’d have to keep paying. And paying. And paying. He knew how it worked. As long as the blackmailer had that video, he was vulnerable.

But what choice did he have?

“Goddammit.” He signed on to his bank account and sent the wire transfer, then shut down his computer. At the very least, that money should buy him some time, but he couldn’t worry any more about it right now. He had to go home, shower, and pack. He wasn’t about to ruin Cam’s wedding, refused to burden his brothers with the possibility of Wilde Security going bankrupt. After all the shit they’d had thrown at them recently, they deserved a worry-free celebration.

He’d handle this. Wilde Security was going to be okay. His brothers would be okay. Even if he had to pay every last penny he had, he’d make sure of it.





Chapter Four


LAS VEGAS

Weddings didn’t get much shorter or sweeter than Cam and Eva’s. It was a no-frills affair in the smallest of the hotel’s chapels. But despite that, and after much argument, Shelby had managed to talk her sister into wearing a gorgeously simple linen dress instead of a pair of jeans and her favorite leather jacket.

As Eva walked down the aisle, the cream color glowed against her caramel skin. And going by the look on her groom’s face, the tastefully deep V neckline was well appreciated. Cam even gave Shelby a thumbs-up behind Eva’s back because that man was no dummy. He knew who had the fashion sense in the family, and it wasn’t his bride. Eva elbowed him in the ribs, and he grinned unapologetically as they turned to face the officiant.

Ugh. Those two were ridiculously adorable together. Always had been, even back when they were struggling to keep their relationship in the “friend” category. It was about time they figured out how right they were for each other, and Shelby’s heart melted when things got sappy at the exchange of vows. Even Cam’s hard-ass identical twin, Vaughn, serving as best man, looked uncomfortably moved. He shifted on his feet and stared hard at a spot on the floor.

Shelby knuckled away her own tears and let her gaze wander over the scatter of wedding guests, mostly family and a herd of Cam and Eva’s cop buddies. The remaining three Wilde brothers occupied the entire first row of seats on Cam’s side of the aisle. Jude, the youngest, grinned and pulled his wife Libby into his side as she dabbed at her eyes. Greer, the oldest, always looked about three steps beyond exhausted and today was no different, but a small smile still tilted up the corners of his hard mouth.

And then there was Reece.

Pressed and polished as ever, he sat straight-backed in the pew and watched the proceedings with a calmness she couldn’t understand. Color and noise and chaos followed her every move, so his intense stillness was intriguing. Was he really as calm as he appeared, or was there a typhoon swirling under that reserved exterior? Either way, she could so easily imagine him as a Victorian gentleman, born in the wrong era.

At least until he looked at her.

Oh, yes, there was the typhoon. All that energy, locked up inside, waiting to be tapped.

His hazel eyes all but singed as his gaze traced her body. A muscle ticked in his jaw. Without a doubt, he was thinking about stripping her out of her dress, and he wasn’t happy about it. The scene from the other night played out in the air between them. If she closed her eyes, she would feel his hands holding her thighs apart again and his unadulterated enthusiasm as his tongue circled her clit. Heat flashed through her, settled low in her belly, and her inner muscles trembled. She’d gone uncomfortably damp between her legs, and the thong she was wearing wasn’t doing anything to help the problem.