Wilde at Heart (31 page)

Jude sat up straighter in his chair. “Wait. Shelby’s been working for this ATF agent for how long?”

“Six years.”

Jude scowled and sat back in his seat again. After a moment of thought, he called out, “Hey, Libs. Can you come in here for a sec?”

Libby appeared in the doorway drying her hands on a paper towel, and glanced between the two of them. “Something wrong?”

“Nah, just need your lawyer-y opinion.” He tilted his head back and tapped his lips with one finger. Smiling, she bent to give him a kiss.

Reece turned away from the couple as a hollow ache opened up in his chest where his heart used to be. He’d had that same playful, easy intimacy with Shelby until recently.

Jesus, he really had fucked up. Big time. But he’d make it better. Somehow.

“So,” Libby said, straightening away from her husband. She planted a hand on her hip and looked at Reece. “Don’t tell me you’re in legal trouble, Mr. Responsible.”

“No, not me.”

Her smile dissolved into a grimace. “It’s Shelby, isn’t it? I should’ve known. Sorry.”

“It’s not what you think, babe,” Jude said. “Can you answer me something hypothetically? And don’t jump to conclusions.”

She perched on the arm of Jude’s chair. “All right. Ask away.”

“How long is the statute of limitations for drug possession?”

She didn’t even have to think about it. “Five years.”

Reece came half out of his chair in surprise. “You’re sure?”

“Well, unless there are other mitigating factors…”

“For example?”

“Uh, if the hypothetical person we’re talking about has been in possession of the drugs for that entire length of time. The statute of limitations only kicks in once a crime ends, so if Shel—I mean, this hypothetical person were to still be in possession of the drugs, they could still be charged.”

“She’s not.”

“Then if no charges were ever brought against her in the first five years, she’s free and clear.” Libby raised a brow. “Can we stop being hypothetical now? What’s going on?”

As concisely as he could, Reece explained everything. When he was done, Libby shook her head. “No. That’s all wrong. This Agent Mallory is holding an empty threat over her head.”

Or at least he was until the firebomb at The Bean Gallery. Then he offered her protection as long as she continued to do his dirty work. That motherfucker.

“I need to look into this Agent Mallory.”

“If you want, I can help,” Libby offered.

Reece nodded. “I’d appreciate it.”

Jude grinned and pulled Libby down onto his lap, kissing her soundly. “Isn’t my wife brilliant?”

“Yeah, she is. Still don’t know what she sees in a knucklehead like you.”

“I ask myself that every day,” Jude murmured and gave his wife another quick kiss before setting her on her feet. He also stood. “And while Libby’s checking into your shifty ATF agent, we need to get moving. We have a lot of work to do if you want to win Shelby back.”

Wincing, Reece followed his brother. “I’m going to hate this, aren’t I?”

“Yup. And I’m gonna take lots of pictures.” Jude grabbed his coat from the nearby rack and held open the front door, motioning him to go first. “The Wall of Shame at the office will no longer belong only to me. It’s gonna be awesome.”

Chapter Thirty-One

T
he drive to the courthouse Monday morning was the longest of Shelby’s life. She’d stayed away from the hospital after Reece came back to consciousness, but had received updates on his condition by Cam and Eva, learning he had checked himself out several nights ago, and he’d been asking about her. Still, she’d kept her distance and ignored his calls. Partly because she was afraid of what he’d say now that he was lucid again. Partly because she was afraid she’d throw her pride to the wind and beg him for a second chance. She didn’t know if she could take getting shot down again, so she played the coward and avoided him, putting off the inevitable for as long as possible.

But today, the inevitable had arrived. He was going to file for the annulment, and she couldn’t stay away. Sometime over the weekend, her fear had mutated into anger. He couldn’t throw them away like this. Yes, she’d fucked up—big time—but what they had together was the kind of thing people spent their entire lives looking for. And call her selfish, but she wasn’t willing to let that go. She’d beg and plead and straight up sacrifice her pride in front of everyone at the courthouse if she had to. Whatever she needed to do to prove her love to him.

She was so wrapped up in her thoughts, she didn’t see the man with the shock of blue hair in front of her until it was too late. She walked straight into him, and stumbled.

“Whoa.” He held out his hands to steady her, then did a double take. “Shelby?”

She was pretty sure her jaw hit the ground. “Reece?”

Then, at the same time, they both asked, “What are you wearing?”

For the first time since she’d known him, he was dressed down in jeans and sneakers. Under his jacket, he wore a graphic T-shirt of Pac Man eating a Hershey bar. He hadn’t shaved in a few days and a sexy scruff darkened his jaw. Oddly, he looked a lot like Jude, except for his glasses. And the blue he’d dyed into his hair.

“Oh.” Tears filled her eyes and she reached up to push a lock away from his forehead. “What did you do to your hair?”

“What happened to
yours
?” he countered, winding a strand around his finger.

She self-consciously ran a hand over her new color—a honey blond, as close to her natural color as she’d been in years. “I thought…maybe if I toned it down, you’d find me more…I don’t know. Acceptable, I guess.”

“Oh, Shelby.” His features softened in a way she’d never seen before and he held out his arms. “Come here.”

She hesitated, still playing with the ends of her new dye job. She couldn’t look at him, didn’t want him to see how vulnerable the admission had made her. Especially when the terror of rejection had her cold from the inside out.

“Shelby.” He hooked a finger under her chin and lifted her gaze to his. She saw tenderness there and the ever-present fire of desire, but there was also a bit of shame and some worry lurking in the depths of his eyes. “I have never found you unacceptable.” He tugged at a strand of her hair. “I find this unacceptable. A normal hair color? A business suit? For fuck’s sake, you’re even wearing pearls.”

She swallowed hard. “I thought you’d like it.”

He clasped her shoulders, rubbed. “This isn’t you, Shelby.”

“I thought— I don’t know. I guess I thought if I looked more the part of your wife, then maybe we could stay married.”

“I don’t want a Stepford Wife.”

Even dressed like this, he still didn’t want her. God, that hurt. So much that she suddenly couldn’t breathe because of the pain in the center of her chest. She nodded and tried to turn away before the tears blurring her vision spilled down her cheeks.

Reece pulled her into his arms. “Don’t cry.”

“I’m sorry. I was—” Her breath shuddered out on a sob and fat tears spilled from her eyes, screwing her carefully applied makeup all to hell. “I was hoping this would change things between us.”

“I don’t want things to change.”

“I understand.”

“Hey.” That was all he said, then he waited in silence until she reined in the sobs and gazed up at him again. He cupped her cheeks in his palms, swiping away her tears with his thumbs. “Why are you crying?”

She sniffled. “I don’t want an annulment. I love you.”

The dimple in his left cheek flashed and he pulled a stack of folded papers out of his jacket pocket. “I never filled out the paperwork.”

“You…” She blinked at the empty pages. “Why not?”

“Shelby.” Again he waited until she lifted her gaze to his. “I let Jude pick out my clothes and dye my hair blue. Do you honestly think I’d show up to court looking like this if I wanted to end our marriage? I love you, and I want you as my wife. But I want the real you, not this cookie-cutter person you’re trying to turning yourself into. A person I foolishly tried to turn you into. I want—” He stopped short, closed his eyes and shook his head, then corrected himself, “No, I need the color you bring into my life. Before Vegas, I was not happy. I was existing, not living. I just didn’t realize it until you showed me that happiness is coming home to find you doing yoga to reggae music. It’s sneaking away from dinner parties for closet sex. It’s crazy pillows and paintings, whipped cream fights and getting dragged to a club in my tux and ending up covered in glow-in-the-dark paint.”

A fluttery feeling started in her belly and tingled through her body. “Really?”

“Yes, really.” He smiled and swept her hair back from her face. “Happiness, for me, is the two of us, together. I want us to stay together, so I sold DMW to Quentin Enterprises, gave my brothers their shares of the profit, and have enough left over that we can run away, change our names, and disappear. Mallory will never be able to use you again.”

“You’d do that for me?” she whispered. “Give up your life here, your brothers?”

He cupped her face in his palms and feathered kisses over her eyes, nose, and finally, her mouth. He took his time there, kissing her softly, thoroughly. When he finally broke the contact of their lips, he rested his forehead against hers. “I’ll do anything to keep you safe. I love you.”

“But I lied. About…so much.” She bit her lower lip. “I never owed The Headhunters money. My dad set up a bank account for me when I was little. I never touched it, never planned to, until The Bean Gallery went up for sale. I just told you I owed them because I knew you wouldn’t go for the marriage thing unless you thought you were protecting me.”

He winced. “Yeah, you’re right. I wouldn’t have.”

“But you need to know I could have gotten the information Jason wanted without marrying you. It just seemed like a good way to help you with the blackmail situation.”

He quirked a brow. “Killing two birds with one marriage?”

“Oh God. That sounds so horrible when you put it like that, but yes. And…” She swallowed hard, determined to get everything out in the open this time. If they were starting fresh here, she didn’t want any more secrets. “And, part of me, I wanted it. I think even then I was a little bit in love with you already. I just didn’t know it or maybe didn’t want to admit it to myself. As crazy as it sounds, I did truly want to marry you.”

“Good. Because I truly want to stay married to you.”

She laughed softly, wrapped her arms around his waist, and hugged him. “And we’re not going anywhere. I did my part. Jason has to let me go now.”

“I was hoping you’d say that.”

“You were?”

“Well, I would have run away with you, but when I sold to Tuc Quentin, he may have offered me a position as lead developer of DMW’s new video game arm.”

He said it so offhandedly, it took her a few seconds to process it. “Reece! That’s fantastic!”

He raised a shoulder in a shrug. “It suits me better than CEO and allows me time to still work at Wilde Security with my brothers. Dealing with Tuc on the sale of DMW gave me an idea about how I can get Wilde Security operating in the black. Personal security. My brothers have the marketable skills for it and, thanks to Tuc, we already have our first client.”

She laughed. “Something tells me Tucker Quentin doesn’t need help protecting himself.”

“He doesn’t, but if he hires us, it’ll make us more appealing to other celebrities. We both know that world is all about appearances.” He hugged her briefly then set her back and smiled down at her. “But that’s not our world anymore. Which reminds me…” He laced their fingers together and tugged her toward the Escalade. “I have something to show you.”

It was all such a whirlwind, she couldn’t imagine what that something might be. She’d come here expecting to beg for his forgiveness, plead for another chance. Never in her wildest dreams did she think it would go this well.

It wasn’t a long drive to their destination: the strip mall where Wilde Security was located, except he didn’t pull into his usual parking place in front of the office. Instead, he parked in front of the next empty store in the line and climbed out of the car, scrambling around the hood to open her door before she could. As soon as her feet touched the ground, he clamped a hand over her eyes and cradled her elbow, guiding her forward.

“No peeking,” he said.

“Kinda hard with your hand over my eyes.”

A door opened and he ushered her inside, into a blast of warm air scented with sawdust. “Here we are.”

“Where?”

He removed his hand, and Shelby took in the empty store. It had been stripped to the studs, the floor pulled up, the ceiling ripped out, but even so, she could tell it was a good space with lots of room. “What is this?”

“It’s yours.” Reece took her by the shoulders and spun her to face the back wall and the sign propped there.

The Bean Gallery.

Slightly singed, but still legible. Warmth radiated through her. Trembling, almost not daring to believe, she gazed over her shoulder at Reece. Had to blink to see him through the flood of tears. “Here? Next to Wilde Security?”

“If you want it.”

“Yes!” She flung her arms around his neck and kissed him. “Oh God, yes. Of course I want it! I—” A loud thunk from the back of the building made her jump. Shouts and curses followed. Some kind of struggle? She looked toward the noise. “What’s that?”

“Sounds like my brothers are taking care of a pest problem.” He gave her a quick, reassuring squeeze, then walked to the door at the back of the space.

She chased after him. “You have pests here?”

“No, but you do,” he said and unlocked the door, shoving it open.

Outside, the twins had a man flattened out on the icy pavement, and Jude was scooping snow onto a blazing trashcan fire. Eva was there too, directing a pair of uniformed cops to the downed man. The arson investigators followed close behind.

Shelby stepped out into the cold, her gaze tracking over the scene, trying to make sense of it. “What…?”

The twins hauled the man upright. She sucked in a sharp breath, dragging the cold deep into her lungs where it seemed to sit like concrete and made drawing in more oxygen impossible.