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.
Jason Mallory.
His face was scratched from the pavement, and his eyes spit fire at the brothers as he cursed and struggled. But fighting against them was as hopeless as a mouse trying to escape a pair of cats. The twins held him without even breaking a sweat. In fact, they seemed to enjoy it, wearing identical grins.
She gaped at the man, then at the blazing trashcan.
Jason was the arsonist?
“Shelby, you need me,” he said through gritted teeth. “You need me. Without me, The Headhunters will find out you put your father in jail. I’ll make sure of it, and they’ll kill you.”
Fury blasted through her and, before she knew she was moving, she crossed the short space between them, hauled back, and punched Jason hard enough to have pain singing up her arm. He stumbled sideways, and the twins let him fall.
She stood over him, staring down at the man who had terrorized her in more ways than she’d even known. “Go to hell. I don’t need you.” She reached back, found Reece’s hand, warm and strong and comforting. “I have everything I need right here.”
The arson investigators moved in, dragged Jason to his feet.
Jude grinned at her. “You knocked him flat! Remind me to never piss you off.”
Behind her, Reece snorted. “You piss everyone off at one time or another.”
“I’m not the only one in the family with a kickass right hook,” Eva said and looped an arm around Shelby’s shoulders, giving her a quick squeeze. “I’m proud of you.”
Stunned and kind of numb, she watched the cops take Jason away. “All this time…it was him?”
Reece’s hands settled on her shoulders, rubbed. The weight of them was comforting, and she leaned back into the warmth of his body.
“Libby figured it out,” he said. “Mallory never actually charged you for drug possession, and the statute of limitations ran out last year, right around the time he demanded you break up with your ex-boyfriend. He had no legal control over you.”
“So he used fear instead.” Hands on her hips, Eva scowled, watching the officers stuff Jason into the back of a waiting patrol car. She sighed. “Shel, I’m so sorry you didn’t feel confident enough in me to tell me abou
t him. I could have helped a long time ago.”
Shelby shook her head. “But why would he…?”
“You were too valuable for him to lose,” Eva said. “Over the years, your information has helped him collar some huge names in the criminal world, made him a big deal in the ATF, and when you tried walking the straight and narrow by buying The Bean Gallery, he saw his career going out the door. Must have figured if he scared you enough, you’d go to him begging for protection.” She smiled over at Reece. “He just didn’t count on you going to Reece instead.”
Shelby glanced at Reece, then at each of his brothers, then back at the building behind her as she mentally connected all the dots. Pain sliced through the center of her belly. “Steven, my ex-boyfriend. He wasn’t the pyromaniac, was he?”
Eva rolled her lips together, shook her head. “He was innocent. Or at least as innocent as a guy with a rap sheet can get.”
“He’d done bad things, but he wasn’t a bad person.” The pain grew teeth and Shelby shut her eyes. “And I killed him.”
“No.” Hands still on her shoulders, Reece spun her to face him. “Your father killed him, and Mallory set it up. He saw you slipping out of his control and decided Steven had to go.”
She sniffled. “I cared about Steven.”
“I know you did, and it’s not your fault he died, okay?”
She wanted to believe him, but the guilt was too heavy. “Jason was going to burn your building down. Just like he did my neighbor’s house, your parents’ house.”
“Nah,” Cam said and slid an arm around Eva’s waist. “We were ready for him. Made sure he saw us taking The Bean Gallery’s sign down and moving it here. The last thing he wanted was for you to reopen, so we hoped he’d take the bait and resort to his usual tactics when Reece brought you here.”
“Aaand,” Jude said, finally smothering the last of the trashcan fire, “he did. Obviously.”
Her heart sank. “So, the sign…it was only part of the sting?”
“No.” Hands still on her shoulders, Reece spun her to face him. “If you want to reopen The Bean Gallery, this space is yours.”
So many things flung through her mind, a whirlwind of questions and thoughts and feelings, and she didn’t know what to say. Reece had forgiven her. She was finally free from Jason. And now this?
“Please.” Jude clasped his hands in a pleading gesture. “We need some good coffee around here.”
She gazed around at all the hopeful faces. Even Vaughn’s eyebrows were raised in question, which was about as hopeful as the big guy got.
So this was what family looked like, felt like. She could get used to this.
“Okay,” she said and saw Jude punch a fist toward the sky in triumph out of the corner of her eye as she turned to Reece. Her heart swelled at his grin. “But right now, I really just want to go home with my husband.”
They barely made it inside the door before they were on each other, hands roaming, mouths fused.
“God,” Shelby said between kisses as she tugged at his shirt. “I thought I lost you. When I saw you lying on that bathroom floor…”
“Shh. You didn’t lose me. You never will.” He ducked to let her pull his shirt off over his head.
She laughed and ran her fingers through his hair. “I can’t believe you dyed it blue.”
The dimple in his left cheek flashed as he straightened. “Yeah, that’s not all I did.” He pointed to his side, and her gaze tracked down his lean body to the healing ink along his ribs.
“Oh my God. You got a tattoo!” She dragged her fingers over the design, and he squirmed as if it tickled. “It’s beautiful, but why an anchor?”
A slight flush worked up his chest and neck. “It’s a not-so-subtle reminder to myself that I have a tendency to drag you down—”
“Reece, no. You don’t hold me down. You—”
He touched her lips to silence her. “Yes, I do. But it’s not a bad thing. I keep your feet on the ground…” He unbuttoned her blouse, drew the two halves apart, and kissed one of the birds tattooed to her collarbone, then the other. “And you’re the wings that keep my heart in the clouds. We balance each other. It works.”
She swallowed to ease the tightness in her throat. “Yes, it does.”
“So…” He dragged the word out and he reached into his pocket. “I have a question for you. One I never really got to ask.”
Her heart fluttered as he dropped to one knee and held out her ring. “You were my first, and I want to be your last. Will you do me the honor of continuing to be Mrs. Wilde?”
“Yes,” she whispered and accepted the ring, sliding it on her finger. Back where it belonged.
Epilogue
Reece paused on the sidewalk in front of what would become the new Bean Gallery and smiled as he watched his wife through the window. She was talking to someone he couldn’t see, laughing while she stocked a glass-fronted refrigerator with soda. She’d jumped into the renovation with her usual gusto, full steam ahead, and had transformed the once empty space into something even better than the first Bean Gallery had been.
Her hair fell in a rainbow from her ponytail, bouncing as she hurried around with last-minute preparations for the grand opening tomorrow, and he wanted nothing more than to walk in there, wrap all that bright color around his hand, and draw her in for a kiss…
A car door slammed behind him, and he turned in time to see Vaughn stalk into Wilde Security next door.
Cam jumped out of his 4Runner and was right on his twin’s heels. “Vaughn! We’re not done. What the fuck is wrong with you?”
Reece sighed and glanced over at Shelby again. After a long day spent transitioning DMW over to Quentin Enterprises, the last thing he wanted was to deal with a fight between his brothers. All he wanted was some quality time with his wife, but he’d promised Greer he’d look after their younger brothers.
Greer, who still hadn’t returned from wherever he’d gone.
And that was starting to worry him. He hadn’t heard from Greer since the night he spent in the hospital over three weeks ago, but he could only deal with one problem at a time and the fact the twins were fighting was a major one. He could count the number of times they’d fought with each other on one hand.
Reece followed them into the office and nearly ran into Vaughn, who was shoving back through the door with the keys to his Hummer in hand.
“Get out of my way,” Vaughn said through his teeth.
“No.” He stood his ground, blocking the exit, and looked backed and forth between the two of them. “What’s going on?”
“Ask him.” Cam threw up his hands in complete frustration. “He’s the one with the fucking death wish.”
Oh, shit. This wasn’t good. “Guys. What happened?”
“This asshole,” Cam said and pointed at his twin, “talked me into a winter jump, then scared ten years off my life when he waited until the very last second to pull his damn chute.”
Vaughn growled and swung around to face off with Cam again. “You know how many jumps I did in the navy? I can fall out of a plane in my sleep and still pull the cord with plenty of time to spare.”
“Do you have any idea what it felt like to watch you go flying past me and not be able to do a damn thing but pray your backup opened? Jesus, Vaughn.”
Reece dropped his head into his hands and massaged his temples with his fingers. “Enough. Both of you.”
“Fuck this,” Vaughn said and shouldered past him.
Reece let him go. There would be no reasoning with him while he was like this. So instead, he turned his attention to the more rational twin, who had sank into one of the office chairs and looked utterly defeated.
“He considered not pulling the cord,” Cam said softly and then gave a humorless snort of laughter. “Did he really think I wouldn’t realize it? We’re identical. I know how he thinks, and he’s spiraling. I just…” He looked down at his empty hands. “I don’t know how to fix it.”
And Cam, us
ually the family’s peacemaker, the glue, hated not being able to fix things. Especially when it came to his twin, who had always been just a little bit broken.
Reece walked over and pulled himself up to sit on the desk beside his brother. “The only way to fix it is to find Lark Warren.”
Cam shook his head. “I don’t get it.”
“Neither do I, but this all started when she disappeared. He’s not going to stop until he settles whatever it was that happened between them.”
Another shake of the head. “I can’t do this now. Not tonight. Is Eva still next door?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t make it inside.”
Cam pushed out of the chair, and they walked to the door together. “Shelby’s done good work with the place. She has a talent for it.”
Reece smiled to himself as he stopped to shut off the light and lock up. “I know.” And he couldn’t be prouder of everything she’d accomplished in only a few weeks. His woman had vision and a good head for business. He still felt like an ass for doubting her.
Next door, Shelby had turned up the music, and Taylor Swift was telling everyone to shake it off. She danced circles around her sister with a broom, trying her damnedest to convince Eva to join her.
Some of the tension eased out of Cam’s shoulders as he crossed to his wife. “C’mon, Shelby. You know your sister doesn’t dance. Stop torturing her with pop music.”
“Fine.” Shelby spun over to Reece, pecked him on the lips, then grabbed his hand. “I’ll dance with my husband.”
The music changed to something with a strong, fast beat and he fell into easy rhythm with her, hands on her hips.
Cam’s jaw hit the floor. “Since when do you dance?”
He spun her. “You think I can be married to her and not dance?”
“Ah…” Cam held up a finger, but dropped it again after a second. “Good point. Look at you. You inherited Mom’s rhythm.”
He drew Shelby in close again and kissed the tip of her nose. She laughed, weaved her fingers into his hair—which was no longer blue, thank God—and drew him down for a real kiss, the kind of kiss he’d wanted but had held off on because of Cam and Eva.
Wilde at Heart Page 25
