The room went silent again.
“Well,” Cam said after an uncomfortable amount of time. “I’d better go make sure the girls aren’t killing one another. Reece, you should probably stay out of Eva’s way for…ah, the next decade or so.”
“Unless you want to be KO’d again,” Jude said. “She knocked you flat.”
“Yeah, man, what happened to all those black belts you have?” Vaughn asked.
“I don’t hit women.” Unless it was his open hand on Shelby’s gorgeously heart-shaped ass.
And, fuck, that was not an appropriate thought, given the circumstances.
Vaughn grunted. “You could have subdued her.”
Yes, he could have, but he’d deserved the punch for the way he’d spoken to Shelby in the limo. He was an asshole.
And he owed her an apology.
Reece knew when he was being avoided, and Shelby had gone into full-blown avoidance mode since the disastrous announcement of their marriage to the family. He’d tried to corner her in the casino, and again during a tense dinner with the family, but she always managed to escape before he could talk to her.
This marriage scheme wasn’t going to work if she kept avoiding him.
But now, as they boarded the plane back to D.C., she wasn’t going to have a choice but to talk to him.
He boarded first and waited, watching the line of passengers until she finally appeared. She spotted him, too, but then pretended to concentrate on looking for her seat.
He caught her arm before she passed. “Where are you going?”
She didn’t even glance at him, stared straight ahead. “To my seat, if that’s okay with you.”
He motioned to the empty spot beside him. “This is your seat.”
“No, it’s not. It’s in coach—” She glanced down at her boarding pass, then up at the number over the empty seat. Scowling, she plopped down. “You changed my ticket. I know I didn’t buy a first class seat.”
“Yeah, I did.” He lowered his voice. “We’re married now, and we need to act it in case someone’s watching.”
“I really doubt anyone is.”
“Someone was in the hallway at the hotel.”
She opened her mouth but pressed her lips together a second later without uttering a sound. She dragged her bag up onto her lap and started digging through it.
Shit. That had been the wrong thing to say. He scrambled for another conversational thread. If he could just get her talking…
“Uh, how did it go with Eva?”
“It didn’t. She was already pissed about Mom and then we sprung this marriage on her and… Well, she’s not speaking to me.” She pulled an iPod and large set of pink earphones from her bag. “And I don’t want to talk to you.”
Damn. Tiptoeing around the ugly words still hanging in the air between them wasn’t getting him anywhere. He should’ve known it wouldn’t. Shelby was nothing if not direct.
“Hey.” He stopped her from putting the earphones on and blocking him out. “Will you let me apologize?”
She heaved a sigh and finally looked at him, one eyebrow arched.
And now that he had her attention, the nice little speech he’d composed in his mind flew away, leaving him grasping for whatever words he could find. “Uh, what I said to you in the limo was wrong. I’d had a lot to drink and was overwhelmed—and-and that’s not an excuse. I’ve never thought of you as the type of woman to sell your body, and I’m sorry for insinuating that you are.”
“It’s okay.” She lifted a shoulder in a shrug meant to be dismissive, but he saw through it. He’d hurt her deeply with his careless remark, and he had no idea how to make it up to her.
“No.” He reached out, covered her hands with his. “It’s not okay. I was an ass.”
“Yeah, but you’re also not that far off from the truth. I mean, you’re paying me to be married to you.” She released a humorless laugh. “New low for me. It feels…sleazy. I really don’t want it. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but I don’t want your money, so let’s get the annulment when we get home, and I’ll figure something else out.”
His heart sank. Surprising, since he’d been conflicted about this plan from the get-go. “No.”
Her eyes popped wide. “What?”
“We’ve taken it this far already. Might as well see it through. I need your help with this blackmail problem.”
She huffed out a breath and leaned back in her seat. “I can’t—”