Hell, he was already so used to all of her bright colors and he’d been so focused on her lithe body, he hadn’t even noticed the change, but he studied her hair now. She wore it pulled back in a sloppy bun. It wasn’t an in-your-face kind of red, but soft and natural. It suited her while still being within an acceptable spectrum for hair color. “I approve.”
“Libby picked it out. She’s great. We had so much fun together. It’s nice having a sister who actually enjoys shopping.” Shelby smoothly shifted positions into the reverse warrior, raising one arm and bending backward, thrusting her breasts toward the ceiling. His mouth went dry at the memory of having her bare breasts under his tongue. He’d love to strip her out of her tight-fitting yoga outfit and drive into her while she held the downward dog pose until he allowed her to move…
And she shifted into downward dog.
Reece turned on his heel. “We need to leave for the party in an hour.”
Shelby straightened and propped her hands on her hips. That man. She’d been about done with her daily yoga routine when he walked in, and she purposely chose poses that highlighted her assets. And still, he walked away. Here she thought last night had changed something between them.
Poe let out an alarmed squawk, and she spun in time to see Sam the Cat lunge for the cage from the bed. He didn’t make it, falling to the carpet with a muffled plop. “No! Bad cat!”
“Bad cat. Bad cat,” Poe echoed and if she wasn’t mistaken there was a note of triumph in his tone. They had been going at each other all day and, for all she knew, Poe had been baiting Sam this whole time.
“Oh, what am I going to do with the two of you? Might as well start calling you Sylvester and Tweety.” She shooed Sam from the room. He sulked out then turned in the hallway and gave her a look of abject feline betrayal. She shook her head. “Sorry, pal. You can’t eat my birdie.”
She shut the door, leaned her back against it, and scanned the room while Poe continued to chatter from his cage. It was all still sterile, even with her belongings scattered throughout, and she suddenly felt like an unwelcome stranger in a bizarre land. She wished she had more time to unpack, get comfortable.
Her gaze landed on the black lace dress she planned to wear tonight, hanging on the back of her bathroom door.
Okay, if Reece wanted to play it like nothing happened between them, she could do that. Just like she could go to this stuffy dinner party, learn the things she needed to know about his company, and not completely embarrass him.
She hoped.
“Oh God.” She banged her head against the door a few times. “What have I gotten myself into?”
Fifty-five minutes later, Reece paced the living room and alternated between checking his watch and glancing toward Shelby’s door. Had she heard him say they needed to go in an hour? He’d been in a hurry to leave her room to keep himself from doing something stupid, so maybe she misheard him or…
Another minute ticked by.
Damn. He really didn’t want to go knock on her door, but this was not the kind of party to be fashionably late for. He took two steps in the direction of her room, and the door opened. His breath of relief snagged somewhere around his Adam’s apple. Shelby looked…like a completely different woman. Red hair fell in loose ringlets around her shoulders. Her black dress was cocktail length and flared at the hips in a striking silhouette. Underneath the long lace sleeves, he saw no hint of her colorful ink and honestly, he wasn’t sure what to make of that.
She smirked. “Roll up that tongue and put it back in your mouth, Hershey.”
“Uh, sorry.” He re-hinged his jaw. “You look…”
“Like a good little housewife?” she suggested at the same time he said, “Different.”
“Well of course I look different. That’s the point, right?” She held out her arms and twirled. “Do I pass inspection, Mr. Wilde?”
No. It was the first answer to pop to mind and he bit it back. This was wrong. This wasn’t Shelby, and asking her to change was wrong. He should call the whole thing off right now and figure something else out, but when he opened his mouth, all that emerged was a strangled, “We need to go.”
She nodded and disappeared back into her room for a second. When she returned, she wore a knee-length coat that tied at her waist and was in the process of putting in pearl earrings. He grabbed his own coat and held open the door for her.
Neither of them said anything during the nearly forty minute car ride to Irving James’s home, but when Reece pulled up to the gate, he couldn’t take the silence any longer. He turned in his seat to face her. “Are you sure you want to do this? It’s not too late to call it off.”
Smiling slightly, she reached over and cupped his cheek with her left hand. Light flashed off her wedding ring. “I’ll be okay. I won’t embarrass you. Promise.”
“It’s not that.” His gaze traveled out the windshield to the looming mansion. All that glitz and glam might look like a fairy tale from the outside, but he knew what lay waiting within. “Shelby, these people are—”