She turned on the slightly vacant smile she’d been sporting all night. “I haven’t had a chance to meet Dylan yet. It’s all been a bit of a whirlwind.”
“It’s so romantic,” Charlotte said. “You have to tell us how you landed confirmed bachelor Reece Wilde. I honestly never thought I’d see the day he married.”
“He was never interested in anyone before,” another of the women—Lena?—scoffed and plucked the olive out of her third martini. Probably pretty at one time, she was starting to show some wear and trying to hide behind a spray tan, bleach blond hair, and plastic surgery. She sucked the last olive off the swizzle stick. “Tell us, what makes you so special?”
“Actually,” Alicia cut in, “I was hoping to steal Shelby for a little chat before dinner.”
Several of the women frowned disapprovingly at Lena, who snagged another martini from a passing waiter.
“Ignore Lena,” Alicia whispered as she guided Shelby away from the group. “Before she married her husband, she had a thing with Reece that went nowhere fast, and she’s been bitter about it ever since. But can you blame her?” She motioned to an elderly man already seated at the table for dinner. “That’s her husband. She’s been drowning herself in martinis waiting for him to die, but he knows it, and he’s stubborn. At the rate she’s going, he’ll outlast her.”
“Oh my God. She’s such a stereotypical desperate housewife, she practically breaks the cliché—oh.” Realizing she’d said her thoughts out loud, Shelby winced. “And I probably shouldn’t have said that. I promised Reece I’d behave.”
Alicia laughed. “No worries. I’m glad you’re not as cardboard as the rest of those ladies. I’ve known Reece since college, and it didn’t make sense to me that he’d fall for an airhead.”
Shelby decided in that moment, she liked this woman. “He…might have told me to play up the dumb trophy wife act,” she admitted.
“Oh, Reece, you knucklehead.” Alicia rolled her eyes toward the ceiling, then laughed. “He means well.”
A waiter stopped to offer them glasses of bubbly. Alicia accepted and passed one to Shelby, then clinked their rims.
“I know he does,” Shelby said after a sip, then sought Reece with her gaze. He stood on the other side of the room with a handful of other men in suits. Who knew what they were so intently discussing, but he was in his element here. Poised and confident, so different from the man who bumbled every time she made a pass at him.
“That’s my husband, Dylan.” Alicia motioned to the handsome blond man standing beside Reece. “And that Jeff Bridges look-alike is Irving James. The third.”
So that was the man Reece wanted to impress. Not what she’d pictured. Come to think of it, she wasn’t quite sure what she pictured, but it hadn’t been a distinguished, slightly grizzled gentleman with crinkles around his eyes and a bright white smile behind his graying beard.
Belatedly, she picked up the note of disdain in Alicia’s voice and turned back to the woman. “You don’t like him?”
“I don’t like his politics. He has a very antiquated view of women in the workplace. Or, for that matter, women in general. I honestly don’t understand why Reece feels this deal is so important, but he’s the boss.”
“You work for DMW, too?” Shelby asked. Alicia gave her an odd look and for a heart-stopping moment, she wondered if she’d tipped her hand. She hurried to add, “Reece doesn’t talk about work much at home.”
“He doesn’t?” Genuine surprise colored her voice. “I didn’t know Reece ever talks about anything but work.”
Crap. That was true. She’d pushed the lie a bit too hard. Time to back off. She tried on her best sheepish expression. “Uh, it’s actually a rule I came up with. Between DMW and Wilde Security, he gets so wrapped up, you know? If I don’t force him to put it aside, take a break, he never would.”
Alicia eyed her as if seeing her for the very first time, and a certain amount of respect filled her eyes. “Good for you. Yes, I think you’ll be good for him.”
Pleasure warmed Shelby’s belly at the words, even though she knew they weren’t the truth. She wasn’t good for Reece. But, still, hearing someone say so… She wanted to hug Alicia for it. Nobody had ever thought her good for anything or anyone.
Alicia took a sip of her drink. “Dylan and I are both workaholics. Just as bad as Reece. We never stop. And, yes, I work for DMW. I’m the chief financial officer, but I also help Dylan with marketing and operations.”
“Oh. Now I feel stupid for not knowing that.”
“Nah. Don’t worry about it. Your no-work-at-home rule is a good one. Don’t let Reece break it.”