Cade snorted, and both Nia and Rhys shot him annoyed looks. Apparently, Rhys could dish it out, but he couldn’t take it.
“However, my dear prince, one thing I amnotis a miracle worker.” Rhys waved his hand at me. “I don’t just ask people to get undressed because it’s hot and it makes the olds uncomfortable. I actually do need toseemy canvas before I begin painting on it.”
Cade looked at me, his eyes dropping to my neck. I could still feel the cloth around it, the high-collared shirt. Even I saw the immediate problem.
We were bluffing on a very high-stakes hand, and Rhys had just forced us to show our cards. The jig was up—Cade would have to take someone into his confidence.
I couldn’t help the spike of… something. Fear? Annoyance? A gnarled knot of some emotion at the thought that someone else would know Cade’s secrets the way I did.
“Let me speak with Miles first,” Cade said.
He strode into his closet, not even looking over his shoulder to make sure I was behind him. I followed, closing the door.
There was a flicker of amusement once I was inside. The room was as large as my bedroom at my old apartment. Racks upon racks of clothes lined the walls. There was even a center island with a glass top, the ties in it rolled and displayed by color and pattern.
Cade paced back and forth. “This is bad. We might be able to convince Rhys that I had you doing some recon or something that required you to come back looking like… this. But if you don’t have any markings where your collar is, they would be required to tell people.”
“Aren’t you their prince? Can’t you just tell them to keep their mouth shut?”
“Rhys might act a part, but they’re a loyal member of House Bartlett.” Cade shot me an annoyed look. “Asking them not to mention it shows that even I know it’s wrong. And asking Rhys to keep a secret like this would be like asking them to polish my boots with their toothbrush.”
My eyes dropped to Cade’s bare feet, the skin delicate and his long toes exposed. I thought about his boots again, the way they had clung to his calves.
“You’re going to have to wear a collar,” Cade said. He drew the leather strap out of his pocket and placed it in the middle of the glass display case.
I shook my head before I was even aware of doing anything. “No.”
Cade’s hand fisted on the leather, the buckle jangling as it dragged across the glass. “We don’t have any choice.”
“Well, you better come up with one because I am not putting on that collar. You might claim it’s a fashion statement, but I know what it is. I canseewhat it is.” I took a few steps forward, jabbing my finger on the glass next to the collar. “That means you own me.”
For a moment, Cade’s brow furrowed, his lips pinched. Then, a smirk spread across his face. “You’re forgetting. Idoown you. I’m paying you. You’re doing a job for me. And on this job, you do what I say.”
I took a step forward until we were so close I could feel the heat of his skin. He tilted his head up to look at me, his face angled for confrontation or a kiss.
“You’re paying me. You don’townme. This is a job, meaning I can leave whenever I want,” I growled.
“Is that what you would have said to Declan Monroe? Or would you have rolled over and said,thank you, sir, may I have some more, because you knew who your master was?” Cade’s words hit me so hard that I almost stumbled back.
There was no way he could have known what my relationship was like with Declan, what I would have taken for the man who had saved me from the street, given me purpose, given me a job, given me enough money to live when the other option was die alone, abandoned, the last of my family.
I opened my mouth, not sure what I was going to do next. Tear out Cade’s throat? Make him eat his own words?
Then I saw the tremble of his lips, quickly covered with a gritted jaw. The flash of his eyes he blinked away. Underneath all the bravado, all the instigating, he was scared.
Anger still flushed my body, and I fisted my hand. I pounded it once on the table, but Cade didn’t jump, still staring up at me like he was waiting.
“I’m youremployee, not your slave. You don’t own me. Neither did Declan.” I leaned forward, my face inches from his. “Let’s get this real clear. I wouldn’t wear a collar for him, and I’mnevergoing to wear one for you. This isjust a job.”
Cade inhaled sharply. Something cool and heavy slid across my wrist. Automatically, I pulled my hand back, shaking it. The snake fell off, continuing its journey to Cade. It had slithered out of one of the tie compartments, where it had been enjoying a nice nap until we had woken it with our argument.
The snake wound up Cade’s arm, and when its head lifted to come parallel with Cade’s ear, he leaned into it, and it nuzzled his cheek. After a long beat, he frowned.
“I suppose.” He looked at me, and his expression lightened. “Yes. That could work.”
I looked between him and the snake, not sure I liked anything about this conversation. One, that Cade was apparently talking to an animal, and two, that he liked whatever that animal had to say.
“What?” I asked.
