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“And you need to learn when to hush up,” she countered.
Judd stared down at her in shock.
“Hush up?” Judd snapped.
Caleb looked back at them with a frown. Chloe smiled brightly at him until he turned back around. Only, Caleb was a smart man so Owen knew he was onto them.
They all walked through the palace to the suite she shared with Lord Fothersam.
Owen didn’t like that either. She should be in their house. Preferably in his bed.
Yep. That’s where she belonged. Maybe he’d handcuff her to it until she learned to obey him. That thought made him smile.
“Crap,” Judd muttered.
He glanced over to see Judd was staring at him.
“That’s a really scary smile,” Chloe said.
“Yeah, I don’t think we want to know what he’s thinking,” Judd said.
He wiped the smile off his face and glared down at them both.
“You didn’t need to interfere back there. I had things handled,” Judd said stiffly.
“Sure you did. You were about to get fired. You were being all Judd.”
“All Judd?”
“Yes, all Judd. You don’t know how to be diplomatic, do you?” she asked.
Judd snorted. “What’s the point of that? It’s all bullshit. No one says what they’re really thinking. I speak my mind and if people can’t handle it that’s their problem.”
“That must be a really refreshing way to live.”
Judd shrugged. “It suits me.”
She tried to walk ahead of them, but Owen pulled her back again.
“Will you stop doing that!” She scowled up at him.
He found himself wanting to smile. He liked when she got all riled up. Far better than the cold, collected Chloe that she gave everyone else.
This was real.
“Nope.”
“Why not?” she asked.
“Because you need to stay between us.”
“Why? We’re in the palace. It’s safe!”
“We’re your security detail,” Judd said. “We don’t need to give you a reason.”
“The two of you are pains in my ass.”
“Hmm. Not yet, but we will be,” Owen drawled.
She gave him an alarmed look. “What does that mean?”
“It means that you deserve a spanking.”
“I do not!”
“You do. I told you to stay in the car,” he said.
Hux was doing a good job of keeping Caleb occupied. Although he’d looked back a couple of times. Luckily, he hadn’t seen Chloe glaring at them.
“I was getting out to help Judd,” she explained.
“I didn’t need help.”
“Yeah, that’s not the way it looked to me. Besides, you guys don’t get to boss me around all the time.”
“Yes, we do,” they said together.
He looked at Judd over her head. It had been a while since they’d done that. When had they stopped being so close? Once, they’d been as close as actual brothers. But it seemed like they’d drifted apart over time.
Owen had grown more closed off. While Judd had become more volatile.
But now she was bringing them together.
Their girl.
Ours.
He’d thought that Judd was going to fight this harder after their conversation this morning. But something seemed to have shifted with him.
She tried to walk out ahead of them again.
Oh no. It was time she learned to be obedient.
“I’m going to look into getting a leash,” Owen told her as he drew her back. “Keep you from running away. That’s very naughty.”
“Funny, that’s what I said earlier,” Judd drawled.
“A naughty Little pup,” Owen added.
She gazed up at him with wide eyes. Something strange filled him.
Happiness.
No, it couldn’t be. Owen couldn’t remember a time when he was actually happy. He had thought it was a feeling that was for others and not him.
“You okay?” she whispered to him.
“I think I might be happy.”
Judd shot him a sharp look. He got it. This was bizarre.
“Maybe it’s just gas.”
He stared down at her in shock. She hadn’t just said that, had she?
“Did you just say . . .” Judd’s voice was strangled. “Miss Prim and Proper? I can’t believe it.”
Her cheeks were turning red. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said in a haughty voice that got his dick hard.
Shit.
This girl was turning everything on its head. He shouldn’t want that. He should want to get rid of her. To remove any threat to the status quo.
But the status quo was shit.
She walked ahead again, but her ankle seemed to give way and she started to fall.
18
Why had she said that?
Idiot.
What if they told Jonathan? Not that she thought they would. And she could deny it.
But she had to be more careful. She couldn’t let the real Chloe shine through. And yet, they seemed to be able to get through her walls. They were knocking them down one by one.
It was terrifying.
Space. She needed space.
She strode ahead again. If Owen grabbed her one more time . . . then she was going to unleash hell on his ass.
She didn’t know how exactly. Because she was pretty certain Owen could kill her and hide her body and no one would ever find her.
But for some idiotic reason that thought didn’t even scare her.
