Weddings: the Brides: The Shy Bride / Bride in a Gilded Cage / The Bride's Awakening

“Not necessary, but I would appreciate you sharing the joke.”

“You.”

“I am the joke?” he asked in an odd voice.

“Um … yes.”

“Explain.”

“Neo, you have done nothing but boss me around since the moment I met you. Your control issues are hardly a deeply-seated psychological secret.”

“I do not have issues with control,” he replied with clear affront.

She almost laughed again, but she managed to stop herself with a judicious bite to her lower lip. It hurt, but it was effective. “No, you just insist on being the one who has it.”

“I cede control when necessary.”

“Which I’m sure isn’t often.”

“True, but there is nothing wrong with that.” His tone was almost defensive this time.

She couldn’t quite stifle the grin that caused, but she tried very hard not to let it show in her voice. “If you can handle the stress of so much responsibility, maybe not, but your insistence on changing my home to suit your whim is taking it a bit far. If you don’t mind my saying so.”

“We have discussed this. Concern for your safety is hardly a whim.”

“I thought we were implementing these changes for your safety.”

“Yesterday was disturbing for both of us. And I have bodyguards.”

“I see.” She’d thought as much, but when he had been so insistent, she’d been unable to comprehend him being that way for her sake rather than his own. “I don’t want to change my house for me.”

She didn’t want to change it at all, but particularly if the reason for doing so was some spurious need to increase her personal safety. She had lived her whole life in that house and was doing just fine. Even alone, like she had been since her father’s death.

“Consider, if the ruthlessly forward reporter that climbed your back deck had broken one of the glass panes on the French doors to your bedroom. Which he could have done all too easily. He could have gotten inside. Even if his intention was not to harm you, such an action would cause you grave distress.”

“There’s no reason to believe there will be a repeat of yesterday anytime soon, if ever.”

“You are a celebrity. You may be a shy one that does not court the spotlight, but with the increase in sales on each new album, you build a wider and wider fan base. An incident just like yesterday’s could indeed happen again, and soon.”

She shivered, feeling slightly nauseated at the prospect. Still, she had stopped being a public performer years ago. “Even though I have reasonable success with my music, I’m hardly at risk like a pop star.”

“But you are at risk.”

“Why are you so insistent?” she asked almost plaintively.

“It is what is best for you. I am used to doing what is best for the people who rely on me.”

“I am not one of your employees.”

“It does not matter.” He sighed, as if exasperated. “I have already arranged for payment if that is what concerns you.”

“You know it’s not.”

“Cassandra—”

“I’ll see you next week. Let me know if you wish to meet at the studio or your penthouse.”

He said her name again, but she simply said, “Goodbye,” at the same time.

She hung the phone up without another word.

Cass wished she was surprised when the doorbell rang the next morning before she’d even had her first cup of coffee, but she wasn’t. She was even less surprised to look out the window in the bedroom that overlooked the drive and see Neo’s Mercedes parked there.

He was not the type of man to let someone else set terms. Besides, no matter what she thought, he was convinced she needed to upgrade her house’s security.

She was less than halfway down the stairs when the doorbell rang. Impatient and quick, Neo didn’t linger on the doorstop dithering about whether or not to bother her so early in the morning as she would have done. She didn’t even consider trying to ignore the bell, or the man ringing it.

Neo would not be deterred by a mere refusal to answer the door. Besides, as much as she hated confrontation, she did not hide from it when necessary. And it was necessary to make Neo understand she wasn’t transforming her home on his whim.

All words along that vein and any others dried up when she swung the door wide to be confronted by the man in person. He was so darn gorgeous in today’s business suit, each dark hair perfectly in place, his green gaze locked on her with laserlike intensity.

She went hot all over and stopped breathing. For just a few seconds, but it was enough to remind her how out of control she felt in his presence.

Why did he affect her this way?

It was like the anxiety she felt at being in a crowd of strangers, only not. Because as unsettling as this feeling was, she liked it. She liked him.

Even when he was trying to boss her around.

He’d opened his mouth to speak, but shut it when he saw her. “What are you wearing?” he demanded after several seconds of silence.

Not sure what had him so confused, she looked down at herself. Yes, she had remembered to don her robe. The teal blue silk covered her from neck to ankle in more than adequate modesty. Her feet were bare, but she was in her own home, surely that wasn’t a crime?

She lifted her head and met his bright blue gaze, which was fixed on her with far too much intensity for this early in the morning.

“It’s not polite to stare.” Especially when the look felt so much like a physical touch. It just wasn’t right. “I haven’t even had my morning caffeine yet,” she grumbled.

He seemed less than impressed. “I have been up for two hours.”

“Good for you.” So, he’d gotten up at five-thirty? What a masochist. “Only, normal people wait to visit others, especially when they neglect to call ahead, until after eight, sometimes even nine.”

His brow quirked in that sexy way he had. “We have already established I am no average man.”

“Being extraordinary in no way gives you leave to be rude.” But she had to admit that this man would probably get away with a lot more than she would allow anyone else in her life.

And that did not bode well for the outcome of the discussion coming.

“This from the woman who hung up on me yesterday.”