Page 81 of Guardian Daddy

“Actually, I work for your brother.”

Semantics.

“Why should I look at you? Because you’re good-looking?”

What? Why did she say that? She nearly groaned as she snuck a quick look at him.

“You think I’m good-looking?” he asked, smiling now.

Was she being cute again? Honestly, it was perplexing because she didn’t mean to be.

“I think that you need to get me to my meeting.”

“Cate, hey, calm down, sweetheart. Everything is all right. I’m sorry I was teasing you.”

“You were teasing me? About looking at you?” she asked, sneaking another look at him.

“About finding me good-looking. And I don’t have a girlfriend. Or a boyfriend.”

“You don’t?”

“No. I’m not gay. I didn’t look at Samantha because I didn’t want to. I wasn’t interested in looking at her and it didn’t seem appropriate. Plus, you were in the room. I’d much rather look at you.”

“But I never wear bikinis. I rarely wear any less than three layers.”

Right now, she was bundled up in a camisole, shirt, and blazer. And she was slightly chilled.

“That doesn’t deter me from wanting to look at you.”

“Oh?” She was so confused.

“When I said there was a problem with being friends, you weren’t the problem, baby. It’s me. All me.”

“I’m confused.”

He tightened his hands around the steering wheel. “You and me both. But you know what . . . forget about that. I do want to be your friend. So, let’s try that. Yes, friends. I can do that.”

“All right.” He seemed to be trying to convince himself, though.

Ethan pulled back out in the traffic right as someone tooted their horn and he winced. “Fuck. Sorry.”

They reached her downtown office building ten minutes later, where he parked in her dedicated spot under the building.

“Wait there until I come around and open the door for you,” he ordered as he turned off the SUV.

“Is that a bodyguard thing?” she asked.

“Yes. And it’s also an Ethan thing.”

Curious.

Perhaps he’d been raised to do things like that for women. She quite liked that idea. A lot of heroes in the books she read did that too.

He opened the door and held out his hand to her, glancing around as he did. She took his hand, but to her surprise, he didn’t let her go as he shut the door and locked the vehicle.

There was a loud noise from outside. A horn blasting. She jumped and put her hands over her ears.

“Shh. It’s all right. Just a car.”

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