Page 176 of Guardian Daddy

He sighed. “I’m just seeing a different side to her than I have before. Samantha can be very selfish.”

Wow. He was finally seeing that about her?

“You can always tell her to get lost,” Ethan said.

Rhodes turned to Ethan, his gaze narrowed. “I can tell you to get lost too.”

“No, you can’t,” Cate said. “Ethan doesn’t work for you anymore. He quit.”

“Ink told me. This is still my house.”

“Isn’t it my house, too?” she asked. “I mean, I guess technically, it isn’t.”

Rhodes scowled. “Fuck. Of course it is, honey. This will always be your house.”

“Then I can invite whoever I want to stay?”

“Yes,” he said in a low voice. “Whoever you want.”

“Good. Because Ethan and I are together. And you will deal with it.”

Rhodes gaped at her and she thought she heard Ethan muffle a laugh. But that made no sense.

None of this was funny.

Rhodes let out a deep sigh. “You’re sure about this, Cate?”

“I am. When have you ever known me to do something big that I haven’t put a lot of thought into?”

“You’re right. You’re the most logical, least emotionally driven person I know.”

That sort of made her sound like a robot.

But was that accurate? In a way, she guessed she had been rather robotic.

“Jesus, man. What the fuck? Don’t talk to her like that,” Ethan growled at Rhodes, stepping toward him. “She has emotions and feelings.”

Something filled Rhodes’ face as he gaped at Ethan, then her. “Fuck. I’m messing this all up. Fuck, Cate. I’m sorry, honey. I didn’t mean to imply that you didn’t feel things. I just?—”

“It’s all right.” She reached out and squeezed his hand. “I understand. I’m not upset. I’ve always struggled with my emotions and it’s been easier to try to shut them down so I don’t get hurt.”

“Can I have another hug?” Rhodes asked.

She nodded and let him hug her tight. When he set her back, he looked almost happy. Maybe relieved? She wasn’t sure.

“I just want you to know that I’m not going to let this scumbag stalker hurt you anymore. We need more bodyguards, so I think we should look at a local team.”

Ethan nodded. “I agree, especially as I’m now officially on leave so I can devote myself to Cate. You’ll need someone else for Samantha and to relieve Seth. Ink is trying to work on freeing up someone else to come out. But until they can get here it would help.”

“Devote yourself to Cate? Hmm. You know, I think I might just approve of you dating my sister, after all.”

Ethan held out his hand and they did some complicated handshake.

“But if you hurt my sister, I’ll kill you.”

“I would expect nothing less,” Ethan replied.

She shook her head. Men.

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