Page 18 of Guardian Daddy

“I, um, it’s just . . . that stool . . . I’m sorry.”

“You want to sit on this stool?” he asked.

“Sorry. Yes, I do.”

“No need to be sorry.” He got up to move around to a different stool. “Is it all right if I sit here? Or would you rather I leave while you eat your breakfast?”

He was moving?

Without making a fuss?

What had he asked? If he could stay? Would he really leave if she asked him to?

“No, of course you can stay.”

That was the polite answer. The one she knew she should give.

But to her surprise, she actually didn’t mind the idea of him being here while she ate.

That was . . . odd.

She settled, stealing a glimpse of him as she picked up her knife and fork.

Wait. Shoot. He was going to think she was weird for eating a bagel with a knife and fork, wasn’t he?

Nobody ate their bagel with a knife and fork. But she didn’t like to touch her food when she ate it.

Cate set her knife and fork down just as he turned away. Now he was leaving.

You scared him away.

“Would you like more coffee?” Ethan asked, moving to the coffee pot.

So he wasn’t leaving?

Lord, this was an emotional rollercoaster.

“Um, oh, no, thank you.”

Ethan poured himself some coffee and she quickly ate a bite of bagel.

When he turned back, she attempted to swallow it before it was thoroughly chewed. Coughing, she reached for her coffee. She needed a drink.

Crap! She couldn’t breathe!

“Shit! Cate!”

She was vaguely aware of Ethan racing around to her side.

He pounded his hand on her back as she struggled to breathe or swallow. She knocked the coffee over, spilling it across the counter.

“Cate!”

That was Rhodes’ voice.

“Cough it up, Cate! Cough it up! Right. Now,” Ethan said in the most commanding voice she’d ever heard from anyone.

As she started to cough up the bagel, he stuck his hand in front of her mouth, capturing the half-chewed mess as it came out of her mouth.

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