Page 21 of Guardian Daddy

“You got me coffee?” she asked, reaching up to take the mug.

Food, she could go without.

But coffee? Nope. She wouldn’t survive. Taking a sip, she breathed out a satisfied sigh. It was made perfectly with just the right amount of cinnamon vanilla creamer.

Delish.

“No, Ethan made you coffee,” Rhodes said in a strange voice.

She’d never heard her brother use that tone and couldn’t quite figure out what it meant. He sounded . . . upset? Concerned? But neither of those seemed quite right.

“And he also made you another bagel. He’s concerned that you won’t eat breakfast now. Oh, and he wants me to stay with you while you eat it, so you don’t choke again.”

She blinked. He did?

That was very . . . thoughtful.

“And you don’t want to do that?” she guessed. “It’s all right. I’m not going to choke again.”

Mainly because she’d eat here without any distractions. Shoot. She needed to get moving. Wasn’t she supposed to be in the office by now?

Checking the time on her watch, panic flooded her. “I have to get to my office. I’m due there in five minutes.”

Cate stared down at her bagel in mourning. She was hungry, and it looked delicious. Ethan had even included a knife and fork.

“Then you have four minutes and thirty seconds to eat,” Rhodes said

True.

“But I like to be early.”

Rhodes just shot her a look. “Eat, Cate. You’ll function better with food in your system.”

She cut herself off a piece and ate it. Yum.

Rhodes smiled at her.

“You’re being smug now, aren’t you? Because you think you’re right.”

“Big brothers are always right; don’t you know that by now?”

“Big brothers? I assume you’re talking about your size since we’re twins.”

“Hey! That’s rude.” He grinned. “I’m four minutes older, eighty pounds heavier, and nearly a whole foot taller. So yeah, I’m the big brother. And that means you have to listen to me.”

“I don’t know where you get these strange delusions from. Do you think you were dropped on your head as a child? James used to say I was beamed down to Earth from an alien planet of emotionless freaks.”

The thing was, she did have emotions. But they tended to scare her. And she didn’t know what to do with them or how to verbalize them. So she either repressed them or said something dumb.

You’re such an idiot, Cate.

“If anyone was dropped on their head as a kid, it was James,” Rhodes said angrily. “And you’re not an alien or emotionless. He’s a fucking asshole who deserves to be drop-kicked all the way into hell.”

She nodded. This was true.

“You might be delusional and think that you’re the boss of me, but I am glad you’re my brother.”

“Good, because you’re stuck with me.”

---