Page 42 of Guardian Daddy

“Endearment. Okay. I likes it. But I is a big girl.” She pointed a finger at him threateningly.

“How big are you?”

She glanced down at her fingers, then held up three.

“Three? Wow, you are a very big girl.”

She wriggled as though happy at his words.

God help him. All of this worried him . . . the fact that she’d regressed like this after a nightmare. And that she seemed content to let him look after her even though she’d never allow it under normal circumstances. What if he hadn’t been here? What if Seth had been the one staying here with her?

Seth was a good guy. He would look after her . . . but that didn’t mean that a shaft of jealousy didn’t go through Ethan at the thought. Plus, he wasn’t even sure if Seth was a Daddy Dom.

Obviously Rhodes knew this happened, since it didn’t seem like this was a one-off thing. Why hadn’t he said anything to Ethan, though?

Shit. Cate is waiting for you to say something.

“But even though you are a big girl, you aren’t old enough to make your own food.”

She sighed. “Okay.”

“Would you like to come to the kitchen while I make you some food?”

He really didn’t know how far to take this. It didn’t feel right to Daddy her when she wasn’t able to give consent. He wasn’t entirely sure what was going on. And would she remember this tomorrow?

But what else could he do? Let her get food herself while she was like this?

You could call Rhodes.

What could Rhodes do, though? He could come back here. But that would take a while and Ethan would still have to feed her. Take care of her.

So perhaps it was better to not contact Rhodes.

Except he was being selfish, wasn’t he?

Because all he wanted was to take care of her.

“I wants ice cream!” She flung her hands up in the air.

God. She was so different from adult Cate. That Cate was guarded and careful. This Cate was completely open.

And vulnerable.

No. He had to do what was right for her. And that was contacting her brother to let him know what was happening.

“Ice cream! Ice cream!” she chanted.

Yeah, he didn’t think ice cream at two in the morning was a good idea.

“Ice cream in the middle of the night? Not happening, Little Catie-pie.”

She stared at him, her mouth open.

Uh-oh. Had he broken her with his refusal to get her ice cream?

“My name isn’t Catie-pie.”

“It should be. Like cutie-pie but Catie.”

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