Page 49 of Guardian Daddy

“Rhoddy!”

“Hey, honey.” Rhodes rushed toward her, looking tired and disheveled. “Are you all right? What’s going on?”

“Lady isn’t eating her ice cream.”

“Naughty Lady, it’s melting,” Rhodes scolded. “I’ll make sure she eats it. In fact, why don’t you go brush your teeth and I’ll get Lady to eat it now.”

“Okay.” She climbed from the bed and looked at Rhodes nervously. “I’m sorry you had to come back because of me.”

“Cate, you know I’d do anything for you.”

She nodded, briefly hugging him before disappearing into the bathroom.

“How long has she been in Little headspace?” Rhodes asked Ethan as he picked up Lady’s bowl of ice cream and set it out in the hallway.

“Um, about forty minutes, I guess.”

“That’s longer than usual. But it might be because I wasn’t here. Thanks for taking care of her, but I have it from here.”

“Right. Sure. Will she be all right?” he asked.

“She will be now. Uh, could you do me a favor and take the bowl of ice cream away? I’ll tell her Lady ate it and you took it to the kitchen.”

“Sure.” It was all he could do to drag himself away from her. He wanted to grab her up and take her back to bed to snuggle.

Nothing else.

That would come later . . . once she knew him better.

But he forced himself to leave, knowing she wouldn’t want him around once she was out of Little headspace.

When he got to the kitchen, Seth was there, searching through the fridge.

“Want some ice cream? It’s a bit melted though.”

Seth shook his head and grabbed out the leftover lasagna. “Nah, that will make me sick. I need real food. There was nothing at the girlfriend’s place. Her fridge was filled with carrot sticks, hummus, and champagne.”

“Wasn’t the party catered?” Ethan asked.

“She told me that the help wasn’t allowed to just help themselves.”

“Whoa,” Ethan said. They’d had some demanding clients before. Some tried to treat them like they were their personal lackeys, as though they should always be there at their beck and call. But not letting Seth have any food?

That was next level.

What had she expected Seth to eat?

Seth slid some lasagna into the microwave. “She’s a real piece of work. Should have heard her when Rhodes told her he was coming back here. If my girl yelled at me like that, I’d either dump her or spank her.”

“Obviously, he cares for her.” But yeah, Ethan wasn’t seeing it, either.

“Anyway, they’re going out to brunch in the morning. So I need to get some sleep.”

“I’ll go with them,” Ethan offered.

Seth gave him a surprised look. “Yeah?”

They’d decided that Seth would take point with Rhodes. He didn’t mind the more social things that Rhodes had to do. Whereas Ethan wasn’t into that shit at all.

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