Page 68 of Guardian Daddy

At least, not yet.

“I feel so embarrassed and so . . . so stupid.”

“Hey, stop. You do not speak about yourself that way, understand me?” He drew her back so he could stare down at her. “I won’t accept you calling yourself stupid.”

“But I am.”

“Cate, you are a smart, educated, gorgeous woman. Not stupid.”

Her hand rose to her wrist.

“None of that,” he said warningly, taking hold of her hand. Was she trying to flick herself with her hair tie again?

Was that something she did regularly?

That didn’t sit well with him, and he’d have to keep an extra eye on her.

She’s not your sub.

But she was still his charge. And she had a fragility to her that called to him. An inner strength that intrigued him.

It was hard to explain—like the woman herself.

Complicated.

“If it happens again while I’m here are you all right with me taking care of you?” he asked.

She was silent for a long time.

“Would you rather I walk away? Was there anything you don’t want me to do?”

“I don’t want you to walk away,” she finally said. “But why would you want . . .”

Ahh. He understood now.

“I told you that I like taking care of people. But especially Littles. It fulfils something inside me. It’s hard to describe, but it’s like there is this bottomless pit in my stomach that only ever feels full when I’m taking care of someone else.”

“So you go to a club and take care of Littles and that helps? But you can’t do that here, so you’d like to take care of me?”

“I want to take care of you because I like you, Cate.”

She stiffened.

“As a friend. I still want us to be friends,” he added quickly.

“Oh. I’m not . . . it wouldn’t be a problem to look after me?”

“I would never consider you a problem, Cate,” he said fiercely.

“Then I guess it would work.”

“And you would have a safeword, of course,” he said hastily.

She gave him a shocked look. “But I wouldn’t want you to . . . to undress me or . . . or . . . to touch me . . . ”

“I wouldn’t,” he said quickly. “I would be as hands off as possible. I would only touch you if necessary for your health and safety. I would take care of you like Rhodes does. Make sure you have what you need and don’t do anything dangerous.”

“That sounds acceptable. If Rhodes isn’t here. In an emergency.”

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