Page 27 of Cage

He raises his eyebrows and leans over so his mouth is close to my ear. “You can fight me as much as you want, Little girl. Iwon’t hesitate to put it in a blender and puree it into baby food, then spoon-feed you right here.”

I gasp and glance at Rowena, who nods. “Unfortunately, he’s not bluffing,” she says and then sticks her tongue out at Cage.

“Do we stick our tongue out at people?” Theo demands from beside her.

Rowena shrugs. “Maybe you don’t, but I do.”

Several men chuckle and shake their heads as Theo pinches the bridge of his nose.

“Let’s eat,” Rylan announces as he brings two huge pizzas into the room.

Cassian follows him with an enormous bowl of broccoli. I automatically scrunch my face.

When I reach for my plate, Cage picks it up first and fills it with a piece of pizza and some broccoli. Then, instead of setting it in front of me, he sets it on top of his own plate and starts cutting the pizza into pieces.

“I can do it,” I insist.

“Little girls don’t use knives or cut up their own food,” he replies without pausing.

“You’re not my Daddy.”

That makes him stop what he’s doing and look at me. “None of us are Rowena’s Daddy either, but we still look after her because she deserves to be taken care of. Just like you do.”

I swallow heavily and stare at him, a swell of longing in my throat. I’ve never really had anyone want to take care of me before. My father certainly didn’t. He didn’t even give me time to grieve after my mom died before he sent me off to boarding school. I don’t think he had the capacity to care for anyone after she died. It doesn’t make it right. He lost part of himself when he lost her.

“I want all of that gone.” Cage motions toward my plate as he sets it in front of me.

My tummy does that fluttery thing as I look down at the cut-up pizza. It’s silly. Stupid. I shouldn’t get so much joy from something like that, but it’s the first time any man has done something Daddyish for me.

“Thank you.”

“Such good manners,” Cage says with a wink. “Good girl.”

I really hope I don’t leave a pool of wetness on my seat when I get up. However, if Cage Black keeps acting like my Daddy, I can’t be held responsible for the way my body responds.

But if he keeps handing out the good girls, itmightbe worth eating broccoli.

10

CAGE

“Brush your teeth before you go to bed.”

She stops mid-stride and turns to look at me. “You know I’ve been managing myself for twenty-two years now; you don’t have to remind me to brush my teeth before bed.”

Maybe not, yet it feels damn good having Ember in my house to look after. She might not be my Little girl, but she’s fulfilling this longing I’ve been without for so many years. I love taking care of Rowie. She’s brought so much light into our lives. She’s not mine, though.

Neither is Ember.

Fuck.

I need to remember that part.

“Sorry,” I mutter with a sigh.

What’s wrong with me? I’ve known this woman for two days, and now I’m attached to her for some reason. This has never happened before. I’ve played with women and let them go without blinking an eye. I haven’t even touched Ember, and she’s all I can fucking think about. The cute way she scrunches her freckled nose when she doesn’t like something. And how firelights up in her eyes when she’s about to sass me. How she slept in the car with her thumb in her mouth. She needs a pacifier. Then there was that fucking panic attack that killed a piece of me on the inside. My poor girl. She should never have to suffer like that.

She’s notmygirl.

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