Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 134598 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 673(@200wpm)___ 538(@250wpm)___ 449(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 134598 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 673(@200wpm)___ 538(@250wpm)___ 449(@300wpm)
Cate choked.
“Baby, wake up! It’s a dream!”
She was shifted, shaken back and forth. “Cate!”
Samantha morphed into Kevin. “You’re a liability, Cate! You’re ruining Rhodes’ life.”
“Cate! You’re having a nightmare! Wake up! Wake up, right now, baby girl. Or Daddy will not be happy.”
Daddy!
Ethan!
Oh, she loved him. She wanted to stay with him forever. Why couldn’t she?
“Baby, please stop crying. I didn’t mean it. I didn’t mean it. Wake up, you’re killing me.”
She didn’t want to kill him. She loved Ethan.
“Wake up.”
Slowly, her eyes opened, and she stared up into Ethan’s worried face. She was on his lap. Her favorite place to be. “Daddy.”
“Fuck, my baby. Yes, it’s me. Daddy.”
“She’s awake. Thank God.”
Turning her head, she saw Rhodes standing there in just his pajama pants. “Rhoddy!”
Rhodes smiled at her. “Hey, honey. You doing okay?”
“My throat hurts.” She swallowed heavily.
“Your throat hurts?” Ethan asked urgently. “Maybe you’re getting ill. We need the first aid kit. Do you have a thermometer in it?”
“She’s probably just got a sore throat because she was yelling,” Rhodes replied.
“I wasn’t yelling,” she exclaimed. “Was I?”
Ethan put his hand over her forehead. “I don’t know. She feels hot to me.”
Rhodes placed his hand over her head. “She’s probably just warm because she had so many blankets on her. I think she’s fine. Do you feel okay, honey?”
“Nope.”
“See?” Ethan said.
“I needs ice cream for my sore throat.”
Rhodes shot Ethan a look that she couldn’t decipher. Not that she wanted to. What she really wanted was ice cream!
Ethan shook his head. Ice cream? Again?
She was going to rot her teeth. He didn’t understand how she didn’t get a stomachache from eating ice cream this late at night.
This was the second night in a row that she’d had night terrors so bad she woke up the entire house. Her screams of terror were haunting. Last night, he hadn’t been able to go back to sleep afterward. He’d taken her to see her therapist today, but she’d come out of the appointment shaken and pale. Logically, he knew that therapy could shake things up. Rattle your emotions.
Illogically, he’d wanted to go in and shake the therapist for upsetting her.
He wasn’t sure he’d gotten any sleep tonight, either, before she’d started thrashing around in the bed, screaming.
But the worst part was when she started choking. He ran his hand over her head, surprised to see that he was trembling.
Jesus. He’d been in the Special Forces. He’d been a bodyguard for years. And yet, nothing had prepared him for the terror on his girl’s face when she was stuck in a nightmare.
Reaching over, he grabbed a sippy cup of water. The sippy cup was another purchase he’d made for her.
Yesterday, she’d thrown herself into her work. Ethan had realized that she was trying to forget what happened with Kevin and Samantha.
But he’d ended up making her take a nap after her therapy appointment because she’d been so exhausted. He’d let her suck on his cock until she’d fallen asleep.
“Drink up, baby. See if that helps your throat without the ice cream.”
She glared at him.
Oh, she was so naughty sometimes. That reminded him that he still owed her a spanking for Sunday evening.
After learning that she’d once cut her wrist, he’d felt the overwhelming urge not to let her out of his sight. It was hard not to plant himself in her office and just watch her.
“I don’t want water, Daddy.” She wrinkled her nose. “Yuck. Ice cream.”
“No ice cream until you drink some water,” he said sternly.
“Mean.” She pouted, then turned to Rhodes. “Rhoddy? Ice cream?”
Oh. She was going to get herself into big trouble.
“Baby, you can’t get told no by Daddy, then go ask your brother,” Ethan told her.
“Why not?” she asked. “Rhoddy gives me whatever I want. Ooh, maybe I should just ask him in the first place? Okie-dokie.”
“No, you don’t go ask him in the first place,” he replied sternly. “You only ask me. And if I tell you no, then that’s it.”
Her lower lip trembled, and she sniffled. “You’re telling me no?”
Dear. Lord.
How? How did this happen?
“Baby,” he whispered. “Don’t cry.”
Sniffle. Sniffle.
“You can have the ice cream. I’ll get it for you,” Rhodes told her, glaring at him.
Ethan gave him a hard look back. Rhodes should know better than to interfere.
“You spoil her.”
“She’s my sister. If she wants ice cream, then she gets ice cream.”
“And she’s my Little,” Ethan replied. “My baby. You should know better than this.”
“Fuck.” Rhodes crossed his arms over his chest. “Well, if you just give her the ice cream there won’t be a problem.”
“Please, Daddy. I will be a good girl.”
Damn it.
He was going to kill Rhodes later. Interfering bastard.
But he found himself caving when he stared down at his girl. She deserved some damn ice cream after everything she’d been through.
“You can have some ice cream. But I want you to drink what’s in your sippy cup first.”