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)
“Then you have four minutes and thirty seconds to eat,” Rhodes said
True.
“But I like to be early.”
Rhodes just shot her a look. “Eat, Cate. You’ll function better with food in your system.”
She cut herself off a piece and ate it. Yum.
Rhodes smiled at her.
“You’re being smug now, aren’t you? Because you think you’re right.”
“Big brothers are always right; don’t you know that by now?”
“Big brothers? I assume you’re talking about your size since we’re twins.”
“Hey! That’s rude.” He grinned. “I’m four minutes older, eighty pounds heavier, and nearly a whole foot taller. So yeah, I’m the big brother. And that means you have to listen to me.”
“I don’t know where you get these strange delusions from. Do you think you were dropped on your head as a child? James used to say I was beamed down to Earth from an alien planet of emotionless freaks.”
The thing was, she did have emotions. But they tended to scare her. And she didn’t know what to do with them or how to verbalize them. So she either repressed them or said something dumb.
You’re such an idiot, Cate.
“If anyone was dropped on their head as a kid, it was James,” Rhodes said angrily. “And you’re not an alien or emotionless. He’s a fucking asshole who deserves to be drop-kicked all the way into hell.”
She nodded. This was true.
“You might be delusional and think that you’re the boss of me, but I am glad you’re my brother.”
“Good, because you’re stuck with me.”
7
Ethan was pretty sure that Cate was avoiding him.
He’d been here a week and hadn’t seen or interacted with her other than in the kitchen four days ago when she’d choked. He’d tried to check on her later, but she’d claimed to be busy and wouldn’t even look him in the eyes. Ethan knew she was likely embarrassed and had wanted to reassure her.
But it was hard to reassure someone who didn’t want to listen. Much less be in your presence.
Talk about a blow to the ego.
Since then, he’d never been able to time things right to see her again.
He knew she liked her routine. Which meant that she had to be messing up that routine in order to what . . . avoid him?
Fuck. That didn’t sit well with him.
It couldn’t be good for her to hide away in this house without interacting with anyone. She spent nearly all of her time in either her bedroom or the office.
Which was starting to worry him.
He had seen the housekeeper taking trays of food to her room. So at least she was eating. But what about fresh air? Exercise?
Urgh.
Fuck.
Ethan didn’t think he’d ever felt this way before. Typically, he was the sort of guy who didn’t let stuff get to him because if something was wrong, he took care of it.
If there was someone who needed his help, his discipline, his care, then he freely gave it.
But it was hard to support Cate when she seemed to be a ghost in her own home.
And why wasn’t her brother worried about her?
Seth had gone with Rhodes to a meeting at the studio. Before leaving, Rhodes had asked Ethan to stay back at the house with Cate.
Which wasn’t a problem. Only, he was driving himself nuts trying to decide whether to interrupt her so he could force her to talk to him.
Or to take a break.
Pull it in.
You’re her bodyguard. Not her boyfriend. Not her Dom.
His watch vibrated, and he checked his alerts. There was someone waiting at the gate.
Walking over to the tablet on the wall, Ethan tapped it. Brody and Ink had set up tablets in all of the occupied rooms so that anyone in the house could check when the buzzer at the gate was pressed. Or when there was a security breach.
Through the camera, he saw a dark-haired man at the gate, sitting in a late-model BMW.
This had to be Oliver, Cate’s assistant. Ethan had been told to expect him this morning.
“Hello,” he said through the intercom.
“Hey, I’m Oliver. Cate’s assistant,” a cheerful voice said.
“Identification, please. Hold it up to the camera.”
Oliver smiled. “Of course. Cate said you’d want some ID.” He held up his license.
“All right, I’ll open the gate so you can proceed.”
Ethan waited for him at the front door, watching as he parked his car and then retrieved a briefcase from the backseat.
He was a slender guy with dark hair and tanned skin. His clothes looked expensive and tidy. And his smile appeared genuine.
“Hi, I’m Oliver. And you’re either Ethan or Seth. Cate didn’t know which of you would be here.”
“Ethan,” he said abruptly. “I need to give you a pat-down.”
Oliver’s eyes widened. “Yeah? Don’t be sorry about that.”
It wasn’t strictly necessary. Rhodes had told him that Oliver had worked for Cate for over a year and that they both trusted him.