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 stared at him for a long moment, trying to process everything he’d said. He’d pulled the car over to thank her for telling him that she didn’t like the word brat.
That was . . . so strange. And yet, she thought it was sweet too.
“I don’t have many friends,” she blurted out.
Well, any, really.
“No?” he asked.
Idiot.
He already knew that. It wasn’t hard to tell that she had no social life.
“But if you still want to be my friend, I would like that.”
Could she have said that more awkwardly?
And please don’t let him reject her.
Please.
“I would love to be your friend, Cate.” He dropped his hand to hers, squeezing it lightly.
Thank goodness.
“There’s just one problem.”
Cate grew tense. “Me? It’s me, isn’t it? It’s my awkwardness. I make everything weird. And I probably wouldn’t make a very good friend. I understand. Thank you, anyway.”
“Whoa, Little girl, you’re very lucky that you’re not mine.”
Lucky that she wasn’t his? That statement didn’t make much sense. Why would she be lucky because of that?
“Why?”
“Because you’d be over my knee right now, getting your butt spanked for talking about yourself like that.”
Her breath caught in her throat. Spanked?
“You do that?” she asked when she could manage to get her words out.
“I do that.”
“To . . . to your girlfriend?” Why hadn’t she considered that he might have a girlfriend? A guy like Ethan Stone surely wouldn’t be single. He was so . . . so perfect—like a romance hero brought to life. He was protective and caring and he listened.
Plus, he was pretty nice to look at. Rhodes had a number of friends who were actors and singers. They were all charismatic and handsome.
Yet, none of them had anything on Ethan.
She felt like such a fool. He had a girlfriend. Anything that she’d sensed from him was in her head. Why couldn’t she read people and situations?
Thank God she hadn’t done anything stupid.
She hadn’t, had she?
“I thought you might be gay.”
“You thought I was gay? Why?”
Hmm. He didn’t appear to be angry. In fact, he seemed quite relaxed. There was . . . warmth in his face?
“Because you didn’t look at Samantha when she was in that bikini. But perhaps it’s because you have a girlfriend. Or a boyfriend. I think we should go to my meeting now.”
“Cate,” he said in a low voice.
She was not going to look at him. She didn’t want him to see how embarrassed she was.
“Cate, look at me.”
“You do remember that you work for me. I don’t have to do what you say.”
“Actually, I work for your brother.”
Semantics.
“Why should I look at you? Because you’re good-looking?”
What? Why did she say that? She nearly groaned as she snuck a quick look at him.
“You think I’m good-looking?” he asked, smiling now.
Was she being cute again? Honestly, it was perplexing because she didn’t mean to be.
“I think that you need to get me to my meeting.”
“Cate, hey, calm down, sweetheart. Everything is all right. I’m sorry I was teasing you.”
“You were teasing me? About looking at you?” she asked, sneaking another look at him.
“About finding me good-looking. And I don’t have a girlfriend. Or a boyfriend.”
“You don’t?”
“No. I’m not gay. I didn’t look at Samantha because I didn’t want to. I wasn’t interested in looking at her and it didn’t seem appropriate. Plus, you were in the room. I’d much rather look at you.”
“But I never wear bikinis. I rarely wear any less than three layers.”
Right now, she was bundled up in a camisole, shirt, and blazer. And she was slightly chilled.
“That doesn’t deter me from wanting to look at you.”
“Oh?” She was so confused.
“When I said there was a problem with being friends, you weren’t the problem, baby. It’s me. All me.”
“I’m confused.”
He tightened his hands around the steering wheel. “You and me both. But you know what . . . forget about that. I do want to be your friend. So, let’s try that. Yes, friends. I can do that.”
“All right.” He seemed to be trying to convince himself, though.
Ethan pulled back out in the traffic right as someone tooted their horn and he winced. “Fuck. Sorry.”
They reached her downtown office building ten minutes later, where he parked in her dedicated spot under the building.
“Wait there until I come around and open the door for you,” he ordered as he turned off the SUV.
“Is that a bodyguard thing?” she asked.
“Yes. And it’s also an Ethan thing.”
Curious.
Perhaps he’d been raised to do things like that for women. She quite liked that idea. A lot of heroes in the books she read did that too.
He opened the door and held out his hand to her, glancing around as he did. She took his hand, but to her surprise, he didn’t let her go as he shut the door and locked the vehicle.
There was a loud noise from outside. A horn blasting. She jumped and put her hands over her ears.