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)
But it felt like a sign of weakness.
Be tougher, Cate.
“I’m okay,” she called out, hoping he’d just walk away.
“Cate, you just choked,” Rhodes said. “I need to see that you’re all right. Protocol.”
Protocol.
“All right. Come in.”
Opening the door, Rhodes walked in and crouched next to her. “Are you all right?”
“Other than feeling like I completely humiliated myself?” she asked. “Sure. I’m great.”
“Cate. You choked. It wasn’t embarrassing. It was worrying.”
Shoot. That’s all she did for Rhodes. Worried him.
Reaching out, she cupped the side of his face. Touch was often hard for her. But not with Rhodes. “Please don’t worry about me. Really. I just swallowed before I’d fully chewed.”
“But that’s not like you. It’s having all these strangers here, isn’t it?” he asked. “Do you want to go stay at the lake house?”
Rhodes had a vacation home at Big Bear Lake. It was a gorgeous log cabin. She liked it there far more than at this house. Up there, it felt like she could breathe.
Maybe she should go stay there. Would Oliver mind commuting out there once a week? What about her client meetings? Could they be moved? She needed to check her calendar.
Cate liked to have visual charts for everything. Showing what activities she had to do. Where she had to be. It all needed to be written down or she got upset.
Stop being a wimp, Cate.
“I’d have to send Seth or Ethan with you, though.”
“Why? No one is interested in me.”
“You don’t know that. The stalker tried to break in here while you were here.”
“To get to you. They just didn’t know that you weren’t here. I’d be fine at the vacation house on my own. But I don’t think I want to go.”
“Why not?” Rhodes asked.
“I want to be here with you. I know I’m just more work for you—”
“Hush,” he told her firmly. “You are not work, you’re my sister. I don’t want to hear that nonsense, understand? It upsets me to know you think about yourself like that.”
Cate knew she was a lot of work. But he’d never say that because he was an amazing brother. He was the best person she knew.
“It’s not nonsense.”
“Cate,” he said. She knew that tone. Rhodes was the one person who she usually understood without having to try to interpret what he meant or was feeling.
Cate sighed. “I just want to stay here with you. I don’t want to take one of your bodyguards away from you. You need them.”
Plus, she didn’t want to spend one-on-one time with one of them.
Especially Ethan.
Nope. That would be disastrous.
After what had just happened, her plan was to stay as far away from him as she could.
“All right. But I want your promise that if this gets too hard, you’ll tell me. And we’ll figure something else out. Even if that means hiring someone else for you. Someone you’re comfortable with.”
How would she ever be comfortable with someone?
There was a knock on the bedroom door and she stiffened. Who was that? Why would someone knock on her door?
They’re probably looking for Rhodes, you idiot.
Rhodes didn’t even bother asking her if she wanted him to answer the door, he just got to his feet and closed the closet door behind him.
She glanced around. This closet was her safe place. Rhodes had offered her one of the spare bedrooms, but she liked that this was cozy.
Although as far as closets went, hers was rather large. Rhodes had given her the main bedroom suite.
The closet door opened, making her jump. But Rhodes stepped in, holding a plate with a bagel on it. It looked almost exactly the same as the one she’d prepared before.
In his other hand, he held a cup of coffee.
“You got me coffee?” she asked, reaching up to take the mug.
Food, she could go without.
But coffee? Nope. She wouldn’t survive. Taking a sip, she breathed out a satisfied sigh. It was made perfectly with just the right amount of cinnamon vanilla creamer.
Delish.
“No, Ethan made you coffee,” Rhodes said in a strange voice.
She’d never heard her brother use that tone and couldn’t quite figure out what it meant. He sounded . . . upset? Concerned? But neither of those seemed quite right.
“And he also made you another bagel. He’s concerned that you won’t eat breakfast now. Oh, and he wants me to stay with you while you eat it, so you don’t choke again.”
She blinked. He did?
That was very . . . thoughtful.
“And you don’t want to do that?” she guessed. “It’s all right. I’m not going to choke again.”
Mainly because she’d eat here without any distractions. Shoot. She needed to get moving. Wasn’t she supposed to be in the office by now?
Checking the time on her watch, panic flooded her. “I have to get to my office. I’m due there in five minutes.”
Cate stared down at her bagel in mourning. She was hungry, and it looked delicious. Ethan had even included a knife and fork.