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)
She blinked. She’d learned early on that it didn’t matter if she was in the wrong or not.
Cate always had to apologize.
“Cate, you okay?” Rhodes called out from the table.
She glanced over at him with a nod. She was fine. Just a bit . . . flummoxed. “I don’t have to apologize if something isn’t my fault.”
Rhodes stared at her for a long moment. “I’ve been trying to tell you that for years.”
He had?
“Next time say it louder.”
To her surprise, he grinned like she’d said something funny. But she couldn’t understand what.
“So your boyfriend spanks your girlfriend?” she asked Brody.
Brody gulped. “Um. Yep.”
“That’s interesting. I thought that only happened in books.” She’d never understood why her body reacted so much to those scenes. Reading was her one escape. Well . . . she could slip into Little headspace, too, but she didn’t allow herself to do that.
But reading . . . she could escape into another world. Be another person.
A person who wasn’t so different and difficult.
Someone who could function.
Who didn’t need to live with their brother because otherwise she’d become a total recluse who forgot to eat, or exercise, or pay her bills.
She loved reading romance, especially books with dominant men who spanked their women and were crazy, protective, and possessive.
Her favorite author was CJ Bennett.
Brody rubbed the back of his neck. “Nah, it happens plenty in real life too.”
She leaned forward. “Do you get spanked?”
Unfortunately, the room went quiet just as she said that.
Rhodes stood and came over. “Brody, I’m so sorry. Cate, honey, you can’t really ask questions like that.” He put his hand on her shoulder, but she still flinched.
Rhodes grimaced.
Shit.
She was making everything worse. She couldn’t ask questions like that. What was she thinking? She knew that. But Brody was easy to talk to.
And now, Rhodes had to come to help her. He was probably annoyed or embarrassed. Maybe both.
Cate couldn’t even look toward the table to see how everyone was reacting.
They were probably wondering why Rhodes put up with her. That was something she wondered about daily.
Cate withdrew into herself, pulling her mask on. “I apologize, Brody. I didn’t mean to be inappropriate.”
“Cate, it’s all right.” Rhodes crouched next to her and she took a deep breath.
She hated being like this. Such an idiot. And the worst thing was . . . sometimes she wasn’t sure when she’d been inappropriate. Rhodes had to tell her.
You’re nothing but a burden, Cate.
Clenching her hands into fists, she tried to stave off the panic attack. If she could flick her hair tie, then things would be better.
But Rhodes wouldn’t like that.
“I need to go to work.” Cate stood.
“I wasn’t offended,” Brody said, standing with her. “Really.”
Rhodes stared at him. “Um.”
“He’s really not,” Ink called out.
Cate risked looking over at them. Mr. Blue was smiling. Ink looked relaxed. And for some reason, Mr. Stone winked at her. Which was surprising, because he looked so stern. Unyielding.
He was an extremely large man. She wondered if it was natural, or he spent all of his free time in the gym.
Kevin stared at her with his mouth pinched together. That was nothing unusual, though.
“Please sit again, Cate,” Brody told her. “Everything is fine. I’m not offended, and you didn’t do anything wrong.”
How did he know she was thinking that she’d done something wrong?
She slowly sat, and Rhodes gave her shoulder a squeeze before returning to the table.
“I am very sorry for asking that. It was inappropriate, and I’ll endeavor not to do it in the future,” she said stiffly.
Brody waved his hand in the air. “Seriously. I meant what I said. Not offended. And the answer is yes.”
“The answer?”
To whether he got spanked, dummy.
“Oh.” Wow.
He was red but smiling. “I won’t say I enjoy it, exactly. But I like having a boyfriend who is my Dominant. I need it. Sometimes, I go into my own head and ignore everything around me. Like, you know, showering and eating, and changing into clean clothes.”
She did that sometimes. Did she need a Dom? Although she couldn’t imagine having someone tell her what to do.
Cate knew she could be quite stubborn.
“Do you really think you could get this stain out?” Brody asked.
“I think so.”
Suddenly, he whipped off his T-shirt and handed it to her. “Thanks.”
“What’s going on here?”
Cate startled at Kevin’s voice. He was staring down at them both in disbelief. “What are you doing?”
“Cate?” Rhodes glanced over at them.
“Uh, he has a stain.” She held up the T-shirt.
Idiot.
Be normal.
“So he just whipped his T-shirt off in front of you?” Kevin was giving Brody a look that she didn’t like.
“I asked him to,” she told him firmly. Most of the time, she stayed out of Kevin’s way. She knew that he was great for Rhodes’ career, which is why she never said anything to her brother . . . but Kevin could be a dick sometimes.