Chapter 7
7
E than 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.
But Ethan was in overprotective mode when it came to Cate.
He briskly patted Oliver down, then waved him through.
“Cate’s in her office.”
“Of course she is. Where else would our little dictator be?” Oliver said cheerfully.
“Dictator?” Ethan didn’t like that.
“Oh, I meant that in the nicest way possible. She’s a work-a-holic is our Cate.”
For some reason, Ethan didn’t like Oliver calling Cate ‘our.’
Chill out, man.
“Hey, I’m usually here a few times a week. Are you going to give me a pat-down every time?”
“Perhaps. Is that a problem?”
“No. No problem!” Oliver laughed as he walked through the house toward Cate’s office. Ethan shook his head at himself.
He was acting like an idiot.
Was he actually jealous because Oliver got to see Cate?
What he needed to do was concentrate on his actual job and stop worrying about his client.
You’re being an idiot.
Yep. But he still couldn’t stop himself from knocking on her office door twenty minutes later, holding a bowl of sliced strawberries.
He’d seen Mrs. Sanders, Rip’s housekeeper, bring her strawberries every afternoon. However, the older woman had an appointment this afternoon and he couldn’t stand the idea of Cate going without her afternoon snack.
To his surprise, Oliver answered the door. Dressed in just an undershirt.
What the heck?
Then Ethan noticed how warm it was in the room. Cate obviously felt the cold if she had a heater on. The rest of the house was kept at an acceptable sixty-seven degrees to combat the heat outside.
“Hi, Ethan!” Oliver said. “Oh, strawberries? Perfect. I love strawberries.”
“These aren’t for you,” Ethan told him bluntly.
“You don’t love strawberries,” Cate said, glancing over at Oliver with a small frown. “You’re allergic to them. You break out in hives and scratch a lot. And your throat swells up and makes it hard for you to breathe.”
Oliver gave Cate a tight smile. “Remember how we talked about oversharing?”
“Oh. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.”
To someone else, it might look like Cate wasn’t affected by Oliver’s words. But Ethan saw how her fingers tightened on her pen, and the skin around her eyes grew tighter.
He wanted to say something to put her at ease. But he wasn’t sure whether that would help or make it worse. She’d obviously breached some trust or a boundary of Oliver’s, and he was simply pointing it out.
“It’s all right.” Oliver waved away her apology.
“Why did you say you wanted strawberries, then?” Cate asked.
“I was teasing Ethan,” Oliver explained. “I knew he didn’t bring those for me.”
“Oh.” Cate flicked him a look. “They’re for me?”
“Yes. I know you like strawberries for an afternoon snack,” he said gruffly.
“Our Cate is a creature of habit,” Oliver said breezily. “Makes life easier, if a bit boring.”
“There’s nothing boring about liking a routine,” Ethan said with a frown.
“Oh, no offense intended.” Oliver reached out for the bowl, but Ethan stepped past him, placing the bowl down on Cate’s desk.
The room was very tidy. Floor-to-ceiling bookcases on two walls showcased a wide collection of books that appeared worn and well-used. There were no knick-knacks or photos. Just one large print on the wall of a sunset over the ocean.
Cate’s desk was made from the same dark wood as the bookcases and solid-looking. The sort of desk you could throw someone over to fuck them.
Or spank them.
Two plush chairs were positioned across from her. Oliver settled comfortably into one of them.
“Damn, I think I need my own bodyguard-slash-butler.” He ran his eyes over Ethan in admiration. “You’re so lucky, Cate.”
The words were light and teasing, but they still didn’t sit well with Ethan.
Cate frowned at Oliver. “Ethan is not a butler. He’s Rhodes’ bodyguard. And there is nothing lucky about him being here. Someone is threatening Rhodes.”
“Of course.” Oliver smiled at Cate. “I apologize.”
“I’m uncertain why you’re apologizing to me. You should apologize to Ethan.”
“You’re quite right. Sorry, big guy, I’m just a bit jealous. It’s been ages since someone wanted to take care of me.” There was a lost note in his voice and Ethan’s hackles eased.
“Ethan isn’t taking care of me,” Cate said.
“Cate, he brought you strawberries. Which he cut up. For you. Besides, you said it yourself: he’s not your butler, so he’s not being paid to do this. This is him taking care of you.”
“Oh.” She flicked her eyes to Ethan, then away. “I, uh, I apologize, Ethan. I didn’t mean to make you feel like I expected you to bring me food. It’s kind of you. But you don’t have to. I wouldn’t want to take advantage of you.” She turned to Oliver, who gave her a nod.
Clearly, she looked to Oliver for help in social situations, like she did with Rhodes.
However, he was kind of annoyed with Oliver for pointing out what he was doing. Now Cate felt awkward around him.
But Oliver wasn’t wrong. Ethan was trying to take care of her, which wasn’t strictly part of his job.
“Did it because I wanted to,” he told her.
Stepping out, he closed the door and sighed. Ethan wasn’t sure that had been a successful move. In fact, he wouldn’t be surprised if she now tried even harder to avoid him.