Chapter 12
12
E than positioned himself so he could still see into her room as he answered the phone.
“Rhodes?”
“What happened?” Rhodes snapped. “What’s wrong with Cate?”
“I wouldn’t say there is anything wrong with her exactly.”
“Ethan, I didn’t take you for someone who beat around the bush. Fucking tell me,” Rhodes demanded.
“Rip? What’s going on?” Samantha asked in the background, sounding annoyed.
“Nothing, babe. Go back to sleep.”
“But who are you talking to?” she asked.
“It’s just Ethan. I’ll go into the hallway.”
“You can’t go back to Cate, we’re going out for brunch tomorrow. She’ll be okay,” Samantha whined.
Christ, how did Rhodes put up with that voice all the time? It was grating. He grimaced.
“Right, I’m alone. Tell me.”
“She woke me up screaming. I ran into her room, thinking there had to be someone in there even though nothing was showing on the system.”
“Fuck. A night terror,” Rhodes muttered. “I thought she’d be all right because she hasn’t had any since you guys moved in. Something must have upset her. Maybe it’s because I’m not there. Is she awake right now? I don’t hear any screaming. Please tell me you didn’t leave her alone.”
“Of course I didn’t,” Ethan replied. “I’m looking at her right now.”
“Okay. Put me on the phone with her.”
“Do you think that’s a good idea? She’s . . . uh . . . well, she seems to have regressed.”
Rhodes let out a deep breath. “Fuck. I was hoping that she hadn’t since you didn’t lead with that.”
“Well, I didn’t want to just come out and say it without explaining how I ended up in your sister’s bedroom at two in the morning.”
“Yeah, good thinking. I’m going to come home now. Do you think . . . you can’t leave her like that! She . . . it’s not like . . . shit. How do I explain this?”
“Would it help if I told you that I’m a Daddy Dom?”
Rhodes let out a long sigh. “Yeah, that helps. I wasn’t sure. The thing is, this is more like complete regression. She can’t . . . she isn’t capable of just slipping back into being Big. It’s not sleepwalking exactly, but Cate isn’t entirely awake either.”
“So what you’re saying is that she needs someone to take care of her while she’s Little.”
“Would you mind? I’ll try to get back there as fast as I can. Fuck, it’s going to take me at least thirty minutes to get there by the time I finish arguing with Samantha.”
“I can take care of her.”
It would be his privilege.
“I don’t really like this. Cate’s my sister and you’re still a stranger. You being a Daddy Dom . . . fuck, I guess that makes things easier. But she doesn’t know you and would likely be horrified if she found out about this.”
“Does she usually remember in the morning? Does this happen often?” Ethan asked.
“Not often, or I would have warned you. I should have anyway, but I didn’t want to breach her privacy. Plus, it hasn’t happened recently. Generally, it only occurs when something upsets her. She has night terrors, and then she’s kind of stuck in this state where she’s not asleep, but she’s not awake either. However, she always regresses.”
Ethan had a lot of questions, but he could see her getting restless. And he could find out the answer to those questions tomorrow.
“I have her. I can look after her if you need to stay with Samantha. But I don’t feel completely comfortable with it when she hasn’t consented to letting me Top her.”
“Which is why I’m coming home. Just keep her calm until I get there.”
“I’ll make her something to eat. She’s hungry.”
“Yeah, that happens a lot too. She doesn’t always remember to eat during the day. She likes ice cream.”
“Yes, we’ve had that conversation. Do not come back by yourself. Wake Seth and get him to bring you.”
He heard a murmur of voices in the background. Masculine, not Samantha’s shrill tone. Ethan turned away from the door for a moment.
“He’s already awake. He said he got a text from you.”
“I didn’t tell him anything,” Ethan told him quickly. “I wouldn’t break your sister’s privacy like that. And I won’t be saying anything unless it’s necessary for her safety.”
“Good. I’ll text you when we’re ten minutes out. Can you get her into her bedroom or mine, please? So he doesn’t see her.”
“Sure thing.”
Ethan ended the call and turned back to the doorway, nearly gasping as he saw her standing right there.
“Well, hello,” he said, wondering how long she’d been standing there.
Why had he turned away? Taken his eyes off her? And how the hell had he not heard her move? He was ex-Special Forces. No one ever managed to sneak up on him.
But he guessed he had been concentrating on his conversation.
“What are you doing out of bed?” he asked her.
“Hungry.” She rubbed her belly and slid past him.
“Catie-pie, didn’t I tell you to stay on the bed?” he said sternly.
“I gots bored. And my tummy is rumbling. And you’re all yap-yap-yap. Men are such chatterboxes.” She patted Lady as she said that.
“I was just talking to your brother,” he explained carefully.
“Oh.” She walked toward the kitchen.
Damn, she was adorable in those ladybug pajamas.
When she reached the fridge, she opened the freezer and pulled out some tubs of ice cream.
He sighed.
“What did I say about ice cream, Little Catie-pie?” he asked in a firm voice.
“Yeah, but you aren’t my Daddy.”
Ouch. That hurt more than it should considering it was just the truth.
“If I cut up some fruit, will you at least eat it with the ice cream?” he asked.
This wasn’t how he’d act if she were his Little. No ice cream since it was the middle of the night. And Little girls only got ice cream after they’d eaten their veggies.
But he had to keep reminding himself that she wasn’t his. And he couldn’t tell her what to do.
“Okay,” she conceded.
“And you should have slippers on and your dressing gown.” Shoot. He should have wrapped her up in some more clothes before letting her leave the room. She had to be cold.
She glanced over at him. “You should have pajamas on.”
Ethan looked down at himself and started to swear. Cate started giggling.
Holy crap.
He wasn’t sure he’d even seen her smile, let alone laugh. And now she was giggling like a loon as she pointed at him.
All right, so generally he wouldn’t appreciate a woman pointing at his half-naked body and laughing. However, in this case, he’d take it.
“You’re nudie-rudie.”
“I’m not naked,” he grumbled.
“Might as well be. Cate get nudie-rudie too.” She attempted to pull her pajama top off.
“Shit! No!” he yelled, jumping toward her.
She startled back with a gasp. Fuck. Why did he do that?
Because you didn’t want her to start stripping in front of you.
Yeah, this was not the way he wanted to get her naked. That would be wrong on so many levels.
But now her lower lip was wobbling as she stared up at him sadly. “What did I do wrong?”
“Hey, you didn’t do anything wrong.”
“You gots mad.”
“I don’t want you getting cold,” he said quickly. “You need to keep your PJs on, all right?”
“Okay.”
“Promise me.”
She crossed her finger over her chest.
Adorable.
She scooped ice cream into two bowls.
“None for me, Catie-pie, it will give me indigestion.”
“This is for Lady, not you.”
“Right. The toy that can’t actually eat. Who really eats it?” he asked.
“Lady does.” She glared at him.
Shut up, Ethan.
“And you said naughty words before. That’s gonna cost you. Every naughty word is a dollar.”
“A dollar?” he repeated.
“Uh-huh, so I reckon that’s about twenty dollars.” She pulled herself up onto a bar stool at the island.
He wanted to scold her for getting up on her own.
She is not yours to scold or punish.
No matter how much you wish she was.
“There is no way I said twenty naughty words,” he told her as she swung her feet back and forth.
He had to close his eyes for a moment. She was simply too adorable.
“Uh-huh. You totally did.”
“You know that lying is naughty. And naughty girls don’t get ice cream.”
Cate gasped and grabbed the bowl, holding it against her chest. “Mine.”
So naughty.
“I’ve got to go and put some clothes on before your brother and Seth get home. And you need to go back to bed.”
“Seth?” She looked worried. It felt a bit strange being able to read her easily. She was generally so guarded with her emotions and thoughts.
“It’s all right,” he said soothingly. “He won’t see you.”
“Why not?” She glanced around. “Am I a ghost? I’m a ghost, aren’t I?” That lip grew wobbly again.
Fuck. He hoped she never realized the power of the lip wobble. Because she could get away with murder. All she’d have to do was wobble her cute, plump lip and no one would convict her.
“Of course you’re not a ghost, baby.”
“So you can see me? Can everyone see me?”
“Everyone can see you. But I thought you might feel more comfortable eating ice cream in your room. Or in Rhodes’ bedroom.”
She eyed him as she took another bite of ice cream.
“Catie-pie, come with me.” He held out his hand and she shrugged.
“Okie-dokie. But you got to bring the ice cream. I’m not allowed to walk and carry food. It’s a rule.”
Nice to see she had some rules.
Ethan led her back to her room and let her climb into bed before handing her the bowl of ice cream.
Not ideal, but it would have to do.
And hopefully, she’d stay where he put her. He set Lady’s ice cream on the bedside table just as he got a text that Rhodes was ten minutes out.
“Stay here. Promise me.”
She stared up at him with innocent-looking eyes. “Of course, where else would I go?”
Ethan really didn’t know whether he could trust her or not. And it wasn’t like he could promise her a spanking if she moved. That was a sure-fire way to get him fired.
Even worse, it might lose him any trust that he’d gained.
Right. Like you didn’t lose that earlier.
He still wasn’t entirely sure what had happened earlier when she’d run out of the kitchen on him.
But if he had to guess, he’d pushed things too far too fast.
Cate was far more fragile than he’d realized. That barrier she had around herself might seem like toughened glass, but it had the fragility of an egg shell. Easy to crack and break.
Impossible to put back together.
So he’d have to make sure he didn’t do that again. Which wouldn’t be that easy when he felt something deep for her.
You’ve known this girl for a week. You need to chill out.
He hastily got dressed and was walking back to her bedroom as his phone let off an alert. He checked the camera and saw Seth driving in.
Ethan breathed out a sigh of relief as he found Cate sitting where he’d left her. She was eating ice cream and reading something on her eReader.
“You never did tell me what you were reading,” he said.
She shot him a death glare. As in, if that glare could kill, he’d be a dead man.
He had to let out a small chuckle. This Cate was fun. Not that Big Cate wasn’t, but she was more . . . intriguing. Sexy. Mysterious.
This Cate was funny, sassy.
She sighed and set her eReader aside, giving him a dark look. “It’s not nice to interrupt someone while they’re reading.”
“Sorry, Catie-pie. You can go back to reading. I won’t interrupt.”
“Will you leave?” she asked.
“I can’t do that until your brother gets inside.”
She frowned. “Where was he?”
“Um, at Samantha’s place.”
“Oh, yeah. Urgh. I’m gonna be in trouble for that.”
“With your brother?” he asked. He couldn’t see that himself. Rhodes seemed to adore his sister.
“No, with the witch,” she whispered. “She’s a big old meanie.”
“She’s mean to you?” Ethan asked, a wave of protectiveness hitting him. He didn’t like the idea of anyone being mean to this girl. He’d noticed that Samantha did seem to have an attitude when it came to cate.
But before she could answer, there was a knock on the door before Rhodes entered.
Cate grinned.
God, she was absolutely stunning when she smiled. He didn’t think he’d seen anyone so beautiful before.
“Rhoddy!”
“Hey, honey.” Rhodes rushed toward her, looking tired and disheveled. “Are you all right? What’s going on?”
“Lady isn’t eating her ice cream.”
“Naughty Lady, it’s melting,” Rhodes scolded. “I’ll make sure she eats it. In fact, why don’t you go brush your teeth and I’ll get Lady to eat it now.”
“Okay.” She climbed from the bed and looked at Rhodes nervously. “I’m sorry you had to come back because of me.”
“Cate, you know I’d do anything for you.”
She nodded, briefly hugging him before disappearing into the bathroom.
“How long has she been in Little headspace?” Rhodes asked Ethan as he picked up Lady’s bowl of ice cream and set it out in the hallway.
“Um, about forty minutes, I guess.”
“That’s longer than usual. But it might be because I wasn’t here. Thanks for taking care of her, but I have it from here.”
“Right. Sure. Will she be all right?” he asked.
“She will be now. Uh, could you do me a favor and take the bowl of ice cream away? I’ll tell her Lady ate it and you took it to the kitchen.”
“Sure.” It was all he could do to drag himself away from her. He wanted to grab her up and take her back to bed to snuggle.
Nothing else.
That would come later . . . once she knew him better.
But he forced himself to leave, knowing she wouldn’t want him around once she was out of Little headspace.
When he got to the kitchen, Seth was there, searching through the fridge.
“Want some ice cream? It’s a bit melted though.”
Seth shook his head and grabbed out the leftover lasagna. “Nah, that will make me sick. I need real food. There was nothing at the girlfriend’s place. Her fridge was filled with carrot sticks, hummus, and champagne.”
“Wasn’t the party catered?” Ethan asked.
“She told me that the help wasn’t allowed to just help themselves.”
“Whoa,” Ethan said. They’d had some demanding clients before. Some tried to treat them like they were their personal lackeys, as though they should always be there at their beck and call. But not letting Seth have any food?
That was next level.
What had she expected Seth to eat?
Seth slid some lasagna into the microwave. “She’s a real piece of work. Should have heard her when Rhodes told her he was coming back here. If my girl yelled at me like that, I’d either dump her or spank her.”
“Obviously, he cares for her.” But yeah, Ethan wasn’t seeing it, either.
“Anyway, they’re going out to brunch in the morning. So I need to get some sleep.”
“I’ll go with them,” Ethan offered.
Seth gave him a surprised look. “Yeah?”
They’d decided that Seth would take point with Rhodes. He didn’t mind the more social things that Rhodes had to do. Whereas Ethan wasn’t into that shit at all.
But Seth looked like he was about to drop. And maybe he needed some space. To get out of the house.
He was becoming far too possessive of Cate.
“Yeah, get some sleep. I’ll go. I’ve had a few hours’ sleep already. I’ll tell Rhodes in the morning.”
“You know, when we started this job, I thought Cate might be an issue. But so far, she’s been a dream. Thanks, man.”
A dream, yeah.
His dream. For sure.