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“I’m sorry.”
“Hey, no.” He opened his eyes, staring down at her intently. “You have nothing to be sorry about. Do you need to talk about it? About how you felt?”
“No.”
Rhodes eyed her for a long moment and she wondered if he was going to push her.
“All right,” he said, backing down, to her relief. “But I think we should call Dr. Miller. All right?”
She guessed that might be for the best. “I’ll call her later.”
“Can I have a hug?” Rhodes opened his arms and she stepped into his embrace, letting him surround her with his love.
“I love you, baby sister.”
“I love you too, big brother,” she replied.
“Let me know if you need me. I’m going to go talk to my publicist. I’ll be in my office.”
He left the room and she turned to Ethan, who had been surprisingly quiet throughout all of that.
However, she had a feeling that was about to change.
49
Cate waited for Ethan to say something, do something.
Instead, he stood there for a long moment. Then he held out his hand. “Come with me.”
He led her back into the closet, closing the door behind them. She sighed with relief. She needed her safe space. Sitting on the large cushion on the floor, he drew her onto his lap and wrapped his arms around her.
Then he just held her.
For a start, she was tense, waiting for him to talk to her, to insist on knowing what was going on.
But he said nothing. And bit by bit she relaxed.
“I’m sorry, baby,” he finally said.
Wait. What?
“I don’t understand. Why are you sorry?” What was she missing?
“Because I left you alone, and I shouldn’t have.”
“You only left for a few moments. And . . . and nothing bad happened.”
He lightly fingered her wrist, tugging slightly at the hair tie.
Cate drew it off, putting it down. All right, maybe something happened.
“I shouldn’t have left you. Although you’ve earned a spanking. Not only did you leave when I told you stay put. But you ran from me. Not to me.” He ran his finger lightly over the spot that she’d pinched. “Although you seem to have punished yourself.”
Cate sucked in a breath.
“I don’t like that. I thought the hair tie thing was about clearing your head. But if it’s about punishing yourself, that’s something else entirely. I know there’s something more to all this.”
There was.
