Free Kate Allenton by Guided Loyalty Page B

I love someone, I don’t treat them the way you’ve treated me. I don’t keep secrets that could kill them. Hell, I don’t even leave without telling them goodbye. Do you know what that did to me?” She pointed to her heart. “I thought you were hurt until Tara finally told me the truth.” Her hand
    dropped to her side, and a stray tear slid down her cheek. “How could you do that to me?”
         Love, had she just used the love word? He didn’t love her, not yet. At least he didn’t think he did. He cared about her, which was the whole reason he’d left her. He would have moved
    mountains to keep her safe, and he would have given up anything for her happiness, but that didn’t mean he loved her…did it? He pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind.
         In two long strides, he was in front of her. He cupped her cheeks and wiped away the stray tear that was leaving a wet path. She was hurting again, and it was his fault. “Please forgive me, Cathy. I never meant to hurt you.”
         He pressed his lips to hers, trying the only way he knew to show her how much she meant. The soft pink flesh trembled under his caress. He broke the kiss and leaned his forehead against hers. He ran the pad of his thumb over her bottom lip. “I would have done anything to keep all of this away from you.”
         A sob broke her lips as she closed her eyes. The full force of her hurt hit him like a punch in the gut. Damn, he’d screwed up.

          “I’ll do anything to make this right. All you have to do is ask.”
          Cathy opened her eyes and held his gaze. “Anything?”
          “Anything.” He kissed her once more.
          “Stay out of my way while I fix your mess. When this is done…so are we.”
          Ethan dropped his hold on her and stepped back. “Anything but that. I can’t…”
          Cathy turned her back on him and wrapped her arms around her waist. “You have no choice.”
          Ethan’s growl vibrated off the walls. “You will stay out of this, mate.”
          She spun around on her heel. “No, you will stay out of this if you ever want to make this right with me.”
          “Cathy,” Ethan growled, “you don’t know what you’re saying. I’m an Alpha. It’s my job to protect you.”
          “Great job you’re doing, Romeo.” Cathy walked over to the door and pulled it open. She gestured for him to leave. “I hope you can do it from afar, Alpha. I’m not a wolf, and I damn sure don’t take orders from you.”
          Ethan walked out in the hall and turned around. “Cathy, please?”
          Cathy leaned against the door. “Please what?”
          “Please don’t do this.” He begged for the first time in his life. He felt out of control, and that was a feeling he’d never felt. How was he letting this slip of a woman control him?
          Cathy straightened her shoulders. “You have to trust me, and I have to be able to trust you, and right now….I don’t. Edward has been more honest with me than you ever were.”
          Ethan advanced on her so fast that she hadn’t had a chance to move. The mere mention that she wanted or trusted another man more than him made him see red. He lifted her in his arms, pinned her against the open door for anyone in the world to see, and pressed his lips to her. It
    wasn’t an easy, gentle kiss. It was a hot, smoldering one that screamed you are mine and don’t you forget it.
          She instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist, and he pressed his bulge into her searing heat. He nipped at her bottom lip, and she hesitated before letting him in. He deepened the kiss, tilting her head, giving himself the leverage to make sweet love to her mouth. She was his. Not Edward’s, not anyone else’s. She was his, and it was about damn time she understood what that meant.
          She moaned when his tongue dueled with hers. Tasting her, conquering