Her heart skittered as she watched his expression. It went from dark and confused to stubbornly determined. Zane wanted her to be…his.
“Monogamous?” she questioned, making sure she understood what he wanted.
He nodded sharply. “For both of us.”
She smiled. “I didn’t wait this long to toss you away for another guy.”
“I don’t know what I’d do if you did. I’ve never felt like this before. Jesus! I’m jealous of any other man who even gets your attention.”
“Because of what happened to me?” she queried softly.
He hesitated before answering. “I’m not sure. It’s like when you disappeared, I realized that I might have lost something that I should have pursued a long time ago. I’ve always been attracted to you, but I thought you deserved a hell of a lot more than the mad scientist who knows nothing about a real relationship or romance. And you were Chloe’s best friend. Hell, my entire family is almost like family to you. It could have ended up awkward if you weren’t interested.”
Tears welled up in Ellie’s eyes as she watched Zane make himself so vulnerable. How could he have ever assumed she wouldn’t want to go out with him? “I was infatuated with you when I was in high school, and it never went away, even when you came back to visit when you were in college. But you were so smart, so handsome, and so rich. I told myself that someone like you could never care about a chubby, plain, and desperately poor woman like me. So when you were home, I kept my distance when I could so I didn’t make a fool out of myself.” Her heart felt like a fist was tightening around it, and her tears flowed faster.
“You were curvy, something that got me hard every time I looked at you, sweetheart.” He pulled her into his lap and held her like he couldn’t let go. “I loved your beautiful blue eyes and crazy sexy blonde hair. You’re beautiful, Ell. You always have been. But what I’ve always liked about you is that you accept me the way that I am. Hell, I’m thinking you even like me the way I am.” Zane took a deep breath before he asked, “So can we try this? Can you be happy with a guy who isn’t exactly polished with romantic words or one who doesn’t always know what to do when you cry like you’re doing right now? Oh hell, why are you crying?”
She smiled at him through her tears. “Because, even though you profess not to be a romantic guy, I think what you just said was probably the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard.”
They stayed in Denver for the next few months, and Ellie was happier than she could remember being in her entire life. Most of the day, she worked at her own desk in Zane’s enormous office that he never used. Most of his time was spent in the secured research area of the enormous building.
Strange, but she’d never quite realized just how big or multinational his laboratories actually were, or just how much responsibility he took onto his broad shoulders. Occasionally, she had to remind him that he alone wasn’t responsible for curing or preventing every health issue in the world.
Lately, he’d smiled and laughed more than she’d imagined possible. She cherished every naughty grin and amused bark of laughter that left his mouth, because she thought he took himself way too seriously.
With ongoing counseling, not only was Ellie starting to recover from her traumatic imprisonment—although there were some things that might never quite go away—but she was also starting to see herself differently. No longer did she look at herself and see a woman who wasn’t the least bit interesting or attractive. She saw herself as a woman who was trying to improve herself, be what she should have been before she’d been kidnapped.
With Zane’s permission, she’d put a workshop in his finished basement, using the downstairs kitchen that he’d never even touched to set up shop. Slowly, her Internet business was growing, and Ellie was studying and experimenting every chance she got. Her products were beginning to catch on, and suddenly everybody wanted to try some of her aromatherapy fragrances.
Every weekend, she and Zane would go somewhere she’d never been before, and she’d started to actually explore the world outside Rocky Springs and even beyond Denver. Even though she’d always love her beautiful hometown in the mountains, she loved the fact that Zane surprised her with a new destination to see at the end of every week.
Last weekend, he’d flown them to California so she could see the Pacific Ocean, and they’d played like children for two days on the beach.
The nights belonged to them, and Zane had made it his mission to see how many ways he could pleasure her body. Turned out, he really did have very dirty fantasies about her, and she had cried out with pleasure through every one of them.