The two women took a seat on the couch and turned to face each other.
“Are you really okay?” Chloe asked hesitantly.
Ellie nodded. “I won’t bullshit you and tell you I don’t have some lingering problems, but I’m working through them. Zane saved my life.”
“Were you cold? Did that bastard feed you? Did he hurt you?” There was a desperate note in Chloe’s voice.
“I was cold, and he left me very little food and water, but enough to last until Zane found me.” Ellie wasn’t going to lie to Chloe. But she hoped her friend didn’t ask any more questions.
Both men had taken a seat in one of the chairs across from the couch, and Chloe’s eyes searched out Zane. “Thank you. But I still want to kill you for not telling me she was alive.”
“Don’t,” Ellie interrupted. “Please don’t blame anyone but me. I wanted some time to get my head together. Zane and Gabe respected that. If you’re angry, it’s all on me. I asked them not to tell. I think we both needed our time to heal.”
“I’m not mad at you, Ellie, and I’m really not angry with Zane. How could I be? He saved you.”
The intercom at the gate chimed, and Ellie looked at Zane, perplexed. “Is somebody else coming over?”
Zane rolled his eyes. “Are you kidding? They’ll all be here. Maybe I should leave the front gate open.”
“Who?”
“My family. Did you really think my brothers and Mom would miss this?”
Chloe squealed with delight as she jumped up to answer the intercom. “I don’t know how to let them in, but I’m glad they’re here. I just wished they’d given us more time to talk.”
Honestly, Ellie was relieved. Although she wanted to have some quiet time with Chloe, she wasn’t sure she was ready for some of the things her friend might ask.
Zane rose, not bothering to answer the intercom. He just buzzed the vehicle in.
Before the car reached the end of the driveway, he had to let another vehicle pass through the gate. “Hell, I hope some of them rode together,” he grumbled as he went to answer the door.
Ellie knew Zane got his wish as she saw Marcus and Blake enter together, and then Tate, Lara, and Chloe’s mother a few minutes later.
Aileen had brought dinner for everyone from the resort, so the guys unloaded the stuff from Lara’s car.
As the party moved away from the living room, Zane caught her arm on the way into the kitchen. “Baby, I hate to do this right now, but Sean just called. He’s having some emergency at the lab.”
“Today? It’s the weekend.” Ellie knew that some of the research staff worked weekends, but rarely the guys at the top. Sean was usually off with Elena, and he wasn’t required to do any weekends.
“He said Elena left him, and he wanted to take his mind off her. So he went to work because he was starting to have some luck on one of our projects. But some of the equipment isn’t working. I have to have it up and running by Monday morning.”
“Then, go,” Ellie urged. “I’ll stay here and visit with Chloe.”
Zane nodded reluctantly. “I always want you with me, but I’m not about to drag you away from here right now. I’ll be back by tomorrow.”
Ellie wrapped her arms around Zane’s neck and kissed him, right there in front of his family. He deepened the embrace, running his hands through her hair and devouring her mouth until she was breathless.
“I’ll miss you,” Ellie told him earnestly.
“I’ll miss you, too. Have fun with Chloe.”
He was gone as quickly as he’d approached her, leaving a whole lot of questioning expressions behind. Ellie looked around, and everybody was staring.
The only one who didn’t look surprised was Marcus.
“We’re seeing each other,” Ellie mumbled nervously.
Marcus crossed his arms in front of him with an evil grin. “I sure as hell hope so. If not, I’m going to have to talk to him about friendship etiquette.”
Chloe threw herself at Ellie with enthusiasm and gave Ellie a big hug. “I’m so happy for both of you. Thank you.”
Ellie hugged her back. “For what?”
“For making my brother happy. I could tell he cared about you from his expression. I’m so glad the feeling is mutual.”
“Way mutual,” Ellie said laughingly.
“I know you had a crush on him when you were younger, and I always wondered if there wasn’t still something there. You asked about him a lot.”
Ellie’s cheeks reddened. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t fishing for information. I just…”
Okay. Maybe she had been wanting to know what Zane was doing, who he was seeing, and any other information she could get. But it hadn’t been intentional.