Billionaire Undaunted:The Billionaire's Obsession ~ Zane(11)

His arms tightened around her as he pulled her head against his chest.  "Don't," he said roughly. "Don't blame yourself for anything you did to  survive. Being afraid in that situation is normal. I'm not a counselor,  but even I know that when you're a survivor, you do what you have to do.  I fucking hate it that you ever had to be afraid, that the bastard ever  laid a hand on you. If he wasn't already dead, I'd kill him myself for  what he did to you and to Chloe."

Ellie took deep breaths, helping her heartbeat to calm and her panic  begin to recede. She'd lived through James's captivity. Everything else  was just hard work. "He was a sadistic bastard. Sociopathic. He would  have eventually hurt Chloe even worse. Once I knew what he was, I was  petrified that he'd actually kill her to get her money. I was so  relieved to find out she didn't marry him, and that he was dead."

"He didn't just hurt her physically. He also crushed her pride and  self-esteem. But she's dealing with it. I like Walker. I think he's good  for her."

"I'm glad she's happy," Ellie shared.

"You'll be happy again someday, too," Zane insisted, rubbing a comforting hand down her back. "It will take time."

"You said you didn't see my car. I wonder what happened to it. He had to have hidden it or destroyed it."

"Don't worry about your car, your job, or anything else right now. You  need time to heal," Zane grumbled. "We'll go to town tomorrow and get  you some of the things you need. You know the police are going to want  to talk to you. The asshole might be dead, but they're going to want  your statement so they can close the case."

"I know," she said stoically. "I hate talking about it, but I will."

"Don't worry about anything except getting stronger. Pretty soon you'll  have Chloe back, and right now you have me." His voice was stubbornly  adamant.

She relaxed, leaning against his strength. There was never really a time  she'd depended on anyone. She was used to being the organizer, the  caretaker, even from a very young age.

For once, it was nice to have somebody to lean on.

He shifted onto his back and pulled her partially across his body,  keeping her head on his chest. Threading one hand through her hair, he  rubbed her back with the other in a soothing, circular motion.

"I'm tired," she admitted, feeling so emotionally and physically drained that her eyes flickered closed.

"Then sleep."

"I don't want you to leave me," she admitted, her tremulous tone vulnerable.

She didn't want to be alone with her thoughts and away from his  comforting presence right now. Tomorrow, she would start growing  stronger. But for right now, she needed him.

"I'm not going anywhere, Ellie. I'll be right here."

She sighed with relief and snuggled into the heat radiating from his body. "Thank you."

"Do you trust me?" Zane asked hoarsely.

"Yes."

"Then sleep. Nobody will ever hurt you again," he vowed.

He sounded so serious that she smiled, feeling safe in his powerful  embrace. When she finally drifted off a few minutes later, she fell  almost immediately into a deep and dreamless slumber.

When she woke up the next morning, feeling rested, Zane was gone. Ellie  might have thought she'd imagined him or dreamed about him ever being  there, comforting her in a tender way she'd never thought possible for  Zane, but she knew she hadn't dreamed up his presence.         

     



 

One deep whiff of her pillow filled her senses with his scent, proving  that he'd been there in her bed, but had quietly left her to sleep.

Rolling over on her back, she tried to clear his tantalizing essence  from her lungs, stop her body from reacting to the fact that he'd been  in her bed, that she'd wallowed in the security of having him close.

I can't start needing him this much!

Her body and brain warred against each other as her core clenched with a primal need for the one man she'd ever really wanted.

Sitting up in bed, she swiped the hair from her face and admitted that  waking up without him there beside her made her miss him, and it scared  the hell out of a woman who was used to being just fine alone.





Several days later, Zane was working in his underground lab, trying to  figure out when Ellie Winters had become so damn stubborn. She'd been a  sweet teenager, but somewhere along the way, the woman had developed an  ornery, independent streak that seemed never-ending.

So I replaced some of her belongings: a cell phone, a laptop, new  clothing with some help from Lara, and a few other things that she needs  for everyday life. They're just essentials.

Zane didn't think what he'd done was any big deal. But he'd made Ellie  emotionally upset, and he wasn't even certain why she'd been weeping  when he gave her the everyday stuff. He hadn't asked why she'd cried  because it made him feel sick inside that he'd been the cause of her  tears. All he wanted was for Ellie to be happy, and apparently she had  been making progress despite her previous tearful reaction to his  gifts … until today.

Today was the day he'd realized just how obstinate Ellie could really be.

She had literally set her foot down, stomping it in refusal, when he'd  brought home the new vehicle he'd acquired for her, flat-out refusing to  take something he'd bought for her. She claimed it was too expensive.  When he'd mentioned that she'd only had liability insurance on her  missing vehicle, and that her insurance company wasn't going to pay  anything to replace her piece of junk Blue Turtle, she'd glared at him  and walked away.

"It's just a BMW. She acts like I went out and bought something really  expensive. The Beemer was a reasonable choice, something solid and  dependable. It's not like I went out and blew a bunch of money on an  exotic sports car," Zane mumbled under his breath as he recreated some  of the findings of one of his lead scientists at the lab, rechecking the  results himself. "And it's an SUV. It's practical for Colorado. Plenty  of people have one here."

Granted, he wanted to see some of Ellie's old spirit revived. But  pissing her off wasn't exactly the way he'd wanted that to happen.  Nevertheless, she was angry. But regardless of how stubborn she was  going to be, Zane decided she would be driving a dependable car, the one  he'd purchased for her.

After finishing his work, he input his verification into the lab  computer and put away his supplies, wondering how he could get Ellie to  accept the inevitable. She was going to use the SUV. He wanted her using  a reliable vehicle. He didn't want her buying another piece of crap  like her last car. It had been too small, too old, too unreliable, and  all of those things were unacceptable to him.

He took off the disposable covering he was wearing over his clothing and  then dumped his mask and gloves into the hazardous materials container  he kept near the door.

Zane could admit he was disorganized, but only with anything outside of  his lab. Here, he was meticulous. Here, it mattered to him. Working with  potentially dangerous organisms didn't leave room for mistakes.

He washed his hands and dried them before he stood in front of the steel  doors and used his fingerprint scanner to make the double doors swoosh  open. As he walked down the hallway and up the stairs that led to the  house, he contemplated his options.

Let Ellie have her way and return the BMW? Nope. Not gonna happen. She needs a safe vehicle.

Convince Ellie to take it? Probably unlikely. Though, Zane admitted  she'd looked pretty mulishly insistent over not accepting his gift. He  realized that he liked that look on her. It was preferable to seeing her  weep, but it wasn't going to stop him from making sure she was driving  dependable transportation.

Get Chloe to help him convince her? A possibility, but Chloe isn't home yet, and she doesn't even know Ellie is still alive.

Throw Ellie over his shoulder and toss her into the car? Yep. That idea  had merit since he'd been feeling like a damn protective caveman since  the minute Ellie disappeared.

Now that he'd found her, the urge to make sure Ellie was safe was almost  overwhelming, a compulsive, raw instinct that he was barely managing to  control.         

     



 

Get it together. You'll scare her off. Hell, I'm scaring myself.

Zane considered himself a reasonable, rational, logical guy. He made  decisions based on data and realistic facts. Lately, he wasn't reacting  with his normal levelheadedness; he was giving in to emotions and  compulsions he couldn't seem to control. He'd never experienced those  types of feelings before, and it confounded him that with Ellie, he  sometimes couldn't control his own words or behavior.

For some reason, Ellie had always been a woman he wanted to know better  but ended up avoiding because he'd considered her off-limits in the  past. However, it hadn't stopped him from asking about her when he  talked to Chloe. He'd almost blown it in the hospital, letting Ellie  know that, little by little, he'd gotten to know her preferences by  encouraging Chloe to talk about her best friend. Zane knew Ellie's  favorite was Asian food because Chloe had mentioned it. She'd also told  him that she was sending Ellie her favorite chocolates for a birthday  surprise a few years ago. Zane had asked what kind, and he still  remembered exactly what company made the confections.