Billionaire Undaunted:The Billionaire's Obsession ~ Zane(19)

She'd felt him tense beneath her fingers for a brief moment before he  realized who was touching him, and then he relaxed as he finally turned  his head to look at her. "You're worth the wait," Zane answered  smoothly, wrapping a strong arm around her waist.

"Who is this?" the woman who had been fondling Zane asked haughtily.

"My date," Zane answered simply, not even bothering to introduce the two of them.

Ellie spoke up and extended her hand to the gorgeous woman in front of  her, refusing to let the female know that she was intimidated. But  honestly, she was a little daunted by the flame-haired beauty. "I'm  Ellie Winters," she introduced herself simply.

Ignoring Ellie's outstretched hand, the woman glared up at Zane. "You didn't tell me you had a girlfriend," she hissed.         

     



 

He shrugged and reached for Ellie's outstretched hand and entwined her  fingers with his and brought them to his side. "Why would I?" he  answered dismissively.

Ellie suddenly saw the woman's expression change from seductive to pouty  anger. "I've been trying to get your attention for almost a year, and  you pick somebody like her over me?"

The muscle in Zane's jaw began to twitch, a subtle sign that he was  pissed. Ellie had become a master at reading Zane's body language over  the last few months since he didn't always express what was on his mind.  He might get irritated, but he never lost complete control.

He took a deep breath before he spoke. "I had hoped you'd get the  message that I wasn't interested, Elena. Or maybe it's the fact that  you're fucking your boss and he appears to care about you that turned me  off. Frankly, though, the reasons are irrelevant. You just don't do it  for me."

Ellie couldn't help it. She gaped at Zane for an instant before she  schooled her expression back to normal. Zane's comment had been spoken  in a glacial tone she'd never heard before. As usual, he was blunt,  never bothering to explain more than he felt he needed to, but she'd  never heard him quite so cold.

Elena? A beautiful name and gorgeous woman who obviously had the heart of a reptile.

The tension in the air was electric as Elena slowly assessed Ellie  carefully, and obviously found her lacking. "Do you really think you can  compete with me?" Elena huffed.

Ellie forced herself to give the woman a brief, dismissive glance before  answering, "There's no competition necessary," she said in a falsely  pleasant tone. "I already won." She put a gentle hand on Zane's jaw, and  then planted a gentle kiss to the side of his mouth.

Caught off-guard when Zane turned the soft embrace into a possessive  kiss, Ellie quickly gripped his shoulders to keep from stumbling in her  heels.

Right there, in the middle of a fancy fundraising ball, Zane Colter  claimed her, his kiss long and lingering, leaving no doubt that Ellie  was exactly what he wanted.

For a moment, her eyes fluttered closed and she let herself drown in the  sensual feel of his lips sliding over hers with a pulse of possessive,  sultry energy she'd never experienced before.

It wasn't long, and it wasn't entirely sexual, even though it was meant to arouse.

The embrace was more like a covetous demand, and Ellie's heart was skittering, even as he slowly released her mouth.

His gaze clashed with hers, his gray eyes tumultuous and greedy. Her  body responded, a deep-seated need for Zane to touch her so acute that  she could barely suck in a deep breath.

Finally, Ellie pulled her gaze away, no longer able to see what she knew  was reflected in her own hungry stare. "She's gone," she murmured as  she stepped back from him.

"I don't care," Zane answered huskily. "Dance with me," he ordered,  grasping her hand again and tugging her toward the ballroom floor.

He sheltered her as he plowed his larger body through the crowd, making  her a path so she didn't have to dodge around people to follow him. She  was breathless by the time she tripped onto the dance floor, tumbling  straight into Zane's arms.

"I'm not a very good dancer," she confessed.

"I am. Just follow me," Zane replied as his arms tightened around her  and he began moving expertly to the slow melody the orchestra was  playing. "Relax," he urged, rubbing one hand gently down her back.

As she began to match his movements automatically, Ellie felt her body  melt against him, and she gently laid her head against his shoulder. It  became obvious very quickly that he could competently move around the  other dancers. "How is it that you dance so well?"

"I'm a Colter. My mom has been involved in charity events as long as I  can remember. She taught every one of us when we were young. Most of us  try to be at her events out of respect for what she does." He paused for  a moment before he added, "Except for her billionaire auctions. Almost  all of us managed to bail out of that one."

Ellie laughed softly, loving the feel of his deep voice vibrating  against her. "She auctions billionaires?" She had to have misunderstood.

"Yes. If she thinks it will help get her causes out to the general public."

"Tell me." Ellie was curious and wanted to hear the whole story of Aileen's event.

Zane relented, his tone disgusted. "One year, she decided to put  billionaires from around the country on the auction block. One night  only. One date only. It raised a fortune and got a lot of attention, so  now she's trying to do it again."         

     



 

"Did any of the Colter brothers attend?" Ellie questioned, noticing he hadn't said all of them had gotten out of the event.

"Only Tate. He was still single at the time. The poor bastard. Luckily,  he ended up with a winning female who was around eighty years old and  just really wanted to talk about her grandkids all night. But he would  have been okay with anybody. That's Tate. You know he was always able to  charm any female, even in high school."

Zane's voice was thoughtful, so Ellie asked, "Do you think you couldn't  have done just as well?" Women were obviously falling all over Zane,  albeit not for the right reasons. But somehow she had a suspicion that  he didn't feel like he measured up to his brothers.

"I'm a nerd scientist, Ellie. I'm just … different. You know I don't do  small talk well, and all of my siblings can charm the hell out of  anybody at any kind of party or event. Chloe might not like going to  them, but she can play the perfect hostess when she has to."

Leaning back, Ellie looked at the accepting look on Zane's face, and it  made her heart swell. "You don't have to be anybody else," she said  fiercely. "You're not that nerdy kid anymore, not that there was ever  anything wrong with that. You've grown up and matured into the hottest  guy I've ever seen. So what if you don't want to talk about the weather  unless it's out of the ordinary? Small talk is boring, and you have more  important things to discuss."

He raised an eyebrow. "You think I'm hot?"

Zane was teasing, but Ellie was fairly certain there was still a small  doubt in his mind about his personal value when compared to his  brothers.

Ellie tightened her arms around his neck, the effects of the champagne  she'd guzzled making her feel a little bit less inhibited. "I find  intelligent men incredibly sexy. You have gorgeous eyes, a hot body, and  a mind I admire. You're tenacious, and you're the only person who was  still searching for me when everybody else thought I was dead. You're my  hero. I would say that puts you pretty high on the fuckable scale for  reasons that have nothing to do with your money."

He pressed his mouth against her ear. "I'm not your hero. I'm just a man."

Ellie shivered as his warm breath wafted across her ear, his husky voice  making her core clench so hard she missed a step. Zane guided her to a  quick recovery before she answered, "An amazing man."

"I don't want you to want me just because I saved your life," he rasped.

Surprised, she replied adamantly. "I don't. I never did. I've always cared about you, way before you saved my life."

The song ended just as she finished her sentence, and Zane dipped her  backward, supporting her upper body with his arm as she stretched.  Instantly, he pulled her back up again and she slammed up against his  rock-hard body.

"You're not wearing a bra," he said irritably.

"How do you know that?" she asked, her words muffled against his chest.

In fact, she wasn't wearing much in the way of undergarments at all. The  dress had long, off-the-shoulder sleeves, something she hadn't thought  about when she'd purchased her ensemble. By the time she discovered she  didn't have the appropriate undergarments for the dress, she'd just went  without. The material was heavy enough not to show anything, and she  wasn't exactly heavily endowed.

"Your nipples are hard. I could tell when the fabric stretched," Zane grumbled.

Everyone was applauding the orchestra and Ellie joined in as she  replied, "Then maybe you shouldn't have held me so close and put your  sexy mouth against my ear." She turned to leave the dance floor.