Billionaire Undaunted: The Billionaire's Obsession ~ Zane (5 page)

Actually, all of Chloe’s brothers had been nice. But since Marcus and Blake were older, they’d been graduating when she and Chloe were just starting high school. Tate had always been sweet, but the girls had always been drawn to him, and he’d practically had his own harem, even in high school. Since Chloe, Tate, and Zane were so close in age, Ellie had always wondered how Chloe’s mom could have survived being constantly pregnant for well over two years.

Tate was younger, closer in age to her and Chloe, but she’d never had more than a casual acquaintance with him. It was Zane who had caught her attention back then, probably because he was so much more approachable, so much more like her. He was almost always alone, and probably felt like he didn’t fit in. They’d struck up a friendship when she’d seen his frustration at the tediousness of organizing his research. She’d offered to help put everything in a likely order after questioning him about the different portions of his notes. Even though the material was way over her head, she had put things in a logical order, which didn’t take a genius.

He shrugged. “I liked you. And I don’t like all that many people.”

Ellie laughed at his bluntness, a part of Zane she secretly adored. He wasn’t much for small talk. If he appeared socially awkward sometimes, she attributed that to his intelligence. He didn’t communicate on the same level as most people did. It wasn’t that he couldn’t; he just didn’t, probably because most people were too intimidated to have a conversation with him. If she didn’t know him, Ellie wondered how daunting it might be to approach a man who had one of the smartest scientific brains in the country. Fortunately, she knew there was so much more to him than just the geeky science nerd he claimed to be.

As Ellie thought about all of the things Chloe had shared with her about her brothers over the years, she suddenly remembered something, a fact that had eluded her until today. “Don’t you have a girlfriend who’ll be upset if I’m staying with you? Isn’t she coming here for the holidays?” she asked curiously.

“No. I’m not interested in a woman who just pretends to like me for my money or Colter status.”

Her heart sank as she thought about the fact that women probably
did
pursue him just because he was a billionaire Colter. “Not all women are like that, Zane. Haven’t you met somebody you just connected with on another level?”

“No,” he said simply.

“But you’ve dated. Chloe told me you had a girlfriend at one time.” Ellie could still remember how she’d felt when she knew Zane was getting serious with a woman from Denver. Even though she hadn’t seen him in a long time, Ellie had still felt an odd sense of…loss.

“I did. But it didn’t last long. She got bored and moved on to someone else. She found out I didn’t live a glamorous life full of endless parties and exotic vacations. After a while, she figured out I actually worked. A lot. I gave her all of the material things and money she wanted, but not the lifestyle she’d dreamed about.”

Ellie crossed her arms angrily. “Then she wasn’t worthy of you. Good riddance, I say.” She hesitated before asking, “Did she hurt you?”

He was silent for a moment, as though he was considering her question. Finally, he said, “Not really. That was when I figured out I was better off without a relationship. Now I just fuck and forget about anything long-term.”

He tried to sound nonchalant, but Ellie could hear the underlying sadness in his voice. The girlfriend
had
hurt him, and she’d made him cautious and wary. “I’m sorry she hurt you,” Ellie said quietly.

“She didn’t hurt me,” he argued huskily.

“Yes, she did. But she just wasn’t the right woman. I think there’s someone for everybody if you’re lucky enough to find them,” Ellie replied wistfully.

“Then why are you still single?” he grunted.

“I was waiting. Someday I’m hoping somebody will really
see
me, and not just what I look like on the outside.”

“You’re fucking beautiful. If anybody sees you any differently, they’re an idiot.”

“I’m plain, I was chubby, and now I’m too skinny. I’m not much for going to bars or parties. I’d rather be reading a good book or making candles most of the time. Does that sound exciting to you?” she asked drily.

“There’s nothing wrong with being different, Ell,” Zane replied gruffly.

“I could say the same thing to you,” she answered lightly, but her heart was smiling from his words.

He didn’t answer as he pulled up to the entrance of his enormous home. The iron gates were incredibly high and the posts along the top looked sharp. Nobody sane was going over one of the walls of his fortress.

She watched as he punched in a code and the iron gates began to swing open.

“Paranoid much?” she asked curiously.

“I have to be. I’ve had people try to steal my research too many times. I can’t use electric fences because of the wildlife, but it’s as safe here as possible.”

Ellie could believe that. She saw video cameras and motion lights click on as they went down the driveway. “Is it that bad?”

“Bad enough to be cautious,” he answered as he pulled his vehicle into a massive garage. “Since I keep a research lab here, I’m careful. I’m rich enough, and my lab has made me even richer. I might not care about the money, but there’s a lot of it to be had with the right research in biotech.”

“Your lab here…it’s in the house?” Not that she doubted that a lab
would
fit
inside
the enormous mansion she’d gotten a brief look at on the way down the drive. But it was getting late, and it got dark early in the winter. She hadn’t seen much except the enormous size.

He shook his head as he shut off the engine. “Not in the main living area. It’s underground.”

Ellie held up a hand when he headed toward the passenger side to help her out. “I can walk. I want to.” After lying in bed for so long, it felt good to be up and walking.

He frowned. “The doctor said no heavy physical exertion for a few weeks.”

She gave him a stubborn look. “I hardly think that walking qualifies as heavy physical exertion. I’m fine. Really. Please.”

Reluctantly, he grabbed her bag in the backseat and unlocked the door, waiting for her to walk around the SUV. He hovered as she went up the few steps in the garage and into the house.

“Shit!”

Ellie heard the low, frustrated curse behind her. “What?”

“I forgot to have somebody come over and clean things up. The house is kind of a mess,” he answered sheepishly.

She stopped and turned around, tears springing to her eyes. “Do you think I care about that? You’re giving me a temporary home. I’m grateful.”

It was hard to believe he cared about the fact that he hadn’t cleaned up because she was going to be here.

“I care. You deserve better after the shithole you were forced to endure for months.” He dropped the bag on the floor of the entry hallway and advanced until her back was against the wall. “You’ve been through hell and back. I want you to have some of the things you didn’t have while you were held prisoner by that psychotic asshole.”

Ellie sighed when he was close enough to smell, and then close enough to touch. “What are you doing?” She looked up at him curiously as he put a hand on each side of the wall, temporarily surrounding her with his heat.

His expression was intense, his smoldering gray eyes hot enough to incinerate her on the spot. “Giving you something you’ve never had. I’m going for breathless. Kiss me, Ellie,” he demanded as a few dark locks of his hair fell to the very top of his eyes.

“W-why?” she stammered, wanting nothing else except to obey his command. She wanted his hard body pressed against her, his mouth on hers, making her feel alive again.

There was no fleeting second of panic as he imprisoned her. He wasn’t touching her. But dear God, she wanted him to touch her…desperately.

“Because I said so,” he replied arrogantly. “I want to give you something you’ve never had. A lot of things, actually.”

“Am I supposed to obey your every command?” she said, stalling because she couldn’t believe he was looking at her like he really
wanted
to kiss her. Just staring at the ferocious expression on his face nearly made her breathless.

“No. It would be easier if you did, but I know that’s never going to happen.” As soon as the words left his mouth, he lowered his head, his lips so close to hers that she could feel the heat of his breath on her face.

The sensations bombarding her made her shudder. Slowly, her hands crept up his chest. She pushed his wayward hair back from his eyes, and then wrapped her arms around his neck. “You don’t have to do this because it was some silly, unfulfilled wish of mine when I thought I was dying,” she whispered nervously.

“I’m not. I’m doing this for me, too,” he informed her brusquely before he cradled the back of her head and then lowered his mouth to hers.

H
is embrace was everything Ellie had ever dreamed of…and so much more. Mesmerized by the heat of his mouth, she opened to him and let him explore with his tongue, the demanding sweetness of his possession almost bringing her to her knees. If he hadn’t wrapped one of his arms around her waist, she might have actually swooned like an idiot.

She
did
forget everything else except the pulsating blood pumping through her veins and the feel of Zane’s demanding embrace.

She wanted the kiss to last forever, but he pulled back and gently nipped at her lips before fusing their mouths again with more tenderness than Ellie had ever known.

When he finally stepped back, Ellie’s entire body was trembling, and she was
definitely
breathless.

“Is your wish fulfilled?” Zane rasped, low and sensual.

“Y-yes,” she stammered as she struggled to breathe normally again, her brain and body still reeling.

“You forgot everything else? You got breathless?”

“Completely,” she admitted in a rush. “What about you? You said this wasn’t just for me.”

He nodded. “I’m satisfied…for now.”

Zane picked up her bag and took her hand, leading her through the enormous kitchen and into the living room.

Neither one of them seemed to want to speak, as though it might ruin the magical connection that had just happened in the hallway.

It was amazing for me, but maybe it was just a kiss for him.

Telling herself she was being silly to analyze a simple kiss, she said, “This house is enormous.” The ceiling was vaulted so high she had to crane her neck to see it.

Zane took off his jacket and then reached out to help her remove hers. “It’s big,” he conceded. “I’ll give you a tour.”

Ellie was rendered speechless as he led her through some of the downstairs bedrooms, each one the size of her old apartment and with their own baths. The master bedroom had a door leading to a hot springs area, something every Colter seemed to have in their homes. But when they finally entered an enormous marble tiled room with an indoor pool,
she gasped. “This is unbelievable.” She couldn’t imagine being able to swim year-round.

“There’s a gym through that door.” He pointed at an entrance on the far side of the room.

By the time he’d finished the tour, even showing her the room upstairs where her belongings were being kept, Ellie was exhausted. She followed him back downstairs and to the kitchen wearily.

“Do you want me to take the room with my stuff?” she asked uncertainly.

“Hell, no. It’s a mess up there. You can sort it out when you feel better. Take one of the bedrooms downstairs. Then you don’t have to climb up and down the stairs all the time. Do you want your clothes?”

Ellie shook her head slowly. None of her old stuff would fit anymore. “I’ll go through them tomorrow.” She’d salvage whatever she could.

She could feel the tension between the two of them and Ellie wondered if she should just have him show her to her room and go to bed.

“I’m not going to apologize for kissing you,” Zane said quietly, rocking back on his heels as he put his hands in the front pockets of his jeans.

Ellie was startled by the abrupt change of subject, but he’d obviously been thinking as much about that kiss as she had during their tour of the house. They’d both discarded their outerwear before the tour had started, but Ellie was still overheated as she stared at Zane’s stubborn expression, her eyes unable to keep from drifting down his muscular body as he finally leaned a hip against the kitchen counter and crossed his arms in front of him, stretching the material of the beautiful green sweater he was wearing.

“I didn’t ask you to,” she answered quickly. “And I’m not apologizing for kissing you back.” She was silent for a few seconds before she ventured, “Maybe we should just try to forget that it happened. Everything has been pretty emotional since you found me.”

“I’ll never forget it,” he told her gutturally. “Sometimes I can’t stop looking at you because I still can’t believe you’re here, that you’re really alive. I had to touch you, Ell.” He paused for a heart-stopping moment, looking like he wanted to say more about his motivations, but didn’t. Abruptly, he turned toward the refrigerator and changed the topic, his voice casual again. “Now let’s see if there’s any food in the house. I have no idea what’s here.”

“I’m not that hungry,” Ellie protested, confused by Zane’s confession. Maybe everything still felt as surreal to him as it did to her. Maybe they just momentarily needed some kind of connection.

“Doesn’t matter. You need to eat.” He turned around and strode back to the hallway and picked up her belongings bag from the hospital and made his way back to the hallway with the bedrooms, Ellie following behind him. He stopped in one to drop off her bag. “You can stay in here,” he instructed as he stopped at the doorway on his way out of the suite. “I’m just down the hall.” He pointed to the master bedroom with the hot springs.

The suite he’d given her was a beautiful, enormous room with a sitting area and its own private bathroom. Ellie didn’t have much time to check it out because Zane grasped her hand and pulled her back out to the kitchen.

She watched as he rummaged through the cupboards and rifled through the fridge. She smiled because he looked so damn adorable as he scrutinized everything, looking like he wasn’t sure what any of the packages were or what to do with them.

“Let me guess…you don’t cook?” She crossed her arms and rested her ass against the counter.

He turned his head and gave her a questioning look. “How did you know?”

“Maybe because you just passed over plenty of edible items, but ignored every one of them because it requires some kind of preparation.” She moved to the refrigerator. “Move,” she insisted, bumping him out of her way with her hip.

She inspected the contents of the freezer, noticing there wasn’t much in the fridge. “You don’t really have anything defrosted, but I could manage breakfast for dinner.” He had plenty of eggs, cheese, and some sliced ham. There were a few potatoes that looked fairly recent, too.

“I’m not picky,” he agreed readily. “Show me how and I’ll do it.”

“You seriously can’t cook?” she asked curiously. “How do you eat?”

He shrugged. “In Denver, I order out or get stuff I can toss in the microwave. I have a housekeeper who takes pity on me and leaves me meals that I can just nuke most of the time. When I’m here, I usually have stuff around for sandwiches. I guess I ran out.”

Ellie pulled out a carton of eggs and some other items before searching for a large frying pan. Somehow it seemed funny that a guy with his IQ couldn’t cook an egg.

He’s a billionaire. He doesn’t need to cook for himself.

Ellie couldn’t even imagine what it was like to have so much money that someone could just hire someone to do everyday tasks. Strangely, it didn’t seem like he had a housekeeper here in Rocky Springs. When he’d said the house was a mess, he was right. The place could use a good cleaning, and there were stacks of papers and various items that had never been organized everywhere.

He watched as she worked, hovering as though she might fall over at any moment. It was as endearing as it was irritating.

“I’m fine, Zane. Really. I feel better just being able to be out of bed and on my feet.” Finding a task to do for him made her feel less tired and useless, and it took her mind off her troubles.

“I never thought about getting the house ready, or having somebody leave us dinner,” he grumbled.

“It doesn’t matter,” she answered honestly. “I want to help out while I’m here.”

“You’re supposed to be resting.”

“Cooking a simple meal isn’t hard labor,” she told him jokingly. “Sit.” She motioned toward the kitchen table.

He sat and thanked her as she put a plate in front of him piled high with an omelet, toast, and fried potatoes. She placed a plate with a smaller portion across from him. While gathering utensils, she reached into the refrigerator and grabbed two cans of soda and brought them to the table before sitting across from him.

“See. Not so hard,” she told him with a teasing smile.

“You make it look easy,” he muttered in a deep voice.

“My mom had to work a lot when I was a kid. I learned to cook pretty early in life,” she explained. “She needed help around the house.”

Ellie ate slowly, mostly watching Zane as he devoured the food on his plate like it was the best meal he’d ever eaten. When she’d downed all the food she could from her plate, she pushed it across the table. “I’m done. Can you finish this?”

He gave her a look of displeasure. “You didn’t eat much.”

“You know I can’t.” Ellie knew her body would fill out soon enough. She’d already put on weight, and with her slow metabolism, it wouldn’t take long for her to completely fill in some of the weight she’d lost. She was determined to watch her weight and not put on the extra pounds she didn’t need.

He took her plate and put it on top of his, and then quickly demolished what was left of her food.

Once finished, he refused to let her get up from the table and help him clean up.

“You cooked. I can clean. I know how to put dishes in the dishwasher,” he insisted as he motioned her back into her chair.

She sat back down and watched as his big body moved efficiently around the kitchen. He might not be able to cook, but he made short work of loading the dishes and then starting the dishwasher.

Zane was tall and muscular, but he was naturally lithe, his body more like a runner’s than a weightlifter’s. He didn’t have a spare ounce of fat anywhere on his body, which was disappointing. Ellie would have liked to see at least a tiny flaw in Zane, something to make him seem more human. But his body was sculpted, and even with a layer of scruff on his face and his dark hair a little too long, he was damn near perfect.

With a silent, inward sigh, she knew exactly why she’d always been attracted to him. Zane was perfect, but he was an enigma, a puzzle with so many pieces she’d never quite been able to put them all together. He was kind, handsome as sin, but a little bit awkward occasionally, which was endearing considering he was so damn hot in almost every other way.

As she looked around, Ellie realized he was still disorganized, but the trait was pretty much forgivable considering he was a genius. His laser focus was generally on one thing: his work.

There were things she couldn’t quite understand…like why he’d kissed her. Why he was helping her when he could have turned that job over to his mother—or hers, for that matter. Ellie knew her mom would have stayed if she really needed her, but Zane had promised he’d take care of Ellie for her until she could come back for another visit. Convinced her daughter would be okay, her mom had gone back to Montana because she needed to work.

Zane’s protective instincts made Ellie feel safe, but they were also perplexing. She wasn’t used to having anyone who really cared about her or about what happened to her except for Chloe. He’d saved her life with his persistent nature, and Ellie was grateful, but she still didn’t understand why he hadn’t just given up like everyone else. Seven months was a long time.

She ran her hand through her hair, the action reminding her that she needed to cut much of it off to get it healthy again. It was pretty damaged. The thought depressed her because her long blonde hair was one of the only things she’d ever really liked about her appearance.

“What’s wrong? You look sad,” Zane observed as he sat back down at the table and took a slug of his soda.

“I have to cut my hair,” she answered solemnly. “It’s damaged, and to get it healthy again I’m going to have to cut most of it off.” What had taken her years to grow out healthy and long would be gone in a matter of minutes.

Zane looked puzzled. “So just get it cut. It will grow out again.”

“It’s the only thing that I ever liked about how I looked. I liked my hair.”

Ellie knew it wasn’t really the issue of her hair that was bothering her. The whole ordeal she’d suffered was starting to hit her hard, and the loss of her hair was just a symbol of everything she’d lost. Reality was starting to close in on her.

“It’s just protein filaments and dead cells, Ellie. It’s just hair,” he said in a husky voice.

“I know.” She nodded tearfully. “It’s stupid to be upset about something so superficial. I think I’m just starting to realize how much everything is going to change, how much I have to take care of and how different things will be now. I don’t have a job or a home. It’s like life moved on without me, but I’m still here. Now I’m trapped someplace between existing and not. I’m not sure where I go from here.”

Zane stood and scooped her up from the chair and carried her into her room and laid her gently on the bed. “You need to sleep. Don’t think so much. You’ll end up overwhelmed. Take one thing at a time. I can’t promise you that you’ll feel normal again tomorrow. But I promise I’ll do everything in my power to make you happy again.”

“I don’t feel normal,” she told him breathlessly, panic beginning to set in.

Zane kicked off his boots and climbed onto the big bed, gathering her up in his arms before answering, “You’ll feel normal again, Ell. I promise.”