“Would I have to move to Denver?” she asked cautiously.
“No. When I’m there, you can stay with me. My house there is just about the same size as this one. We’ll be going back and forth.” Zane wanted to start spending more time in Rocky Springs. His mom wasn’t getting any younger, and Rocky Springs was still home for him.
“Are you doing this because you really need me, or because you feel sorry for me?” Ellie asked bluntly.
“Believe me, I need you,” Zane answered honestly, a double meaning in his words, his cock hard just from sitting across from her at a fucking kitchen table. He admitted he was desperate for her, but not in a way that he could confess to Ellie.
“Will you allow me to pay you back from my paycheck for the car and other things you’ve bought?”
He shook his head. “No. Those are the perks of working for a rich man. Personal assistants get personal gifts sometimes.”
“Not like this,” she muttered, sounding unhappy. “What’s the salary? Benefits?”
Zane named a yearly salary and explained the benefits, as much as he knew anyway. He had a human resources department that dealt with that kind of thing.
“Oh, my God. That’s way too much.”
“It’s not much more than I paid my last assistant,” Zane said insistently. “And that was a few years ago.” He paused before adding, “I really do need you, Ellie. After what happened, I doubt I could trust anybody else to do the job.”
He held his breath as he watched her brows draw together, her expression thoughtful. Zane wondered what the hell she was thinking, but he didn’t want to stop her thought process to ask.
“Okay. I’ll do it. What would you like me to do first, boss?” she asked teasingly.
Zane released a long breath of relief. “I’d like you to get well and be happy,” he grumbled. “No work until you feel ready.”
She nodded sharply. “I’m ready.”
“Smartass,” he rasped.
“Zane, I’m already bored,” she cajoled. “Give me something to do.”
“Let’s go into town. I need a haircut, and I’d like to check out the new bookstore.”
Ellie ran a hand through her hair. “I need somebody to cut mine, too. I was going to do it myself, but I was afraid I’d screw it up because I can’t see the back very well.”
“Then let’s go.” He jumped up and held out his hand. Waiting.
Come on, sweetheart. Take my hand. Let me fucking help you.
“We need to go to the grocery store. I can’t keep making something out of nothing. We need more food.”
Zane didn’t miss the flash of fear that crept across her face when she was talking about needing food supplies. Obviously, being low on food frightened her. “We’ll fill up the cupboards. I promise.”
He’d take her out for dinner tonight, and then they could shop for other things. Zane was pretty sure it was safe enough to go into town. Either the media had given up and moved on to a new story, or they were still camped out at the hospital in Denver.
Tate had mentioned he’d taken care of the problem, and Zane hadn’t asked any questions. Knowing his youngest brother, he’d created a good story, and had steered everyone away from Rocky Springs somehow.
Zane nearly groaned with pleasure as Ellie placed her smaller hand into his and let him pull her to her feet. The way she trusted him floored him after all she’d been through.
As his engorged cock threatened to separate the zipper of his jeans, Zane knew that if the touch of her hand in his got him this hard, it was going to be a very long evening.
Ellie was exhausted as she walked down Main Street in Rocky Springs, tugging at her new short, curly haircut. Her hair had always been just a little bit wavy, but cut in a style that barely touched her shoulders instead of her lower spine, the big curls were now more pronounced.
She smiled as she looked into the window of a local clothing store, remembering how Zane had supported her by going into the salon with her. He’d even gotten his own hair cut right there beside her, and the shorter style suited him.
Like he’s not hot enough?
The hairstylist had clipped him short, and it made those Colter gray eyes pop, making them even more expressive.
“And I look like a poodle,” she mumbled to herself as she let the curl she was fingering spring back into place. The style was fine, but without the length, she thought her hair did rather resemble that of the curly-haired canine.
Still, her heart ached with gratitude that Zane had been kind enough to sit right next to her as the stylist clipped off all of her fuzzy, damaged hair.
It’s just hair.
Zane was right, of course. Ellie wasn’t vain, and it wasn’t the loss of her only decent physical asset that she was mourning. It was admitting that the toll of the entire months-long ordeal was getting to her now that she was physically healing.
She sighed as she pulled open the door of the clothing store, remembering Zane’s demanding parting words as he’d walked across the street to check out the bookstore while she went to buy a few more clothing essentials after they’d gotten groceries and loaded them into his SUV.
Don’t leave the store without everything you want.
Of course she wouldn’t buy everything she wanted. She never did. Ellie lived on a tight budget, but she had almost everything she needed to get by for a while. Thanks to Zane, she had more money in her bank account than she’d ever seen before. Her future plan was to take an accounting of what she owed him and work it off while she worked for him. Unfortunately, he wasn’t about to tell her exactly what he’d spent, but she could work the numbers out fairly accurately.