“Good. You were never fat. Eat,” he insisted.
She had been overweight, but she wasn’t right now, and she actually needed to put on some pounds, a novel experience for her since she had been chubby since she was a child. Being able to eat without guilt was the only bright spot in this otherwise nightmarish experience.
As she shoveled food into her mouth, she could feel Zane watching her, but when she looked at him, he looked away and started filling a plate for himself.
Between bites, she told him, “God, this is either really amazing food, or I’m so hungry that anything more edible than hospital food tastes good.”
“It’s good,” Zane confirmed, seating himself in a chair next to her bed and starting to eat. “It’s the best Asian food in the area. I’ve tried every one of them. It’s one of my favorites, too.”
Ellie watched him covertly as she ate, her heart flip-flopping just as it always did whenever she saw Zane. Now that he was her rescuer, it made her youthful infatuation spring to life again.
It’s hero worship. It has to be. Zane was responsible for saving my life. I absolutely am not really attracted to him.
Irritatingly, Ellie had to acknowledge that she wasn’t totally convinced her desire to devour him along with her food wasn’t all about the fact that Zane saved her.
Something about Zane Colter had always attracted her like a giant magnet. She’d never figured out whether it was because he was amazingly smart, or if it was the fact that he was the hottest guy she’d ever seen. His dark hair was a little too long, and occasionally some of those black tresses fell onto his forehead, making him seem more approachable. He had the trademark Colter eyes, gray and ever-changing in shade, depending on his mood.
She could say Zane was nice, but one would never know it. She knew because she was acquainted with him, but he was often distracted or quiet, not because he was a jerk, but because he simply had nothing to say.
Ellie was pretty sure he didn’t give a damn about status, or what kind of clothing he wore. Mostly, she’d seen him in jeans and flannel shirts. In the summer, he opted for a T-shirt. His big feet were usually in a pair of hiking boots, and his hair had no semblance of order or even a definitive cut. Nope. He definitely wasn’t a guy who spent a lot of time trying to look trendy. He never had been. Maybe that’s why she’d always liked him. He was naturally hotter than hell, but never acted like he knew it.
He had been as socially awkward as she had back in high school. While people said he was shy, she’d never seen him that way. Problem was, Zane was too smart to be happy having a conversation he thought was irrelevant. He’d been too busy trying to figure out every scientific mystery that existed on the planet. Most other high school guys had just wanted to get laid.
“I’m stuffed,” she groaned as she pushed her plate back.
He looked up from his plate. “You hardly ate anything.”
“My stomach is smaller,” she informed him.
“You’re too skinny,” he replied gruffly.
Ellie laughed. “I’ve never had that problem before.” She was still thin, but now that she was being pumped full of nutrition and hydrated, it probably wouldn’t take long for her to gain weight. It never did.
She smiled at him, liking the fact that he was blunt and always said whatever he was thinking. His words were rarely censored, and he didn’t seem to care whether they were tactful or not.
“They’re going to let you go home in a few days. I thought we could go to my house in Denver, but it’s a media circus outside. I think you’d be safer in Rocky Springs. My property there is secure, and if they set one foot on Colter land, they’ll be arrested. We can take off from the helipad on the roof.”
“Zane, I can’t go home with you. I’ll stay with Aileen for a while if I need to, try to figure out what I’m going to do. You’ve already lost enough time trying to find me and then taking care of me. I’m going to have to get my shit together pretty fast.”
“You’re staying with me, even if I have to toss you over my shoulder and take you to my house. Mom’s home isn’t secure. Hell, she doesn’t even have an alarm system. My property is fenced. I have a small lab there, and it needed to be secure.” He took her plate and started to finish off her food after dumping his own empty dish into the garbage.
“My apartment—”
“It’s been rented. All of your stuff was sent to my house, and the furniture was put in storage.”
Ellie’s heart sank. “I didn’t think my landlady would evict me.”
In a kinder voice, Zane answered, “Nobody believed you were even alive anymore, Ellie. You were gone seven months. She didn’t exactly evict you.”
You believed it, or you wouldn’t have kept searching. Ellie still wondered why Zane had kept searching when even the police had given up hope of finding her alive.
She sighed and started plucking at the white blanket nervously. “I suppose. Life moved on without me.”
“Not for everybody. And never for me,” Zane told her in a graveled voice as he dumped her now-empty plate and opened the bag of candy.
“Why didn’t you and Chloe give up? Why didn’t you just assume I was dead or gone?” Ellie knew Zane was analytical and realistic. He was a scientist. After seven months gone, the likelihood of him finding her alive had been pretty much nil. A brain that was as rational as Zane’s should have told him to quit looking.
He pinned her with his intense stare, his eyes smoky and dark. He took one of the chocolates he’d unwrapped and held it to her mouth.