“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.”