Free Billionaire Undaunted: The Billionaire's Obsession ~ Zane by J. S. Scott

transportation.
    Get Chloe to help him convince her? A possibility, but Chloe isn’t home yet, and she doesn’t even know Ellie is still alive.
    Throw Ellie over his shoulder and toss her into the car? Yep. That idea had merit since he’d been feeling like a damn protective caveman since the minute Ellie disappeared.
    Now that he’d found her, the urge to make sure Ellie was safe was almost overwhelming, a compulsive, raw instinct that he was barely managing to control.
    Get it together. You’ll scare her off. Hell, I’m scaring myself.
    Zane considered himself a reasonable, rational, logical guy. He made decisions based on data and realistic facts. Lately, he wasn’t reacting with his normal levelheadedness; he was giving in to emotions and compulsions he couldn’t seem to control. He’d never experienced those types of feelings before, and it confounded him that with Ellie, he sometimes couldn’t control his own words or behavior.
    For some reason, Ellie had always been a woman he wanted to know better but ended up avoiding because he’d considered her off-limits in the past. However, it hadn’t stopped him from asking about her when he talked to Chloe. He’d almost blown it in the hospital, letting Ellie know that, little by little, he’d gotten to know her preferences by encouraging Chloe to talk about her best friend. Zane knew Ellie’s favorite was Asian food because Chloe had mentioned it. She’d also told him that she was sending Ellie her favorite chocolates for a birthday surprise a few years ago. Zane had asked what kind, and he still remembered exactly what company made the confections.
    He activated the metal door to the garage hallway by using the fingerprint scanner again, and then pushed the doorway open, a hidden door that wasn’t really detectable from inside the house unless one was really looking.
    He strode down the hallway, but stopped short when he heard Ellie’s voice. He could see her at the kitchen table with her laptop, her eyes glued to the screen as she spoke.
    It took him a moment to realize what she was doing. She’d been having a video chat.
    The counseling sessions!
    He’d known Ellie was going to use her new laptop for sessions with a psychologist in England, but he hadn’t known they were starting today. Of course, he and Ellie hadn’t really had a chance to have a civil conversation this morning before he’d retreated to his lab.
    He leaned against the wall and froze, not wanting to interrupt her, and shamelessly listening in on her conversation.
    Unfortunately for him, they seemed to be wrapping things up.
    Ellie sighed as she appeared to reply to the therapist. “Thank you, Natalie. It helped a lot to talk about how I feel. I know it’s very late there for you, but I’m glad you agreed to help me.”
    Zane watched as Ellie said good-bye and confirmed another appointment in a few days. She closed the laptop with a pensive look on her face.
    She needs to talk; she needs support.
    He clenched his fists as he cursed himself for not knowing how to really talk to her. He wanted to be there, wanted to be her sounding board. He just wasn’t sure exactly how to be what she needed right now.
    He knew a very big part of Ellie wanted to just forget what had happened to her, just like he wished he could do. But it wasn’t healthy for her to keep denying that she’d been traumatized by her seven-month ordeal. She’d never really heal if she stuffed it away inside her and never pulled it out and dealt with her emotions.
    He moved into the kitchen and sat down across from her. “Do you want to talk about it? How did it go?” He hoped like hell she’d gotten over her anger from earlier that morning. He didn’t want her to shut him out, even though he didn’t have a fucking clue what to say.
    She shook her head, but started to talk anyway. “Natalie thinks I have post-traumatic stress.”
    Zane raised an eyebrow. “What do you think?” He didn’t know much about mental