Zane was looking at Ava and at the spot on the bed next to her, but he didn’t move. Ava looked back at him and wondered what was going on.
“Come on,” she said, patting the spot again.“I’ll just sit here,” he told her, heading toward the chair he sat in when she had woken up.“Why? I would like you to sit next to me,” she asked.“I don’t want to hurt you,” he said.“Don’t be silly. Gabriel was sitting there not five minutes ago. Come on, let’s have a talk,” she told him. Slowly, with hesitant steps, Zane rounded the bed and gently got on it. He watched her to see if she was uncomfortable or in pain. Ava just smiled at him patiently. As he sat down facing her, he took her hands in his and looked intently at them. Ava just let him be. He had something he needed to talk about, and she would give him the time to think it through.“I’m sorry,” he said, looking up at her. That was not what Ava was expecting.“For what?” she asked, genuinely surprised. Zane smAva looked up at Zane with big eyes.“But…,“ she started.“No but. You need to stop doing things that put you in danger, angel. But we will save the punishment for later. Now relax,” he told her, and he savoured the feeling as she made herself comfortable in his arms. Having her back where she belonged felt amazing, like the world suddenly made sense again. Her body felt too angular and thin, and her hair had lost its shine. But he didn’t care. She was back in his arms, in his bed, and he had told her he loved her. Zane still had a hard time believing she loved him back, and she forgave him. He didn’t forgive himself and would spend the rest of his life making it up to her if she would let him. A cold hand clutched his stomach as he remembered he didn’t know what they had done to her. He knew she had been beaten from the pictures. Linda had told him she had seen all the signs of starvation and dehydration. But other than that, Zane had had plenty of time to think about what
Ava was slowly healing and getting her strength back. The first days she had been on a strict diet which Linda had ordered. But as the week moved on, she gradually could start eating like normal. Zane made sure she got all her meals and snacks in their room. He also made sure she had dessert with every meal. As he had told her, he didn’t leave their room. He was constantly by her side. If he needed to work, he did so from the armchair by the TV. He helped her to the bathroom, and he helped her to shower whenever she wanted to. There was a constant stream of people coming to visit Ava. She was moved by how most of the men, some she had only met in passing, came by to look in on her. She made it a point to thank each of them for helping to rescue her. Then there was Anna. She made sure to bring Ava’s meals herself and stayed to talk a little. Tom and Ryder were almost in the room as much as she and Zane. Ryder was looking better by the day as Gabriel was finally talking to him, even t
Zane looked down at Ava, she was licking his still hard cock clean. She had not let go of his gaze and Zane admired the way the rhinestones sparkled in the soft light. His wicked angel. “On your feet, angel,” he told her and she gracefully got up. It was evidence of how far along she was in her recovery. She had been right, he was trying to hold back, trying to not acknowledge how much better she was. Because if he did, he would have to let her go out into the world. And that scared the shit out of him. He just wanted her safe. But as he drew her into his embrace, kissing her like he had wanted to kiss her since she woke up, with a scoring heat. He knew he had to give in and let her keep going on with her life. “You have been a really good girl, time for your reward. On the bed, angel, on your hands and knees,” he told her. He saw the happy smile which appeared on Avas face as she almost skipped over to the bed. She was a needy little angel, he thought as he stripped out of his
It was time for Ava to deal with things. She had let Zane keep her in their room, with brief visits to the kitchen and the library, for weeks. She felt much better, especially since Zane had stopped thinking she was too frail for sex. Ava almost felt like her old self again. No, that wasn’t entirely true. She felt like a new and improved version, Ava 2.0. Somehow her time with Johnson had given her a little more confidence, and the fact she knew she had Zane and Gabriel in her life left her with a sense of security she hadn’t felt since she was a child. It was time she put this new version to the test.“I want to see my aunt and uncle,” she told Zane as they were eating breakfast. Ava had convinced him they should start having their meals in the dining room and not the bedroom. It felt like a good sign he had agreed. “No.”“You said it was my decision what happens to them,” she objected.“It is. You will tell me what you want, and I will make it happen. No where is
Ava sat at her desk, she had gone through the last of the reports regarding the latest batch of potential new clients. She had selected three she thought had potential. The rest would get a kind refusal letter, telling them the firm had to mush on their plate to take them on as clients, but they could recommend the attached list of accountant firms. Gabriel’s and her business were blooming. They had stopped looking for new clients as they had their hands full with their existing ones and the ones who asked to join. There was ha knock on the door and Tom opened the door.“We need to get going in ten minuets if you want to have time to get ready, Mrs A,” he told her. “Thank you, Tom. Could you make sure these three potential clients get wetted? I’ll just say bye to Gabriel and then we can go,” she told him. He nodded and took the folders from her. When Ava had started working from the office, Zane had insisted she needed a bodyguard. Since Tom’s injurie, his wife had become s
Zane had a hard time letting Ava go as she tried to get up from his lap. He was still blown away by her news. He was going to be a father. Zane and Ava would have a baby, a child. His male pride flared at the idea. His legacy would live on in the form of a little human that would be half him and half Ava. That was amazing. “Zane, you need to let me get up before the others get here,” Ava told him in a soft voice. His possessiveness flared, and he drew her closer instead of letting her go. He wanted to grunt ‘mine’ but thought that would be a little over the top, even for him. Zane reeled in his emotions and kissed her before letting her get up. He stood up with her and placed his arm around her. There was no chance he would let her out of his sight. She might think that he would be satisfied with only two weeks, but he would make sure that his angel and their child would be safe. And there was no place safer than inside their home with him close by. There was a knock on the doo
Ava was sitting in a chair next to Zane as he worked in his home office. It was familiar to her, like being thrown back to the time they had met. To keep busy, she had started crocheting a baby blanket. After a while she felt Zane’s eyes on her, she looked up and smiled at him. “You shouldn’t be sitting on that chair,” he told her. “What’s wrong with this chair? I love sitting on it when you work,” Ava said. “It’s not soft enough,” he grumbled. Ava laughed and placed her hand on his cheek. Her husband was a real softie. “You can’t wrap me in bubble wrap just because I’m pregnant. I’m healthy and strong and the baby is half you so you know it has steal in it’s DNA,” she told him. Zane chuckled and shook his head. “If she is half as stubborn as her mother, we are all in big trouble, he said.“She?” Ava asked. He shrugged.“It feels right calling her a she,” he said as he texted someone. A moment later, there was a knock on the door and one of the maids
Ava and Linda sat at the table talking. They were waiting on Zane and Jax that had got a last-minute call. Not the women minded. It gave them time to plan a strategy on how to get away on a girls’ day on the town without having a small army of men surrounding them. Just before Linda’s and Jax’s big blow up, the women and Gabriel had tried to have a relaxing day, shopping, going to a museum and having lunch. Each of their partner had sent a group of five men to protect them. It meant they ended up with fifteen burly, scary-looking men staring at anyone around them. It had been anything but a relaxing day. Being pregnant, Ava feared the amount of scary-looking men would go up, not down. But this time, they were prepared for the argument. Zane and Jax walked in and they both looked closed off. Ava knew the look well. Something was happening which Zane didn’t like, but he felt forced to do it. Linda looked at her and they made a silent agreement that it wasn’t the time to talk about a d