Taming the Tycoon by Amy Andrews

pushing too hard too soon. He was obviously determined to have his way and if she didn’t want him shutting down every time she tried to discuss it, she needed to tread carefully.
    He turned back. “Are you…is everything okay now?”
    Addie was pleasantly surprised by his obvious concern, but her approaching anniversary had been something she’d been trying not to dwell on. “I’ve been in remission for nearly five years. I get my final clearance soon.”
    “So what happened after you were better?” he asked after a while. “You just… dropped out?”
    Addie nodded. “Pretty much. For a couple of years. Penny and I—Penny’s younger sister, Alice, was sick the same time as me, and she died a month before I finished my last treatment—we bought the Kombi and took off for Europe. Traveled around. Worked here and there. Laughed. Cried. Grieved. Loved. Just…lived, really.”
    “And the shop?”
    “I talked about doing it all the time I was away. Eating top-quality food is vital when your body is being ravaged so viciously, and meditation helped me so much in those dark days. When we got home, I inherited the Ida May , and Penny and I spent some time renovating it. We drove it from Wales and ended up moored at St. Katherine’s and I knew, I just knew, it was the place I was meant to be.”
    She smiled absently, thinking about that amazing trek through the canals of Wales and the midlands with her best friend. She also remembered the sense of coming home she’d had when she’d moored the Ida May in the spot it was now.
    She looked up and saw him watching her. “I learned to listen to my gut when I was sick, and it was telling me that St. Katherine’s Docks was my destiny.”
    Just like it was telling her saving Nathaniel was her destiny.
    “You ever had that feeling?” she asked.
    He nodded. ”Of course. I’ve built an extremely successful empire on gut feelings. But I don’t believe in destiny. I believe you make your own path in life through hard work and dedication to your goals.”
    Addie sighed. Of course he did .
    “And I really should be getting back to it,” he said, and turned to his paperwork like the poster boy for workaholic tycoons.
    Who knew destiny could be such a bitch?

    Two hours later, they’d left the motorway and were gliding through picture-postcard villages. Addie gave up on the pretense of reading and looked out the window instead as thatched roofs and quaint pubs with brightly colored flower boxes and names like The Cock and Bull and The Royal Artilleryman whizzed by.
    It took her back to her time on the canals. She had a sudden thirst for a nice cold lager and a desire to be sitting at one of the outdoor tables soaking up the sunshine.
    Which probably had more to do with sitting next to Mr. Tall-Dark-and-Silent than anything else. She had a feeling he was the real reason she’d rather be at a beer garden somewhere drinking in the sunshine.
    Great .
    Two hours in his company and he was already driving her back to drink. Something she’d given up quite happily during her lifestyle revamp and hadn’t missed.
    Except for right now.
    He was just so…distracting. Sans jacket, his broad chest and fascinating forearms were constantly drawing her eye. And he smelled so damned good—like those spice markets again—a primitive part of her wanted to bury her face in his neck and get a little high.
    Not that he was even aware of her interest. Since making it perfectly clear that he had work to do, he hadn’t raised his head—not even when he answered his very annoying continually ringing phone—for the rest of the journey.
    Addie thought it was fair to say that he was completely oblivious to his impact on her equilibrium.
    Which was a good thing.
    She doubted she’d survive if those intense blue eyes ever looked at her with any kind of interest.
    Nathaniel Montgomery was the big league.
    And she was here to show him the joy of eating the hot dogs, not to play ball.
    The car