Unlocking the Tycoon's Heart by Ella Hayes

Author:Ella Hayes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2020-04-06T11:24:17+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

THERE WAS AN empty table near the window. Mia parked her coffee, sat down and slipped her laptop out of its case. She had work to do, but at home the words weren’t flowing. It was probably foolish to imagine that writing at Hannekes Boom would be possible, although maybe the bustle of the trendy riverside café-bar would give her something to pit her concentration against. At least getting here early meant she’d secured a table, although Ash would probably want to sit outside and dangle his legs over the dock like the students and the hipsters did.

She switched on the computer, gazing through the window while it clicked and whirred. Across the river, the Nemo science centre rose up like a blue cigarette butt stubbed out in the heart of Oosterdok. She liked its blunt lines, the canted roof. A blue building against a blue sky. An old blue stove in a run-down canal house. His house.

She pushed the thought away, opened the blog post she was working on, but the words on the screen kept rearranging themselves into his words.

Do we need to talk about this?

Impossible!

Impossible to work because she was missing him, aching for his touch, his kiss, his smile. Why did it feel as if she’d been on a collision course with chaos from the moment they’d met? The car to Greenwich. The fundraiser. Cleuso in the canal. Spending an entire afternoon in bed with him after what she’d thought was going to be a safe lunch. She dropped her head into her hands and massaged her forehead. She’d gone back to his house because she’d wanted to get to know him better but getting to know the smooth curves and hard lines of his body hadn’t been part of the plan.

She reached for her coffee, remembering the coffee he’d made which they’d never got around to drinking. Had she been reckless, giving herself to him so easily? She’d never done anything like it before. She put the cup to her lips and sipped slowly. The truth was that she’d always been a little bit scared of loving people because she was frightened of losing them, as she’d lost her parents. Not that staying away from love had been a deliberate policy; it had been more of a subliminal thing—self-preservation.

And the thing about Hal was that, when they’d started going out, she’d been eased in already because she’d spent so much time with him and Ash. He’d felt like family, had filled her longing for a circle that was wider than just Ash and herself. And she’d thought he was a known quantity—safe to love. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

When Theo kissed her in the dome, when he’d made clear what was on his mind, maybe he’d caught her in a defiant mood. Maybe some part of her had decided that she might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb. She stroked the touch-pad of her laptop, waking the sleeping screen. But, no, that was wrong.

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