Chapter 14

Fourteen

E than had enough business meetings to keep him busy for the next month.

This trip had been a success: he’d secured the chef he wanted and had put out feelers for a new flagship restaurant in Mumbai. He’d flown the length and breadth of India over the last two days, from Delhi to Mumbai to Chennai.

However, as he sat in the plush surrounds of the International Hotel in Chennai, he couldn’t concentrate on business. Thoughts of Tam consumed him, as they had since she’d walked away from him in New Delhi.

He’d reached for his phone numerous times, desperate to call her, to see how she was doing, to simply hear her voice. But he’d stopped each time, all too aware calling her would prove what he’d suspected for a while now; his legendary control had slipped.

During their journey on the Palace of Wheels, he’d dreamed of surprising her in Goa, of spending a leisurely week getting to know each other.

So much for that dream.

“Ethan, my boy, good to see you.”

Dilip Kumar, his Indian representative in business matters, appeared out of nowhere and slapped him on the back as he stood. “This is Sunil Bachnan, the investor we discussed on the phone last week.”

“Pleased to meet you.” Ethan shook Sunil’s hand, a giant of a man with a rounded belly protruding over his trousers, testament to a lifetime’s worth of chappatis and dosa , the crispy rice pancakes filled with spicy potato he’d become addicted to.

“Likewise. I hear you’re looking to open a restaurant here?”

Ethan nodded and resumed his seat along with the other men, grateful to be back doing what he knew best. Business. This, he could manage. Unlike the rest of his life, which had spiralled dangerously out of control since he’d landed in this mystical country.

“Actually, I was thinking Mumbai would be the perfect city for my next restaurant. The growth there is staggering.”

Sunil gestured to a waiter for menus, and nodded. “The entire country is an economic boom. Pick a city, any city, and your famous Ambrosia will do big business.” Patting his ample gut, he chortled. “We love our food here in India.”

“You and me, both.”

Though his appetite had vanished the last few days, a shame considering the array of amazing food on offer everywhere he went. For a guy who made his life out of food, he’d landed smack-bang in foodie paradise.

“Right. Let’s talk business as we eat.” Sunil rattled off an order in rapid Hindi to the hovering waiter as Dilip raised his beer. “Cheers, my friend. And how is your travelling companion?”

“Good.”

Ethan drank half his beer in two gulps, wishing he hadn’t opened his big mouth and mentioned Tam, not wanting to discuss her. The less he said the better, considering the constant repetition in his head: replaying every scene of their trip, every hand touch, every smile, every kiss.

“You must bring her to dinner. My wife Sireesha will be thrilled to have you both—”

“Tamara’s in Goa.”

Dilip’s black eyes widened at his snapped response. “I see.”

“Glad someone does,” he muttered into his beer glass, grateful Sunil had answered a call on his phone and wasn’t privy to this conversation.

Trying to present a professional front to an investor sure as hell didn’t involve discussing his non-existent love life.

“You and your lady friend are having problems?”

“Nothing I can’t handle.”

Yeah, right, which was why he was on the east coast of India and Tam was on the west.

Dilip shook his head, steepling his fingers on his chest. “If you permit me to be so bold, I have a story for you, my friend.”

Darting a frantic glance in Sunil’s direction in the hope his call had ended, Ethan’s heart sank as the investor held up a finger, pushed away from the table, and headed for the foyer to continue his conversation.

“Look, Dilip, I’d rather focus on business—”

“Patience, my friend, patience.” Dilip squeezed his eyes shut, as if trying to recall the story, before his bulging eyes snapped open and fixed on him. “When I met my Sireesha, I was a penniless student and she was engaged to the son of a prominent doctor. Our paths crossed at university one day, when she dropped her books and I helped pick them up, and from that moment I knew she was the one for me.”

“And you’re telling me this because?”

Dilip waggled a finger at him. “Because I never wavered from my pursuit of her, no matter how unlikely it was we would ever be a couple. I was determined to have her and all the obstacles in our way were inconsequential.”

Ethan rubbed the back of his neck. “That’s great, but we’re different. There are complications—”

“Complications?” Dilip waved his hand like a magician waving a wand. If only he could make all of Ethan’s problems disappear.

“The only complication is up here.” Dilip tapped his head like an overzealous woodpecker. “You think too much, you overanalyse, you lose.” He pointed to his heart. “You need to think with this. Let your heart rule your head. I know you are a brilliant businessman, so this will be foreign to you, yes?”

Hell yeah. Ethan never let his heart rule his head, not anymore. His mother was the only woman who’d ever had a piece of his heart and she’d taken it with her the second she walked out of his life and left him to fend for himself, a bewildered five year old with no family, no money, no home.

“If you want her, this—” Dilip tapped his heart “—needs to rule this.” He pointed to his head. “Simple.”

Was it that simple? Was Ethan thinking too much, overanalysing, obstinately refusing to relinquish control despite the potentially incredible outcome?

What could be greater incentive to relinquish control a little than dating Tam?

Dilip snapped his fingers and jerked his head towards the door. “Sunil is returning. For now, we do business. But later, my friend, you remember what I’ve said.”

Ethan would. But would he have the sense to do anything about it?