“Hey, what are you doing?” Joanna asked. “It won’t run without that.”

“Then neither will you,” Addison said, stuffing the cord in her pocket.

“Oh, come on, Addison. All I want to do is get some exercise. It’s not my fault all this stuff makes noise,” Joanna said, holding out her hand. “What do you say? Please?”

Common courtesy was almost an oxymoron when it came to Addison Kane. True, if it was necessary when she conducted business, she could be as well-mannered and diplomatic as the staunchest of candidates running for office, but in her day-to-day dealings with society in general, she neither used it nor was impressed by it.

“You can say please, thank you, or have a nice day, but it’s not going to work,” Addison said with a sneer. “Until my business is done, if you can’t be quiet down here, this place is off limits.”

“Really? What about the bike?” Joanna said, taking a step in its direction. “I’ll peddle slowly. Promise.”

Addison’s hands turned to fists. “You are seriously trying my patience.”

“I don’t mean to,” Joanna said, fighting the urge to bat her eyelashes to complement her tone. “All I want to do is work out.”

Addison knew there wasn’t a piece of equipment in the gym that didn’t squeak, squawk, or clatter due to its age or condition, but bored with the conversation, as she turned and walked toward the stairs, she said, “Then go for a bloody swim. It’s great exercise, and it’s quiet.”

“Sorry, that doesn’t work for me. I’m not a very good swimmer.”

Addison turned to face Joanna, her sneer spreading across her face like jam on toast. “Then by all means...go for a swim.”

Chapter Sixteen

Her arms slipped through the water as if it didn’t exist, silently entering and exiting in a freestyle honed from years of practice. Her feet, perfectly synchronized with her stroke, kicked in faultless rhythm, and when the need for air arose, she turned her head, filled her lungs, and then continued on her way.

In an Olympic-sized pool or the twenty-five-meter models found in some upscale hotels, she would have stopped at five or ten lengths, but as her fingertips brushed the wall, she turned, pushed off and began her fifteenth lap of the twelve-meter pool.

It had been two weeks since Addison had been freed from her exile and her return to work had been fast and furious. Although she hadn’t missed a beat working from her study, to be amidst the chaos that only she could create at the offices of Kane Holdings was where Addison was in her element. Barking orders, shouting directives, and demanding nothing less than excellence, she had effortlessly conquered the two opponents who had been on her docket for far too long with a fervor born from anger.