Page 83 of Begin Again, Part 1

"You can't avoid me forever or pretend Linda's office didn't happen. We need to talk," he said. "Have dinner with me. I'm okay with lunch too. Pick a place and time."

"Why?" Eden asked. "Why is it so damn important we talk?"

"Because I realised I didn't handle the stuff with Linda very well. The incident in my office too with my dietary requirements, I could have—"

Her phone buzzed in her pocket, interrupting his well-meaning speech and long-overdue apology.

"Excuse me." Eden held up her index finger, pulled out her iPhone, and checked the caller ID.

Liam didn't mean to peek, but the lawyer's name flashed in big, bold writing on the screen, taunting him. All his anger at her was back, swallowing up his sincere apology.

"I should return to my desk," Eden said, slipping her phone back into her blazer.

"Why is he still around? Stop wasting his time and yours," he said, pissed out of his head that Julian was right. The lawyer was very much a part of Eden's life, and he didn't like it.

"I don't know what you mean."

"You know damn well what I mean!" Liam crossed his arms over his chest. "You don't like him. So stop wasting both your time. You won't be good together."

"Who are you to decide that?"

"I'm the man who knows how to please you, Princess. The lawyer can't. And when you're ready to be pleased, you know where to find me."

"That won't happen."

"It will," Liam assured her. "I'm a patient man. I can wait."

"Then you'll be waiting for a long time, Mr Anderson."

"That's okay. I waited two years for you to come back to me. A few more weeks won't hurt."

"I didn't come back to you. And you know what, I'm done—" Eden turned to leave. But he reeled her back in and kissed her hard, punishing her for her little act of defiance.

"Liam." She sighed and wove her arms around his neck, her body yielding to his.

"I like it when you say my name." He smiled on her lips, enjoying the taste of her cherry lip-balm.

"God, you infuriate me so much!" She purred, driving him nuts with her tongue on the corner of his mouth.

Where the fuck did she learn to do that? Liam wondered as he ran his hands through her hair, drowning in her kisses. He bloody hoped she wasn't doing that to the lawyer. The thought sent him into a jealous haze. He picked her up and sat her down on the table in a corner piled high with discarded printing paper and long-forgotten documents, their lips and hands barely parting as he kissed her harder in a desperate attempt to banish all thoughts of the lawyer from both their minds.

"Do you know how much I've missed having you in my arms?" Liam groaned, their foreheads touching lightly, their shallow breaths mingling. "Stop pushing me away."

"Maybe if you stop being an asshole—" She kissed his jawline, her hands gliding frantically on his chest. "—I'll think about it."

"I'm your asshole!" Liam laughed, gently nipping her lower lip. Eden moaned, almost sending him over the edge with the sounds. "And you are my tonic."

"I'm not your anything," she whispered, throwing her head back, exposing more of her graceful neck for him to kiss.

"Stop talking nonsense," Liam growled, burying his face in her neck, breathing in her scent. And for a good five minutes, they were captivated with each other, as their mouths, tongues, and hands did all the talking.

"Shut this shit down with the lawyer, Princess," Liam warned her when they pulled apart. "You are too important for my recovery. I won't share you with him. Or any other man for that matter."

"I don't take orders from you when it comes to my personal life," Eden said as she hurriedly fixed her clothes and smoothed down her pants. "And the last time I checked, you wouldn't touch me with a ten-foot pole, remember? Isn't that what you told your therapist?"

Not in those exact words, but he did say something along those lines in Linda's office.

"A wise man changes his mind sometimes," Liam informed her, surprising himself with the announcement. "I thought if I stayed away from you, I could somehow get you out of my system. But after a month of following your lead, I realise now that I can't."

---