Page 88 of Begin Again, Part 1

"That's okay." He smiled, still making his way to her.

"Stop," she said, her voice shaky from the unshed tears she was trying to keep from falling. Jesus, she thought she'd cried enough last night. She thought she was all emptied out. But being so close to Liam now...It was like someone had ripped the bandage off and exposed her gushing wound.

"Don't come any closer," she warned him, pressing her back on the door. If he held and kissed her, she didn't think she'd have the strength to let him go.

"What's wrong?" Liam paused, confusion, and irritation flickering in his eyes. "We were fine yesterday. What the hell happened between you running out of the elevator and leaving me with a fucking hard-on and now?"

His wife or fiancée or whatever Laura stone was to him happened. But showing him her insecurities and her vulnerabilities would make her downright pathetic. As if she wasn't already for coveting someone else's man. She'd blamed Olive, hated her sometimes, too, for breaking the girl code and running off with Simon. But here she was, doing the exact same thing with Liam, sneaking around, and enjoying stolen moments. She'd become what she deplored the most, and it made her sick to her stomach.

"Mind telling me what's going on?" Liam demanded.

"Nothing's going on, sir."

"Stop with the 'sir' and 'Mr Anderson', business. Every time you want to put up walls between us, you call me that. I don't like it."

"But you are my boss," she reminded him.

"I am more than your boss," Liam roared as he closed the space between them. "I plan to make you mine, Princess."

In a blink of an eye, he had her in his arms. His mouth claimed hers in an angry kiss. But unlike all the other times in the past, Eden remained passive in his arms, her hands resting limply at her sides.

He released her from his embrace when she didn't kiss him back or cling to him like she'd done countless times before.

"What's wrong?" Liam asked again, searching her face, worry, and panic drenched in his voice. "Tell me what's wrong so I can fix this."

"Nothing's wrong, Mr Anderson," she said, holding his gaze. "I told you yesterday, whatever we had ended over a month ago. From now, don't kiss me, touch me, or hold me."

"Fine!" Liam said, his eyes dark with something she couldn't read or understand. "If that's what you want. You're dismissed."

She spun on her heel and ran out of his office and shut the door, unable to contain her tears when she heard him lose his shit on the other side.

Gibby rushed to her side when she heard the commotion in Liam's office. "Eden, what happened? What's going on? Are you okay?"

When her questions went unanswered, Liam's assistant pushed her aside and ran inside the office, throwing the door wide open.

Eden could only stare in horror at the destruction. Everything on Liam's desk moments ago was now scattered on the floor in a mess of papers and files. Glass shards covered the bar's granite surface, and brown liquid—presumably his expensive alcohol—dripped down the walls.

"Mr Anderson!" Gibby ran to him.

"I'm fine!" He growled. "I'm okay."

Eden forced herself to move along and be okay too. But ten minutes later, she was still a mess in the last cubicle in the restroom, crying herself sick.

"You did the right thing," she told her aching heart, wishing the searing pain would vanish. "You did the right thing by letting him go."

Chapter

Thirty

FAMILY REUNION

Eden had just gotten home and kicked off her shoes when the bell rang. She leaned on the door and sighed, annoyed at her visitor. She wasn't in the mood for company. The last thing she wanted was uninvited guests. What she needed, though, was a long bubble bath in her clawfoot tub, some peace, and a good bottle of wine to drown her sorrows. Exactly what the doctor would order for the end of another week of terrible decisions and heartache. She wasn't destined to get either. The bell rang again, shattering any illusions of a peaceful evening she had.

"Gosh!" She straightened her back and turned to confront the intrusion. Ice-cold fury oozed through her veins when she flung the flimsy door wide open and found her parents with worried frowns on their faces and several gift bags in their hands.

Of course, Eden thought as she leaned on the frame. She should have known her mom would pull such a balls-up move after she stopped taking her calls. She never knew when to give up.

"Hi, honey." Steve threw a wan smile in her direction, but Eden hurled it back at him with a frosty stare.

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