Page 105 of Begin Again, Part 1

"Because your missionary-position lives would be so boring without me." Lydia stuck out her tongue childishly at the three of them.

"I'm sorry, I don't have boring sex." Cassandra rolled her eyes.

"Well, I almost had exciting sex tonight, so there's that," Sienna said. "Thanks for cock-blocking me."

Eden giggled. "You're welcome. I can't be the only virgin here."

Her stomach rumbled, reminding her she'd turned up her nose at her parents' overpriced pasta, and now she was famished.

"I skipped dinner," she explained, heat rising up her cheeks as her friends gawked at her.

"You sure take the price for making the most disgusting sounds." Lydia shuddered with distaste as she pushed the cake box into her hands.

"I don't!" Eden protested.

"Yes, you do," Sienna said. "When you sneeze, blow your nose or fart."

"Hey, I'm a queen! I don't fart!" Eden gawked at the different cupcakes inside the box, wondering if Liam had bought the entire bakery.

She didn't realise she'd asked the question aloud until Sienna replied. "Yes, he did!"

"Now, do you see why you have to marry him?" Cassandra asked as she hooked their arms, and they made their way to her Jeep.

As they cruised to Eden's place, the girls couldn't stop talking about Liam and his dashing, heroic act in the car as they cruised to her place.

"Guys, it's cupcakes, and he told me it was a wellness check. Since I'm his employee, he had to make sure I'm okay."

"Sure, a wellness check on a Friday night?"

"All I'm saying is you have to send him a thank you text," Lydia said as she fiddled with the stereo.

"Yeah. Otherwise, you'd just be rude," Cassandra agreed from behind the wheel.

"Fine!" Eden relented just to shut them up. She had no intention of sending Liam anything. He was her boss. She shouldn't blur the lines of their relationship. Since she told him to stay away from her, she shouldn't send him mixed messages.

Chapter

Thirty-Five

ALL THE SHINY THINGS

Liam was in his living room, schooling his cousins in a heated round of F1 2020, when his head of security called. He paused the game and grabbed his phone from the coffee table.

"Dude, that's such a pussy-ass move!" Matthew yelled from behind him.

"It would be if I was losing," Liam drawled over his shoulder. "I have to take this."

"James," he said as he stepped out to the patio.

"Sir, Paradise is home."

"I'm sorry, paradise what?" Liam asked, puzzled by the announcement.

"Paradise," James said. "That's the code name for the missus. Since her name is Eden, which means paradise, we thought it was a great code name. What do you think?"

After the long evening he had, Liam wasn't in the mood for theatrics. He gripped the phone and breathed in slowly as he mentally counted to ten. Confident he could speak without losing his shit, he addressed his head of security again. "James, we've talked about this. This isn't a spy movie, and there's no need for code names."

"I know you don't want a code name, but can't we keep the missus' one?"

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