Page 114 of Begin Again, Part 1

"Careful, Princess, I don't want you hurting yourself," Liam smirked as he watched her drape the napkin over her lap angrily, his eyes twinkling with amusement.

"Why am I here?" she asked.

Their waitress returned with the oldest bottle of wine they had in their cellar before Eden could get an explanation. She stopped her just as she was about to pour a glass for her, and asked for sparkling water instead.

"I don't drink," she explained when they were alone again.

"Why?" Liam picked up his glass and twirled it in his hand as he watched her carefully. "On second thought, good choice! You don't look like you can handle alcohol."

"If you brought me here to insult me—"

"It's a compliment." He smiled roguishly.

"I fail to see how." Eden threw her hands up in frustration, refusing to waste her intellect on him.

"So, are you going to tell me what this is about?" she asked again, making a point of checking her wristwatch. The sooner he told her what he wanted, the quicker she could leave.

"Lydia Edwards," Liam said, his tone all business-like now. "I want a meeting with her handlers. The marketing team has tried numerous times to contact her, and she's rebuffed all their attempts."

Eden picked up her glass and sipped her water. "And you want me to do what exactly?"

Liam sighed, his eyebrows knitting together. "I just told you. Get me a meeting with her handlers."

"Is that all? Just a meeting?" Eden asked, irritated that this whole song and dance could have been a quick five-minute chat.

"For now, yes."

"I'll see what I can do," she replied. "Since that's all, I'm off. Aiden's waiting for me. This whole thing could easily have been an email, you know."

"I know. Lydia was just an excuse to get you here," Liam admitted. "I wanted to have dinner with you. Just the two of us. Away from the office."

His honesty and sincerity left Eden speechless. She didn't know what to say or how to react, so she sipped her water and let her gaze wander through the dining hall, noticing again the white flowers scattered around the room, a stark contrast to the restaurant's luxuriously dark decor.

"Why?" She dragged her eyes back to him, her voice cracking a little as her heart raced out of control at the intensity of his gaze.

Before he could explain, another waitress appeared beside her and placed a massive bouquet in her hands. "These are for you."

Eden didn't want flowers from Liam, especially since he was proving to be her kryptonite every day. But stunned by the surprisingly sweet gesture, she sniffed them and placed them on the chair beside her.

"Daffodils," Liam said. "They symbolise rebirth and new beginnings. Fitting, don't you think?"

No, Eden didn't think it was fitting at all. She didn't dare think about it, because it would lead to false hope and shattered dreams. She had no illusions when it came to Liam. And this dinner wasn't how it was supposed to go—

"This is the start of our new beginning, Eden," Liam said, his eyes dark with a seriousness she hadn't seen before, as he gently took her hand and held it. "You and me. Together."

Bewildered by his announcement and her frightening feelings for him, Eden snatched her hand away. She leaned back in her seat and played with the charms on her bracelet. She didn't want to talk about rebirth and new beginnings. Lydia and her handlers, and the meetings they kept declining, were a much safer topic.

Talking about rebirth and new beginnings would mean confronting her mistake two years ago. She wasn't ready to come clean with him.

Liam pointed at the bouquet. "There should be a hundred in there. For the first hundred days you left me. And if you look around the room and have time to count them, you'll find six hundred and thirty more. That's seven-thirty in total, for every day you were gone."

"I'm sorry," Eden said softly. Now that she knew he was never married, she wished she could take back her choices and erase both their hurt and pain. She wished she could go back to that day when she wanted to tell him about Aiden. Maybe things between them would be different now, and there'd be none of this anger and resentment. And maybe, just maybe, they'd be so deliriously happy together.

Their starters arrived, carted in by the same smiling waitress who dropped off the flowers, easing the tension between them.

The Cape Verde soup looked and smelled delectable. But neither seemed to have an appetite. Eden twirled her spoon in the bowl while Liam guzzled more wine. She wanted to tell him to put the drink down at some point, because if he didn't pace himself, she'd have to carry him home since he'd dismissed his security detail for the night. But she kept her mouth shut and pretended to enjoy the soup she could barely taste.

"If I knew you were not married, I would never have left," Eden said after a long stretch of heavy sighs and unspoken words, letting her spoon fall inside the half-full bowl with a loud clang before dabbing her mouth with the napkin.

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