Page 160 of Begin Again, Part 1

"Right here, sir. I was about to request an Uber for her."

"No need, I'll take her home. Meet me outside; I'll bring the car around."

Five minutes later, he pulled up in his Lamborghini, parking as close as possible to the entrance, where Clara was doing her best to prop up a blind drunk Eden.

Liam stormed out of the car and approached them, scowling at his assistant before picking Eden up and placing her in the passenger seat. He dumped her bag and shoes at her feet and returned to the sidewalk to wait with Clara.

"Jeff's almost here," she said, a drunken smile flickering on her lips as she held on to the pole light. "I'll be okay, so you can take Ms McBride home."

"And leave you on your own, as wasted as you are?" Liam asked, crossing his arms. Trying to talk sense into her when she was so drunk was useless. She wasn't likely to remember their conversation tomorrow. But he couldn't let this night end without voicing his bitter disappointment. "Ms Winston, I expected a lot more from you. You told me this was a planning meeting for Gibby's farewell party. If I knew the only thing you planned was to get shitfaced, I wouldn't have authorised this bullshit!"

Barely able to keep her eyes open now, Clara bowed her head in shame, burping on her chest. "I'm sorry. We just had a little too much fun, that's all."

"You call getting blind drunk fun?" Liam lost his shit, even when he'd just told himself he wouldn't, his eyes constantly shooting between his assistant and Eden slumped in the passenger seat.

"Well, the thing is, Ms McBride was upset after your fight, and she started drinking. We all wanted to console her, so we helped her drink," she mumbled, belching a whole distillery in his face.

"Jesus, Clara." Liam waved off the stench of her alcohol breath away from him with his hand. "This is unacceptable, and you're all getting written warnings on Monday."

Before Clara could protest, a black Lexus pulled up behind his car, and she lit up like a little kid at a candy store.

"My husband is here. Bye!" She smiled and waved over her shoulder as she shuffled to the car. Liam followed her to make sure it was her husband, and she didn't get into a stranger's car.

After shaking hands and exchanging names and contact details with Clara's spouse, Liam returned to his car, where Eden was still passed out. Annoyed as he was with her for getting so drunk, he couldn't fight his smile as he watched her sleep. It was hard to believe the woman snoring beside him was the same hell-raising spitfire who never shied away from taking him on. She looked so pretty and peaceful, and he didn't realise how much he'd missed her until now. He'd barely had time to check on her with all the craziness at the office, having spent the last two weeks on the second floor, monitoring their freight trucks and stepping up security at all their depots. Now that he had things under control on the work front, he planned to make Eden his priority.

She stirred when he leaned over to snap on her seat belt. "Liam?"

"Yeah?" He smiled, liking the way she said his name.

"You told me you like me," she reminded him. "You can't take it back."

"I know what I said," Liam replied, pushing his seat belt in place. He took her hand and kissed her palm. "But it's not like it will count in the morning. You won't even remember any of it."

"Even if I don't remember, you can't take it back," she mumbled sleepily.

"Okay, I won't," he promised, the engine roaring to life as they sped away from Crush, leaving the smell of burnt rubber behind them.

He eased back in his seat and gripped the steering wheel loosely, relishing the adrenaline rush racing through his body as total freedom took over him. It had been a while since he drove anywhere. He felt exhilarated and alive. Like he used to, back when the track was his life and the finish line, his only goal. He missed that feeling as much as he missed being one with his car.

His mournful sigh filled the car when he realised that the only other time he came close to such euphoria was at the penthouse when he and Eden had made love weeks before—

"I'm ready," she announced, pulling him out of his thoughts.

"For?" Liam asked as they stopped at a red light. His heart fluttered when he turned to look at her and found her staring at him with a huge smile on her face.

"To be pleased," she said, her eyes drooping shut again. "You said I must tell you when I'm ready."

He stared at her in disbelief. Did she just agree to have sex with him and enter into an intimate relationship of convenience—as she'd called it when he first made the proposal—with him?

If they weren't at a busy intersection with the traffic light about to change to green, and she wasn't so drunk, he would have kissed her senseless and maybe fucked her right there on the spot too. But—

Impatient drivers blared their car horns behind him, screaming at him to snap out of his stupid daze and move along. The traffic light was green, and tomorrow none of this would matter because Eden wouldn't remember any of it.

"Princess," he whispered, more to himself, as he sped off. "You have no idea how happy you've made me."

"I'll make you happy every day," she vowed, her head slumping against the window.

"You'd better." Liam chuckled. "And you can't take it back."

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