Page 8 of Begin Again, Part 1

"I'm sorry, sir, but you've been summoned to the house. Your father wants to see you immediately."

"I'm busy." Liam accepted the hangover cure and two pain killers from his butler. He had a feeling he'd need something stronger than Aspirin if his father had his way.

"He's expecting you in an hour," Dave said and turned to leave.

Liam stopped him. "Handle Eden for me."

"She's gone."

"What do you mean?" Liam asked, stunned by the announcement.

"Exactly that."

"Did she cause a scene?" They always did. He wouldn't be surprised if Eden had as well.

"No. She would have left in an Uber if it was up to her. She was so eager to leave, she almost ran out of the house—"

"That makes no sense." Liam scratched his head. He didn't normally bring women home. His life on the track kept him busy enough. But the ones he did, he always had to make them leave. Sometimes security had to step in too.

"Are you sure it was her? Brown hair, petite, cute, this short?" he asked, describing Eden and demonstrating her height with his hand.

Dave nodded.

Perplexed by this turn of events, Liam threw on his robe and sprung out of bed.

He checked the living room and dining area first. When he didn't find Eden, he stepped onto the patio, convinced she was lazing in the heated pool. But there was no sign of the mousy librarian anywhere, and it blew his mind. He didn't see it coming, Eden sneaking off while he slept.

He should have been happy she'd saved him the trouble of making awkward small talk after a hook-up. But he wasn't. She never struck him as someone who'd up and leave. Not with that temper and the bold way she came on to him. He expected her to try and make their one-time experience a permanent arrangement. So to let her down, Liam planned to take her shopping, let her choose the shiniest diamond necklace she could find, and drop her off at her duplex somewhere. She had one-bedroom duplex vibes all over her.

"Who the hell does she think she is?" Liam seethed as he headed back to his bedroom, infuriated by the idea that a woman below his league had used him for sex and walked out on him.

He sat on the edge of the bed and thought back to last night. It wasn't the best sex he ever had. But he loved how Eden had responded to him. It was insane to think they were strangers, but her body knew him. She came alive at his touch, and he liked how she moaned his name like no woman ever had. She seemed happy to be in his arms. So, for her to run off without so much as a 'thank you' or 'goodbye' was... soul-crushing.

Liam felt used and betrayed. Two emotions he never imagined he'd feel after a hook-up.

Dave returned with more revelations, placing Eden's clothes on the bed. "She left these."

"Whoa! Was she in such a hurry to get away from me she left naked?" Liam shouted. Who was this woman? But more importantly, was his performance so awful she had to leave without throwing on her clothes? No woman had ever snuck off like this after a night with him.

"No, sir, she was in your shirt and her coat," Dave explained. "Mrs Stone washed her clothes after she left."

Liam exhaled at Dave's words. At least he wasn't so terrible in the sack she ran off naked. But—

He turned to the other man. "She left in my shirt, you say?"

Dave nodded and excused himself, leaving Liam even more annoyed. She was bold, this Eden. He had to find her and get an explanation from her. He scowled at her dress and pink lacy panties. What the hell was he supposed to do with them?

Still hungover and in no mood to see his father, he drifted off again, comforted by Eden's scent on his sheets.

Dave jolted him awake sometime after 3:00 PM with a final warning. If he didn't show up within an hour, his father would come over. Liam knew his old man wasn't joking. So he dragged himself to the bathroom and spent a long time in the shower, trying to delay their meeting.

To say he and his father had a love-hate relationship was an understatement. When things were good between them, they were the best of friends. But when they were bad, as they had been over the past several weeks, one would swear they were enemies. The source of their most recent conflict was the company's succession plan. His father had decided to step down from his role as CEO, and Liam would have to fill his enormous shoes as soon as Monday.

Still irritated at the summons, Liam stepped out of the shower and dried himself. His anger flared up again at the sight of a hickey on his neck while he towelled off in front of the mirror. As if leaving him wasn't bad enough, Eden had to brand him too. She was brazen!

A short while later, as Liam drove down the jacaranda-lined streets of Glen Eagles, his hook-up was still on his mind. If the whole thing with Eden wasn't so mortifying, it would have been comical.

He stopped in front of a sprawling mansion on a cul-de-sac, rolled down his window, and pressed the intercom. Within seconds, the black iron-wrought gate squawked open.

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