Page 93 of Begin Again, Part 1

"Their daughter, I believe. We haven't seen her since she was a little girl. Right, Clarke?" Lois said as she waved over the professor and his wife.

"Yeah, she was the sweetest, smart too," Clarke agreed. "I can't believe how much she's grown."

"If it isn't the Andersons! Aren't you all a sight for sore eyes?" Professor McBride's booming voice and hearty chuckle reverberated through the room.

Liam didn't want to, but the man's laugh was infectious, and he sounded genuinely pleased to see his parents, so he found himself looking up from his phone. For the longest, confusing second of his life, he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him when they fell on Eden. He scratched his head and blinked, baffled by this plot twist.

He'd been blind drunk before and saw double everything. Hell, some of his worst and best decisions were made whilst he was deep in the semi-comatose stages of inebriation. But seeing people, specifically the one woman whose touch set him ablaze and whose body he desired with a passion that terrified him, was a first.

"Liam!" Lois rammed him hard in his ribs with her elbow, jolting him to life. "Meet the McBrides."

He blinked again, perplexed to see he wasn't hallucinating. Eden—his hell, his paradise—was as real as the hard-ons she left him with every time they kissed. She looked as pretty as a picture in her flowery summer dress.

"They are revered scholars and have written numerous award-winning research papers and editorial pieces."

"Oh Lois, you flatter us. Our work pales compared to your philanthropic feats," Erica McBride smiled, showing off a row of straight pearly whites. Liam could see where Eden got her good looks and petite statue from. Erica was an older, more refined version of her by all accounts. Looking at her was like travelling through a time machine and seeing Eden in another thirty years.

"Your children are all so gorgeous!" Erica gushed, her gaze flitting over Liam and his sisters.

Lois brightened at the compliment. "Thank you, but they are all rascals!"

Steve McBride turned his bespectacled gaze on Liam. "Mr Anderson Junior, I'm such a huge fan. I was so sad when you retired. But it's admirable of you to step in and lead the company while your father recuperates."

Liam splashed his drink on the table as he sprung to his feet, his heart stuttering out of control. Why the hell was he nervous? And good grief, why was he sweating buckets? There was absolutely no reason he should be intimidated by Eden and her parents. No reason why it was suddenly so important to him to make a good impression on her folks. But he brushed his clammy palms on his jeans anyway, before he shook the other man's hand. "Professor McBride, the honour is all mine."

"Please call me Steve," Eden's father said warmly. "'Professor McBride' makes me sound so old and stuffy."

Liam nodded because he didn't know what else to do. Turning to Erica, he grasped her hand and kissed it lightly. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Ma'am."

"Lois, you've raised such a fine gentleman," Erica laughed, lighting up like a Christmas tree as she pushed Eden forward. "And this is our daughter, Eden—"

"We've met. He's my boss," she said, waving at everyone at their table. "I joined Anderson Logistics a little over a month ago. It's lovely to meet you all."

Clarke gestured at the empty seats at their table. "Please sit with us; we have plenty of room."

"No!" Both Liam and Eden cried at once. Curious faces turned to them, waiting to hear why they couldn't sit and break bread together.

Liam didn't have any reason, besides that he was still furious with Eden over their most recent fight, and having her so close to him wasn't good for his sanity or dick.

Eden's one, though, was more plausible. "What I meant is, we'd love to take you up on your offer, but I haven't seen my parents in a while, and we have a small family matter to discuss."

"And it's getting late. We should also wrap up here soon," Liam added.

"Of course," Clarke agreed, but still wasted an unnecessary ten minutes as he and Lois continued to sing the McBrides' praises.

Liam pulled out a chair for Eden, and she took a seat while her folks arranged themselves close to his parents.

"Do you want something to drink?" he asked her as he took his place again beside his mom. "Champagne, wine?"

"No, sir," she shook her head.

Willow and Holly sipped their champagne and watched Eden. Like sharks circling their prey, they were dying to devour her as soon as they smelled blood.

"Are you okay?" Liam asked, feeling bad for her. Any minute now, his sisters would rip her to shreds.

"I'm great, thank you, Mr Anderson," Eden smiled. It wasn't warm, though, like the one she gave to Matthew every time he caught them laughing and joking in her office. No, this smile was reserved for special assholes who stole kisses from her in the printing room, made her cry in their therapist's office, and threw a plate of cookies on the floor like a temperamental infant.

As Liam watched her play with the bracelet on her wrist, a fragile-looking gold string with miniature constellations dangling around it, he realised he didn't want to be on the special assholes list anymore.

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