Begin Again novel Chapter 47

He took the offending espresso to the window, pulled up one of the blinds to check if she's okay, and growled under his breath when he saw one of the developers from the R&D team sniffing around her desk, his irritation increasing tenfold at her delight over the flowers.

I can give her flowers ten times better than that silly bouquet, Liam thought as he took a sip and closed his eyes, appreciating the taste and smell of her coffee.

But would she accept flowers from him when he was so harsh to her?

Justifiably so, but still harsh.

Yet Eden had remained graceful and had even had the decency to apologise.

Why then was he so mean to her?

Why couldn't he accept her apology?

And why did his heart hurt so much when he saw her cry?

"I have no problem taking Eden," Matthew said, breaking through his thoughts. "But let's be clear, once she's mine, you can't have her back."

Liam considered his cousin's announcement for a moment, his scowl deepening as he drained his cup.

"I mean as my PA of course," Matthew explained quickly.

Liam still didn't like his explanation, but he shrugged and carried on glaring through the blinds, absently playing with the cup in his hand.

The developer had just left when a stream of other guys from Julian's area and the Legal team flowed in, all bearing gifts—chocolates, more flowers, jars of sweets, and a teddy bear.

"Come on! Really? Don't these people have work to do?" He cursed loudly.

His displeasure at the scene playing out in front of him prompted his cousins to join him, and for a good few minutes, they all peeked through the blinds and watched the long line of suitors trip all over Eden.

"I'm paying everyone way too much if they can afford all this absurd shit." Liam carried on, irritated out of his head at the circus in front of him. "I mean really, teddy bears? She's fucking twenty-six, what does she need a teddy bear for?"

"Jealous much?" Julian smirked, bumping his shoulder lightly with his fist.

"Me? Jealous?" Liam scoffed. "What's that?"

Though, it could be the dress too, sexy yet work-appropriate, clinging to all the right places, to all the curves he wanted to touch and hold close to him.

"I don't know why I have such an extreme reaction to her. Everything about her drives me insane, and not in a good way," Liam admitted as he drew the blinds and returned to his seat. He dumped his empty cup on the desk and stared at it with longing. Eden made damn good coffee, better than Gibby; he'd give her that much.

"Well, isn't that what your therapist wants you to figure out?" Leaning casually against the window, the sole of his shoe pressed to the glass, Julian asked. "But now you've gone and fucked that up as well. Nice going, genius!"

"Don't remind me." Liam made a face at him and looked through his schedule. Three meetings and a lunch date with his parents. He wished he didn't have to sit through any of it.

Julian pushed away from the window and headed for the door. "It's a good thing you reassigned her to Matthew's area; otherwise, there's no telling how far you would have pushed her."

Liam agreed, and he couldn't help but sigh wistfully as he glanced at Eden's empty desk he'd strategically placed in front of his office so that he could keep an eye on her.

But now she was on the other side of the floor, out of sight and way out of his reach.

So much for keeping her close to him.