Begin Again novel Chapter 146

Eden spent four minutes on YouTube, learning the intricate steps to tying a tie. She was still practising when Julian and Matthew stopped by her desk.

"Why are you doing that? Liam can easily—" Julian said, but his brother cut him off as he poked his side with his elbow.

"Do you need help?" Matthew offered. But Eden shook her head.

"No thanks, if I have to do this every day, I have to learn." She smiled at him and returned to her YouTube tutorial.

They hovered for a bit, asking her random questions, and she answered them all patiently, barely looking up from the screen, though.

"So your friend runs a bakery?" Matthew asked, touching the rose petals of one of the bouquets.

"No, a cooking studio," Eden replied absently. "But she has a contract with a few bakeries nationwide."

"That's the blond, right?"

"Yep." She nodded, failing to see where he was going with his line of questioning. It was the first time he had ever shown an interest in her friends.

"Does she have a boyfriend?" Julian got to the heart of the interrogation, stunning Eden out her head.

She paused and stared at the brothers, her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Why?"

But before they could answer, Liam poked his head out of his office, and they reluctantly moved along.

He checked his watch and glared at her. "You have one minute left!"

Eden made a face at him and went through the motions one more time.

She still had fifteen seconds left when she returned to his office.

Both brothers gave her a thumbs up and returned their attention to their laptop screens as she reluctantly approached Liam's desk.

"Mr Anderson, your tie," she said as she placed it on the table.

He took it and held it up to inspect it as he got up and sat on the edge of his desk.

Eden turned to leave, but Liam stopped her.

"Put it on me," he said.

She whipped around so fast she thought she'd get whiplash, "Excuse me?"

"Put it on me!" He repeated.

"What's wrong with your hands?" Eden demanded, convinced he was truly messing with her.

Liam growled, "the sass has to stay at home!"

"What sass?" She pouted, not understanding how he could misunderstand her innocent question. She simply wanted to understand why he couldn't put the tie on himself.

"And the backchat has to stop!" He added, his face darkening with anger. "If you think I'm enjoying this, I can assure you I'm not! But my time is very limited, and I must use the little that I have to lead this company that's so generously paying your very high salary."

"I–Uhm," Eden began, but he cut her off.

"When I ask you to put on a goddamn tie, you do it, no questions asked. As my work wife, it's your job to make my life easier. Whatever that entails!"

"I am not your only work wife!" She reminded him as she turned away from him. But he grabbed her hand and spun her around. The motion was so unexpected, she hit his chest hard, and her arms instinctively wrapped around his neck.

Once again, she was drowning in a pool of desire as she remembered their passionate night—their bodies sleek with sweat, their limbs entwined on his sheets, their laboured breathing and her earth-shattering orgasms.

At that moment, she wanted him with such hunger, and if they were the only people in the room, she would have begged him to take her right there on his desk.

"Clara is also your work wife," she said just to kill the raw tension between them. "Why don't you ask her?"

"It can only be you." He whispered, his eyes scanning her mouth, and Eden thought she would die from wanting him. There were two other people in the room, but she was aware of only him at that moment. Desired only him. Needed only him.