Begin Again novel Chapter 31

Liam was home for hours, but his mind was still in the meeting room, reliving his encounter with Eden.

He sat on the edge of the bed and absently twirled the glass of cognac in his hands.

To say his plan had unravelled as soon as he saw the shrew was an understatement. He'd acted like an inexperienced schoolboy, jumped her the first chance he got. Not his fucking proudest moment that's for sure.

The ring on her finger too had pissed him off greatly, more than he cared to admit, and he couldn't understand why. He loathed her, and the only reason he'd gone through such lengths to get her to sign with Anderson Logistics was so she could fix him and make him whole again. He really shouldn't care that she's married, that she's wearing some other guy's ring. But he did. And it pissed him off—

"Aren't you coming to bed?" Laura purred in his neck as she tried once more to take off his shirt.

Liam shrugged off her hands, and pushed her away again, wishing she'd get the hint already.

She'd been trying to get him into bed since they came back from Holly's ballet performance. It was his damn fault; he shouldn't have entertained her. But since he was eager to test out his newly functioning equipment, he'd gone along with her attempts. He lost interest as soon as it became painfully obvious he still couldn't get it up for her minutes into their make-out session.

"I'm off to a meeting, and I won't be back for a while," he announced as he finished off his drink and set the glass on the end table. "Maybe you should head to your place tonight?"

A hurt look flickered in Laura's luminous green eyes, but she quickly masked it with a severe frown as she fluffed up the mountain of pillows behind her and sat back on the bed, dragging the bedcovers up to her chin.

"How can you leave me alone when I came to spend the night with you? You are such a dick!" She whined, her garishly red lips pursed in a tight thin line, her eyes moist with tearful accusations. "Oh wait, you can't be a dick if you can't even get it up!"

On any other day, her words would have crippled him.

But not today.

Liam stood up, fixed his shirt and threw on his suit jacket, humming a catchy tune under his breath.

Kissing Eden, having her in his arms, touching her had proven he's not broken. He can still get aroused. He can still feel something. Just not with any woman who wasn't her.

And that's what Linda had to figure out.

His therapist was waiting in the deserted reception area when he made it to her office almost twenty minutes later. She quickly led him inside and shut the blinds.

"You shouldn't come here without an appointment," she reminded him sternly, but showed him to the couch anyway and pulled out her notepad from her desk drawer. "I had to juggle my diary to squeeze you in."

"I'm sorry," Liam smiled as he stretched out on the tan leather couch, well aware that calling her when he was already on his way over was pushing it. But it was an emergency, and he explained this to her.

"What kind of emergency?" Linda looked startled as she took her usual seat, the black contemporary wing chair, and opened up a clean page.

Liam wondered if the notebook is solely dedicated to him or if she has other clients in there. If it's only him, he must have vented a lot in past sessions because they were almost at the end. Pretty soon she'd have to start a new journal.

"So?" She thumped her fingers on the page.

"I found her," he said with a smug smile, noticing how she always keeps her nails short and clear of nail polish.

"The woman who left you?"

Liam nodded, and without any prompting from her, he told her all about their encounter and how he managed to locate Eden at last.

"That is hardly an emergency, Liam. It could have waited for our session next week."

Liam shook his head, "No, it couldn't!"

He knew an emergency when he saw one. An erection after two years is an emergency.

Linda closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose, clearly annoyed with him. "How was your first meeting?"