Page 77 of Mr. Scandalous

Alec stared into the abyss, hovering on the edge, Mac’s statement echoing in his head.Sophie and I are getting married.

Never, ever in a million years had he expected his uncle to utter those words.

“Rock and roll, dude!” Yuri said, the American slang sounding comical coming from his Norwegian lips.

Alec looked straight out and then slightly up to pick a point to focus on during his exit. He took a deep breath to empty his mind of Mac’s strange declaration and tilted his body forward. His feet had not yet left solid ground, but the leap had already begun. He was committed now and there was no going back.

He pushed off vigorously at a forty-five-degree angle as his body departed the ledge.

“Yippee-kay-yi-yay!” Yuri called after him. The Norwegian had been watching too many Hollywood movies.

Seconds into the jump Alec knew his exit had been perfect. The wind screamed in his ears. He maintained a hard arch for the first three or four seconds before lengthening his legs and easing his arms back into track position.

The free fall should have been exhilarating. He was tumbling headlong into nothingness, but instead of euphoria, he felt bizarrely empty, his senses dulled.

It was fun, yes.

But not as much fun as spending time with Eden.

The cliffs whizzed by, magnificent in their frozen glory.

But not as magnificent as the glow of Eden’s face in candlelight. The sight of the ground rising up to meet him was mind-blowing. But not nearly as mind-blowing as the picture of Eden flipping over the hourglass before positioning herself between his naked thighs.

At fifteen seconds, he deployed his chute. The canopy exploded out behind him—his safety net that he had faith in one hundred percent. Why couldn’t he have that much faith in his feelings for Eden?

His breath came in short, raspy gasps, not from the mega-rush of free fall but rather from the memory of Eden and all the wonderful things they’d shared.

He found himself coming straight down, nice and easy, with virtually no forward speed. The perfect landing. Everything had turned out fine.

Mac joined him, slapped him on the back. “Awesome stuff, eh. God, I’ve never felt so alive. Except of course when I’m with Sophie.”

“Did I hear you right?” Alec demanded, unbuckling his harness. “Before you jumped, did you say you and Sophie were getting married?”

Mac had the good grace to blush. “I did.”

“The lifelong bachelor, getting hitched?”

“Yep. I finally decided to grow up.”

Perplexed, Alec could only stare. “But what brought all this on? Why now? Why Sophie?”

Mac cleared his throat. “I guess you could say my priorities have been rearranged.”

“Since when?” Alec frowned. For the course of his entire life he’d idealized Uncle Mac, had sought to emulate him, and been honored to follow in his footsteps. Mac couldn’t have surprised him more.

“Remember when I came back from Fiji early?”

“Yes.”

“It was because I’d been sick.”

“You were sick, and you didn’t tell me?”

“I couldn’t talk about it. I wasn’t ready to face my mortality.”

“Your mortality?” A chill passed through Alec, and it wasn’t just because of the weather.

“Let’s go sit in the Jeep, get out of this wind, share a thermos of coffee.”

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