Page 11 of Mr. Scandalous

“Nope, no one.” Alec shook his head. Without understanding why, he didn’t want to tell Mac about Eden. Besides, there wasn’t much to tell.

Yet.

Mac wagged his head. “Boy, you’ll never live up to my reputation if you keep spending so much time on the sidelines.”

“You’re a legend, Uncle Mac, there’s no living up to you.”

His uncle laughed, but the jocularity seemed forced, and Alec wondered if something was wrong. “Well, you might not have my charisma, but you’ve got the soft soap down pat.”

“Thanks,” Alec said, although he wasn’t sure that was a compliment.

“By the way.” Mac waggled his cell phone. “While I was waiting on you I checked out your

latest YouTube episode,All Women Are Goddesses.He hooted. “You really believe that?”

“Yes. Don’t you?”

Alecdidbelieve women were goddesses. Nothing fascinated him more than the fairer sex. He loved the smell of them, their softness, the way their minds worked.

Chalk it up to having four sisters. Fact was, he adored the women. Tall ones, short ones, plump ones, thin ones. He made no discrimination. That’s why he couldn’t settle for just one. There were simply too many wonderful ladies walking the face of the earth.

“Allwomen are goddesses?” Mac arched an eyebrow.

“All women,” Alec said firmly.

“Even the...”

“Don’t go there.” Alec shook his head.

“Your Eagle Scout ethics are showing, but I’m betting that video gets you laid ten times over.”

“That wasn’t the point of the recording. I made it in response to comments from my some of my subbies, who are under the impression that women exist solely for their pleasure. I had to set the record straight. I might advocate the single life, but under no circumstances do I condone taking advantage of anyone.”

Mac’s eyes bugged. “Hell, then what’s the point ofSex and The Single Guy? You might as well get married along with your buddy Randy.”

Alec frowned. He’d never really noticed before how crude Mac could be. Alec studied his uncle. Something was going on.

“You know how I feel about marriage, but just because marriage is not for me, doesn’t mean it gives me the right to put down those who choose another path. This isn’t the 1980s.”

“Just remember the last thing you want is to end up straitjacketed in suburbia, working two jobs to support five kids, only to die of a heart attack way before your time and never getting to enjoy life,” Uncle Mac said, referring to Alec’s dad.

“That won’t happen to me.”

“Because I made it my mission in life to save you from my brother’s fate. Thank God, I succeeded. Can you imagine yourself living in Connecticut and trotting home on the train to your sweet little wifey who’ll give you nooky twice a month with the lights off if you’re lucky, three rug-rats with attention deficit disorder, two neurotic cats and a dog who won’t quit peeing on the carpet.”

“Uncle Mac, are you okay?” Alec shifted his weight uncomfortably. This wasn’t the live-and-let-live uncle he adored, and he didn’t want to have this conversation.

What he wanted was to make reservations for his lunch with Eden. He could have gotten Holden to make the arrangements, but for some odd reason Alec had wanted to handle it himself. He glanced at his Rolex.

“I’m fine, why?”

“You seem…” Alec studied his uncle. “Angry.”

“Me? No, no. Just jet-lagged.”

“You sure?”

“Listen, I won’t keep you,” Mac said. ‘I just dropped by to invite you to dinner with Sophie and me.”

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