Page 84 of Mr. Scandalous

Fifteen minutes. Twenty. Thirty.

He knew it was illogical to put such a restrictive stipulation on a one-hour time span. He knew she could easily call five minutes after the sand ran out or not at all. The absurdity of it was a symptom of his emotional stress.

As he watched the last grain of sand slide through the hourglass, his body went limp. He was as exhausted as if he’d spent the day digging ditches.

Unfortunately, he had his answer.

Face it, Ramsey. It’s over.

He pushed back from the desk and raised his head and that’s when he saw her. Standing in the doorway of his office, one shoulder leaned insouciantly against the doorframe, dressed in the black body suit she’d worn the night they made love in the Ferrari, the familiar black skirt topping the body suit, the same duster pulled provocatively over her lovely breasts.

Eden.

He rose to his feet, his knees watery, his heart booming like a ten-piece timpani band.

“Hey there, sixty-minute man.” Her voice, low and seductive, wrapped around him.

He couldn’t speak, could only stare and stare and stare. Was she real? Or simply a figment of his overwrought imagination.

Her hair was loose and cascading about her shoulders in a splendid tumble. Her lips were painted a luscious shade of red. She’d made a necklace of the worry stone and it hung at the hollow of her throat. She looked poised and relaxed and absolutely gorgeous.

In her hand, she held her cell phone and she turned it around to see the screen that was silently playing his interview on Good Morning America. On screen, he watched himself go down on one knee.

Alec gulped.

“Still a fan of the grand gestures, I see.” Her tone was teasing, but the light in her eyes was anything but frivolous.

“Uh-huh,” was all he could manage.

“Sort of backed yourself into a corner with this one.”

“It’s a corner I want to be backed into.”

“Are you sure?”

To hell with this. He had to touch her, hold her, kiss her. Purposely he stalked around the desk and headed straight toward her.

She met his gaze and held her ground. “What happened to Mr. I’ll-Never-Get-Married?”

“He grew up,” Alec growled, pulling her into his arms and over the threshold.

He saw half his employees peeking down the corridor at them before he slammed the door closed with his foot and dragged her flush against his chest.

“Just like that?” She looked up at him, her eyes ablaze with passion.

“No. Not just like that. I grew up because of you.”

She pulled away from him and stepped back. “I find it hard to believe you could change so easily.”

“Believe me, sweetheart, it’s been anything but easy. I tried to forget you. Lord knows, I tried, but I can’t get you out of my head or out of my heart.”

Uncertainty flitted across her face.

He watched her touch the worry stone with one hand while at the same time laying the palm of her other hand across her abdomen.

“You’re sure it’s me you want?”

“I’ve never been surer of anything in my life.”

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