Page 85 of Mr. Scandalous

“You could have any woman you want. Models. Actresses. Athletes. Why me?”

“Other than the fact that I’m wildly in love with you?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Because you keep me guessing. Because you make me examine my motives. Because you’re both sexy and sweet. Determined and yet yielding. Strong-minded but flexible. I’m crazy about the dichotomy that is you. But most of all, I love you because you bring out the best in me.”

“But I’m scarred, Alec. Flawed.”

He snagged her around the waist. “I gave thanks for those scars because they’ve made you the woman you are today. I think you’re perfect just the way you are, Eden. Don’t you get it?” He tapped her chest over her heart with an index finger. “I love what’s in here.”

Tears misted her eyes. “But the night after you saw me naked, you barely spoke to me. You couldn’t get me back to Manhattan quickly enough. Until then, you’d been pushing to extend our affair and after you saw me naked...poof. You disappeared.”

“Sweetheart, it wasn’t the scars. You’ve got a body made for loving.” He ran his hands over her body to prove to her exactly how much he desired her. “I ran off becauseIgot scared. That night when I looked into your eyes I realized for the first time exactly how much I loved you. The feelings I had were so overwhelming I tried to deny them.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I mean here I was, a guy who’d spent his life playing the field, avoiding commitment, building his reputation and his livelihood on being a bachelor and I was stone-cold terrified to realize I’d beenwrong.I thought love meant the death of romance. I thought marriage meant the fun was over. Randy tried to tell me what I was missing, but I just wasn’t listening. I couldn’t understand until I’d been there myself. I let my father’s death and my uncle’s experiences guide me when I should have listened to my own heart.”

“But how do you know for sure?”

“I know for sure because when I tried to do the things I used to do. I no longer enjoyed any of it. Without you, everything was empty, meaningless. I realized I’d been filling my life with activity to block my true feelings.”

“But aren’t you afraid of being tied down? Of losing your freedom?”

“Honey, you give my life meaning and direction. Your tether keeps me from flying away. Tie me up, tie me down, just tie the knot with me.”

* * *

Eden stared into Alec’s eyes and what she saw reflected in those dark gray depths moved her deeply and allowed her to release the remaining threads of doubt. His commitment to her wasn’t frivolous or impulsive or poorly thought out. He meant what he was saying.

“You’re serious.” Her pulse rate, which had been spiking through the roof ever since she’d jumped on the plane in Arizona, finally slowed to a relaxed, comfortable rhythm as her man dipped his head and kissed away every last worst-case scenario.

“I love you, Eden. Now, forever and always. This isn’t a game. It’s real. You can count on that. You can count on me.”

He said exactly what she needed to hear most. The little girl who’d endured an unstable childhood, the young woman who’d been scarred by burns, the sexual novice who’d found the courage to explore her femininity, felt the old fears shed like a chrysalis.

Eden nodded, accepting the precious gift she knew this man did not give lightly. “Oh, Alec,” she breathed and melted into him. “I love you, too.”

Epilogue

“Satin ropes?”

“Check.”

“Peacock feathers?”

“Check.”

“Worry stone?”

“Check.”

“Hourglass?”

“Check.”

“Black lace stockings and matching garter belt?” “Check and double check.”

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