LITMIR.BIZ

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      “I’m not done.”

      She looked at him in disbelief. “There’s more?”

      He gave a brisk nod. “I never meant our relationship to go that far. The engagement, I mean. That e-mail proposal was sent by someone else. Someone who thought an engagement between us might make you open up to me.”

      She was going to be sick. Or else she was going to shoot him. The latter sounded more enjoyable than the former. If only she had a gun…and knew how to operate one. Maybe Alex would give her a few lessons. It was the least he could do after lying to her.

      “I meant to call off the wedding before it was too late, Paige,” he continued. “But everything just spun out of control. I’m sorry.”

      He was sorry. As if that made everything all right. Alex sat there shirtless in front of her, patiently letting her absorb everything in silence. Looking so sexy that she wanted to scream. It wasn’t fair. She’d been wild about him and he’d been…faking it.

      She met his gaze and the expression on her face made him scoot his chair back a notch.

      “Are you done?” she asked.

      “For now.” He leaned forward. “I know this isn’t easy to hear, Paige, but I thought you deserved to know the truth.”

      In her opinion, truth was highly overrated. She would have preferred to keep believing he’d dumped her, just like every other man in her life.

      It was pathetic, really. During the past year, Paige had come to the depressing realization that every relationship she’d ever had, beginning when she was fifteen years old, had been ended by her male counterpart. Not once had she been the dumper instead of the dumpee. Not once had she broken someone’s heart.

      She wouldn’t mind breaking Alex’s heart right now. Along with other assorted appendages. Most of which she’d never seen before. She wasn’t sure which was worse. The fact that he’d been playing her or that it had been so easy for him to do.

      Talk about insulting. She mentally cringed at the thought of that night on the balcony. She’d brought him here to show him the apartment, blabbering endlessly about their future life together. Then she’d kissed him, practically throwing herself at him. But he’d nobly resisted her advances.

      Saint Alex.

      Now he was back, confessing all, looking for redemption. Fat chance. She’d rather push him off the balcony.

      “Are you all right?” he asked at last, his face searching her own.

      “It’s a little stuffy in here.” She fanned her warm cheeks, then looked toward the open balcony doors. “I could use some fresh air.”

      The door chime forestalled his reply. Paige set her jaw and walked to the door, opening it to reveal two uniformed policemen.

      “Please come in, officers.”

      Alex slowly stood up as the cops entered the apartment, his gaze wary. “What’s going on?”

      The older cop took in the shattered dishes on the floor and the upturned table. “That’s what we want to know. We received a telephone call from this apartment about a possible domestic disturbance.”

      Alex turned to her. “You called the police?”

      She nodded. “Just like I warned you I was going to do. Unlike you, Alex, I mean what I say.”

      He took a step towards her but the younger cop moved into his path, putting himself squarely between Alex and Paige.

      “Listen to me, Paige,” Alex entreated, craning his neck around the officer. “Despite everything, I fell in love with you. I’ve never stopped loving you.”

      The older cop turned to her. “Are you all right, ma’am?”

      “I’m not sure,” Paige said honestly.

      “Look,” Alex explained, turning to the cops, “the two of us just need some time alone to work things out.”

      “That’s what they all say,” the younger cop muttered under his breath.

      The older cop ushered Paige to a chair. “Would you like to file a complaint?”

      “What happens if I do?” she asked.

      “We’ll take this man with us and make sure he doesn’t bother you again.”

      “You mean arrest him?”

      The cop nodded. “If you’re willing to file charges.”

      She looked at Alex. “Absolutely.”

      “Paige, this is crazy!” Alex exclaimed as the younger cop pulled out a pair of handcuffs. “Tell them there’s been a mistake. Explain what really happened.”

      “All right.” She turned to the cops. “Mr. Mack threatened to break down my door, then he barged in here and broke all of my good dishes. Then he proceeded to take his shirt off. Is that enough to file charges?”

      The younger cop nodded. “Trespassing. Destruction of private property. Attempted assault. What do you think, Bill?”

      “Sounds like he wins a trip down to the county jail to me. All expenses paid.”

      Alex didn’t struggle as they led him out of the apartment in handcuffs. He just stared at Paige in stunned disbelief until they’d crossed the threshold and disappeared down the long hallway.

      Paige followed after them. “Wait a minute, officers.”

      The younger cop turned to her at the top of the stairs. “Yes, ma’am?”

      Hope lit Alex’s dark eyes. The same eyes that had haunted her dreams for the last year.

      “He forgot his shirt.” She shove the wadded gray T-shirt between Alex’s cuffed wrists, then turned back into the apartment and shut the door.

      It wasn’t a gun or a shove off the balcony, but it was enough.

      For now.

      3

      Franco’s Notes:

      MY LATEST SUBJECT is Paige Hanover. She’s young and cute, the perfect prototype to test the power of the skirt. I’m thinking Ashley Judd to play her in the movie. Naturally, I didn’t tell her I’m writing a screenplay about the skirt’s effect on men. Things definitely sounded interesting upstairs after that young Greek stud headed up to her apartment. Lots of shouting and the sound of dishes breaking.

      Did the sight of Paige in that skirt make the man go berserk? I know the aphrodisiac effect of the unique fabric is said to be quite powerful. However, it appears Paige wasn’t open to his advances. I saw the police take her hot-blooded admirer away in handcuffs. Perhaps I could make my screenplay a murder mystery. I’ll have to see what develops from here….

      TWO DAYS LATER, Paige sat at her desk in the back office of Bay Bouquets. She’d inherited the business after her father’s death in a traffic accident had left her as Grandpa Hanover’s only heir. Her grandfather had taken Paige and her mother in shortly after Margo’s breakdown, giving her mother a job as a clerk in the store after she’d recovered while making Paige his apprentice. Grandpa Hanover had not only given Paige full ownership of Bay Bouquets in his will five years ago, but left her his house as well.

      She’d inherited his natural talent with flowers, but not with numbers. She bent over the desk, trying to concentrate on the invoices and accounts receivable in front of her. There were some days she just wanted to chuck it all and camp out on a mountaintop somewhere and stare at the stars.

      But that would meaning selling the store and Paige couldn’t conceive of letting go of her grandfather’s legacy. It had meant too much to him. Besides, her mother worked here, too, as well as Lena, a longtime assistant who could practically

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