You can use global variables for that. I used two variables: counter, paused.
Set "counter" initial values to your maximum time.
Layer1:
on start of layout -> set paused = 0
every 1 seconds, paused = 0 -> subtract 1 from counter
player on collision with object -> set paused = 1, wait x seconds, set paused = 0
whenever you want to stop the counter, just set the "paused" variables to 1, and 0 to resume it. :)