Exception (19 page)

She turned back to him with a knowing smile. “Problem solved. The best pizza in the world will be home in twenty minutes. So, go on, tell me about the gallery.”

Taylor smiled his appreciation, cleared his throat and decided to just rip the band-aid off and say it in as few words possible. “Well . . . I actually own it.”

The car had just turned onto Emily’s street, and Taylor kept all of his attention on finding a parking spot close to her building. With the corner of his eye he could see Emily watching him.

He parked his Jeep in a great spot just to the right of her building. She was still staring at him in silence, which made him extremely nervous. Seeing that he wasn’t offering anything else, Emily smiled. “That was such false advertising. That’s the shortest long story I’ve ever heard,” she joked.

All of the angst over her reaction vanished, resulting in a fit of laughter on Taylor’s part. “I guess it was, right?”

He went around the car to open her door, both of them still laughing. That wasn’t the reaction he’d expected from her, not at all. He helped her out of the car and reached inside to grab something from the glove compartment. When he turned back to her he had his wallet and cell phone in hand, along with a large black envelope. Emily eyed the paper in his hand suspiciously but decided not to pry.

“If I asked how did that happen, would you tell me?”

They were standing in the middle of the sidewalk. A cool night breeze surrounded them, gently blowing Emily’s hair in all directions. Taylor removed a lock that had stuck to her lips and smiled at the realization that, for the first time in a long time, he didn’t mind sharing that part of his life.

“To anyone else I wouldn’t, but it’s you, and you are the exception to all of my rules, so sure.” Emily’s appreciative smile brought his to impossible lengths. “But before I get to that, this is for you.”

Emily’s curious eyes zeroed in on the mysterious envelope his outstretched hand offered. Fitting her gift bag on the crook of her elbow, she accepted the envelope and turned her head to the side, eyeing him suspiciously before opening it.

Inside was a shimmery black piece of carton paper, printed on in beautiful white script letters. It was an invitation. After reading through it, Emily lifted her eyes to him and saw that his broad grin was still in place.

“Am I right to assume this is the first event of our arrangement?” she asked him.

With a vigorous nod, he answered. “You’re absolutely right. I hope Wednesday is a good day for you.”

“Now I see why you were eager to get me to agree to it so fast.”

Taylor gave her a mischievous wink, making her giggle. “I had other reasons for that, but I won’t lie, having you at this thing is going to save my ass from skinny Kim-bitch.”

“Glad to be of service, sir,” she joked, and nudged his shoulder before moving towards her apartment. “Right now, because of summer break, I’m only busy on Monday mornings and Thursday afternoons, because of my weekly get-together with Simon, my professor friend from Yale, and the famous book club. For future reference, during the school year I’m busy Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays—other than that, I’m always game.”

They walked side by side the short distance from the car to the entrance of her apartment. Taylor stole a glance at Emily and gathered a deep breath. His eyes were filled with hope when he spoke again. “Since you have those two days free, you could go to New York Monday night, or Tuesday morning, and enjoy the city a little. I have a guest room in my apartment that you’ll be more than comfortable in.”

Emily made a herculean effort to control her reaction, because in her mind she was doing cartwheels and yelling “yippee” at the top of her lungs. She managed to only let a smile show—it was true, it was much wider than intended, but still, it was better than the cartwheels.

“Okay, I’ll go on Monday night if you give me the long story I was promised,” she said, as they reached the fourth floor and moved towards her door.

Emily was unlocking her door and therefore not looking at him. If she were, she would have seen the childish, gleeful smile plastered across his face when he heard her answer. He was beyond excited at the prospect of spending two full days with her.

“Deal,” he agreed.

With a smug smile she stepped into her apartment and held the door open for him. Before he started his story she gave him a quick tour of the place.

Taylor’s thoughts when he walked inside the apartment were that, if he didn’t know who lived in this place and someone asked him to guess, he would have said Emily.

The white walls and furniture were punctuated by unexpected pops of color in pillows, curtains, picture frames and even a vintage turquoise stove that, according to Emily, was her baby. They gave the place the same peaceful and sweet vibe that Emily had.

Some items caught Taylor’s attention, like the hand-painted canvas that hung behind the dining table. The image of cherry blossoms was absolutely beautiful, but what really drew him in was how the artist managed to make such a soft image using such hard brushstrokes. When he asked Emily about it she informed him it had been a gift from Johanna Webber, and she took him to her bedroom to see the other painting she’d given her. It also had a flower motif, and though the technique used was the same, the soft lines created by rough strokes, this one leaned more toward abstract than realist.

They had just settled on her couch, with Taylor complimenting her on the cozy apartment, when the doorbell rang with their pizza delivery. Once again, he insisted on paying. Emily tried to fight him, but it was useless, and soon they were sitting at the dining table enjoying the pizza that, as promised by Emily, was the best he’d ever had.

Taylor made good on his promise to tell her about the gallery. As they ate, he didn’t hold anything back. Every single detail of how he’d transformed his quite substantial trust fund into a respectable fortune by following his father’s example and investing in various fields, that included the stock market, collectible items, a publishing house, a record label and his latest purchase, the art gallery, was disclosed to her.

By the time he was done, Emily was quite impressed. Not many eighteen-year-olds have the vision to invest in the stock market instead of buying fancy cars. “And where did the trust fund come from?”

He was just finishing his last slice of pizza when he answered. “Dad started one for each of us when Mom told him she was pregnant. He wanted to assure that, if anything ever happened to him or to his company, we’d be all right.”

Emily felt a tug at her heart hearing him talk about his amazing parents, but offered him a small smile anyways. It was hard not to feel envious of him, considering the hellish childhood she had.

Not yet ready to bring up that subject, she changed direction. “Looking after all of those investments must be exhausting.”

Taylor noticed the flash of sadness at the mention of his parents, but decided against prying. She had already disclosed a small bit of information about her mother weeks before and, by that, he could tell that her relationship with that woman was completely different than the relationship he had with his parents. He knew that, when she was ready, she would tell him, and he was more than willing to wait for it.

“For what I pay Nate, it must be.” Taylor laughed and went along with the change of subject as he helped her clear the table. She looked at him with questioning eyes while rinsing the dishes before loading them into the dishwasher.

“Who’s Nate?”

“Nathan Graham has been my best friend since we were five years old. He’s also a business whiz, and the one person outside my family I trust with money,” he answered with a smile. “We’ve been working together for the past . . . ” he hesitated, calculating the amount of time in his head, “ten years. God, we’re getting old.”

Emily smiled at him, encouraging him to continue. It was the first time he’d mentioned having a best friend, and she wanted to know more about him and their friendship.

Recognizing her subtle encouragement, he told her about meeting Nate on his first day of swimming class, and how they had bonded instantly for reasons neither could remember anymore—but both suspected it had something to do with Spiderman. He continued, saying how they went through their school years together and how his parents considered Nate as much a part of the family as their own kids.

He told Emily that, although Nate’s family had a comfortable life, they weren’t even close to having as much money as his family. However, the Grahams’ had raised their children on the same principles of honesty and valor that his parents had raised him. Therefore, his friend was one of the most honest people Taylor had ever met, which made the decision of inviting him to manage his investments very easy.

She asked him how the arrangement worked and he explained that, outside of the gallery, he didn’t own 100 percent of anything, but he had the majority of shares in each company he’d invested in. Nate’s job was to stay on top of board meetings, decide what to buy and report back to Taylor and Rick.

Rick helped Taylor to stay on top of Nate while he finished his education in Europe, since both lived in Canada. In general, their business relationship ran quite smoothly and had been very profitable for both of them. Nate was amazing at what he did, which allowed Taylor to be free to do what he loved.

“And no one knows that you’re the owner?” Emily finally asked after hearing that all of his investments, including the gallery, were under the name TRC Investments, of which Nate was acting as CEO. “Not even in the gallery?”

“Nope. Because of the name, most people think TRC is a branch of RC, Dad’s company, which I totally did on purpose.” He chuckled before continuing, “I’ve always known that I wanted to work with art, and Dad was always around to help. The company was just about making money since, in my field, we don’t make all that much.

“He also trained Nate, so when he showed up as a CEO people just assumed what looked obvious,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders, and continued. “In the gallery, no one asked, so I left it at that, especially after I came back from London. I like my job. I love studying a piece of art, looking for new purchases, working with artists and all of that. I know that, if anyone ever found out I was the owner, working there would be weird.”

His reasoning made perfect sense to Emily. She also found it incredible that, even though he was filthy rich and owned a handful of successful business, he was content with people thinking he was just an employee at an art gallery. The admiration and trust she had for him grew.

“That’s good information for Wednesday.”

Taylor nodded, and they continued their conversation, moving to other subjects. It was after midnight when Emily walked Taylor down the stairs. He gave her a quick hug before wishing her a good night, reminding her that they were having lunch the following day with her friends at Old Joe’s. As he walked to the Jeep she watched him leave, waving goodbye when he flung one last look at her over his shoulder, a heartwarming smile on his lips. Emily waved good-bye and made her way back inside, retiring to bed shortly after.

That night Emily slept like a baby. It was possibly the most relaxing sleep she’d ever had. Once again, when Zack walked into her apartment the next morning, Emily was wide awake, and rummaging through her stuffed walk-in closet.

As she searched for something to wear to the party, she filled him in on her day with Taylor. He was very happy that she’d agreed to be FBs with him, not only because his guilt was diminished, but also because he could see how happy she was with the arrangement.

Not finding anything she deemed good enough to wear to her first FB event with Taylor, she recruited Zack for an impromptu shopping trip before their lunch date at Old Joe’s. He agreed and forwarded the invitation to Jody. Approximately an hour later, the three friends met outside the apartment building ready to shop.

As always, they had a great time together, and when they climbed back into Emily’s car to head to Old Joe’s, they each had a couple of bags and an iced drink in their hands. Emily was satisfied with the dress she’d bought for the occasion; she had tried on a few, but her friends agreed that the one she purchased was the best.

By the time they walked into the restaurant, it was still fairly empty. Loud laugher and animated conversation traveled from the mezzanine to the restaurant’s front door: a girlish giggle, mixed with the sound of two very familiar voices. Hating the sleazy girls who insisted on hitting on her man, Jody bolted up the stairs, nearly dropping her Frappuccino.

Emily and Zack followed at a less hurried pace. Reaching the top landing, they found Jody sucking the life out Brad’s lips in a choreographed show for the nearby petite brunette’s benefit.

“Jody, let the man breathe,” Taylor urged her humorously. Noticing his words fell on deaf ears, his chuckles turned into full-blown laughter.

“That’s Tay’s sister, Penelope, Cupcake,” Emily whispered passing behind Jody on her way to hug Taylor and greet his sister. The information did the trick, and Jody finally let go of her fiancé, both of them flushed. Jody turned and smiled at Penelope, who was giggling. With the proper introductions made, Emily and Jody joined the two men for a few couple’s rounds of pool, while Zack and Penelope talked.

Lunch and the rest of the afternoon went by in between games, laughter and pleasant conversation. By the time Taylor and Penelope said their goodbyes the sun had set. Emily walked them to Taylor’s car, where he gave her his address and clear instructions on how to get to his apartment.