Exception (35 page)

He nodded and dragged his feet into her apartment. The whole thing would be comical if wasn’t so frightening. The shock on his face was scaring the hell out of Emily, who closed the door and, with a caring smile, removed the bag from his hand and placed it on the floor. She took his hand and guided him to the couch before running to the kitchen for a glass of water. She sat next to him and placed the glass in his hands. “Tay,” she called his attention and waited until he turned his head towards her to continue. “Why don’t you have a drink of water and tell me what happened.”

He nodded and then drank the whole glass all at once and placed it on the side table. Behind his robotic movements, Emily recognized panic in his eyes. Seeing him like that tugged at her heartstrings. She folded his hands in hers, and spoke in her sweetest voice. “Tay, you’re scaring me. Please say something. It’s okay. Whatever the problem is, I’ll help you. I’ve got your back, remember?”

Lifting his sad eyes to meet hers, he spoke in a raspy voice. “I need to stay here this weekend, Ems. I can’t go back to Poppy’s.”

His words were not what she was expecting. “Okay, you can have the spare room, no problem,” she consented instantly. “Did something happen to Poppy to make you this upset?” Her voice was strained with fear. She’d just seen his sister a few hours ago, and she’d been perfectly fine then.

The sadness and disgust in his eyes was evident. “I was so excited to come here that I forgot to call her. When I got there I let myself in like I always do . . . and she . . . ” He hesitated and took a labored breath before continuing, his voice twisting with disgust. “She had a—
friend
over. She said she wasn’t expecting me till tomorrow, and that I was more than welcome to stay, but I just couldn’t.”

Emily bit her lip to prevent the laughter bubbling in her throat from coming out. For weeks she’d known this day would come, but she had never imagined Taylor would react that badly over his sister having a boyfriend. “Taylor, are you like this because your sister is having a sleepover with a guy?”

“You don’t understand,” he stated, horror mixing in with the disgusted tone in his voice. “She was wearing fishnets and high heels beneath a robe that barely covered anything. While we were talking,
he
came out of
her
bedroom, wearing only black skinny jeans.” He rubbed his eyes with the hand she wasn’t holding, as if to erase the memory. “He had piercings on both nipples and he was wearing eyeliner.”

It was too much for Emily to take, and she started to laugh uncontrollably. Her outburst was such that her head flew back and she had to wrap both arms around her stomach to diminish the shooting pain on her side.

“Emily! Why the hell are you laughing? This isn’t funny.” Outraged, he stood up and glared at her.

“Yes, I’m sorry, it really is awful. Eyeliner and black skinny jeans,” she said, in her best outraged tone, shaking her head. “Everyone knows a guy is only supposed to wear eye make-up with black, skinny, leather pants.”

The sarcastic tone and the smile playing on her lips earned her a murderous look. “Nice to know you have my back, Ems. Thanks!”

“Come on Taylor, she’s a grown woman. What’s the problem if she’s into the whole metrosexual thing? You should be happy she’s happy, and she is really happy.”

“She’s too good for that, too good for him! And she’s a grown woman my ass, she’s far too young to be alone in her room with boys.”

Despite how ridiculous he sounded, she felt sympathy for him. It was obvious that, with an age gap of almost ten years, he still saw her as a kid. “I know you feel like she’s too good for him. She’s your baby sister. You should think she’s too good for any man on the planet. But she
is
a grown woman, Tay. I bet, that if it was another twenty-year-old girl and you were the boy in skinny jeans and guy-liner, you would love the fishnets and heels.” She made her voice sweet, trying her hardest to keep the humor away.

“You’re right, I would love it. Fishnets and heels are sexy as fuck. They also lead to a fuck, which is precisely the problem.” His anxiety had him pacing the living room, back and forth, while compulsively rubbing his eyes. “I’ve seen Penelope going on dates countless times, but to know what happens on those dates . . . it was awful, Ems. Besides, that’s not the kind of man my little princess deserves; he was barely a man. So damn skinny that some wind could tip him over, and the piercings . . . oh god, the piercings.” He cringed and held his face in his hands. “If Dad knew, he’d have a heart attack. Hell, I’m almost having one. And the little asshat called me bro. Bro my ass! It took all I had not to kick his ass until he grew some muscle.”

“Don’t be that hard on Jude, Tay. I know him—he might be a skinny guy with piercings who calls you bro, but he’s a nice boy.”

She stood up and rubbed her hands on his shoulders trying to dissipate some of the tension, but it did little to help. When he looked back at her, his eyes were still pained. With a smile she scratched his stubble and kissed his cheek, before towing him by the hand to the kitchen. With an icy bottle of mountain dew and two glasses, she took a seat at the breakfast bar next to him and watched as he drank a whole glass in one swig.

“Tay, what she deserves is a guy who treats her right. Someone who loves her and respects her, someone that makes her happy. If he’s that guy, to hell with the skinny pants and piercings and eyeliner and your concept of what’s good enough for her.” She gave him a reassuring smile. “Penelope is a strong woman, stronger than I was at her age. She won’t take crap from any guy, and she won’t be treated in any way other than what she deserves, so just be happy for her.”

Her words changed his perspective, but just barely. Yes, he knew that she was right. What his sister didn’t deserve was to be cheated on and abused like Emily had been, so as long as the boy treated her right, he should be happy for her, right?

“So you don’t mind me staying here this weekend? Even though you’re right, I can’t stay there, and I came early to help with your stuff.”

Her huge smile betrayed the roll of the eyes she gave him. “That’s a stupid question. Of course I don’t mind, in fact I can’t believe why we’ve never thought about it before. You’re always here, anyways.”

He sneaked his hands around her waist and looked at her; finally, he looked like his normal happy self. “Who would have guessed I’d be thanking the skinny fella for sleeping with my sister?” She looked at him with questioning eyes, making him chuckle before answering. “More alone time with you is always reason to be grateful, Ems.”

“I can’t argue with that, but I should inform you that we’re having guests for dinner tonight.”

“The twins?” he asked letting her go and pouring some more soda in his glass.

“Lizzy and Mr. Darcy,” Emily said shaking her head. “Toby just came back from Napa and Zack has been working a lot. I haven’t seen him in two days.”

Emily walked over to the kitchen sink and started working on their dinner while she and Taylor continued their conversation. They talked about their days and Taylor grilled her for knowing about Jude and not telling him, which in his mind was technically keeping secrets. She explained that the secret wasn’t hers to tell, and that Penelope had asked her not to.

After his turn in the shower, Taylor came out of the bathroom in a close-fitting dark gray t-shirt with dark wash jeans, combing his still damp hair with his long fingers and complimenting Emily on the amazing smell that had taken over the apartment. Reclaiming his seat and refilling his glass, he decided on asking her a question he’d thought about during his shower. “Ems, can I ask you something?”

“You know you can,” she replied in a cheerful voice while chopping some broccoli for her famous broccoli Alfredo sauce.

“It’s very personal.”

She turned to him with a raised eyebrow and a crooked smile. “With everything you know about me, the only ‘too personal’ question you could ask me is if I go on battery-operated dates.”

Her sarcastic teasing had him snorting with laugher. “That wasn’t exactly my question, but if you’re offering it, I’ll take it.” He laughed again. “Do you? And is it, like, a weekly thing?”

Trying her best not to laugh, she looked at him over shoulder and shook her head very lightly. Taylor knew she was dismissing the question, but he continued to play with her. With wide eyes he asked, “Is it a daily thing, Ems?”

A new wave of laugher came from both sides of the breakfast bar. Emily threw a piece of broccoli in his direction, hitting him right in the chest. “A lady never tells. Now ask your damn question.”

The laugher and the relaxed atmosphere their playful teasing created made him a little more comfortable with his question. “Do you miss it?”

“What? Sex?” she asked.

“Not just sex, but dating and intimacy in general.”

Her back was turned to him as she chopped the broccoli. The lack of eye contact, mixed with the amount of time it was taking for her to answer, was making Taylor embarrassed for asking the question. He knew how difficult the whole subject was for her, and the last thing he wanted was to bring those memories back again.

After silence that seemed to stretch into eternity, Emily finally stopped chopping and turned to look at him. Contrary to his beliefs, she didn’t look embarrassed, nor was she flushed. Her face was calm and thoughtful.

“I don’t know,” she started, leaning her lower back on the sink and shaking her head. “I’ve only dated one person, so all of my experiences are related to him, and they all sucked.”

She noticed with a heavy heart that the disgusted, murderous look Taylor had on his face when she’d told him about Kevin had returned. However, she didn’t know that the real reason behind his anger was at his own stupidity, for making her remember
him
again.

“Motherfucker,” he mumbled through clenched teeth.

“Hey, I wasn’t referring to that, though that did suck.” With her attempt at humor failing miserably, she walked around the bar and sat on the stool next to him. They stared at each other until his irritation dissipated, and she could finally continue. “I was referring to everything else. Even when things were good, or at least, seemed to be good, they were never extraordinary. We lived together and we had an intimate life, but we never had intimacy.”

His brows pulled together. “What do you mean?”

“We had the euphemistic definition of intimacy, but never the literal definition. Our intimacy was only physical. Sex was only sex. We never had that kind of friendship and familiarity that allows you to just be yourself, talk about anything, or to take one look at the other person and know what they are thinking. You know what I mean?”

He’d felt the same about his ex-wife, and that was definitely one of the reasons why his marriage became such a mess. “I do, actually.”

Once again, the few inches that separated them were too much for Taylor to endure. Leaning forward, he grabbed the stool Emily was sitting on and pulled it closer to him, until her crossed legs were nested between his knees. In close proximity, they held locked gazes for several seconds. Despite the silence, the communication between them was profound, as it usually was when their words failed to surface.

“You too?” he finally asked.

His question would have been extremely vague, if Emily wasn’t still lost in eyes that showed that, for the first time in his life, he was also experiencing the kind of intimacy that went beyond the boundaries of sex. They knew the other one’s thoughts, and they shared their souls. Even with their clothes on, they were the closest they could ever be to another human being.

“From the day we met,” she purred with a smile that ran the width of her face.

They studied each other for just another moment, smiling and barely touching. The atmosphere had the same charge it always had around each other; but, unlike the other times, Emily’s stomach fluttered with butterflies.

Not knowing how to deal with those feelings, Emily simply smiled at Taylor and tried to change the subject. “Could you clean up the mess on the table and set it for me?”

He cleared his throat and broke the connection between their eyes. “Sure. It’s just the four of us, right?”

“Yep, just us and the boys,” she replied, standing up from her stool.

Before turning to leave, Emily smiled at him. Taylor still held her hands and his eyes held an ocean of feelings neither of them could describe nor address. Seeing that every unnamed emotion he felt was reflected on the two sapphires staring back at him, Taylor moved his face closer to hers and delivered a light, loving kiss to the tip of her nose.

He had no idea why he did it, or so he tried to convince himself, and immediately he chastised himself after pulling away. He knew she liked when he kissed her hair, but his lips had never touched her bare skin, and he wasn’t sure how she’d react to his spur of the moment decision.

Hesitantly he opened his eyes. To his great surprise, he saw that her eyelids were closed and a small but pleasurable smile marked her face. The breath that he didn’t know he was holding came out in a rush. A second later her eyes popped open. With a wink, a broad smile and not a single word she walked away, heading for the stove, and he moved to the dining room to set the table. They finished their chores silently, with the broad smiles on both their faces as the only indication that the conversation or the kiss ever happened.