Exception (63 page)

He kissed her a little deeper, pressing his hands against her bottom a little tighter. “I already got my present.”

“That was the girlfriend gift. I also have a best friend gift I want to give you.” Wrestling out of his hold, Emily sat by his side and reached for the item she’d left at the foot of the bed. “I’ve been working on this for a few months now, and I hope you like it.”

Taylor sat up and looked at the thick book she handed him. Through a cutout on the black leather cover was a picture of the two of them at the Christmas party. Untying the little bow at the side, he opened the book. What was inside brought silly smiles and other not-so-manly responses to his face.

Handwritten on the very first page was the lyrics to “Don’t Let It End” by Nickelback. They’d danced to that song the night before and he knew the words by heart, but still he read them with undivided attention, smiling at how perfectly they described their story.

Turning the pages, he saw that the whole scrapbook was a walk down memory lane. Whether it was a black and white photo taken by himself, a selfie shot on Emily’s phone, a group shot by one of their friends or the breathtaking portraits by Stanley Parker, the pictures told the story of their romance and were complimented by countless scribbled Starbucks sleeves, restaurant napkins, pressed pennies, and other mementos she’d collected. On every page she’d added a handwritten quote from either a book, a song or a famous person, describing each memory to perfection. It was the most thoughtful present Taylor had ever been given.

The last page featured the handful of photo booth strips they’d taken the night before, framed by the lyrics to one of his favorite Whitesnake songs. It was impossible not to grin like the cat on Emily’s ribs as he saw line after line of them smiling and laughing and being silly and kissing. It was the perfect ending to a perfect book. His eyes drifted to the single line written in black capital block letters at the foot of the page, and Taylor couldn’t help but to roar with laughter.

“So Whitesnake made the top ten after all?”

Through a shy smile, Emily shrugged her shoulders before replying, “They’re pretty darn romantic. And they make me think of you and me, which is a good reason to make number two spot as all of Twisted Sister’s, so it’s a two-way tie.”

“Finally, I got you to see reason.” He threw back the line she’d said to him all those months ago, making her giggle. “This was the best gift, Ems,” he admitted, looking down at the book in his hands.

“And here I was thinking this would be the second best gift,” she teased, pouting.

“Technically, it’s further down the list, since I got so many presents last night,” he alleged through a devilish smile, “but the number one in the best friend department.”

She giggled again at his playful words at the same time as her toes curled with the memories of those gifts. It was mind-blowing how happy she was at that moment. Never in her life, not even in the best of times with Kevin, had she ever felt like that.

Leaning forward, Emily thumbed through the last section of the book. “I left some empty pages for us to fill in together.”

Closing the book, he placed it on the side table and reached for his phone. With his free arm, he pulled Emily into his lap and kissed her lips. “Let’s fill those pages then.” The flash shone against Emily’s closed lids recording that delicious, intimate moment.

Ignoring Emily’s complaints about taking pictures of them while she was undressed, he continued to snap pictures of them kissing and laughing for a few moments. After a few photos, Emily pried the device from his fingers and unceremoniously let it fall to the floor as she straddled him once more, changing their kisses from playful to passionate.

With his arms holding her tightly Taylor flipped them, so her back was on the mattress, her legs pressing against his torso, as he lay on top of her. Her hands ran the length of his back, nails lightly scratching at his skin, bringing about a low growl and a light bite to her lower lip.

“If we keep this up, we’ll miss breakfast.”

Grazing her teeth over his jaw, she replied in a throaty voice. “I’m okay with that. I’m more in the mood for breakfast in bed, anyways.”

“I like the way you think, woman.” With a wicked smile on his lips, Taylor delivered another kiss to her lips and positioned himself.

After an hour and a half of hot bed, wall and shower sex, Taylor and Emily finally made their way out of their room to meet his family and the Grahams for breakfast.

In addition to being Taylor’s birthday it was also their last full day in Canada which made Tina extra clingy, allowing no time for a rendezvous in the middle of the day. That disappointment was somewhat compensated when the family took the party to the home theater for an afternoon of movies. Choosing the last row of chairs, the new couple covered every base that could be covered without the removal of clothing, which gave Gabe and Nate endless material for teasing.

Despite how much she missed her home and her friends, Emily couldn’t help but to feel sad that the week was over. She’d fallen in love with the lake house, the family that owned it, and the wonderful memories she’d created in it. Because of that, the simple idea that it was time to go back to reality was heartbreaking. Wanting to enjoy her last hours there, she was glad that, after the family retired for the night, Taylor and Nate decided to have the business meeting they’d been putting off for a week.

As they set up their laptops and various spreadsheets and files on the kitchen table, Emily made them coffee and fixed a midnight snack before sitting next to Taylor to listen to the funniest business meeting she’d ever witnessed. She noticed, with no little amusement or appreciation, that Nate was very discrete when speaking about the amount of money they were dealing with, pointing to the numbers with a pen and using expressions like “substantial investment” and “sizable return.” However, five minutes into that, Taylor burst into laughter and assured his friend that it was okay to stop the secretive nonsense and just be blunt around Emily. “Her children will inherit this money, so she might as well know about it,” he said, kissing her lips and turning her insides to mush.

It took them an hour to exhaust the topic of cash flow and move onto the next subject on their list. By that time, Emily was pretty tired, and bored out of her mind. Kissing Taylor’s cheek she excused herself, telling her boyfriend she wanted to steal some last moments in the sunroom.

Illuminated by the most beautiful full moon Emily had ever seen, the glassed room looked like a place right out of a fantasy novel. It was magical and mysterious and utterly peaceful. Taking a seat on one of the wooden lounge chairs, she looked up at the star-filled sky and allowed herself to do something she had prohibited herself to do a long time ago. She let her mind drift to wherever it wanted to.

Her entire life, allowing her mind to run free like that was a guaranteed one-way trip to zombie-land. However, as she watched the moon move across the clear sky above her, her wandering mind chose a new path. One that led to the opposite direction it was accustomed to going.

Her lips curled up in a smile as she thought about all the things and people that she loved, every act of kindness that had ever been sent her way, and all the beautiful possibilities a life not guided by pain would allow her to have.

Moving her eyes from the sky to the lake in front of her, she could almost see an arch of summery flowers at the end of the dock, and a small assembly of friends and family gathered around in summer dresses and light-colored clothes. Laughter and love filled every inch of space around them as she walked under the blue sky in a simple white dress that was flowing in the wind, her eyes set on the one man who was everything.

Her mind went a little further into the future to where a little brown-haired toddler learned to skate on the frozen lake. His big blue eyes looked up at his mother and father who carefully guided him by the hands, giving him all the love she never knew as a child, while laughing and remembering the first time they’d skated together as a couple. That thought was followed by a flash of a gray-haired couple, sitting exactly where she was. Their fingers knotted together as they read Austen and Dumas, looking out of the window and remembering the full life they’d shared.

Tears spilled from her eyes. She knew that those images were nothing other than her hopes and dreams; figments of her imagination, and possibilities for the happiest future she could imagine, and for the first time in her life she actually believed such a happily ever after could come true.

Closing her eyes, she vowed that she would do everything in her power to assure that all of those things became a reality. Like in a fairytale, a second after wishing upon her star, a pair of warm lips touched hers with the perfect reply.

“I love you,” Emily said against Taylor’s lips.

“That’s good news, because so do I,” he replied, kissing her again and settling himself by her side. “What are you doing here in the dark?”

“Wishing upon a star,” she admitted sweetly, opening her eyes and smiling at him.

“Does that work?”

She smiled widely at him and shrugged her shoulders. He folded her tightly in his arms and turned his eyes up to the night sky. He stared at it for a long while, and then returned his eyes back to the two blue pools that stared at him in wonder.

“What did you wish for?” she asked.

He looked around, and over at the darkened grand room behind them, before lowering his gaze back to her. His narrowing eyes and panty-dropping smile made her giggle. “Did you wish for a last birthday celebration in the sunroom?”

“Amongst other things,” he answered, raising a brow and clutching her bottom.

“Wish granted,” she replied pulling the hem of his t-shirt up and kissing his lips.

A
RRIVING BACK
home, Emily and Taylor found their lives turned upside down in the best way possible. First, there was the excitement from their friends. Jody and Zack spent weeks in an annoyingly happy state upon seeing the change in Emily’s behavior, not only because she seemed happier and more relaxed but also, and especially, because, amongst those changes, was her warmer approach to their own men. Then there was the incredibly, yet extremely tiring, increase to both their workloads, which kept them busy and apart much more than either of them liked or were comfortable with.

Their distance and the annoyance it brought instigated, during one sex-induced sleepless night in New Haven, the creation of a set of relationship rules.

Having a set of rules for a relationship hadn’t sounded particularly appealing to her. In fact, it had given her chills.