Exception (36 page)

When the table was set, Taylor walked to the iPod docking station and scrolled trough the playlists. Deciding Adele would be a good choice for dinner, he pressed play. It wasn’t an obvious choice for him to make, but he knew how much Emily liked the singer. Soon after ‘Rolling In The Deep’ started playing, she was singing along, and dancing in the kitchen. It was a heavenly sight.

Zack and Toby arrived just in time to join the final chorus of “Rumor Has It”. Emily and Zack giggled as they sang and danced together. When the song was over, Emily and Zack greeted each other with their pet names and usual lip-lock.

Dinner was filled with loud conversation and laughter, as well as displays of affection coming from every side of the table. As they enjoyed the delicious meal Emily had prepared, the blissful couple exchanged kisses and loving words, while winks and innocent nudges came from the two friends sitting across from them.

With empty plates, Toby and Taylor began a lengthy conversation about a prominent athlete who had recently hired Toby’s law firm to deal with a doping charge. Emily stood up to clear the table for dessert and gave Zack a look that said he should volunteer to help. Alone in the kitchen, she held Zack’s arm and looked him in the eyes. Anxiety made them look like a stormy sky. “He kissed me, Zack.”

“He did
what
?” Zack was so stunned he nearly dropped the empty pasta dish. “When? How?”

“Calm down, and lower your voice!” She took the dish from his hands and placed it in the sink to rinse it off. “Just before you guys arrived, we were taking about dating and intimacy. We had this weird moment when the conversation ended and then he just kissed me on the nose.” The smallest smile played on her lips, and she touched the tip of her nose.

Zack would never call her on it, but the word blinking in bright neon colors in his mind was “tease”. Her excitement and choice of words had him all excited, thinking that Taylor had actually kissed her on the lips; he couldn’t help but to be a little disappointed.

“And, how did you feel about it? I know you don’t like men kissing you.” He tried to keep his face expressionless.

“You kiss me all the time,” she challenged, trying to dodge his question.

“Yes, I do. But, I don’t count.”

She giggled at his matter-of-fact statement. “I don’t think Toby likes that you kiss me. Every time you do, he scrunches his nose.”

“Well he’s not the only one, and too bad for them.” He smiled at her and gave an exaggerated wink. “Now will you answer my damn question?”

“What was it again?” She smiled at his annoyed expression. “He kissed my hair countless times, but his lips on my skin was different, Zack.”

“Bad different?”

“No, great and awesome different. Why do you think he did that?”

Before he could answer, Taylor and Toby walked into the kitchen with the rest of the dirty dishes. “Is everything okay, love?” Toby asked his boyfriend, depositing some plates in the sink.

“Sure is. I was just asking Cheesecake here for that grape bath you like, for um . . . later.” He kissed his boyfriend and winked at Emily, who smiled adoringly at him.

“That is a visual I did not need this late at night,” Taylor whispered playfully in her ear as he handed her the plates he was holding.

With a smile she retrieved the pumpkin cheesecake she’d made from the fridge and headed back to the table. The men followed her with hands filled with dessert plates, silverware, a bottle of mineral water and drinking glasses.

They sat, talking and laughing long enough to have seconds and thirds of the delicious cheesecake. Once the late hour and few glasses of wine took their toll on the two guests, they decided to call it a night. Emily ran to her bathroom to pick up the container of bubble bath for Zack, and soon after they said their goodbyes.

Taylor and Emily worked as a perfect team in returning the kitchen and dining room to their normal pristine state. Once the task was completed, Emily walked Taylor to the guest bedroom and showed him where he could find blankets, pillows and towels if he needed. They wished each other goodnight and she retreated to her bedroom to get ready for bed as Taylor stepped into the bathroom.

After her nightly routine, Emily, moved by a scorching thirst, walked to the kitchen barefoot and wearing only a short shorts and camisole pajama set, made of light yellow satin with gray lace details on the breasts and hems. Too tired to get a chair to step on, she was stretching on her tiptoes, trying to grab the last bottle of mineral water from the top shelf of the pantry, when she heard a door open and footsteps heading towards the kitchen.

Shit!
The thought crossed Emily’s mind when she remembered her lack of clothing and current position, but by then it was too late. The lights went on, illuminating both her and a shirtless and barefoot Taylor, whose magnificent body was only covered from the waist down in a blue striped cotton pajama bottom that hung from his hips, displaying the most perfect abs she’d ever seen.

Stretched and frozen against her kitchen’s cupboard, Emily shamelessly stared at her best friend, taking in every detail of the glorious example of the male form in front of her. In addition to his gorgeous face and incredible abs, he had a chiseled chest followed by bulging shoulders and strong biceps. She felt her cheeks filling up with blood when her eyes drifted lower down his body, passing the two symmetric lines over his hipbones and landing on other parts of his anatomy that, despite being covered by the soft fabric, weren’t by any means concealed.

Incredibly embarrassed, she moved her eyes back to the last shelf of the cabinet, but not before catching a glimpse of the smug smile on his lips. “Hi, I’m looking for water.”

“Hey, I came after the same. I think having three slices of cheesecake was a bit much. All the sugar is giving me a hellish thirst and a major sugar high,” he said, his voice low and smooth on Emily’s ears. Without even thinking she clamped her teeth over her lower lip.

The way his eyes were fixed on her stretched body would have made him feel like a creep if he hadn’t just caught her doing some staring of her own. She was always beautiful and sexy, which affected him in countless ways; most of them, below his waist. However, there were no words to explain the scene in front of him.

It was true that, in the time he’d known Emily, he had imagined how her barely covered body might look like more times than he’d dared to count. But, looking at her as she stretched in front of the pantry in her tiny pajama shorts, with her top rising up to reveal not only the creamy skin on her back but also the hint of a tattoo on her ribcage, he felt like exploding with desire, and holding her in his arms before making love to her on flat surface in that kitchen, and that was something completely new to him.

“Here, let me help you, shorty,” he said, desperately needing her to stop stretching before he ruined their precious friendship.

Emily stepped back to let him come close to the shelves. Without any effort, he raised his arm and reached for the bottle. The simple movement and the brief sight of his bare back had Emily’s mouth as dry as the Atacama Desert. The rest of her body was also feeling the desert heat, but not necessarily the dryness.

“You want some ice?” she asked, opening another cabinet for some glasses.

Setting the bottle on the breakfast bar and quickly taking a seat to conceal any evidence of his arousal, he answered with a smirk. “Please. It’s damn hot in here.”

His words made her giggle. “I have some popsicles here if you want,” she teased.

“Just the ice. I don’t think popsicles would help with the heat, Ems.” His voice was almost a growl.

With a roll of laughter she filled both glasses with ice cubes and water. Taylor downed the whole glass in one large gulp. When it did little to refocus his mind, he filled it up again and drank the whole thing, just as fast as he had the first.

Emily sipped her water from inside the kitchen. Her eyes never left him, but she was just as aware of the delicateness of their situation as he was, and she didn’t want to push it.

For the first time, Taylor felt glad to have a large space between them. He didn’t want to be anywhere near those shorts. Actually, he did, he wanted to be very close to them, and that was precisely the problem. He knew he shouldn’t want to and, the fact that he did, greatly shook the trust he had in his restraint at the moment.

He desperately needed something else to focus on, and searched his brain for something to say. “You have a tattoo.” His words were somewhere between a question and a statement, and were filled with the kind of insecurity he hadn’t felt since he was a teenager. His reaction was disappointing and seriously pissing him off.

“You saw that?” She blushed and touched her side.

“Just a glimpse. What is it?”

Emily seemed mildly stunned by his words. Her chest rose and fell in quick, shallow breaths, and just before she covered her face with both her hands, Taylor saw her eyes redden with the hint of upcoming tears.

“It’s a design of the Cheshire cat wearing the Mad Hatter’s hat,” she said from behind her hands, mortification lining her every word.

Taylor continued to watch her silently, completely puzzled by her embarrassment over such an innocent thing. He was about to ask her what was wrong when her weak voice sounded from behind her palms. “It’s for my brother.”

He blinked twice in confusion at her admission. “I didn’t know you have a brother.” He tried to hide the disappointment he felt over the secret she’d kept from him, but as always, she could see right through him. “Do you have a tattoo for Charlie as well?” he asked, in an attempt to divert her attention.

“No, I just have this one.” She lowered her hands just enough so that her eyes became visible. Seeking his out, she explained in a voice filled with pain and dread. “Charlie has the same tattoo, though hers is on her shoulder. We got it together three years ago, in his honor. He died when I was fifteen, Tay. I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you before. I guess I’m so used to never speaking of him that—I’m so sorry. Please don’t be angry.”

His heart constricted with her pain, and he felt like a jerk for the antagonistic feelings he’d had. He looked at her face, hidden from him again, and a desperate need to soothe her took over him. In a few quick strides, he circled the breakfast bar and stood by her side.

“I’ll never be angry at you, Ems,” he said, running a hand down her back. “I’m so sorry you lost your brother, I really am. And you don’t have to talk about it. I want to know things because you want to tell me, not because you have to.”

He gently removed the hands she had covering her face and, with a gentle touch below her chin, lifted her face so she was looking into his eyes. They stared at each other the way they had back at Taylor’s apartment the night they’d shared their life stories, their eyes sparkling with the deep friendship and empathy they didn’t share with anyone else. In that moment, all thoughts of perfectly sculpted abs, tiny silk pajamas and wild sex against kitchen cupboards were completely forgotten.

“I do want to tell you, Tay. It’s just—” She took a long deep breath to organize her thoughts before continuing, “There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think of him, but talking about him—I’ve never done that. It’s too hard.”

“So no one knows?” Taylor asked, wiping a tear away from her cheek.

She shook her head before answering. “The twins know I have the tattoo, and Charlie told Chuck when they got engaged, but other than him we’ve never told anyone, not even my therapist, Alec. I guess it’s another first I saved for you: you’re the first person to hear about him from my lips.”

He mirrored the sad smile she gave him and pulled her close to his chest, folding her in a tight hug and giving her a familiar kiss on the top of her head. That was the most skin to skin contact they’d had to date, and it was as weird as it was right.

“I’m honored, Ems. How about we take this water and go sit on the couch, so you can tell me?”

She nodded and followed him to the living room. Completely familiarized with her apartment, he turned the side table lamp on, giving the room a cozy, dim glow. He settled on one corner of her chesterfield and, with a strong arm around her waist, he pulled her to sit between his legs, folding her in a protective cocoon as he’d done back in his apartment.

“He was eight, I was fifteen and Charlie had just turned eighteen.” The sad edge to her voice was diminished by the safety and comfort that passed from where his naked skin met hers, but just barely. “It was a Saturday, days away from Charlie’s senior prom, and the two of us had gone out to shop for a dress. On our way to the mall, we dropped him off at a friend’s birthday party a few houses down from our’s.

“While we were out, Jane and Frank had yet another fight and, once again, Jane decided to leave him. She wanted some insurance that he would send her money, so she stopped at the party and took her son with her, along with a bottle of scotch.”

Emily’s eyes filled with tears and red, angry spots appeared on her neck, shoulders and upper back. She looked more upset than Taylor had ever seen her, which made him very angry. He tightened his hold around her and kissed her head several times.

“She dozed off, missed a stop sign, and a truck hit them. She was so drunk she’d put him on the front seat and forgotten to fasten his seatbelt. The impact threw him through the windshield. He had massive internal bleeding, and a shard of glass punctured his windpipe. When the paramedics arrived at the scene, it was too late.” Her jaw worked with anger as the tears came down from her eyes like a waterfall. “He was dead, and the bitch only had a broken arm and a few bruises. She was arrested, and Frank finally divorced her.”