The Reason I Stay (45 page)

With the phone in her hand and a wide smile on her lips, she pushed herself off from the wall and made her way towards the coffee cart across the lawn. The coffee there was less than mediocre, but it would have to do.

She stood by the cart, reading and replying to her messages with one hand while holding the very large cardboard cup with the unpleasant-but-caffeinated beverage in the other. Mid-sentence in her reply to Zack, a string of profanities that would have made her late, shameless Nana blush, found their way to her ears.

Curious to know who the foul mouth was, she lifted her eyes from her iPhone screen and saw a tall man in perfect fitting, beat-up jeans, a black t-shirt that clung to his body just enough to show his defined chest and bulging biceps, and worn out boots, standing next to her. His handsome face was twisted in an indignant, disgusted look, directed at the cup in his hand. The scene made her giggle.

The sound caught his attention. He turned to her, glaring through a frown, which only served to heighten the amusement she was trying hard to control. “I take it you’re not a student.”

“No, I’m not. I’m just a caffeine-addicted brother who was served the worst coffee of his damn life. In fact, calling this awful cup of brewed crap coffee is insulting.” He emphasized his statement by dumping the full cup into the trash bin next to him. Emily had to bite her lip in order to control a new wave of laughter bubbling inside of her as he continued his rant. “When I went to college, we had better coffee than that.”

Taking in the sight of her happily gulping at her cup, he stopped and looked her straight in the eyes with a light smirk on his face. “You don’t look like a student either, so please enlighten me. Why are you torturing yourself with such an enormous cup of this disgusting crap?”

Emily smiled and shrugged her shoulders, taking another sip of the offensive beverage in question. “I was woken up before the sun this morning, and I just spent the past two hours in a library room with a bunch of students. Walking in these heels to the nearest Starbucks would have been more torturous than this coffee.”

“Wow, you’re worse than me,” he replied with a wide, perfect smile and an arched brow. “I’m Taylor, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you, Taylor. So, you’re a brother?” she asked, still gulping the coffee.

He nodded before answering and looked to where a bunch of students, including one girl who bore a striking resemblance to him, were gathered a few feet away. “Yes, my baby sister Poppy is a lit undergrad. I live in New York and we haven’t seen much of each other in a long time. She needed help studying for some test, and since I have a flexible work schedule I came. I’m supposed to take her to lunch, but she has to reserve a spot for something first and I have to wait.”

Emily smiled, arching a brow. “I think it’s for summer meetings of a book club.”

“I’ve heard of it, and apparently it’s even better than my sister described,” he stated. “According to her, the head of the group is this awesome blogger chick. Judging by the number of guys signing up, she must be hot, too.”

His comment and the joking, teasing tone he used, almost made Emily spurt her coffee through her nose with laughter. She was surprised to find the general awkwardness and fear she usually felt around unknown people, especially men, was absent. The feeling was weirdly refreshing.

“I’ve heard she’s both,” Emily teased with a smirk.

His attention returned to her, and an amazed smile curved his lush lips beneath his perfectly manicured stubble. “So, you work here?”

“In a way,” she offered evasively. When his brows pulled together in obvious confusion, she continued, “It’s more like volunteer work, to help a friend.”

A line formed between his eyebrows. “This must be a special friend.”

“He’s very special. He’s also very annoying and demanding, but I can never say no to him,” she said with a sweet smile, drinking the last of her coffee.

For some reason, the idea of this woman being special friends with a professor was unsettling to Taylor. He barely knew her, but there was no question in his mind that she deserved more than some friends with benefits relationship with a douchebag professor.

She was gorgeous with deep blue eyes and long black hair that was so dark and shiny that it almost seemed to have blue highlights. Her cheeks were pink and delicate and her bare full lips were a natural red. He was having difficulty removing his attention away from them as she cleaned vestiges of her coffee with her tongue. Even through her modest trouser jeans and blouse ensemble, he could see she had the body most women envy, and every man desired. Her otherwise tiny frame was offset by perfect curves in all the right places. The few minutes they’d been talking were more than enough for him to notice that the beauty she had on the outside was equally matched within, which only made her even more attractive.

“He’s a lucky guy, then,” Taylor said as she crossed past him to deposit her empty cup in the trash bin to his left.

His words, and the tone he used, caused her to halt. Turning around in haste, she looked at his deep chocolate eyes in complete shock and let out a nervous laugh. “God, NO!” she flinched, “Eww . . . he’s a father figure.”

As much as he didn’t want to admit it, there was no denying that the feeling her words produced in him was relief. That unsettled him and made him nearly desperate for a change of subject. “Um . . . so, you’re from around here, right?”

Emily nodded, grateful for the change in direction. “Yes, I’ve been living here for a year. Why?”

“My brother is coming into town tomorrow and I’d like to take him out. Poppy invited us to join her and her girlfriends at this club she likes, but it’s one of those techno places—definitely not our thing. We prefer somewhere with games, good beer and food. Some place not crowded with students. Where the locals hang out, you know?”

“The
locals
?” she replied mockingly.

“You know what I mean.” He rolled his eyes and playfully bumped his shin against hers, making her drop her eyes briefly to the place where their legs made contact. Wonder and confusion flashed through her as he continued to speak, “A place where you and your friends would hang out?”

“Well, most of the pubs and clubs around the campus are crowded with students, especially during the last week of classes; so us
locals
,” she made quote signs with her fingers, “avoid them at all costs. There are three places that fit your description of good beer, games, food and locals,” another quote sign at the word locals, “but I would probably recommend either 341 or Old Joe’s. They have a better patron range than the other place, which is mostly over forty, fat, drunk gentlemen. Plus, they are more restaurants than pubs, meaning you’ll get better food.

“It’s been a while since I last went to 341 and, as far as I remember, darts is their only game. It’s got a nice vibe, though. It was sold a few months ago, and the new owner gave it a facelift. If you guys are into modern, trendy places, you should check it out.

“Old Joe’s is more rustic, Irish-like. It has pool, darts and pinball machines, and the best food in town.”

“And are you a modern, trendy gal or an Irish kind of lassie?”

She laughed at the adjective, completely unaffected by the personal question. “My friends and I are partial to the Irish, but then again, my best friend, Jody, owns the place, so it might just be that we’re partial to free stuff.”

The way she was responding to Taylor was incredibly strange. No one other than Zack and Jody had made her laugh and talk in such a carefree, easy way in a long time. It was as refreshing as it was troubling.

“I think we need to become friends. You have good connections,” he teased, laughing along with her. “Hey, I’m talking about being friends and I just realized that you never gave me your name.”

Forcing her laugh back in, Emily opened her mouth to answer when a familiar singsong voice came from behind Taylor’s back. “Sorry it took so long, Tay,” a shorthaired brunette greeted, swinging an arm around Taylor’s neck and kissing him above the line of his scruff.

“Hey Poppy,” he greeted lovingly, holding the young woman close to his side. The sight was rather funny; her tiny petite frame squished to her brother’s massive body. “This is my new friend . . . ” he trailed off, waiting for Emily to fill the gap with her name.

When Penelope approached her brother she hadn’t noticed that he was talking to anyone, so his introduction made her peel her eyes from him to look at the woman standing in front of him. Her breath caught in her throat when she realized who Taylor’s new “friend” was.

“Miss W, nice to see you again.” Her voice was slightly shaky.

“Hi, Penelope,” Emily greeted with a smile.

She would never admit to it, but Emily had some favorites amongst the kids in both the study group and the book club, and Penelope was definitely one of them. Until that moment she hadn’t made the connection between the two siblings, despite the clear alikeness. They shared the same chocolate colored straight hair and expressive brown eyes.

“I’ve told you, out here there’s no need for the Miss W nonsense. I actually hate it—it makes me feel really old, just call me Emily, please,” Emily asked. “Will I be seeing you this summer?” she continued kindly.

Penelope’s lips broke into a smile. “Yes, we’re traveling with our family for the first two weeks, but I’m coming back here right after and then I’ll be in every meeting.”

Taylor was stunned into silence knowing that the woman he’d been talking to for the past few minutes was the head of his sister’s book club.
So that’s what she meant by “kind of” working here.
Once he understood that part, he remembered telling her that his sister described the woman as an awesome blogger chick—and he’d suggested that she was hot! He also remembered Emily saying that the woman was both. In retrospect, he could hear the joking tone in her voice as she said that, which further proved to convince him that she really was awesome.

Lost in his own thoughts, he nearly missed the conversation that was happening between Emily and Penelope.

“Well, I’m happy I’ll be seeing more of you. I have to get going. Besides, your brother said you guys are going to lunch, and he looks hungry.” Emily smiled at Taylor. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Taylor. You guys have a great weekend and a great vacation. Good luck on your final tomorrow, Penelope. See you when you get back.” She waved at them and walked away.

Taylor mumbled a goodbye and watched her walk away with the most pathetic look in his eyes, a look that didn’t go by unnoticed by his younger sister.

“No way in hell, Taylor,” Penelope began forcefully, grabbing her brother’s arm and pulling Taylor’s attention back to her. “You. Stay. Away! I love this book club and Emily has the job I dream of having. I can learn a lot from her. You’re not screwing it up for me by screwing her. No! I’ll . . . I’ll . . . I’ll tell Mom, that’s what I’ll do. I’ll tell Mom that you’re jeopardizing my academic future. And I’ll kick you out of my apartment and send you packing back to New York.”

Her protests grew more and more hysterical as she went on. Not fully tuned into her words, Taylor’s brows pulled together in confusion and his long fingers pinched her lips together. He’d done that to her whenever her confused babbling had started since she was a little girl. Placing his other hand on her shoulder he asked, “What are you shrieking about, Poppy?”

She waited until he released her lips and, in a calmer tone, repeated herself. “I saw you drooling, but you are
not
going to sleep with Emily. I forbid you! If you do it, I’ll kick you out of my apartment and tell Mom that you’re screwing up my academic life.”

Taylor shook his head and laughed, not at all the response his sister was expecting. “When exactly did she ask me into her panties? Please, tell me, ‘cause I must have missed it.”

Penelope glared at him humorlessly, making him laugh even harder. “You worry too much, Poppy. I’m not Gabe, and you know it. We just talked—but I have to admit she’s as great as you told us.”

“Yeah, she is . . . ” she agreed, smiling at her eldest brother. “Now that you’ve been warned, take me to lunch, because we have a lot of studying to do this afternoon.” Curling her thin arms around his middle, she giggled and allowed him to pull her towards the parking lot.

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