Exception (67 page)

T
HE TEMPERATURE
was unusually cold for late April. Taylor sat in his bed that Saturday, with his back pressed against the dark wooden frame, while his fingers played with the small red leather box he’d been carrying around for the past twenty-four hours.

His day had been great and extremely tiring. Though Carla had taken care of all the details of Stanley’s exhibition, he was the boss, something he’d just recently admitted to his staff, which guaranteed him lots of work during such an important event. His efforts and the efforts of all his team paid off, and the night had been a huge success. Lots of books and photographs were sold, lots of publicity for the gallery was created, and a retirement party was held, worthy of his hero and friend.

For most of the night, while he was busy talking to people and putting out fires between Kimberly and Carla, Emily had worked the room on Stanley’s arm, making the old man so full of himself that it was impossible for Taylor to look at them and not laugh. However, as wonderful as Stan’s reaction was, it was nothing compared to the sight of the smile on his beloved’s lips. A smile that, even now, as she slept peacefully at his side, wouldn’t leave her face. It was the most heartwarming sight Taylor had ever seen, and they made the words his father said to him when he handed him that red box as they stood in front of the River Café, echo in his mind.

“If a man is lucky enough, he gets to meet one woman who will smile at him. That smile will be his greatest achievement, and for the rest of his life he’ll know that no amount of money, success or anything else will ever compare to the joy brought by that simple smile. There is, however, one exception to that truth, and that is the life-altering sight of the perfect ring on her finger.”

He opened the box and peeked inside at the beautiful ring that had once belonged to his grandmother. A ring he’d spent his entire life dreaming of seeing on the finger of his wife, and months imagining sparkling on Emily’s hand. Removing it from the box, he placed it on his pinky and stared at it with reverence.

His mind drifted back to the first time he held it. At the time, his childish mind had thought that a perfect proposal and the perfect ring would give him the perfect marriage he dreamt of. A marriage like his parents shared. However, what he failed to see back then was that perfect marriages are made by two people who love one another fiercely and choose, daily and against all odds, to be right for each other. Everything else is just frosting on the cake.

There was no question in his mind that he shared that connection with Emily since before they’d even started dating. For almost a year they had been, in their own way, deeply committed to each other, and their set of rules only served to prove that point further. In his heart, Emily was more his wife than Georgina had ever been, even without a marriage certificate. Nonetheless, the idea of calling her Emily Carter, of making all of his secret promises public and displaying to the whole world that he was hers and she was his, did funny things to him.

A groggy mumble came from her mouth, breaking through his reverie. Returning the ring to the box and placing it beneath his pillow, he looked down at her with love and wonder oozing from his eyes. Her mumbles turned into giggles that made him want to close his eyes to enjoy the sound further, but there was no way he could remove his hypnotized eyes from her. Very carefully, he brushed a few waves of her raven hair away from her cheek, placing them carefully behind her ear.

Her eyelids fluttered and she fixed her sleepy gaze on his face. “Waking up and seeing you staring at me reminds me of a dream. A really,
really
good dream.”

“Oh yeah?”

She bobbed her still-heavy head kind of robotically, making him laugh, and then she pulled her perfect brows in a slight frown. Carefully, he rubbed his thumb over the crease, smoothing it. “Hey, I thought it was a really good dream?”

Offering a crooked smile, she replied, “It was, but it also resulted in our very first fight, and that is not really a good memory.”

“It is for me,” he said truthfully.

Like she’d done in her dream, Emily scooted up the bed to sit beside him. With her back against the headboard, her hands gripped the sheet against her naked chest, something Taylor regarded with annoyance. She pulled her brows together, encouraging him to go on.

“I figured out I was in love with you that morning. Maybe, if we’d never gotten into that fight, we would still be only best friends.”

Emily leaned her head on his shoulder, folding her hands around his bulging biceps and stifling a yawn. “I don’t think we were ever just best friends.”

She felt him craning his head to look at her and his cheeks pressing up in a smile, but she didn’t look up at him. The fact that she could still feel remotely shy around him was mind-boggling. “That first night at OJ’s, when I arrived at the game room and you were leaning over the pool table, I totally ogled your ass and, quite honestly, I wanted to throw myself across the felt and pull you over me. I was just too much of a chicken to admit it.”

Taylor couldn’t help but smile at her shy confession. “Is that so?”

“Yep. I think Gabe even caught me staring.”

“He did,” Taylor said chuckling, making Emily blush a deep shade of red.

“Then when you came back from you trip and our friendship really started, all the shameless hugging and cuddling . . . ” She trailed off, smiling at the memories. “You were more than a friend to me, even Stan saw it. Actually, Stan photographed it.” Emily smiled at the beautiful portrait that now hung on the wall opposite their bed.

Taylor delivered a loving kiss to the top of her head. “Zack said it to me that morning in Vermont. It was how I knew.”

Never having heard the story, Emily twisted her body towards him and looked up through her lashes at his face, encouraging him to continue. “Jody was livid, screaming and trying to hit me for making you cry. She told me that I didn’t have the right to do that to
her
person, and I wanted to punch her in the face for saying that.” He laughed at the now funny memory as he continued, “I was so pissed at her, because you were
my
person. You’ve always been
my
person, but at the same time, what claim did I have on you? I was as much your friend as Jody.”

The sadness Taylor had felt that morning was displayed in his voice. Wanting to comfort him, Emily wrapped her arms around his midsection and kissed his neck tenderly. She didn’t say anything and she didn’t need to, because that tiny gesture was more than enough to display all the feelings she had for him, and comfort him from his past angst.

A new, small smile flashed on his lips. “I think Zack took pity over the pained look on my face and said that you and I had never been just friends, not for a day. It was like a lightbulb turned on inside my head, and I knew he was right. I was in love with you, there was no doubt. After that, I decided that, no matter how long it took, I would make you see that we were meant to be together.”

“You never told me that.” They gazed at each other for seconds, with the same loving expression on their faces and smitten smile on their lips, until Emily finally spoke again. “Since my insight happened right after our second serious argument, I’m starting to think that arguing is a good thing for us.”

Taylor laughed at her truthful teasing. “So you’re saying that now that we’ve both had our insights we’ll never argue again?”

“Not at all.” She giggled. “Life is full of big decisions. I can almost see us arguing just before we buy a house, get married, and I’m pretty sure that having a baby will start World War Three.”

Her words propelled a roar of laughter from Taylor that belted through the bedroom. “In that case, I look forward to arguing with you very soon. In fact, I could argue right now.” Though she felt the honesty in his reply, she had no idea just how much he meant it.

“Oh yeah? And what would be the topic?” Her words were almost staggered as he hooked a finger on the sheet that was covering her and started kissing his way down her neck. At that moment, she was pretty damn sure that her pounding heart was visible, even through the layer of skin and cotton covering it.

“This fucking sheet that’s covering you is a clear violation of relationship rule number one.”

He dipped his head to run the tip of his tongue over the line of her breasts, adding the burning pain of oxygen deprivation to the constricting ache of her racing heart. Despite the discomfort, Emily’s lips curved into a smile.

“Well, Carter, the rule clearly refers to clothing items and I’m not wearing any. Sheets are completely acceptable, so bring it on,” she played along.

Her fingers dug into his hair, pulling the short strands lightly in a playful attempt to remove his face from her somewhat hidden cleavage. He pushed his head back against her chest, nibbling her clavicle.

“Nothing that keeps me from freely seeing, touching or playing with what’s mine is acceptable. That’s the whole point of the rule, Watson, free access.” He grabbed the cotton and tried to pull it down as if to prove his point. As much as she wanted to get rid of the fabric and allow him free access, they were supposed to be arguing, so she clutched it tightly around her chest continuing their little game.

She might have been wrong, but Emily could swear that the moment she did that, a smile spread across the soft skin of her chest.

“Stop playing coy and let go of the fucking sheet, Emily. I’m getting really pissed about this whole thing.” The sternness in his voice made her question if he was joking or not, however those thoughts vanished as soon as his lips met her ear and playfully tugged at it.

“It’s my sheet and my body, I’ll cover it as much as I like.” Her words came out in between a groan as he pressed his hard body against her side. “Besides, the rule only applies when we’re alone and, if I remember correctly, your sister and best friend are on either side of this corridor. So you need to stop being such a crybaby and deal with the sheet.”

“Bullshit. I don’t think you’ll be able to spin this with a technicality. We are alone in this room, and this body is mine.”

His tone was rough, and now Emily really couldn’t tell if it was because he was playing angry or because he was so turned on. Either way, it was hot and had her nearly bursting at the seams. She seriously considering dropping to her knees and begging him to take her.

Fisting his hand in the fabric, he tugged it down hard, and this time Emily didn’t object. She didn’t think she could. He was staring so deeply into her eyes, she thought he could see her soul. “This is mine Emily, you understand me? It’s all mine.”

Before she could answer, he moved and pulled her down so she was flat on her back, her entire body exposed and her hair tossed around the bed in a silky black fan.
Fucking hell, she’s sexy,
he thought.

“I’m done fighting now,” her raspy admission was followed by clawed hands, snaking through his midsection and pulling him down. “I’m yours, Tay, every tiny, little bit of me.”

Taylor was hardly ever speechless, but that was how he felt hearing her words and knowing, deep down that it was his cue. Working through the unfamiliar knot in his throat and the uncomfortable feeling of butterflies flying in his gut, he lightly kissed her lips, trying to even his breath out and fighting the stinging in his eyes.

“Well babe, that’s good, because I want to claim all of those tiny bits as mine.” The wicked smile that spread on her perfect, lush lips, made him snicker. “Not only in that way, perv,” he teased, allowing their friendly banter to shine once more.

Smoothing her hair down, he looked her deep in the eyes, connecting with her in a most intimate manner and spoke in his most serious and honest tone. “I want to spend my whole life loving every bit of you, in every sense of the word, through whatever life throws our way. I want to make every piece of you a piece of me, and give you all the titles I offered when I asked you to be my girlfriend. As much as I love sharing my life with you as my best friend, girlfriend and life partner, I want to make you more than that, and I can’t wait anylonger, Ems. I love you too much.”

They stared at each other with tear-rimmed eyes, pounding hearts and racing breath. The emotion of that moment was more than either of them had ever dreamt, like the delicious anticipation of the first climb of a rollercoaster. You’re a little scared because of how high you’re climbing, but totally excited because you know that, the higher you go, the better it will be, and when they reached the summit, Taylor lifted his arms and let the thrill of the fall take him.

“Emily Anne Watson, will you do me the extraordinary honor of allowing me to be your husband?” He stared at her with all the emotion he felt at that moment clear in his eyes, and saw it all reflected back at him in the tears that rimmed hers as her mouth opened to give him the answer.

In that inopportune second, Taylor’s cell phone started to ring, completely cutting into the moment.

Taylor closed his eyes, hoping that if he ignored the interruption it would cease to exist, and he would be able to go back to the most important moment of his life. However, the stupid device continued to make those annoying noises. The cords on his neck popped as he seriously considered smashing the thing against the wall.
Why the fuck now?