A Taylor-Made Life (21 page)

A beautiful woman with red hair had
stepped in from the hall. She smiled and held out her hand. “Hi,
Taylor. We spoke on the phone a few weeks ago.”

I shook her hand. “I remember. So glad
to meet you.”

“You, too. I was anxious to see who
captured Gavin’s heart. He’s a hard nut to crack.” She turned to
her boss. “I’ve got everything prepared for you. God, Gavin. You
really know how to rile up the troops. I’ve never seen Rick and
Charlie so agitated. They’ve been meeting with their personal
attorneys all week. Don’t be surprised if some litigation comes
your way.”

He clenched his jaw. “I suspected as
much. They’ve always been opportunistic, shitty people.”

I sent him a questioning glance. “Then
why did you let them in your company?”

He hung his head. “Because they were
all I had.”

* * * *

Gavin and I dressed in disguises to
exit the building. I giggled at his fake mustache and played with
the hair of my long, red wig.

He eyed me up and down and gave me a
tight-lipped smile. “I know this is a little over the top, but I
don’t want an audience with us today.”

I shrugged. “I think it’s kinda fun
and different.” We looked different. That was for sure. I doubted
even my own mother would recognize me.

And the diversion seemed to have
worked because no one followed us on the empty two-lane highway.
Sara let us borrow her car, and Gavin had given her the limo for
the day, which, she assured, would go to good use.

Gavin drove the two-seat roadster down
the coast. The view spilled into the Miata. Mountains of stone and
trees towered over one side while the Pacific Ocean spread out past
the horizon on the other. Breathtaking waves crashed against rocky
shores and sent misted spray high in the air as large gulls soared
overhead. I had to hold the wig on in the breeze. The smell of
woods and salty sea mixed in a fresh fragrance that I breathed in
like the Wizard’s Elixir.

Gavin pulled off the road and down to
a secluded beach cove where we changed out of the Halloween
costumes. “I am kind of sad to see the mustache go. I was wondering
if it would tickle.”

He grinned and pumped his eyebrows.
“Maybe I’ll put it back on later so we can find out.”

Taking my hand, he walked me down to
the beach. High cliffs formed a shelter overlooking the water and
cragged rocks for miles in either direction. The view was secluded
and enormous. Awe-inspiring.

He spread a blanket over the sand and
pulled me down on it. We sat in silence, watching the birds swoop
into the water, listening to the surf and taking in the
beauty.

I could tell his mind was still
focused on his fight with those jerks at his office. Total
ass-hats. I leaned over and knocked his shoulder with mine.
“Whatcha thinkin’ about?”

He cocked his head toward me. “You
know, I was the youngest person to ever attend the University of
Kansas?”

I shook my head.

“Didn’t have too many friends, and you
already know about my family. Rick and Charlie were the only two
who hung out with me. I bought them beer and let them play the
games I developed. For the most part, they were nice guys, and they
stuck with me through the early years.”

He leaned back on his elbows. “I
thought I owed it to them to give them an interest in the company.
But once the first game took off and the money started coming in,
they changed.” He looked at me. “Money does that to
people.”

“Did it do that to you?”

He thought for a minute. “Yes. I guess
it did. I gained immediate status, and with it, confidence. Once I
had those two things, I built the business like I wanted. And Rick
and Charlie, for the most part, let me because the money kept
coming.

“I thought eventually I’d find someone
to marry, share my life with, maybe have a kid I could give the
company to.”

Chills ran up my arms with the
declaration. In a way, the baby we hoped for was as much for
Gavin’s future as it was for mine.

He turned his body toward me. “How did
you come up with your online gaming name?”

I tilted my head and smiled. “Why do
you want to know? You think it’ll give you some advantage, Techno
Boy?”

He grinned. “Because I know you
wouldn’t pick a name out of the blue. Just like you named that bear
I gave you. It has significance. You’ve never told
anyone?”

“No one ever asked.” My heart filled
with amazement at this guy, my husband. How could he know me so
well? “When I got sick, I told myself if I could make it to my
twentieth birthday, then I would have cheated death and won the
war. That’s how cheetdeath20 was born.”

I dropped my head and raked my fingers
through the coarse sand at the edge of the blanket. The day I’d
found out I’d yelled and screamed, talking trash to an empty room
like it was a rival football team. “It was a goal I set for myself.
That’s why I play your games so hard. I guess somewhere inside I
think if I beat the computer then I can beat the cancer,
too.”

“And is it a goal you still
have?”

My chin quivered, and I swallowed.
“Yes. It is.”

He pulled me back against his chest
and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. His warmth sank deep into
my bones, and I felt like nothing bad could ever touch me when he
held me close.

“Then it’s my goal, too. And I can’t
imagine anything stopping the two of us now that we’ve joined
forces.”

We sat again in silence. The spray of
the waves misted the air, and the lonely cry of gulls made it seem
like there was no one else in the world but us. New hope sprang up
in me as I visualized the real possibility of living a long, happy
life—my heart plunged—without Gavin.

I twisted to see his face. “What about
your online name? There must be some meaning there,
too.”

“In my first tutoring sessions with
Professor Grable, he took the gaming code from an old video game,
Frogger
, and told me to dissect and put it back together,
making the game better than it was.” He smiled out at the ocean, as
if lost in the memory. “I spent weeks working on it, and in the
end, I found if I removed some of the initial code and condensed
it, the game ran smoother and faster. Then I added options and a
selections menu. The final product blew Professor Grable away. For
the first time in my life, I knew I was great at
something.

“I used my model of dissection during
my college classes, and the professors use it as the standard model
for evaluating code at the school. I was nineteen when I sold the
university that textbook. Hence Ogger19.”

He grabbed a bottled water and twisted
off the cap. “I’m proud of the things I’ve accomplished in my life,
but I always wonder if it’s enough.” He tipped the bottle up and
took a long drink. Then he turned toward me again, his eyes filled
with longing and emotion, asking—no pleading—with me for
something
.

“What do you mean?”

“I want to make a difference, Taylor.
When I’m gone, I want someone to know I walked this Earth, and I
want someone to care.”

Pulling his head toward me, I tilted
mine up. Just before I kissed him, I whispered, “I
care.”

Our lips moved in the familiar rhythm
that gave me comfort and security as it pulsed desire through my
wonky blood. He grabbed my hat and tossed it behind us. With Gavin
all my secrets were exposed, and even if I’d wanted to hide, he
would’ve still found me. But that was okay, because I would’ve
found him, too.

He deepened the kiss, our lips meeting
with some new need, like we were spinning toward something that
only this kiss could accomplish.

Gavin’s breath came hot and quick
against my cheek. “I want you. Here.”

He pulled back to look at me, churning
passion lighting his eyes. My heart thudded. The intimacy, the
beauty of the moment, crashed over me like the surf. I couldn’t
speak but only nodded.

His lips met mine with urgency as he
pressed me back onto the blanket.

* * * *

The sky had darkened when we pulled
through the throng of people into Gavin’s garage. Flashes from the
cameras left me with spots in my vision.

“Does it seem like they’re
multiplying?” I grimaced as he took my hand and helped me from the
little car.

“They’re like a fast-growing virus.
The cancer of society.”

Our eyes locked, and I shivered as a
chilly wind descended. He touched the small of my back to guide me
up the stairs, but before opening the door, he spun me around and
pressed me against it with his body, kissing me deeply. I leaned
into his lips.

The door opened, and we fell in with a
thud
, Gavin on top.

Dad loomed over us with a stern look
on his face. “Haven’t you both done enough of that?”

We scrambled to our feet, looking like
a couple of busted teenagers. I smoothed out my shirt that had
ridden up and tried not to giggle. “What are you talking
about?”

“I mean, Taylor, I know exactly what
you’ve been doing all afternoon. And so does the rest of the
world.” He paced in front of us. “Your little beach escapade has
been playing on TV and the Internet for the last couple of
hours.”

We both gasped.

He smiled sarcastically. “Exactly.
What the hell were you thinking having sex in a public
place?”

“Dad, it wasn’t public. There was no
one around for miles.”

“It was public enough to get some very
detailed camera shots. Luckily most of it was pixeled out on TV.”
He roughly ran his hand the length of his face, pulling his
barely-wrinkly skin smooth. “
Jesus.
Now I know how Hilton’s
father felt. Have I not taught you better?”

Crap.
“Well, I am married. It’s
not like you didn’t know what was happening.”

His hands fisted like he wanted to
ring my neck, which I was pretty sure he did. “But I’d prefer not
to see it in living color on a sixty-inch flat screen, young
lady!”

The magnitude of the moment hadn’t hit
me, and I should’ve felt more embarrassed. But the warm glow of the
day with Gavin still covered me, and I refused to let it
go.

Mom paced into the room. Her eyebrows
arched in disapproval. Gavin and I both blushed and looked at our
feet. Oh hell, they
had
seen everything. I nibbled my
fingernail as I recapped the play-by-play in my head, a smile
forming.

Dad continued to rant, “And you have
Grammy upset. She called a little while ago.”

“Grammy? What did she say?”

Dad cleared his throat. “She was
disappointed not to have been invited to the wedding.”

I smiled and narrowed my eyes. I knew
Grammy well enough to know she would’ve made some smart-assed old
lady comment to make me laugh. Dad was hedging. “What else did she
say?”

“It’s not important.”

Mom pursed her lips and looked at him.
“You opened that can of worms. Tell her.”

His shoulders sagged. “She said she
thought Gavin was photogenic.” Dad frowned and mumbled. “Although
those weren’t her exact words.”

The doorbell rang. Zelda came hustling
into the kitchen, speaking broken English. “Meester Taylor, policia
for you.”

My glow was extinguished.

* * * *

The young officer shuffled us by the
elbow into the precinct. My eyes met the intense stare of a tall,
blond man at the door. His hair was slicked back, and he wore a
tux. He couldn’t have looked more out of place if he’d tried. I
blinked twice. A wolfish smile spread over his face, revealing
straight white teeth.
All the better to eat you with
. A
shiver snaked down my spine.

Gavin called out, “
Brad
. Thank
God. Make sure they don’t bully Taylor.”

The arresting officer ushered us past
the man and dropped me in a hard plastic seat at the end of a large
waiting area while he guided Gavin down the hall. I winced as my
bound hands were crushed behind me.

The tuxedo-clad man stepped up to the
counter and spoke with an older woman shuffling paper. I strained
to hear the conversation. Whatever he said made the woman blush. Or
maybe it was his James Bond look that caused the woman to nearly
swoon. They spoke in hushed tones. He tapped the counter and
pointed at the woman. “Thanks, Jean.”

“You owe me another one,
Richards.”

He spun on his heel and faced me. With
the prowl of a jungle cat and looking way too much like Daniel
Craig, he sauntered over. My heart sped up a few beats.

He captured my gaze and smiled that
unnerving, alarming smile again. “A pleasure, Mrs. Taylor. I’m Brad
Richards. Your attorney.”

I wasn’t sure if I was more nervous
about being arrested or about talking with my lawyer “I’d shake
your hand, but I’m a little tied up.”

He laughed, a rich deep sound that
eased me a little then casually poured himself into the seat beside
me like he was in a bar at some swanky hotel, picking up
chicks.