A Taylor-Made Life (24 page)

Gavin scooted up behind her and
squeezed her shoulders.

The petite brunette shrugged him off
and grinned. “Stop it! You know I hate that. I’ll sick Cracky on
you.”

Throwing his head back, Gavin laughed.
The sound so honest and rare, I smiled all the way to my
toes.

“Cracky? Egads, I haven’t thought of
him in years.” He looked at me, trying to explain. “Cracky is the
nickname for a game we developed years ago. Crano. It was a
developmental nightmare. After the game failed every test group we
administered, we turned the main character into the likeness of a
human buttocks. Hence the name Cracky. And he’s haunted our
developer dreams ever since.”

Sophia and Gavin laughed and talked,
taking care to include me in their conversation. He milled around
the room, talking to each person, catching up and introducing me to
his employees who also seemed to be his friends.

Nic, Jon, and Sophia were his top
design team. Sara, who I’d already met, was his assistant. A lively
man with a hefty paunch and friendly smile was introduced as Joe
from marketing. He brought along his assistant, Candace. Finally,
the Vice President of Accounting, Thomas Renfro, and three of his
staff accountants rounded out Ogger’s Army.

Brad Richards, attorney and
international man of mystery, stood in front of the group, taking
charge of the meeting. “Okay, guys. We have two months before the
preliminary hearing. If we can get this young lady up to speed,
I’ll file a motion, and this thing may not even go to trial. The
law is on our side, but unfortunately, public perception of Gavin
and Taylor may play a role. It’s your job to make sure she has a
firm grasp of the office interworkings. She doesn’t necessarily
have to know all the ins and outs, but she has to know who to go to
if she has a question. That is key.”

Sophia scooted next to me on the
leather sofa. The girl leaned over. “Oh
gods of Gelvin
, that
man is
hot
. Been crushing on him for years. But Gavin won’t
force him to ask me out.” She snickered.

I laughed and eyed the magnetic Mr.
Richards. He paced back and forth in front of the sectional, and I
took note. He had a charisma. That was for sure, if you liked
jungle cats. I was sure he could hold his own in the
courtroom...and other kinds of rooms, too. Not that he did much for
me, except make me nervous. But I could objectively agree. He was
hot. I cut my gaze to Sophia. Would he go for the little spitfire
brunette?

My super
hawt
guy sitting next
to me shifted and smiled. I smiled back. Gavin was the only one I
cared to notice these days. But something about being in love made
me want to spread joy over the whole world. No romance or love
affair seemed impossible.

“Is that okay, Taylor?”

Startled, I met Brad’s penetrating
gaze.
Crap. Need to focus, Tay.
“Sure.”

What had I agreed to? I hoped to God,
it didn’t require public speaking. Brad’s eyes glinted, and a smirk
played at his lips. The devil knew I didn’t have a clue. He trained
his eyes on Gavin. “I want her to be able to recite the top
advertising clients, the company’s top one-hundred vendors and
every project currently released or in development.” Then he
pointed to Nic. “How many is that?”

Nic squinted in concentration.
“Fourteen released and twelve in development, including Charlie’s
lame-ass secret game.”

Thomas groaned and lolled his head
back. “Charlie has his development team working on a secret
project? Does Nancy know?”

I shot a look to Gavin, who had
stiffened beside me. Who was Nancy?

Nic nodded. “Hell yes, she knows. And
if they weren’t so stupid, we could help them with it. The concept
is pretty cool, but well beyond their skills. It’ll never
fly.”

Sophia snorted. “Which is ironic,
since it’s an alien fighter pilot game.”

Thomas piped up. “Brad, can you use
that in your defense? He’s misappropriating funds and work
force.”

“Sure can. I can file an Amended
Answer and Countersuit by tomorrow.” He turned to face me. I shrank
next to Gavin, who placed his arm over my shoulder.

Gavin leaned in and spoke, but didn’t
lower his voice during the lull in conversation. “We aren’t going
to let you go under or get swept away by the current,
Sweetness.”

General “awws” and sighs came from the
group.

He rolled his eyes and continued,
“These are the people you can trust when you’re in the office. If
you have a question, go to one of them. Thomas is the most senior
member of the group and will be your support. He has a strong legal
and accounting background. And for general information, I doubt
anyone knows more about the company than Sara.”

Thomas looked me over and pursed his
lips. “Taylor, if you can battle cancer and put up with this guy,
I’m betting you can eventually run TME. Clearly, it’s not the ideal
situation having an eighteen-year-old run a billion-dollar company,
but all of us care about Gavin and what he’s built. And none of us
want to see Rick or Charlie get their hands on it.”

I took in a deep breath. The crowd was
friendly, but my hands still trembled. No wonder Rick and Charlie
thought he’d lost it. How could Gavin in his right mind think I
could do this? It was fool crazy. Worse than that—I didn’t have a
snowman’s chance in Florida of making it work.

Gavin grasped my hand. “I know you,
Taylor. You can do this. Trust me.”

Trust was something I understood, and
I did trust him.

He stared into my eyes. The confidence
he had in me filled my storeroom of doubt. He knew his company, and
he knew me. If he thought I could do it, maybe I could. I’d never
known anyone who pushed me so hard, who believed in me so much.
Even if he was wrong, how could I let him down? Dad’s favorite
Apollo 13
line came to mind again. Failure really wasn’t an
option
.
Whether I could do it or not wasn’t the issue. This
was my spaceship to save. I had to do it for the man who loved me
and placed so much trust in me. And that was all there was to
it.

Thomas said, “Think of it like this,
Taylor. Right now, you can’t stand on your own so we’ll be behind
you, propping you up. You have to know you can rely on us. We’re
your team.”

The whole room sat silently focused on
me.

Team. There was an idea I could relate
to. During high school, a maneuver my cheer squad practiced had me
on the shoulders of one of the senior girls. Then I had to fall
back into the locked hands of my teammates. Trust and Teamwork. I
really could do that.

I took a shaky breath. “Okay. I can do
it. Put me to work.”

“Works in progress?” Gavin quizzed. He
loved how Taylor’s forehead crinkled when she was deep in thought.
He loved her beyond belief.

“Homeland, Fountain, Ruewell, Condant,
that stupid fashion one. Godstud…uhhh…Laxative.”

Gavin chuckled. “Lancitive. It’s the
one with a medieval sorcerer, not an irregular bowel
movement.”

“Sorry.” Taylor rubbed her eyes.
“Crap. I can’t remember them all.”

“Wanna take a break?” He arched his
eyebrows.

She played coy and bit her lip. God,
she had to know what that did to him.

“We better not. We only have an hour
before we have to go. You do not want my mom banging on our door at
the wrong moment.” She pushed him back on the bed. “But if we get
good news, maybe we can celebrate when we get back.”

Her heavily hooded eyes shot desire
through him. “Our baby is an excellent reason to
celebrate.”

Our baby.
The words came out of
his mouth feeling strange, but the magnitude of their meaning had
yet to hit him. Today he would learn if he was going to be a
father.

She pushed a lock of hair behind his
ear, and his face tingled from her touch. “So do you want a boy or
a girl? And don’t say a healthy baby, because that’s a
given.”

“I want one of each. With my good
looks and your brains.”

She giggled and pecked him on the
lips. “As long as they both have your derriere. You know, Grammy is
still talking about your rear-end.”

They’d kept out of the media’s eye for
the most part, and he’d, generally speaking, followed the doctor’s
instructions. They hadn’t left the house at least. Some days they
didn’t even get out of bed. He smiled to himself. His bride
consumed him. Awake or asleep, it didn’t matter.

The need to save her had become an
obsession. Yes, he wanted a baby. But that baby was her lifeline,
and her goal to live was his life’s objective.

* * * *

Gavin held open the door of the clinic
for Maureen and Taylor. John followed him in. It hardly seemed like
two weeks had passed since they were last there. With his collapse,
the litigation, and putting Taylor thru TM Enterprises boot camp,
he’d barely had time to think.

He sat next to Taylor. She’d bucked up
and dug into her job training, taking it as seriously as anyone
he’d ever hired. And even if he hadn’t already been wildly in love
with her, he would’ve been impressed with her effort and progress.
Next week they planned on her taking a couple of hours in the
office. Rick and Charlie would be furious and most likely try to
intimidate her, but Gavin hoped they’d already realized their bid
for the company would fail.

Taylor had won over the media, thanks
to Brad and a local news reporter who’d come out and done an
exclusive interview. Once the show aired, the political tide had
turned and public perception of them as a couple began to
change.

Gavin despised playing the
star-crossed lovers doomed by death, but Brad said it would help
Taylor. And the truth was, they were star-crossed lovers as much as
he hated to admit it. He and his wife would never have a normal
life. They had the life they’d been given. And they took it,
greedily, with both hands.

Maureen came through the door, tears
streaming. She ran to Taylor and lifted her a little from the
floor. “Taylor, we’re going to have a baby!”

Taylor’s eyes sparkled, and Gavin’s
heart soared over the roof of the hospital. He practically floated
home. As his family came bustling through the door and clattering
across the hardwood of his kitchen, he realized finally it was a
home
. His home.

Gavin tipped his head to his in-laws
and promptly lifted Taylor off her feet. “If you’ll excuse us, we
have a celebration to attend.” He headed for their bed.

John grumbled. “Good Lord.
Again?”

Maureen laughed and called out, “Don’t
hurt yourself? Remember what the doctor said.”

* * * *

My hand trembled as I smoothed my
business suit and straightened my hat. I squared tense shoulders
and opened the conference room door.

The meeting had already started,
though I knew they couldn’t do much without me. Thomas glanced up
and smiled warmly. Rick scowled and Charlie broke his pencil in
half with one hand.

I gulped. My head pounded. Unknown
faces stared at me, some friendly…some not so much. Dad placed his
hand on the small of my back and guided me to a chair. Sweat beaded
on my forehead, and moisture dampened my palms and
underarms.

Since the Temporary Restraining Order
had been lifted two weeks ago, I’d come to the office several
times. The first couple with Gavin and more recently with Dad. This
meeting was for realignment. I had, on the advice of Thomas and
Brad, fired Rick’s design team and hired my own. Well, Thomas had
actually fired them, but I’d watched and tried to make sure my
knees didn’t knock under the table. The Butt-head Brothers were
furious, but had no recourse, according to Brad.

Unfortunately, Rick and Charlie were
not without allies. Across from me sat the stone-faced Senior Vice
President of Human Resources, her eyes tactically observing every
move. Jeez, she looked like a Class-A
biotch
. A shiver
snaked down my spine.

Nancy Heath was the twin assholes’
best weapon. The dark-haired, dark-eyed woman supposedly knew
employment law as well as any attorney, and she knew how to twist
it for her own benefit. The rumor mill had it that she was out to
find some infraction to nail a lawsuit on me. Brad claimed the
woman didn’t have a leg to stand on, but I wasn’t so sure. Her
shiny Pradas looked pretty stable as she stood and poured herself
some coffee. She shot me a bold try-to-get-me stare. I tensed, but
held the evil gaze.

Being on the cheer squad had taught me
that girls could be ruthless when they wanted something. Maybe I
didn’t have a lot of work experience, but heading the fundraising
committee had taught me all I needed to know about greed and
ambition. Nancy looked old enough to be someone’s mom and dressed
in Donna Karan, but the look in her eyes was the same one in the
eyes of the mean girls wearing pleated skirts and holding pompoms.
They would stoop to any level to keep someone insecure and off
balance, and I knew how she would try. Lies and gossip. The mean
girl’s BFFs.

I held my visual ground and refused to
show weakness. Finally, Nancy looked away when Charlie whispered in
her ear.