4

“Now, do it exactly like we planned,” Christian told Taylor as he glanced at his watch. “It’s almost eight now. I’ll be meeting her soon. Don’t forget to make your appearance at nine.”

Taylor watched him leave and wondered what she was going to do for the next hour. Pulling at the navy turtleneck she was wearing, she looked down and made a face. If the turtleneck wasn’t bad enough, she was also wearing a black corduroy blazer over it and khaki coloured chinos. She was a walking, talking J. Crew catalogue – the butch edition. The fact that Christian had purchased the whole outfit for her, made matters even worse. Would this also be added to the tab?

Shopping had been nearly disastrous. It hadn’t crossed her mind that she’d have to try on the clothes until she’d walked into the clothing store with Christian. Worse, she hadn’t a clue what her size was supposed to be in menswear. So when she’d been asked about it, she’d rattled off some number close to her brother’s clothing size and hoped it wasn’t totally off.

Surprisingly it all fit … maybe a little too well. Looking at herself in the mirror, she'd realized that her breasts were easily definable through the shirt. So before she allowed herself to step out of the dressing room, she asked for a bigger sized top and jacket to wear that had covered any possible curves that might have shown.

She must have passed muster because when Christian saw her, he just nodded, told her that she was going to wear it all to dinner that night and then went off to pay for the clothing before should could get a word in.

She’d gotten through the shopping expedition without any issues but if she was going to keep up with the façade, she’d have to hide her figure a lot better. Granted there wasn’t much to hide of her small chest and slim frame but it was still necessary. She’d have to continue wearing the baggy sweatshirts and clothes but also, just in case, she’d have to start wearing some kind of sports bra – undershirt combination that would hopefully eliminate any unnecessary curve action.

She took a sip of her water and leaned against the bar keeping an eye on the patrons in the restaurant. She saw Christian greet a tall, beautiful blonde and lead her to a table near the windows. Settling into one of the tall barstools, she prepared herself to wait. It wouldn’t be long now 'til she had to make a complete ass of herself.

…

Christian glanced down at his watch. It had been an hour since he’d met up with Emily, which meant that Taylor would be appearing soon.

“If only I’d known you were in Paris in the fall.” He glanced up at Emily’s voice. “I was in Milan at the time. I could easily have zipped over if I’d known you were there,” she said with a pout.

“Yes,” he replied trying to hide his boredom. “What a shame.”

Emily probably wouldn’t have recognized him had they met in Paris. Except for one night of luxury on his first day there, he’d spent most of his time in the city living simply, painting people and landscapes during the day and listening to music in musty cafés at night. He’d slept in paint stained studios, owned by friends he’d met along the way, miles away from the elegant suites that Emily was used to.

He took a bite of his lamb and watched her nibble delicately on a lettuce leaf. Ordering a garden salad for dinner was questionable enough but worse she refused to eat it properly. Food was one of the simplest pleasures of life and a woman who couldn’t enjoy eating, well, he wondered what other things she wasn’t able to take pleasure in.

He looked at his watch again. 9:03pm. Where was Tay—

“Christian?”

His head shot up as the object of his thoughts stood directly in front of him, looking extremely displeased at the situation. He hid a smile at the expression on Taylor’s face and joined him in the act.

“Taye?” he asked, hoping his voice sounded guilty. “What are you doing here?”

“What am I doing here? What are you doing here?” Taylor asked with outrage before glancing over at Emily. “Who is this?”

Christian looked at Emily who seemed puzzled but not upset. Yet. “Uh … she’s just … she’s just a family friend,” he stuttered.

Taylor gave Emily a long once over before turning back towards him. “You were supposed to meet me at eight. We had plans or did you forget again?”

“Oh shit,” Christian swore, getting up from his seat.

“So hold up, you forgot our date and then, to add insult to injury, you brought a woman - a woman Christian – to our restaurant? If I hadn’t come here for a late meal…” Taylor stopped speaking and with a shake of his head, began to turn away.

Christian grabbed his arm, stopping him from walking away. “Wait Taye. She means nothing to me,” he said waving a disparaging arm towards Emily. “Let’s go home and talk about this.”

Taylor pulled his arm away and turned back around to face him. “Go to hell – I know exactly what you’re like. But if you had to go back to women, couldn’t you have picked someone better?” he sneered, jabbing a finger in Emily’s direction.

Christian’s eyes flew to Emily. She looked ready to have an apoplexy. Throwing down her napkin, she stood up from her seat and marched over to Taylor. “How – how dare you?” she sputtered. “And you,” she whipped her gaze around to him. “What is the meaning of this, Christian?”

The eyes in her now red face, shifted back and forth between him and Taylor and for a moment, Christian felt a twinge of guilt. Emily wasn’t a terrible person but he had a low tolerance for her type: spoiled, high maintenance princesses who refused to take no for an answer. He was sure that once she moved on from him and was somebody else’s problem, they’d get along just fine…preferably at a distance.

“Taye, give me a minute,” he said to Taylor, making sure to add an imploring tone in his voice and Taylor, after sending him a quick searching look, nodded and walked away.

He turned back to Emily, moving closer to her as he spoke. “Emily, I’m sorry about this. I didn’t think anyone would find out like this.” He looked into her eyes and reached for her hand, grasping it tenderly. “Now that you know, I hope that you’ll be able to keep it a secret between us. My family is aware of my, uh, predilection but no one else knows about it.”

Emily shook his hand away. “No—No, I don’t believe it. I know your history with women, Christian. I’ve seen it with my own eyes,” she said disbelievingly.

He nodded gravely. “I used to date women back when I was still trying to fight my natural urges. But I’m done with that now. Life’s too short to keep pretending to be something I’m not.”

“But…but what about your mother. If she really knows about you, why would she set us up on this date?” she asked desperately.

“My mother thinks it’s a phase; she’s finding it hard to deal with. I promised her that I’d come here and meet you but this is the last time I’ll let her set me up with anyone. I’m committed to someone now,” he said glancing briefly at Taylor before looking back at her. 

Emily ignored the look and crossed her arms. “Okay, fine. Prove it.”

Christian didn’t have to ask what she meant. He knew she wouldn’t believe him unless he gave her what she would see as damning evidence.  “OK,” he agreed.

He sauntered over to Taylor and said in a soft voice so Emily couldn’t hear, “Just go along with this please. Pretend I’m begging you for forgiveness right now.” He grabbed Taylor’s arms. “Now, look like you’re starting to forgive me.” Taylor’s face softened. “Yes, just like that. Okay, now don’t freak out but I need to do something that you’re probably not going to like but I need to do this to get rid of her.”

Taylor looked confused now but Christian didn’t give him a chance to ask any questions or brace himself, instead he swooped in and kissed him directly on the lips. He felt Taylor stiffen beneath his hands and he strengthened his grip as warning.

The kiss didn’t last long. It was barely longer than a peck but he still managed to notice that Taylor’s lips were as soft as they looked. He stepped back and glanced over at Emily who was staring at them mouth agape.

She grabbed her purse from the table, looking scandalized by what she’d just seen and marched over to them. “You know,” she said, with narrowed eyes. “I should have known about you. The signs were all there.”

Christian looked at her inquiringly wondering if he really wanted to know where she was going with this.

She shrugged. “I always wondered why you never tried to hit on me when you had every opportunity to do so and I was almost starting to believe it was me,” she said incredulously. “But now I know it wasn’t me all this time, it was you!”

Christian stifled a laugh and nodded contritely. It wouldn’t be gentlemanly to suggest otherwise.

“I’m off,” she continued. “Don’t bother sending me home. You look like you have your hands full.” And after sending a glowering look Taylor’s way, she flounced towards the exit and disappeared from his sight.

A smile came over his face as he watched her leave. Heading back to his seat, he suddenly became aware of the curious stares of the occupants around him. Realizing he’d just put on a show for the whole restaurant, he picked up his wine glass and saluted them with a grin. Yes, he’d made a spectacle of himself but if it meant no more Emily and no more future set-ups from his mother, it had been well worth it.

He looked over at Taylor who was still standing at a distance and motioned for him to come closer. “Take a seat and have some food or something,” he said, encouraging Taylor to join in the celebration.

Taylor walked up to the table, feeling somewhat shocked by the turn of events. Christian had kissed her. Sure, it wasn’t much of a kiss, she’d barely had time to process it before he moved away, but still – he must have really wanted to get rid of the girl if he was willing to kiss another “man” to do it.

It was all a bit much and she was actually pretty mortified by the whole scene. Christian wasn’t suffering from any such emotions; he was smiling, obviously feeling quite good about himself but she was more than ready to call it a night.

“Actually, if that’s all, I really should get going. I have an early day tomorrow,” she said.

Christian looked at her in surprise before nodding.  “Of course, go,” he said, the smile disappearing from his face.

“And, umm, about the clothes…” she said, shuffling awkwardly beside the table. “I’ll wash them and bring them back to you the next time we meet.” It seemed pointless for her to keep them, although now that she thought about it, she wondered if Joshua would be able to fit in any of the pieces.

“Don’t bother,” he said a disinterested look coming over his face. “They're yours. Consider anything I bought for you today gratuitous.”

“I couldn’t,” she said uncomfortably as Christian caught the eye of the waiter and signaled for the bill.

He looked up at her and shrugged. “If you don’t want to keep them, throw them away but don’t bring them back to me. I don’t want them.”

Taylor realizing that it was pointless to continue the argument relented. As long as he wasn’t going to charge her for it later, there was no harm in keeping the clothes.

“Fine,” she said. “I’ll get going then.” 

Christian tilted his head forward and gave her a short nod before he turned to the waiter to handle his bill. Taylor briefly wondered at his sudden cold attitude but quickly dismissed the thought. If he was suddenly in a bad mood, it wasn’t her problem to worry about.

After sneaking one last glance in his direction, she said goodbye and marched towards the door, hoping that she’d have a few days of reprieve before she had to see him again.