Page 96 of Strictly Business : A Lesbian Romance

struck teenager, so she focused on the painting beside the table on the far

wall instead. It was, surprisingly, of a cow. A very artistic looking cow with

a powder blue background, but still. It wasn’t the kind of art Taylor could

have seen Christina picking out.

“I was born and raised there.” Christina walked over. She held out a

glass and Taylor accepted it. She stood there awkwardly until Christina took

a seat on the couch.

She didn’t want to sit. She didn’t want to talk. She knew she should just

get Chloe and get out of there, but instead she found herself at the love seat.

She sat down hard, but the couch was soft. She sipped the juice, and even it

was better than she remembered cranberry juice ever tasting. As if

everything Christina touched turned to magic.

Ugh, seriously? It’s been too long of a day if you’re going to think

things like that. Christina is not magic. She’s a regular person. You don’t

even like her, remember? So what if she’s crazy, effortlessly, astoundingly,

amazingly gorgeous?

“Are you from Austin? No. You said that you’d just moved here. When

you were talking about not knowing many people who could watch Chloe.”

“Yeah.” Taylor couldn’t believe that Christina remembered small details

like that. “I moved from a small town. It’s just an hour away. I was born and

raised there too. I wanted to try something different. Uh— it wasn’t— they

weren’t exactly— receptive to who I wanted to be.”

Christina sat, her drink in her hand. Her glacier blues were intense and

slightly unnerving. It was like Christina already knew all of Taylor’s

secrets.

“New York was very open. I was lucky about that, at least. No one cares

if you’re a lesbian there. Well, almost no one. I came out when I was

fourteen. My dad didn’t care. He wasn’t— well— very dialed in to my life

anyway. My brothers didn’t care either. We hardly saw each other. I went to

boarding school— all girls. They went to a different school. My dad runs a

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