Page 55 of Unwritten Rules
“You don’t have to explain yourself, Sinnett. You don’t owe me anything.”
“I at least owe you the decency of telling you where you stand with me.”
My eyes round at the edge as I stare up at Sinnett. “What… what are you talking about?”
Sinnett’s chest brushes against mine. The proximity sets my skin alight, and causes my skin to erupt with goosebumps. “I haven’t been with another woman since I was with you, Tate.”
“You haven’t?” I whisper, not trusting my voice.
“No, I haven’t,” he responds, voice hard yet gentle. “Because I’m not lying when I say my head has been fucked since meeting you.”
“It has?” My heart slams into my chest, drops of water gliding over the curve of my lips, which Sinnett keeps lowering his eyes to. “I haven’t either.”
I’m not the type of person to sleep casually with men, but he doesn’t need to know that.
“You haven’t?” he breathes, tongue darting out to lick the water from his bottom lip. “Good.”
“Good,” I repeat breathlessly. “That’s good.”
“Then believe me when I say that I can’t walk away from you, Tate.” Sinnett’s hand slides through my hair, resting at my nape. His touch prickles my skin in a delicious way, and I have to fight the urge to groan. “No matter how many times I talked myself down from the edge only to return the next day, waiting to see if anything would change. But it didn’t. I shouldn’t want you, but I do. Every word, every touch, every damn look. I want all of it.”
My chest tightens with an emotion I can’t place as I stare at the man who has taken up every part of my brain for the past three weeks. I should push him away with a reminder of Dad’s warning, but at this moment, I can’t bring myself to do it. Fighting the connection forming between us, fuelled by the small moments we’ve shared, has been far more difficult than I thought. I don’t think I have the strength to continue, not when being together feels soright.
“I want you, too,” I whisper, the words getting lost in the rain falling around us. “All of you, Sin.”
“You do?” he rasps, eyes searching my face for any sign I’m lying.
I nod, fighting back a smile. “I do.”
“I can’t promise you this is going to be easy, or that it won’t get messy down the line, but I can promise you that you’ll haveevery part of me. The good and the bad.” He lowers his head until our lips are almost touching. “I do know that I breathe a little better when I’m with you, and while I don’t understand why that is, I don’t want to continue living without my source of oxygen.”
Oh, myGod. This man and his words.
“You don’t have to,” I breathe, the words melting into his lips.
Sinnett’s lips brush against mine, slow and deliberate at first. They’re wet from the water falling around us, but it doesn’t take away the sweetness of the bourbon and Coke he had been drinking tonight. I want more of it. Of him. I want more than I got the first night we met.
Throwing my arms around his neck, our chests flush, Sinnett deepens the kiss. His tongue swipes over my bottom lip, begging for entrance. I give it to him, and the moment our tongues collide, electricity shoots through my veins, hitting every edge of my body.
I don’t know what I’m doing when it comes to Sinnett Baxter. He’s complicated and reserved, but has a softer side to him that he doesn’t show others. Hell, I’m only just now starting to see it. But it doesn’t change the fact that I don’t know how to navigate this man. What I do know is that this feels right. Kissing him feels right.
Sinnett groans as he presses himself against me, one hand tangled in my hair while the other firmly holds my waist. I moan into his mouth, relishing in the warmth exploding in my chest. If he wasn’t holding me up, I would be in a crumpled heap at his feet, getting lost in the puddles forming around us on the footpath.
Sinnett pulls away long enough to breathlessly whisper, “This moment right here.”
“What about it?” I ask, lifting my eyes to meet his.
He grins. “The lyrics of the Ed Sheeran song you played me? Yeah, this moment right here is going to be what I think about any time I want to kiss you or listen to that song.”
Oh,God.
How am I meant to survive a man like Sinnett Baxter when my heart is already a goner?
Chapter Fourteen
SINNETT
Ikissed her. I fuckingkissedTatum last night. Hours later, I feel the lingering touch of her lips on mine and smell her vanilla scent on my skin. It’s as if she’s imprinted into my skin, and every inch of her has embedded itself deep within my soul. I don’t know how she’s done it, but I’m helpless to fight against it. Not that I want to.
