Page 81 of Unwritten Rules
Well, shit. I wasn’t expecting his words to form cracks in my heart, but here we are.
“Not even your parents?” I question, voice wavering.
He shakes his head. “Not once.”
“Sin…” I breathe. I swallow hard, fighting the lump forming in my throat.
“I accepted it a long time ago,” he says, forehead pressed firmly against mine as we hold each other. “Nothing I have done has ever felt good enough for my parents, especially my father. When I was growing up, I did everything I could to make him proud. I got the best grades in school, was the best on my footy team, and I even won countless awards in school, but none of it mattered to him.”
I open my mouth to say something, but the words die on my tongue because what is there to say? No word in the English dictionary will change how Sinnett feels at this moment.Nothing I say can change his perception of his father and the lack of support he got as a child.
I can’t imagine what it would’ve been like to grow up with parents who didn’t tell their child they were proud of them. If I so much as drew a picture for my mum in primary school or came home with an excellence in participation award for a class I was mediocre at best in throughout high school, Mum would say the same thing.
“This is amazing, sweetie. I’m so proud of you.”
Even Dad would say the same thing when I would call him after school some days. It didn’t matter whether I was getting terrible grades in my legal studies class or my weekend soccer team was coming last in the comp, he never failed to remind me that he was proud of me.
My heart breaks for the man in front of me, baring the deepest parts of him. Every insecurity and self-doubt he has is laying on his sleeve, and he’s trusting me with this information—a part of him others aren’t privy to seeing.
The fact that he trusts me enough with this side of him has my heart racing and my fingers trembling.
“Even now, when I’m at the height of my career and in the best shape of my life, before the injury, it still wasn’t enough for him. Every try I scored or conversion I kicked didn’t faze him. It’s as if he’s waiting for something I don’t know about or simply thinks I’m not capable of achieving, and it fucking hurts, Tate. Not being the man my dad wants kills a little part of me every day.”
I blink back the tears forming in the corner of my eyes and release a shaky breath.
“Don’t listen to him,” I whisper, my lips brushing against his. “You’re every bit the man you’re supposed to be. I see it in the way you carry yourself, how driven you are and how you treat me. Being a man isn’t defined by how physically fit you are or ifyou’re the best athlete in the world. To be a man means to be the best version of yourself in every way. And I would be lying if I said I was looking at anything but a real man right now.”
Sinnett slowly lifts his head to meet my gaze. My breath catches in my throat at the intensity of his eyes. They’re somehow brighter in the depths of darkness consuming the small space, and a spark of hope flashes across them, melting my insides into liquid.
“Do you mean that?” he rasps out, holding my gaze. “Tate…”
“I meant every word.” My hand comes up to cup his cheek, and he leans into it. “You don’t need your father’s approval to be the man you want to be. At the end of the day, this is your life, so live it without hesitation or the fear of never being good enough. You can’t please everyone, Sin. But you can be the best version of yourself foryou.”
“How is it that you see the real me better than anyone else?” he murmurs.
The corner of my mouth tilts up in a half smile. “Because you allow me to.”
Sinnett hums, as if mulling over the words. His hands slide over my hips to rest on the curve of my ass. Heat pools in my core and I instinctively rock against him, needing to be closer. I feel him straining against the light material of the black athletic shorts, and my mouth dries.
He grins and leans forward, breath fanning against my lips. “Do you have something else on your mind, strawberry?”
Only Sinnett would go from baring his soul to me to flirting in the blink of an eye.
I swallow hard. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Sinnett slides one hand to the back of my neck while the other toys with the hem of my black leggings. “So you’re telling me that if I dip my hand beneath the fabric of these flimsy tights, you’ll be as dry as a bread loaf?”
No. “Yes.”
His fingers tease the waistband, leaving bursts of heat on my skin as he works his fingers closer to where I need him. And when he reaches the destination, he’s going to learn very quickly that I was lying through my teeth.
I want him. There has never been any doubt about that.
Sinnett holds my gaze as he pushes my underwear to the side. My breath hitches in my throat when he slides his finger between my folds, learning exactly what I want. He grins in response and slides his finger into me. I throw my head back, arching my body against his as I take all of him.
“Such a liar,” he squeezes out, pumping his finger in and out to the rhythm of my pounding heart. “You’re fucking soaked, Tate.”
All I can manage is a whimper as he joins a second finger in on the fun. One of my hands slides to the nape of his neck, holding on for dear life as he drives into me. His cock strains against the fabric of his shorts, begging to be touched, but with the pressure building in my core and the lack of vision I have right now, all I can do is let Sinnett take the lead.
