Page 19 of Loving Taylor

Chapter Six

"What the hellare you doing?" I asked her, needing to cross my arms to stop me from reaching for her and shaking some sense into her.

"Whatever I want," she shot back recklessly.

She didn't know the world like I did. I had lived through the darkness and had come out the other end scathed with the reality that bad things happened to good people all the time.

For goodness sake, she had been naive about someone spiking her drink and here she was getting drunk. Did she not care that there could be someone out there with an intent to hurt her? I felt like an adult looking at her disapprovingly like a mischievous child who didn't know any better.

She crossed her arms and glared at me.

"I told you to go and find someone special to share it with," I reminded her, not hiding the anger I felt. "Not to go to a house party, get drunk and see who you end up with."

"Who do you think you are?" she asked, matching my anger.

I was no one to her.

"You know what? You don't get to lecture me," she said, standing up on unsteady legs. "I already have one protective brother and I don't need another one. Your friend invited me to a party and I came to let loose and have a little fun. What I do and who I do it with is none of your business." She was right. I had no right to tell her what to do and it didn't sit well with me at all.

I should have let her go when she made a move to walk past me but I stopped her.

"I'm not trying to lecture you. It's just there are bad people out there, and you just seem so naive," I explained. Feeling more agitated, I raked my fingers through my hair.

"I was talking to your friend," she said.

"Slater and I are not good guys," I stated.

If she had an idea how bad we had been she would keep her distance, but I couldn't bring myself to tell her the dirty details of the childhood we were still trying to outrun.

Our eyes held.

I had done everything I could to fight what I felt for her but I couldn't do it anymore. She was determined to lose her virginity to someone and I had no control over who she would pick, so that left me with only one choice.

There was only a moment of hesitation as I flickered my tongue against my lip ring but an image of some guy taking advantage of her and treating her far worse than I would made me step up.

"I asked you to have sex with me and you told me no. That doesn't mean you get to tell me what to do," she reminded me.

I wasn't the best choice but the fear that someone else would do more damage made me decide to do something I had never contemplated before.

Her gaze dropped to my mouth before she tried to walk past me again, but I wasn't letting her go. My hand wrapped around her wrist and she turned to face me.

"I changed my mind."

She looked at me not quite understanding what I was talking about.

"I want to take advantage of you," I whispered, allowing myself for the first time to freely embrace the attraction I felt for her.

"In a sober state," I finished. My eyes dropped to her lips. I had lost count of how many times I had imagined how it would feel to kiss her. Would her mouth feel as soft as it looked? It was time to find out. I stepped closer.

She looked undecided despite the way she looked at me, like she was ready for me to kiss her.

"Who says the offer is still on the table?" she shot back.

My rejection had hurt and I knew this was her way of protecting herself. What she wanted was written in the way she looked at me. She wanted me as much as I wanted her.

But there was only one way to prove to her that there was no more time for games. No more denying what had sparked between us and continued to burn. Even if we didn't like the truth we couldn't ignore the chemistry we had.

I backed her up against the wall, caging her in with my arms on either side of her. The moment I had been waiting for had arrived and I leaned closer. Our eyes held and then I looked down to her mouth. She was breathless as she waited for me to kiss her.