Page 43 of Unwritten Rules (The Sunburnt Hearts #1)

Chapter Nineteen

TATUM

“ T ate! How is my favourite girl doing?”

I lean back on the desk chair and smile, pressing the phone to my ear. My gaze flicks over the stack of files spread out on the desk in front of me, the light wood blending with the cream manilla files. “Nate, the last time I checked, I’m the only girl in your life.”

Nathan scoffs, feigning hurt by my words. “I’ll have you know I’m quite the ladies man.”

“Does that mean you have a girlfriend?”

I bite my bottom lip as silence trickles down the line. Checkmate.

“That doesn’t matter,” Nathan finally says, and I burst out laughing, unable to hold it in any longer. God, I miss this man. “I didn’t call you to talk about my love life or lack thereof.”

“Then why did you call me?” I twirl a piece of hair around my finger, the thick ponytail I threw my hair in this morning lying over my left shoulder.

“Well, mostly to check in on you since you have forgotten how to use your fingers and don’t respond to my texts,” he murmurs. “And secondly, a little birdie told me something about you that I wanted to ask about.”

I playfully roll my eyes. “I always text you back, Nate. It might not be as promptly as you like, but this job keeps me busy, remember?”

“I know,” he mumbles, followed by a huff. “But still, I just want to know you’re okay and get all the hot gossip about Sydney.”

I snort a laugh. “Don’t worry, if there is hot gossip to share, you’ll be the first to know.”

“Which brings me to what the little birdie told me,” Nathan drawls, and the hair on the back of my neck stands on edge. “And please don’t lie to me, okay?”

“I would never lie to you.” I mean that. Nathan is one of my best friends, and not once have I ever kept a secret from him, which is why the anticipation of his question has my heart rate spiking.

“That’s good to know,” he says, voice confident. “And before you ask, no, I can’t tell you who my source is.”

I groan and rub at my temple, a low thump forming behind my eyes. “You’re a menace.”

“And yet you still love me,” my best friend sing-songs.

“Please get to the point,” I squeeze out, my chest aching with anxiety.

“Okay, so I was down at the pub last night, having a drink by myself as one does since our other best friend is a father and pre-occupied with his new babysitter, and I got to talking with the bartender.”

“You just told me who your source is,” I point out, voice tight.

“Shit,” he mutters. “I wasn’t supposed to tell you that.”

I stay silent, hoping it’ll make Nathan get to his point sooner. If he doesn’t, I might start screaming.

“Anyway, when I mentioned you, she told me she saw you talking with a guy at the bar the night before you left town. She remembered you because she watched Noah and I leave with Jade, and once you sat at the bar, you started talking with a guy who was sitting by himself.”

My eyes widen as dread floods my veins.

Oh, shit .

“To add icing to the cake, the bartender, Penelope—you remember Penelope? She was a few years below us in high school, and her older brother, Rhys, left to go to Western Australia to work on a cattle station or something, I don’t know.

She was always a wild child around town.

Anyway, she recognised said person as Sinnett Baxter, the halfback for the Wolves. And you left the pub with him!”

My eyes flutter closed as my secret explodes from the box I have kept it hidden in since leaving Barrenridge.

I didn’t know if I was ever going to tell Noah and Nathan about Sinnett and what happened the night before I left, only because I knew how they would react.

Not only would they want to know every detail—as much as I’m willing to share—but they would make a big deal of it, much like Nathan is now as he continues his spiel.

“Like, seriously, Tate. How dare you hook up with the halfback of a rugby team and have the audacity not to tell us. I thought we were friends.”

I lean forward to drop my head on the desk, blinking rapidly as darkness consumes my vision. “It’s not a big deal, Nate.”

“It is to me,” he retorts. “Our little Tate is finally moving on from Jayden, and it just so happened to be with a famous athlete who is fucking built like a brick shithouse. You’re one lucky lady. And you get to work with him.”

“You sound like you want to sleep with him, too,” I quip, needing to find some humour in the situation I’ve found myself in.

“Don’t change the subject.” My friend’s voice is stern but holds nothing but happiness. “I want to know everything.”

“Nathan…”

“Everything,” he repeats, leaving no room for argument. “Now, or I will tell Noah. And, as the dad of the group, you’ll get more of an ear-full from him than me.”

I groan and lift my head, resting my chin on my bent hand. “Fine. But only because I know if I don’t, you won’t shut up.”

“It pays off to be annoying. Now, spill. And don’t leave any details out.”

Of course, I left some details out. I kept it as PG-friendly as I could while also keeping some more intimate details to myself. There was no way in hell I was going to reveal I’m still sleeping with him because it’ll only add fuel to the fire Nathan started.

For now, all he needs to know is I hooked up with Sinnett the night before I left Barrenridge, and now I’m treating his injury as the physio for the Wolves.

“You saucy minx,” Nathan says when I finish speaking. “I didn’t think you had it in you.”

“What?” I quiz, tilting my head to the side.

“A one-night stand.”

My shoulders lift in a shrug even though he can’t see me. “Yeah, well, I thought I had nothing to lose at that moment. I had no idea who he was when I saw him. It wasn’t until a week later that I realised he played for the Wolves.”

“The no dating the players rule your dad gave you must suck,” he comments. “Knowing you can’t do anything about it.”

If only he knew the truth.

“Yeah,” I murmur. Glancing down at my watch, my eyes widen.

I have a session with Sinnett in two minutes.

The man has never been late before, so knowing my luck, he’ll appear in the doorway to my office on the dot.

“I have to go, Nate. I have a session booked in a couple of minutes I need to prepare for.”

“Since you kept your end of the deal, I’ll keep mine about not telling Noah. Yet.”

I exhale a sharp breath and stand, hand firmly pressed against my hip. “You promise? He has a lot on his plate right now.”

“Scout’s honour,” Nathan responds, and I just know he’s smiling like a fool. “I miss you, Tate.”

I smile. “I miss you, too. Talk soon, okay?”

“I’ll hold you to it.”

The moment the call ends, a familiar head of inky hair appears in the doorway, right on time. Sinnett saunters into the room and closes the door behind him, heated eyes locked with mine.

My stomach flip flops like it does every time I lay eyes on this man, and my skin tingles. How he effortlessly makes me want to melt into a puddle at his feet still baffles me.

“If this wasn’t our last session before my six-week check-up, I would be all over you, strawberry.”

A shiver races down my spine as I step out from behind my desk. I gesture to the table in the middle of the room, my eyes tracking Sinnett’s movements as he sits on the edge; his eyes trained on me.

“We need to behave ourselves at work,” I remind him, but my heart is racing with the possibilities of what he could do to me in this room.

“I know,” he murmurs, lying on his back. The training jersey clings to his defined chest, and the athletic shorts struggle to contain the sheer size of his thighs. Talk about mouth-watering. “But when it comes to you, I can’t seem to help myself.”

I drag my bottom lip between my teeth as I examine the once swollen area of his quad.

When I first checked him over, the muscle was irritated and tender.

Sinnett was worried he wouldn’t heal in the time it would normally take for a muscle contusion injury, and I understood why, given the state of his quad.

But I was determined to help get him back on the field sooner rather than later.

And it seems my recovery plan has been working wonders.

“How’s it looking?” Sinnett asks, his voice wavering as he folds his arms behind his head, eyes focused on the ceiling. “I’ve been following your plan to a tee.”

I probe the skin, feeling the muscles beneath. “It’s looking good,” I murmur, and get to work bending and twisting his leg. Sinnett’s face doesn’t twist with pain when I work the area. “Better than good.”

Sinnett’s eyes snap forward, searching my side profile. “You’re not fucking with me, are you? Because I have a session booked with Ian, the club doctor, on Sunday to see if I will be medically cleared to play again.”

I turn my attention to a stressed Sinnett.

Without breaking eye contact, I lower his leg down and offer him a small smile.

“Sin, trust me, your quad is looking great. From the outside, the skin is no longer discoloured, the muscles are moving as they should, and as long as you’re not lying to me about the pain level, then it’s a no-brainer that you’ve done everything you can to heal this injury. ”

Relief washes over Sinnett’s features, and he exhales a sharp breath. “You’re serious?”

I nod, watching as he pushes himself into a seat position. He turns his body so his legs hang over the side of the table, conveniently on either side of my hips. His hands find my waist, fingers digging gently into the skin as he holds me. Neither of us speak.

Working with Sinnett for the past month has given me a front row seat to how hard he has worked to get to where he is now in the recovery process. He did everything he was meant to, and now the hard work is paying off.

“Are you okay?” I ask, tilting my head back to meet his eyes. Even sitting on the table, his six-foot-three frame towers over me. “Something on your mind?”

“I’m worried,” he murmurs, voice tight as he holds my gaze.

“I just… don’t know if I’m ready to be cleared.

What if Ian finds something you missed and I’m sidelined for longer?

What if I haven’t been training hard enough in the gym and now I’m not up to the fitness standard?

So many things could go wrong, and I just—” He shoves a hand through his hair and groans. “I’m just worried, Tate.”

My hand cups his cheek, the light stubble ghosting his skin prickling the inside of my palm. Sinnett’s breath catches as he watches me, blinking slowly. Standing this close, I catch the hues of green scattered across his irises, like lily pads drifting on a calm river.

“Sin, listen to me,” I urge, voice gentle.

“You’ve got this, okay? You did everything right.

Not only did you follow my plan, but you put in the effort to go the extra mile of keeping up with the training schedule and sticking to the nutrition plan.

Once Ian gets my letter of approval to have you medically cleared, I would be shocked if you weren’t. ”

Sinnett swallows hard and nods. “Yeah, you’re right.”

I smile. “Just try to relax, okay? Breathe . You’ve got this.”

Ocean eyes blink at me, and I have to resist getting lost in them. Sinnett’s hands squeeze my waist, pulling my body closer until my chest is flush against his. My breath catches in my throat, eyes rounding.

Sinnett’s lips brush over mine, gentle and tender.

Within seconds, my hands wrap around his neck as I melt into the kiss.

His lips are soft and taste of Powerade.

Heat explodes across my chest as our tongues meet.

No matter how many times I kiss this man, he manages to steal the breath from my lungs and cause butterflies to erupt in my stomach.

Sinnett pulls back long enough to murmur, “Thank you,” against my lips.

“For what?” I breathe, chest heaving.

“For helping me. For making me believe I’ve got this.”

“You do have this,” I reaffirm, my nose brushing his. “You’ve always had this, even without my help. I just guided you along the way while you did all of the hard work.”

Sinnett’s fingers flex around my waist. “You’ve done more for me than you realise.”

My brows crease, not understanding what he means. But before I can ask, a knock sounds at the door. With my heart in my throat, I step away, hating the distance between us. Sinnett holds my gaze as we stand in silence, neither of us moving or acknowledging the person behind the door.

Dad pops his head through, eyes narrowing as he flicks them between me and Sinnett. “Am I interrupting?”

I clear my throat and turn to Dad, slipping a smile on my face that hides the pounding of my heart. “Nope. We were just finishing up.”

Dad turns his attention to Sinnett. “All good?”

Sinnett nods, rubbing a hand over his right thigh. “Yes, sir. Your daughter has been taking good care of me.”

The emphasis on good as my cheeks burning. God, I hope Dad doesn’t notice. With how bright my office is, a change in hue to my cheeks would be hard to miss.

Dad knocks his knuckles against the door frame, nodding slowly.

“Wonderful. The guys are out on the field running drills, so why don’t you join them?

Todd has a few light exercises for you to go through.

We need to start getting you ready to get back on the field, but we’ll start small, okay?

And once you’re ready, and Tate here approves it, you can join the rest of the squad. ”

A light I only see when talking about rugby explodes in Sinnett’s eyes, and he nods. “Yes, of course. I’ll see you out there.”

I offer Dad a smile. “I’ll see you later.”

He arches a brow at me. “Thai for dinner?”

Dad hates cooking as much as I do. Mum was always the one cooking up meals worthy of being on a cooking show.

“Sounds perfect.”

When Dad closes the door behind him, I expel a sharp breath and rub my forehead. “God, that was close.”

“Too close,” Sinnett agrees, gripping the edge of the bed. “I know we need to be careful, but it’s impossible to keep my hands off you, strawberry.”

Unable to wipe the smile from my face, I gesture to the door. “You better get back to training.”

Sinnett stands from the bed, his chest brushing against mine as he leans down to press a chaste kiss to my forehead. My eyes flutter close as he steps back, running a hand through his hair.

“I’ll see you around, Tate.”

I wrap my arms around my waist and smile. “I hope so.”