Taylor

I remained quiet, waiting for him to continue.

"I didn't mean to be so rough the other day in the janitor's closet," he began to say. I didn't remember rough sex; I remembered frantic earth-shattering sex. What had hurt me was the fact that he hadn't said a word and then he'd just left.

"I liked it," I responded honestly. His nervous exterior evaporated and in its place was the confident bad-boy I was used to. He smirked at me.

"I'll remember that," he said, sounding a little husky. His eyes dropped to my lips and then he pulled his gaze back to my eyes.

Being under his intense gaze that seemed to pierce right through me, I swallowed hard. The air between us was charged with sexual tension. I wanted him and I knew he wanted me, but I wasn't ready to give in yet. He still had some explaining to do.

"Why did you just leave without saying a word?" I asked. I didn't care if it made me sound like an emotional girl. It had hurt me and I wanted him to explain why he'd done that. He contemplated my question for a few minutes.

"I'm very territorial," he began. "I don't like to see the girl I'm fucking being hit on by another guy."

I had mixed feelings about his explanation. I knew the score and I knew that what we had wasn't based on feelings—it was based on a physical need for each other. But despite the fact that my mind accepted it, my heart hurt a little when he referred to me as the girl he was 'fucking.' That was one of the first signs that our arrangement was starting to mean more to me than it did to him. My mind was telling me to walk away before he had the power to cripple me with the heartbreak that was inevitable, but I just couldn't.

"Caleb wasn't hitting on me," I replied. "He is just a friend."

"Are you sure he knows that?" he asked me, looking skeptical.

"Yes," I stated. Caleb would never be more than a friend whether Sin was in the picture or not.

"Who was the other guy you were with?" The question came out of the blue.

"He's my brother," I answered, watching him for a reaction but there wasn't one. "When we put rules in place for this arrangement, we both agreed that we would be exclusive."

"I know, it's just like I said before...I'm territorial," he explained with a shrug of his shoulders. The way he said it made my stomach flutter at his possessiveness. There was something sexy about him feeling that way about me, even if it didn't involve actual feelings.

"When I agreed to being exclusive, I meant it," I assured him. There was no way I would be fooling around with someone when I had Sin to take care of my needs. There would come a time when I'd need more than just sex and then I'd have to move on but, until then, I was going to enjoy what I had with Sin. He remained silent and gave me a brief nod.

"Have you eaten yet?" he asked.

I shook my head.

"Do you want to go and get something to eat?" he asked, shocking me a little. Exclusive sex didn't involve going out and eating together.

"It's just food, not a date," he assured me. My thoughts must have been evident on my face.

"Sure," I agreed. I liked being around him, so why not? "I just need to get some other clothes on."

He ran his eyes over my body.

"You look fine," he replied.

"I need five minutes," I told him, unconvinced that I looked 'fine.'

"Meet me downstairs when you're ready," he instructed as he turned and left. I let out a nervous sigh as the door closed behind him. The room felt empty without his presence. I got dressed into a pair of jeans and a shirt. I slipped on a pair of sandals and ran a brush through my hair. There was no time to bother with makeup so I just put some lip-gloss on.

Despite what he said about it not being a date, I couldn't help but feel nervous as I took the stairs. He was leaning against a smart-looking car when I exited the building. The car was some sort of expensive Jeep. I wasn't sure what type of model it was, but I knew it was expensive. I wondered where he got the money for it because he didn't seem like the typical rich kid. He opened the passenger side for me and I slid inside the car. The car smelled like leather inside.

"I know a little place close by that makes killer burgers," he said as he got into the car.

"Sounds good," I replied, fidgeting with my hands.

Being with him made me feel nervous and aware of the effect that he had on me. I ran my tongue over my bottom lip as I remembered what he'd done to me in the janitor's closet. The car ride was fairly quiet and before I knew it he was pulling up in front of some old burger joint I'd never been to before. It looked a little run down. The sign above it looked like it had seen better days and only half of the name lit up. It was small inside with only a few tables and chairs.

"It might not look like much, but they make the best burgers," he assured me as he helped me out of the passenger side by taking my hand. The small gesture made the butterflies in my stomach flutter with excitement.

We walked in and gave our orders at the counter and Sin paid for the food. I hadn't expected that. Just before I'd left, I'd stuffed my phone and money into my back pocket. Sin held our drinks and straws in his hand as he walked to an empty table. It wasn't like the place was really busy. There were only two other people sitting at another table eating their burgers. I had to admit the burgers did look good.

"So why did you decide to go to college?" he asked as we sat down at a table and he handed me my soda and opened up his.

"It just seemed to be the next logical step," I said with a shrug. "What made you decide to go to college?"

"I wanted to prove I could do it," he answered.

"Who are you proving it to?" I asked the personal question not sure he would answer me.

"Myself."

"Why?" I asked the next logical question. He pressed his lips together for a moment.

"It's a long story," he replied. In other words, he didn't want to talk about it. "I want to know more about you," he prompted, trying to steer the conversation back onto the subject of me.

"What do you want to know?" I asked with a shrug. His question had made me a little apprehensive. It was the same feeling I got when people were prodding too close to the past that I didn't want to reveal.

"Tell me about your family," he suggested as he fidgeted with the straw. I wanted to be able to tell him enough to keep his curiosity satisfied but not enough for me to be scared that he would look at me differently.

"My parents are dead," I said without emotion. His eyes looked at me sympathetically.

"That sucks," he said.

"Yeah, it does," I agreed. "My brother Connor looked after me."

That was about as much as I wanted to reveal.

"How did your parents die?" He asked the question I'd been dreading. I didn't want to tell him the truth so my only alternative was to lie.

"They died in a car accident," I lied effortlessly.

"My father died," he stated out of the blue as his eyes dropped from mine to the straw he was still fidgeting with.

"I'm sorry," I said automatically. It was what you said to people when they told you something like that.

"It's okay—he was an asshole," he informed me as he met my gaze. There was a story behind that statement and I wasn't sure if he was ready to tell me yet. Sin seemed to tense once he'd mentioned his father.

"So how long have you and Slater been friends?" I asked, trying to change the subject to lift his mood. At the mention of Slater, his mood changed and he smiled.

"We used to live next door to each other and we've been friends from the time we could walk," he told me. I hadn't known them for that long, but I could see the type of friendship they had went deeper than a conventional friendship. It was like they were family.

"Do you have any siblings?" was my next question.