Getting to Her: A Sapphire Falls BONUS Novella (3 page)

And she didn’t hang out with the guys unless it was in those places, either. If she and a boyfriend went somewhere private, it was alone and it was to make out.

Making out kept a guy from asking too many questions or, really, caring about anything but her boobs.

Getting close to her boobs had, ironically, kept many guys from getting close to
her
.

The only person who
tried
to get close, even when denied access repeatedly, was Tyler Bennett. And she had a suspicion that he was actually interested in more than her boobs.

Yes, he was definitely dangerous.

“Yeah, okay,” Hailey said to Mark. “No problem. I’ll just talk to you tomorrow.”

“Awesome,” Mark said.

He pulled her close for a moment and Hailey thought maybe he’d kiss her. She tilted her face. And he brushed his lips over her forehead, barely pressing even enough to have it count as a kiss. She sighed.

The team moved past her, jostling each other, laughing, trading insults in the way guys did to show their affection.

And Hailey’s gaze went back to the guy standing across the gym.

He was still talking to Megan but her back was to Hailey, and as she sought him out, his gaze met hers.

He gave her a half smile and a wink.

Warmth and a strange need—not desire, exactly, but a need to have some kind of contact with him right that very second—rushed through her.

It wasn’t Mark’s fault that they weren’t close and didn’t have a strong relationship where he wanted more than her boobs.

Her boobs were all she was really willing to give. So to speak.

But if she was being really honest, Mark wouldn’t want more even if she offered. She knew that. And if she gave
him
the brush-off she’d been giving Ty over the past couple of months since he’d started paying attention to her, Mark would have been gone a long time ago.

Ty, on the other hand, was winking at her across the gym even as he talked to another girl.

It didn’t make Hailey a good person, she knew, but she liked that. A lot.

And keeping Ty’s compliments and Hershey’s Kisses coming was suddenly imperative to her happiness.

Hailey tossed her hair back and started across the gym.

Ty saw her coming but he didn’t alter his posture or even the smile he was giving Megan.

“So do you want to come over?” Megan asked him as Hailey came up behind her.

Megan didn’t know she was there yet. Ty lifted a brow but didn’t say anything.

Suddenly Hailey’s chest got tight. No. This was wrong. She couldn’t do this. And not because of Megan, though it
should
be because of Megan.

No, she couldn’t do this because he might not choose her.

He’d flirted incessantly for the past four months, he’d made her feel like a queen, he’d showered her with attention. But attention and affection weren’t the same thing. She desperately wanted both, but she knew they didn’t automatically go hand in hand. Her father didn’t give her much attention and she had to practically become Miss America to get what he
did
give, but she definitely knew that it wasn’t the same thing as affection.

Stan Conner only had enough affection for one perfect, trim, well-dressed, put-together, in-charge-of-everything blond.

And her name was Angela.

Hailey felt her throat getting tight and the blood leaving her face as a rushing filled her ears. Her thoughts were spinning, her stomach was spinning. Oh God. She couldn’t ask Ty to choose between her and Megan. Megan was sweet and kind and was clearly eager to spend time with him. Why would he choose Hailey? She had nothing to give Ty that cute little sophomore Megan couldn’t give him—and more.

She also could
not
puke on Megan’s shoes.

She spun away, struggling to breathe.

The fucking panic attacks. Dammit. She hardly ever had them at school. At school, she was in charge and everyone knew it. Her attacks only hit at home.

But now…

“Hailey?” Ty’s voice seemed to be coming to her from a distance.

She shook her head when she felt him come up behind her and take hold of her upper arms. Instinctively she leaned back into him.

The moment her back met his chest, she felt her lungs expand. His solid heat made it possible for her to drag in a breath. Then another.

“Hey. You’re not getting away that fast,” he said in her ear.

The rumble of his voice seemed to shake something loose and she could suddenly hear clearly again and her head stopped spinning.

“Sorry,” she said. “I, um, didn’t mean to interrupt.”

She could
not
say “come with me instead of Megan.” She couldn’t. No matter how Mark made her feel, no matter how many other times she’d flirted with someone to make herself feel better because a boyfriend or her father or someone else had made her feel unimportant, she could not do that with Ty.

Ty came to her. Ty had started this flirtation. Ty sought her out in the hallways and wrote her the notes. She hadn’t started any of that and it made it even more special to her. She didn’t want to manipulate Ty. She didn’t want him to be just someone who made her feel better about herself.

Ty wasn’t like the other guys, and she didn’t want their time together to be like it was with the other guys.

“Why did you come over here?” he asked her.

Hailey took a deep breath and turned, shrugging out of his touch. “I just wanted to…” Her gaze flickered to where Megan was still standing behind Ty. She looked very uncomfortable. As if she knew she was intruding on a moment but didn’t know how to excuse herself. And maybe a bit like she didn’t
want
to excuse herself.

Megan liked Ty. Ty totally deserved that. He needed to be with a girl who liked him, and was free to like him and show him how much she liked him.

Not one who needed him for her self-esteem.

Hailey focused on Ty’s eyes. “I came over here to tell you that you shouldn’t flirt with me anymore. You should go out with someone who’s your own age.”

Ty studied her eyes. He didn’t believe her, she could tell.

But after a moment, he nodded. “Yeah, I’m going to hang out with Megan tonight.”

Hailey made herself smile. Fortunately, forced smiles were one of her specialties. “Great. I’m glad.” She leaned around him to smile at Megan. “I hope you guys have a great time.”

Megan returned her smile, but it looked nervous.

Well, Megan didn’t have anything to be nervous about. Hailey couldn’t date Ty. He was too young. Too eager. Too… Oh, who was she kidding? She couldn’t date him because he distracted her. In the hallway outside of history, he’d kissed her and she’d immediately forgotten where she was and that her
boyfriend
was standing right there. She’d learned nothing in history. All week. Every time she walked through the door to the classroom she was reminded of the kiss, and couldn’t get it out of her head.

So dating Ty was absolutely not going to happen. She needed to date someone who was, one, as powerful in school as she was and that did
not
include a sophomore who wasn’t even out for football or basketball; and two, a guy she could forget about when she needed to concentrate on other things. She wouldn’t get anything done if she was dating Ty.

“Have fun,” she told him, meaning it. He deserved to have someone who was crazy about him.

She turned to walk away, but before she took even a step, she heard him say softly enough that Megan wouldn’t overhear, “But this isn’t over.”

Hailey was sure he noticed the way she paused before heading across the gym. Thankfully, he wouldn’t know the way his words sent swirls of heat and happiness twirling through her. And he wouldn’t know how much she hoped those words were true.

THE RIVER

Sapphire Falls

Eleven years ago

“Oh my God, who is
that
?”

Hailey turned from refilling her mason jar with grape Booze and looked to where her friend Samantha was pointing.

At first she didn’t see who Sam was referring to. There were almost a hundred people gathered along the riverbank and in the field inside the half circle made up of truck tailgates. The graduating class always partied at this spot along the river after their graduation ceremony, and it was common for any Sapphire Falls young alums in town to join them. Everyone was laughing, drinking and eating, dancing and even swimming. Dusk was falling over the gathering as the sun set and the glow from the bonfire and the twinkling of the lightning bugs was getting brighter, but it made it harder to make out faces from across a distance.

“Who?” she asked.

“Him.”

As if someone had put a telescope to her eye, Hailey was suddenly focused on who Sam was asking about.

Ty Bennett had just come up on the bank from the river. He laughed and shouted something to someone, but Hailey couldn’t hear a thing. In fact, it seemed that all of her senses had stopped working but sight.

Holy crap
.

Water ran from his hair, over his shoulders, down his chest and abs to the waistband of the board shorts he wore. He leaned over to grab a bottle of water from the grass, muscles bunching and flexing, and Hailey felt her mouth drop open.

This wasn’t the first time she’d seen Ty in months, or anything. She’d seen him just that afternoon when he’d walked across the stage to accept his diploma. She’d noted, as always, that he was sinfully good-looking, tall and tan with an easy smile and a way of holding himself and moving that spoke to a deep sense of confidence and comfort in his own skin.

That confidence and comfort had always drawn her in, and she envied it. At all times, she was acutely aware of how she looked and how she came across to other people.

Ty, on the other hand, just took up space as if it was his God-given right and everyone around him should be thankful. And while he was most definitely full of himself, he also gave off a vibe that said “this is going to be a good time”. No one seemed to protest the God-given-right thing. Everyone liked Ty. Adults saw him as responsible and driven and successful. Guys saw him as their best buddy. Girls saw him as six feet and one inch of gorgeous. Of course, it didn’t hurt that he was often laughing and that he was sweet and considerate, and that he worked as hard as he played.

But tonight, with the fading orange glow of the sun behind him, the water sparkling on his skin, his big grin…and the fact that he was half-naked…something in Hailey shifted.

When she saw Ty, he always made her feel warm.

At that moment, she was most definitely
hot
.

Because of Ty. For Ty.

Warmth, she could handle.

Heat that spread through her belly and then dove low, making her ache and fantasize? That was going to be a little harder to deal with.

Over the years, she’d almost come to
need
that warmth, that feeling of adoration, that Ty instilled. She was a little addicted to being his crush.

When her stepmother was going on about something Hailey had screwed up, or one of her boyfriends was being a prick, or she was struggling with one of her classes because she couldn’t focus and just
get it
like the other students did, she would close her eyes and think about the last nice, sweet thing Ty had said to her.

Thankfully, the compliments and flirting hadn’t stopped even though he’d taken Megan Baker out the night after the big basketball game during Hailey’s senior year. He’d also taken Megan to the Sweetheart Dance that year. In fact, he’d taken Megan out a lot the rest of that school year, and she’d been with him at the graduation party for Hailey’s class on this very spot.

But he’d kept up with the notes and the attention he gave to Hailey.

She had no idea if he’d somehow explained it to Megan, or if he’d hidden it from her, or if he just didn’t care if Megan didn’t like it and Megan liked
him
enough to put up with it. All she did know was that Hailey had loved all of it. It had seemed kind of perfect, actually. She still got his attention and that warm feeling he always instilled, while she also felt as if he was getting the attention
he
deserved from a girl who really liked him and didn’t just use him to make her feel better.

At least, Megan
better
really like him. Hailey would kick her ass if she didn’t.

And was he still dating Megan? She didn’t think so but she couldn’t remember. She was usually pretty good at staying up on his dating life without letting it seem as if she was interested, but her most gossipy friends had both moved away so it made it harder.

“Do you know him?”

Hailey pulled her gaze from Ty’s abs—though holy shit, that was hard to do—and looked at Sam.

“Huh?”

Sam lifted a perfectly tweezed eyebrow. “Do. You. Know. Him?”

“Who?”

“The golden water god over there.” Sam’s gaze went back to Ty.

Hailey swallowed hard and shook her head. Damn, Ty had always done that to her too—completely obliterated every other thought in her head. “Um, yeah. Ty. Tyler Bennett.”