Getting to Her: A Sapphire Falls BONUS Novella (5 page)

No one had ever made her feel the way Ty did.

But she couldn’t tell him that he’d finally gotten to her. She couldn’t tell him that at that moment, she knew she’d never been touched and kissed and loved the way Ty would touch, kiss and love her.

And that was the bottom line, really. Ty loved her. Or thought he did. Or loved part of her. Or something. He felt something for her that no other guy ever had. And yeah, she was selfish enough to want that just once. She wanted to know how being in Ty Bennett’s arms would be.

But she couldn’t tell him that because then he would think this was going to turn into forever. And she and Ty couldn’t be forever.

She was coming back to Sapphire Falls. She was going to be mayor.

There was no way her father would be able to ignore that. State Senator Stan Conner lived for his own campaigns and his elected office. The only time Hailey really had his attention was when she was running for something or asking his opinion on an issue. How could he not be proud of his daughter the mayor? She’d like to think she would move up from there to some state government positions, maybe even governor. But whenever those ideas crept in, they brought with them the doubts—always in Angela’s voice—that said she wasn’t smart enough for that, could never stay focused enough for that, could never ever understand everything she would need to get elected, not to mention do a good job in office. And losing an election or, maybe worse, winning one and then doing a horrible job, would lose her any little bit of esteem she did have in her father’s eyes. She’d never lost an election for anything in her life. So mayor of Sapphire Falls seemed her best option.

Ty, on the other hand, was set to travel the world. He was leaving at the end of the summer for Colorado, where he was going into heavy triathlon training with one of the world’s best coaches. He had big dreams and a lot of focused, intense work ahead of him.

There could never be anything long-term between them.

But Ty was just enough of a romantic, just enough head over heels for her, that he might not understand that. Especially on the verge of getting laid.

Guys got even stupider when all of their blood went south.

She looked up at him. This boy, this
man
, thought she was perfect. He’d helped her, unknowingly, through some tough times. He made her feel like a goddess.

He was definitely the one who had been doing her a favor over the past two years.

She was going to do her best to return it tonight.

“For the past two years,
you’ve
done me a favor by wanting me,” she said honestly. “Sometimes you were the only one.”

His hold on her face tightened as he shook his head. “No. Everyone always wants you. You could have anything and anyone in this town.”

Something in the way he said it, the earnestness in his voice, made her think that
he
needed to believe that too.

That was part of this, she realized. Ty wanted to have something everyone else wanted.

“And you’re here with me right now. I’ve wanted this for so long.”

Well, okay. Why not enjoy a night of being someone’s dream girl? Who didn’t want to be someone’s fantasy? Someone’s goddess?

If anyone could make her feel that way, it would be Ty.

They could do each other favors tonight.

She rose up on tiptoe and whispered against his lips, “Yes, I’m here, with you, tonight.”

She cupped the back of his head and kissed him.

Any thought that Ty might be shy or nervous was immediately destroyed. He moved his lips over hers and when she sighed, he stroked his tongue along her bottom lip and then against her tongue boldly, dominantly.

Dominantly.

That word echoed in her mind as Ty kissed her.

She had been with guys who were excited, guys who knew what they were doing and what they wanted, guys with a lot of experience, but she’d always felt in control. She’d been the one setting the pace and determining how far things went and, even when they went all the way, how it happened.

She’d always felt as if she was calling the shots.

But with Ty—if he wanted to take over, if he wanted to get bossy with her, she’d let go.

She could already feel it in the way his fingers threaded through her hair and the way he pressed his thigh between her legs and the way his other hand slid to her low back, bringing her up against him.

She would let go with Ty. Because he had shown over and over, for two years, that he loved her.

No, he’d never said it. And maybe it was that he loved his
idea
of her. But she knew she could trust him and he would be all into her pleasure if she turned it over to him. For her entire senior year, he’d worked to make her smile, make her blush, make her feel good. Maybe it had all been a means to an end and maybe
this
was that end, but he’d shown humor, sweetness, patience and sincerity that had sunk into her heart.

He was
her
dream guy in many ways.

Finally, he let her up for air. He was breathing hard as he stared at her. “You ready? My trucks’ right over there.”

“I’m ready.” She’d never been more ready in her life.

Holding hands, they ran through the grass to his truck. He pulled the sleeping bag, lantern and a duffle from the truck bed and then turned to her. “Let’s walk somewhere. If we start the truck up, people will notice. I don’t want to prolong this with phone calls from my stupid friends or anything.”

“Great,” she agreed. “Let’s go down to the river on the other side of the trees.”

“Perfect.”

They didn’t talk as they made their way beyond the clump of trees that provided shade in the summer for swimming parties, and branches and sticks for kindling the bonfires at night.

There was a chance someone else would sneak over to this side for sex as well, but the party was still going strong and with darkness just falling, there was a lot of drinking and dancing and talking and laughing that would happen before too many couples separated from the group. Blessedly, by the time they were out of earshot of the music and voices, they were completely alone.

Ty spread the sleeping bag out on the grass, tossed the duffle to one side and clicked on the lantern. He gave her a grin as he set it on the ground, bathing the sleeping bag in light.

That grin.

It was sexy and happy, hot and teasing all at the same time. How had she resisted this long?

“This is the first time we’ve ever really been alone,” she commented. And her thoughts about why that was came back to her. Why had he never tried to get her alone? Why had he never asked her to ride the Ferris wheel with him?

“And this is exactly what would have happened if we’d been alone before this,” he told her. He put his hands on her hips and pulled her close.

She ran her hands over his hard chest, resting one over his heart. It was beating hard and fast. “You think so?”

“I do.”

“Why did you never try to get me alone before, then?”

“We weren’t ready.”

Her eyes widened and she laughed lightly. “Really? Why not?”

“We both needed to be with other people. Especially you. As much as that killed me sometimes.”

He looked completely sincere. He wasn’t smiling and he was looking directly into her eyes.

Her lips were suddenly dry and she ran her tongue over them. “Why is that?”

“Because without those others to compare to, you wouldn’t have known how good this is.”

Damn. The guy was only eighteen? He sounded like a much older, mature man.

“Same for you?” she asked.

She suddenly felt a stab of jealousy for all those girls he’d dated and that she’d hoped had been treating him well and appreciating him.

“Not exactly the same for me,” he said, his voice husky. “I’ve always known how good this is.”

“Then they were just distractions while you waited for me?” she asked lightly. A challenge, considering his voice had set off a riot of hot, swirling streams of desire low inside of her.

“Not exactly,” he said again.

“They were your attempts to get over me?” she asked. That one would make sense. He
should
have been trying to get over her. He should have—

“I’ve never wanted to be over you, Hailey.”

She swallowed hard at the intensity in his look and his voice.

“Then what?” she asked softly. “Because there have been a lot of girls.”

She knew he didn’t sleep with all of them. She knew that the relationships spanned from a few weeks to a few months. But in two years’ time, Ty had dated most of the eligible girls around his age…and had caused two breakups of ineligible girls.

Sapphire Falls was a small town. She wasn’t the only one who knew those things.

She might, however, be the person most interested. And that was stupid.
She
was the one who had been putting
him
off.

Or had she?

He hadn’t tried to get her alone because he thought they both needed to be with other people first. Especially her.

Her eyes widened and her heart thumped.

Ty had been putting
her
off? He’d turned the tables on her? When? How?
Why
?

“They’ve been my qualifying races,” he told her.

“Your…what?”

“The races that lead up to, and prove you’re ready for, the big one.”

“Oh my God. The other girls have been…practice? For sex with me?” Was he serious?

He gave her a little grin. “Not just sex. Everything. All you ever need.”

Oh…crap.

So that answered a lot of questions. Like how deep his delusions about her really went.

He was eighteen, was good at everything he did, had an amazing family, had never failed at anything. He had dreams of Olympic medals.
Of course
he would think that if he wanted her, he would eventually have her.

He was a kid. A kid who’d never really had any adversity. He really had no clue that not everything in life worked out exactly as you planned it.

She shouldn’t do this. She’d never really felt as if she was leading him on because she did sincerely like him and because she never let it go any further than flirtations. Part of the deal from the beginning had been him saying things like “dump him and let me show you what you’ve been missing”, and her saying “I don’t think I’d fit in your truck with you
and
your ego”. That had been the routine—he asked for things he knew he’d never get and she said no. She felt complimented, he felt full of himself because he’d made her blush or laugh, and they’d go their separate ways. Until the next time.

But the constant had been her saying no.

They’d both known that’s how it would go.

She’d assumed that part of the reason he’d felt safe saying crazy, over-the-top things like “those shorts would look even better sitting on my front seat” was because he’d known she’d shoot him down and he’d never have to actually back up any of his cocky words with actions.

Now though, he seemed very confident and ready to back it all up. Two years’ worth of boasts. And if she slept with him, she would be leading him on.

She now knew that he thought this was the start of something much bigger. With a girl he barely knew.

He
thought
he knew her, but while she wasn’t good at much, she was
very
good at hiding things she didn’t want others to see.

“Ty, you have to realize—”

But he kissed her before she finished the sentence.

And if she’d felt a hint of dominance from him before, now there was no question.

He held the back of her head, his other hand on her ass, bringing her up fully against him and the rock-hard erection behind the thin material of his swimming trunks. The feel of him wanting her like that made her moan and his tongue swept into her mouth as her lips parted.

He kissed her like he was a man starving and Hailey knew that
he
knew she’d been about to say this couldn’t happen.

Okay fine. This could happen. As long as he knew that nothing would be different in the morning.

But she knew even as the thought went through her mind that of course things would be different in the morning.

Still, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed against him.

He might be eighteen, a boy in many ways, but that body was a man’s. He was hot and hard everywhere. The muscles of his shoulders and upper back bunched under her hands as he lifted her more firmly to him and turned them together.

Then they were going down. He lowered her to the sleeping bag and followed her down. He held himself up from putting his full weight on her, but the length of his body touched the entire length of hers and Hailey felt herself arching into him, wanting more pressure, more of
him
.

He lifted his head as she spread her legs and lifted her hips into his. His cock lined up perfectly with her cleft, separated only by the thin cotton of her dress and his trunks.