Getting to Her: A Sapphire Falls BONUS Novella

Getting to Her

Hailey and Ty… from the beginning

A Sapphire Falls BONUS novella

A companion to book six, Getting Over It

Erin Nicholas

Dear Reader,

I knew from the first chapter of book one in the Sapphire Falls series that Hailey Conner was going to have a story. And I knew, as soon as I typed the words “Tyler Bennett is such an ass” that it would be with Tyler Bennett! Over the next five books and two novellas, their story developed and I realized that it was just as big as these two personalities.

Before I typed one word of Getting Over It, their current day love story, I knew that there was more about their story that readers would want to know and I planned to write this novella about how it all started.

All of
this
happens before you see them love, fight, laugh, cry and finally figure it out in Getting Over It. Even though I knew all of this happened in the past, I wrote the book first. And when it was all said and done, I realized that reading about their now and their future would make people even
more
curious about their past. So
technically
Getting to Her comes before Getting Over It, but it can definitely also be read after.

Either way, I think you’ll agree that these two have worked hard to get to their happily ever after.

One of the best surprises in life, in my opinion, is finding out there’s more to the story.

Happy Reading!

Erin

Dedication

To the girls who believe even when I don’t—

Cheri, Nikoel, Kim and Lindsey

SAPPHIRE FALLS HIGH SCHOOL

Fourteen years ago

“You know the word ‘secret’ in secret admirer is kind of a keyword.” Hailey Conner slammed her locker shut and turned to face him. “It’s supposed to be a
secret
.”

Tyler Bennett grinned at her. “I signed it TB. There are at least three others.”

All of his brothers shared those same initials.

“Mark is going to kick your ass, TB,” Hailey said with a little shrug. “Guess he doesn’t care if he gets the right TB or not.”

Ty only grinned wider. Mark Andrews, Hailey’s boyfriend, wasn’t going to kick his ass. Mark was no doubt going to talk about it all over school all day long, but it was never going to happen. Mark didn’t want to risk hurting his shooting hand before the big basketball game on Friday, and everyone knew the Bennett boys had hard heads.

“Don’t worry, I’ll pretend to be scared of him and sorry,” Ty said. “Nothing will happen.”

Hailey crossed both arms over the short stack of books she carried. “If you didn’t sign it at all, it would be a secret and you wouldn’t
have
to be sorry.” She said it almost as if she truly was puzzled about why Ty insisted on putting his initials on his secret admirer notes.

“I said I would
pretend
to be sorry,” Ty corrected. “And if it was a complete mystery, how would you know who to have a little crush on because he’s so sweet and romantic?”

“I would still know it was you,” she said. Then frowned. “I mean, I would still know the notes were from you. I don’t have a crush.”

But Ty didn’t believe her. She always pretended to be exasperated by his attention and flirtation, but she never told him to stop. Maybe she didn’t have a crush on par with his—he wasn’t sure Romeo’s crush on Juliet had been on par with Ty’s feelings for Hailey—but she liked being on the pedestal he’d put her on.

That was why they worked.

Hailey loved to be adored and Ty was a competitor.

To the core. He loved to win. He
lived
to win. He had to be number one. He had three older brothers who were good at absolutely everything and Ty had been competing against their grades, their reputations and their records since he was born. But Hailey was the biggest, most difficult challenge Ty had faced.

He hadn’t won her over. He wasn’t the most important thing in her life. He wasn’t the center of her universe.

Yet.

Hailey flipped her silky blond hair over her shoulder and turned to head down the hallway to history class. Ty fell into step beside her.

“So what has Mark given you this week?” he asked.

He knew the answer. Nothing.

It was Valentine’s Day week. The Sweetheart Dance was on Saturday and the big day was on Sunday. Everyone was taking advantage of the upcoming holiday to buy cards and candy and stuffed animals for the ones they loved. Or the ones they wanted to love.

There was something about Valentine’s Day that made people braver, more willing to go over the top and make a spectacle. And Ty loved it.

He had been making a spectacle of himself over Hailey Conner for the past four months. It was nice to have some comrades this week.

The hallways of Sapphire Falls High School were filled with pink and red and white balloons, notes taped to lockers, guys approaching girls with roses, girls approaching guys with roses.

It was awesome.

“Mark is waiting until it’s actually Valentine’s Day to give me my gift,” Hailey said, her chin up, her tone haughty. “He doesn’t need all this showing off for me to know how he feels.”

Ty would much rather Mark
not
wow Hailey with romantic words and gestures, but the team captain’s complete lack of attention to his girlfriend made Ty burn.

He kind of hoped Mark did pick a fight with him. Mark would make him hurt, no doubt, but Ty would get in a few good punches before he was down for the count. He’d fought with his brothers—his
bigger
brothers— his whole life. He was no lightweight.

“You know you’re too good for him, right?” Ty asked with a sigh as they stopped outside Hailey’s classroom.

Her eyes narrowed, but not before Ty saw a flicker of affection.

He didn’t know what Mark said or didn’t say, did or didn’t do, when he and Hailey were alone but he knew that
his
attention mattered to her. And that wouldn’t be the case if Mark was treating her the way she deserved.

“You barely know me, Ty,” she said.

He gave a single nod of acknowledgement. That wasn’t completely untrue. Hailey was a senior and he was only a sophomore. The only time they spent together was in the hallways of the high school like this, or in the few minutes she gave him when he approached her at ball games, dances or downtown.

But he paid attention to her. He couldn’t help it.

She was gorgeous—long legs, silky blond hair, big blue eyes. She was also sharp and witty, president of everything, bossy and bitchy. He loved everything about her.

She was
the
girl to get. The girl everyone wanted. Every guy wanted to date her and every girl wanted to be her.

If Ty wanted to go for the big prize, get the un-gettable, win the un-winnable, Hailey was it.

Her legs, breasts and ass were only a part of his attraction. Though they were absolutely part of it. The other girls in the school couldn’t begin to compare with Hailey as far as beauty went. But he was also attracted to the fact that she was the boss; the take-charge, get-it-done, I’m-always-right ruler of the school.

Someday he intended to win an Olympic Gold medal in the triathlon.

Hailey was the Gold medal of Sapphire Falls High.

“Here’s what I do know.” He moved in closer and looked down at her. Even though he was not quite sixteen and she was about to turn eighteen, Ty still had a couple of inches on her, even in her cowboy boots. “I know that if you were my girlfriend, Valentine’s Day or not, you would know that I think about you all the time and that I love making you smile and that I would do everything in my power to make you happy.”

Ty felt satisfaction course through him as Hailey stared up at him and sucked in a quick breath.

Damn right.

“Hey, back off, Bennett.”

Mark Andrews. Right on cue. Ty knew Mark was in this class with Hailey. But when a guy had a chance to stand this close to a girl who smelled like sweet coconut and who filled out a pair of jeans the way Hailey Ann Conner did, he took it.

He gave Hailey a wink and turned to face Mark. “Hey, Mark.”

“What the hell are you doing?” Mark’s gaze flickered between Ty and Hailey.

“Just wishing Hailey a happy Valentine’s Day,” Ty said easily. “It’s this weekend.”

“I know it’s this weekend,” Mark said with a frown.

“Oh, I wasn’t sure. Since you haven’t given her anything yet.”

Mark’s eyebrows shot up. “I don’t think you need to worry about Hailey.”

Ty shook his head. “It’s not Hailey I’m worried about.”

“Oh really? You worried about yourself, since I’m going to kick your ass if you don’t back up from my girlfriend?” Mark moved in closer.

Ty sighed. “No, I’m worried about
you
, Mark.”

“And why is that?”

“Ty, stop,” Hailey said from behind him. “Don’t.”

“Why are you worried about me?” Mark demanded, scowling at them both.

Ty felt Hailey’s hand on his arm. “Because your girlfriend is going to be thinking about
me
all day and the whole school’s going to be talking about what a romantic I am. That’s gonna be tough on your ego.”

Mark frowned at Hailey. “Why would she be thinking about you?”

“Because
this
is going to be hard to forget.”

Ty turned, took Hailey’s face in his hands and kissed her.

And he
kissed
her. It was a full-on movie-quality lip lock, complete with the sounds of her books thudding to the floor and people gasping around them and the feel of her hands grabbing the front of his shirt.

It was the best twenty seconds of his life.

Followed by some of the most painful.

Mark grabbed him, spun him around and punched him in the face.

That was all he did, fortunately, because Ty’s older brother Travis walked up just then.

“What the fuck?” Travis pulled Mark back and glared at the two guys with him. “Step back, Andrews.”

“He deserved it,” Mark said.

“I’m sure,” Travis said. “That doesn’t mean I’m going to stand here and let you beat him.”

Which was also why Ty had chosen this moment and this place. Travis was taking history this period too.

Ty rubbed his jaw and shrugged at Mark. “Like I said—thinking about me all day.”

Mark lunged for him, but Travis held him back.

Travis looked over his shoulder at Ty. “Shut the hell up, Ty. Get lost.”

Yeah, okay. Ty bent to pick up Hailey’s books and handed them to her, giving her a little wink. “Totally worth it.”

She was staring at him with wide eyes, her cheeks flushed, lip gloss smudged.

Ty wiped his thumb over his bottom lip where the gloss had been transferred. “Love this flavor.”

Mark jerked forward, but Ty sauntered off down the hall.

Hailey deserved to be kissed by a guy who thought she walked on water, and she deserved to have two guys fighting over her.

Everyone had heard about it by the end of the day.

Including Ty’s other brothers.

“To his credit, he just grinned after Mark clocked him,” Travis said as he threw a hay bale into the back of TJ’s truck.

“You’re lucky Trav came along before a teacher did,” TJ said with a frown, from the truck bed. He grabbed the bale and stacked it with the others.

TJ was out of school and on the farm full-time now, but Travis, Tucker and Ty were still expected to work around the place after school like always.

Ty was the only one to bitch about it though. Travis wanted to get an Ag science or business degree before coming back home and Tucker had talked about taking some accounting classes and more training in mechanics at the local community college so they could contribute further to the family business. But both intended to stay in Sapphire Falls, farming long-term.

Ty, on the other hand, had plans to see the world. He particularly intended to see the roads and waterways as he competed in races. Triathletes had competed as part of the Olympic team for the first time just last year. Ty had known exactly what he was setting his sights on the minute he’d seen the first guy cross the finish line.