Getting to Her: A Sapphire Falls BONUS Novella (12 page)

He’d finally said enough was enough, though, when she’d thrown a crystal statue at his head in the middle of a swanky LA jewelry store. She was a skier, not a thrower, and she had no aim whatsoever. Which meant that when she’d tried to miss him entirely, the edge of the statue had caught his jaw and he’d needed six stitches.

Travis chuckled and Tucker opened his mouth to no doubt ask for more details, when they were interrupted.

“Hey, Travis.”

Suddenly the table was surrounded.

Phoebe, Adrianne, Matt Phillips and Hailey circled the table. They were all smiling.

Ty tried to catch Hailey’s eye while not reacting to seeing her, but she stoically kept her attention on his brother.

“Hey, guys,” Travis greeted, warily.

Ty agreed that wary was the right reaction. This group was up to something.

Hailey pulled a chair away from another table and slid it in between Travis and Tucker. Ty frowned. He’d told her over and over that it would seem more natural if they once in a while actually spent time together or talked directly to one another.

She disagreed.

He liked to think it was because he was a huge distraction and all she was able to think about when he was close was getting naked.

That’s what he liked to think.

That didn’t make it true.

“When you talk to Lauren next, tell her that we love the idea she sent about the Christmas tour of homes,” Hailey said to Travis.

Travis was clearly surprised. “She sent you an idea about the Christmas tour of homes?”

“Yes. And I also liked her idea about the moonlight margaritas, but we’re going to have to talk about that some more.”

Travis stared at Hailey. “Lauren Davis has been sending you ideas for Sapphire Falls?”

“Yes. Almost daily,” Hailey confirmed.

“She called you?” Travis was clearly having trouble processing all of this.

Ty didn’t really know Lauren, but what he
did
know did not make him think she was a small-town-Christmas kind of girl.

Of course, she hadn’t been with Travis before.

If Travis was considering Haitian food, then it was possible Lauren was considering some changes as well. Ty really hoped that was true. For Travis’s sake. And maybe for his. If Lauren could change her mind about things, surely Hailey could too.

“Email. Though we’re going to Skype the day after tomorrow,” Hailey said.

“Skype?” Travis asked.

“Video chatting,” Phoebe said, pulling up another chair between Ty and Tucker. “Like you and she have been doing since she left.”

Ty gave Phoebe a grin as she stole one of his fries. Phoebe was a bright, bubbly hometown girl who was impossible not to like.

Travis shook his head. “I haven’t talked to her.”

“At all?” Adrianne asked, propping a hand on her hip.

“No.”

“You’ve been texting then?” Matt asked.

Travis frowned up at the other man. Matt was married to one of Lauren and Mason’s scientists, Nadia. Who was also currently in Haiti. “No. No texting either. Nothing.”

“You haven’t been in touch with Lauren at all since she left?” Phoebe clarified.

“Right.”

“Why the hell not?” Hailey asked. “These three all have people over in Haiti. They all have people who travel away from Sapphire Falls on a regular basis. But they make it work. They’re all happy and in love and doing just fine. So what’s wrong with you?”

Ty blinked. Hailey Conner was speaking on the topic of relationships? Really? The woman who denied she was in one that had already lasted a year and a half. In secret.

Ty couldn’t let that go. But he’d play it as cool as he could. He chuckled. “You’re going to give relationship advice, Madam Mayor?” he asked.

He loved to call her that. He loved that she was a woman in power. Something about that really turned him on. He saw her bite the inside of her cheek for a moment before she gave him a practiced bored look.

“I guess we could ask
you
. You’ve been madly in love with yourself for what? Twenty-two years or so?”

Ty gave her a grin. He loved sparring with her. He didn’t love hiding their relationship. He didn’t love staying out of her bed when he knew she was only seven miles from where he slept at his parents’ house. He didn’t love that no one knew he’d finally gotten to the cool, composed, in-charge leader of their town.

But he did love their bickery little fights. It revved his engine and he knew it got her going as well. After the really good ones, he could occasionally get her to submit to some making out at least. She always called a halt to things before they went too far, but he usually got his hands on something good for at least a little while.

“Well, surely you can understand my infatuation,” he quipped.

Hailey rolled her eyes and turned back to Travis. Ty gritted his teeth at how easily she seemed to dismiss him.

“I’m pointing out that you don’t have to mope and be miserable,” she said to Travis. “Nothing’s perfect, but grownups work things out. Rationally. Reasonably.”

Ah, not dismissing him at all. Talking directly about him, if not to him. Not that anyone else knew that. But just yesterday she’d told him that he needed to quit visiting so much and she was happy with the long-distance thing and reminded him that he clearly needed to stay in Denver and she clearly wasn’t leaving Sapphire Falls.

And she was right. But it pissed him off. He knew that their reasons for keeping their relationship a secret made sense and he knew neither of them was in a place to change their situation to be together. But whenever he was back it nagged at him that he had her, but no one else knew it.

Should having her be enough? Probably. No, of course it should be enough. But the competitive streak that ruled his life said that a victory felt better when lots of people knew about it.

“Aren’t rationally and reasonably kind of the same thing?” Ty asked, needling her on purpose.

If she could be passive-aggressive, he could be just aggressive.

“Adults can admit how they feel,” Hailey went on, still not looking at him. “Grownups have relationships. Things go two ways, there’s give and take, communication. That kind of stuff.”

Jesus. He was supposed to not respond to that? She was waving a red cape and she knew it.

He’d definitely admitted how he felt. About her. Okay, she’d also made him admit that he didn’t want to leave his coach and training program right now.

But he’d been hanging out with Travis for the past hour. Travis, who was as set in his ways as they came. Travis, who was now planning a trip to Haiti.

Hailey’s comments about things going two ways and give and take really meant that things went his way in Denver and things went her way in Sapphire Falls. And he could
give
in and
take
what she was offering or he could do without her completely.

That was what she had
communicated
to him the last time they’d talked about all of this.

But he didn’t have to like it. The Queen Bee liked being in charge in Sapphire Falls and he had to put up with it, but the next time she was in Denver, he was going to paddle her ass for this.

And maybe he’d then inform her that if Travis could travel to DC and Haiti and Lauren could move her life from Chicago to Sapphire Falls, then maybe Ty could train for the next Olympics right here in Nebraska.

His hand itched with the desire to smack her sweet ass and he lifted it, slowly scratching the palm, making sure she saw it. Because she would know what that meant.

Ty settled back in his seat. “Tell us more. Sounds like those self-help books are starting to really pay off.”

Hailey looked over at him calmly. Then her gaze dropped to his hand and she froze for just a moment. Not even a moment. More like a millisecond, before she composed herself again.

But she’d gotten the message.

And he’d bet good money her panties were wet right now.

Then she flicked her wrist and knocked over the glass of ice water in front of him, dumping it into his lap.

Ty shot back from the table with a curse while everyone else went from stunned to laughing in a split second.

“I haven’t read the chapter on self-restraint yet,” she said. She looked at Travis again. “You need to realize something.”

Was she kidding? Ty stared at her, but she would not look at him.

Speaking of wet panties. He had to fight the urge to laugh.

Travis, on the other hand, knew better. He gave her a solemn nod. “Go on.”

“You fell in love with a woman who you have to share with the world. Quit being a baby and pouting about it,” Hailey told him bluntly. “Work it out. Having her for part of the time is better than not having her at all.”

Ty felt her words rock through him.

But he knew she wasn’t talking about him having her part-time. She was talking about how
she
had to share
him
with the world, and that she’d rather have him part of the time than not at all.

Holy…

He pulled himself together, idly blotting at his wet crotch with a napkin. “Oh, really,” Ty said, casually.

Hailey ignored him. Which was fine. He’d said it to show her he’d heard her.

“I know you think you know what you want,” Hailey said to Travis. “But you’d be bored with a Sapphire Falls girl who just wants to raise chickens.”

Ty couldn’t believe no one else at the table realized that Hailey was actually having a conversation with
him
. She thought he’d be bored with her full-time?

“You’re absolutely right,” Travis said.

Ty had to focus for an extra second to realize that Travis still thought they were talking about Lauren.

“People in the military are deployed for a lot longer than anyone from IAS spends in Haiti,” Phoebe said.

It was true. He and Hailey never spent more than a month apart. There were guys away from their wives and kids far longer. He knew he should be thankful for what he had.

But every one of those military guys would be with their girls more often if they could be. None of them would blame him for wanting to see Hailey more.

“That’s true. I’m sure we can handle a few weeks at a time,” Travis said.

“If you really love her, you’d want her to do this work,” Adrianne said. “This is important to her.”

Ty stared at Adrianne. Who was still looking at Travis. But Ty could have sworn
she
was talking to
him
too. Of course he wanted Hailey to be in Sapphire Falls doing the work she loved. He knew it was important to her.

“I agree. I believe that she needs to keep doing her work,” Travis said, his tone growing frustrated.

Ty knew how he felt. Rapid-fire, unsolicited advice did that to a guy.

“And Haiti is a great place to visit,” Matt added. “I was hesitant the first time too, but Nadia was worth it. And I’ve never regretted going. And Nadia is only part of the reason.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” Travis said.

Ty looked at his brother. Travis was going to Haiti. Then Ty glanced around the table. Everyone looked pleased.

So this conversation
had
been about Travis.

Huh.

Hailey leaned in and narrowed her eyes at Travis. “You agree with all of that?”

“I do,” Travis said. “I have to be willing to go to her if I want her to come back to me.”

Ty stared at Hailey, begging her silently to look at him. She didn’t. But he knew she felt his gaze on her. Was
this
a two-way street? She came to him, but she didn’t want him coming back to her.

Ty felt a familiar knot of frustration tighten in his gut.

Hailey sat back and crossed her arms. “Okay, so as I said before, the next time you talk to her, tell her I love her ideas about the Christmas tour of homes.”

She looked completely comfortable, and that pissed Ty off too. She was staying? Settling in here tonight for drinks and conversation? As if he wasn’t there?

When they’d first started sleeping together, Hailey had told him that in Denver he could call the shots and make the plans, but in Sapphire Falls they went by her rules. Well, rule. Singular.
Don’t let on we’re having an affair
.

Ty had tried digging into that, wanting to know why, but she was stubborn about it and he had quickly realized that if he pushed too hard, she would call the whole thing off. He was willing to put up with her crazy ideas in Sapphire Falls if it meant keeping her in his bed in Denver. But he didn’t have to like it.

What he
did
like was not letting her get away with ignoring him when he was in town, no matter how hard she tried. He also liked the way her cheeks flushed and her eyes sparkled and her breathing would change as she fought to not show that he was getting to her.
She
was the one who didn’t want people to know about them so it was on her to make it seem like he was simply flirting, as he would with anyone, and she was simply annoyed by it.

And so far it seemed to be working. No one had any inkling that they were sleeping together.