Getting to Her: A Sapphire Falls BONUS Novella (14 page)

Frankly, to do what he did, to compete at his level, to put himself out there against the best in the world, he needed a big ego.

And he wanted
her
.

She couldn’t deny that having Ty so into her, so focused on her, had grown more enticing rather than less over the years.

In high school, his notes and compliments had kept her feeling loved even when nothing else did. Now, his affection along with the way he
wanted
her, helped
her
ego often when she most needed it.

“Okay,” she agreed softly. “I can come to Denver more often.”

He didn’t say anything for a long moment. He just looked at her.

Then he settled one big hand on the back of her neck and pulled her forward. He kissed her— deeply, and sweetly. He didn’t let her go for several long moments and Hailey was tingling and hot and needy when he lifted his head.

Exactly as he’d intended.

“This is all going to keep happening,” he told her.

All she could do was nod.

He released her and ran a thumb over his bottom lip, his gaze intent on hers. “Take next Friday off. I want you in my bed by four p.m.”

Then he turned and walked away.

And even as she wanted to growl in frustration over his bossy demands, she was already mentally rearranging her Friday schedule.

There was no question about it.

Tyler Bennett had definitely gotten to her. And there was no getting over it.

Be sure to catch Hailey and Ty’s happily ever after in

Getting Over It
,

Sapphire Falls book six!

Hailey Conner has been driving Ty Bennett crazy for years. And vice versa.

It’s kind of their thing. But Ty is ready to make their thing into something more. And he’s moved in next door to make it happen.

But is he
really
ready?

Ty loves the confident, sassy, sexy mayor’s Ice Queen act…because he loves making her melt. But he soon finds there’s more underneath all that frostiness. And things are about to come to a full boil…

Excerpt

She balanced the plate of brownies in one hand, rang the doorbell and pasted on a bright smile.

That faded second by second as no one came to the door.

Dammit.
She’d missed him again.

She kicked the door in frustration and turned to leave.

Her foot hit the top step when she heard the door behind her open.

Yes!

She pivoted quickly, fake smile firmly in place, with one foot on the porch and one on the top step.

The move wobbled her in her high wedges and she felt herself tipping and the brownies sliding. She was about to end up on her butt on his porch with chocolate down the front of her when a strong, warm hand grasped her elbow and another grabbed the plate.

“I love making your knees weak, but let’s not hurt anyone, okay?”

That voice. That deep, sexy, teasing voice…

She’d know it anywhere.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” She glared up at Tyler Bennett as he helped her stand, get steady on her feet and up on the porch before letting go of her.

Except, he didn’t let go of her.

He continued to hold her elbow. And stand way too close.

“What are
you
doing here?” she demanded.

Well, she’d meant to demand it. Her voice actually sounded a little breathless to her ears.

Probably from the near fall.

“Saving your…brownies,” he said with a smile.

No, not
a
smile.
The
smile. The one that made her stomach flip.

The one he wasn’t supposed to ever give her in Sapphire Falls.

She pulled her arm from his grip and stepped back. She smoothed her skirt, ran a hand over her hair and wet her lips. She’d known he was in town. She’d seen him just last week out at his brother’s house. Where he’d mentioned the brownies. He’d been visiting a lot this summer, but she had stubbornly refused to ask him why.

Now she knew why he was in town this time. “You know the guy who bought this house.” It wasn’t a question.

Of course he did. In spite of living in Denver, Ty had an unreal amount of knowledge about Sapphire Falls and what went on here.

Ty nodded slowly. “I do.”

She put her free hand on her hip. “And you didn’t think to mention that to me any of the times I’ve talked about not knowing who was moving in next door to me?”

Dammit. They’d been together three weeks ago. They’d been
naked
together three weeks ago. And he hadn’t thought about telling her he was friends with her new neighbor?

“I couldn’t mention it,” he said.

God, he looked good. Hailey tried not to be distracted by his lean, muscular body that swam, biked and ran for a living. But it was impossible. There was no way she couldn’t think about how great he looked when her entire body felt as if it was straining toward him.

She distinctly remembered the day she’d admitted she was sexually attracted to him. He’d been wooing her with his sense of humor and his sweetness and the fact that he was, or at least had seemed to be, over the moon for
her
for two years in high school. But that night at the senior class party, she’d suddenly truly seen him physically. He’d climbed out of the river looking like a freaking god, in only a pair of swimming trunks. She’d watched the water trickle over every bump and ridge of hard muscle on his body as he’d come to stand right in front of her. When he’d reached past her for his towel, she’d been overwhelmed by the heat and by how big he suddenly seemed and how obviously comfortable he was nearly naked.

And now she knew every inch of his body and what that body was truly capable of. He was more slender than his brothers, but he was hard
everywhere
and had stamina that was truly mind-blowing. The man made a living with his body and it showed in everything he did. Yeah, there was no
not
being distracted by that.

Which was one of her big problems when he visited Sapphire Falls. He distracted her from
everything
.

He was in a simple T-shirt and jeans today and, having grown up around denim and cotton in all shapes and sizes, Hailey had to admit that blue jeans seemed made for showing off asses like Ty’s, and T-shirts were meant to cling lovingly to wide shoulders and flat abs.

His hair was longer than usual and looked windblown—which fit a guy who spent most of his time outdoors. He also hadn’t shaved today. It seemed that she shaved nearly every inch of her body, but she was a born-and-raised country girl, and scruff, tanned skin and big work-roughened hands did it for her.

She knew exactly how that scruff and those hands would feel rubbing over her—

“Hailey?”

She focused on his eyes. He was giving her a knowing grin.

She hated when he did that. When he
knew
things about her that she didn’t want him to know. It made him smug. And it made her aware of the things he
didn’t
know. The deal breakers. The reason she preferred ogling him and losing her mind over him in
Denver.

She needed her mind and her pride when she was here in Sapphire Falls.

“Why couldn’t you tell me?” she asked, thrilled to be able to remember what they’d been talking about. Seriously, she was standing on the porch of the neighbor she had been wondering about for weeks and she almost didn’t remember that
he
was the topic of conversation. Pathetic. “He paid
you
not to say anything either?”

“Because it would have upset you and you would have caused problems for…him…moving in. He needed to get settled first.”

It would have upset her? Why? Who the hell was this?

“So you decided to wait until he was all moved in to tell me that you know him?” she asked. “In spite of us…” They never talked about their affair while in Sapphire Falls. Ever. It was one of their rules. Okay, it was one of
her
rules. Actually, pretty much her only rule. She sighed. “Who is it?”

He chewed on the inside of his cheek, simply watching her as several seconds passed. She waited.

Finally, he seemed to make a decision. “Me.”

She expected him to grin or go on and explain that he was house-sitting for her new neighbor until he could move in. Or something.

But he didn’t say anything else.

Tyler Bennett teased her a lot. He gave her a hard time. He loved to rile her up just to rile her up.

But he didn’t look like he was kidding now.

No.

Her stomach knotted, dread trickled through her, and she started shaking her head. No.
No.
Ty lived in Denver.

Tyler was a triathlete who competed on the international stage. He’d left home for Colorado right after high school to train. He’d been entering and placing in the top three in races all over the world ever since, including a silver medal in the Olympics.

But it wasn’t gold, and he wasn’t going to stop until he had one of those too.

His training and constant striving for that number-one spot kept him in Colorado. Talk about personal space. She had five hundred and two miles of personal space. Oh, sure, he thoroughly invaded that personal space the second she set foot in Denver—and she loved every minute of it. But then she could retreat back to Sapphire Falls and breathe deep and recover and live her life.

While he lived
his
life.

In
Denver.

Seeing him for a weekend every couple of months was fine. And enough. Ty was…potent. When they were together, he took over her thoughts. He distracted her from everything else. He owned her. Which was fine for a couple of days, far from home and work, every once in a while. It was more than fine, actually. It was heaven.

But there weren’t enough sticky notes and planners in the world to keep her on track and any kind of productive if Ty lived next door.

He could
not
live next door. That would be crazy. He loved their weekend indulgences as much as she did, but he’d also confessed that if she were around all the time, he’d never be able to focus fully on his training. She made him want to stay in bed all day and eat ice cream—off of her—and spend the day at the zoo and lie on the couch watching Netflix marathons and have sex on every available horizontal surface. And a couple of vertical ones.

They worked out together. She loved rock climbing and zip lining and biking and running with him. But it was hardly at the level he needed to work out at to stay competitive.

His training wasn’t just a hobby or a way to stay in shape. It was his
life
. It was the way he made a living, between the prizes and his endorsements. And his training happened in
Denver.

“You?” she finally asked. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, I’m your new neighbor.”

His grin was gone. His smugness was gone. In their place was a confident, direct gaze that told her he meant it. And that she was in big trouble.

This was not the teasing, fun-loving Ty who visited Sapphire Falls. This was the intense, I’m-in-charge Denver Ty who made her do things that…well, that she’d never do in Sapphire Falls.

That meant he wasn’t kidding.

And that meant they had to break up. Or she had to move.

“Well, now that’s impossible,” Hailey said after a stunned silence, in that cool, haughty tone she’d perfected in the ninth grade.

“Impossible?” Ty asked. “Why is that?”

He could smell her shampoo and body wash and his entire body tightened in response. She always smelled good. Even after a workout or a hike, he wanted to put his nose…pretty much all over her.

“Because you’re not stupid,” she said, lifting her chin. “You
act
like an idiot sometimes, but you’re not actually dumb enough to move in next door to me without talking to me about it first.”

No, not if he wanted everything to be civil between them.

But he didn’t.
Not
being civil with Hailey was one of his favorite things in the world.