Getting to Her: A Sapphire Falls BONUS Novella (4 page)

“Please tell me he’s legal,” Sam said, her gaze running up and down Ty’s body.

The heat of attraction Hailey had been feeling instantly flared to a full flame of jealousy. She drew herself to her full height—three inches over Samantha, even with her friend in heels.

There was no way in
hell
Sam was going to get with Ty. Not now, not ever.

“I’ve always wanted a boy toy,” Sam said. “But I’ve never found a younger man who made me willing to go to all the work it would require to teach him what I like.”

Hailey turned to her with a frown, but Sam was watching Ty. “He’s only three years younger than you.” Samantha was a junior at the university and one of Hailey’s sorority sisters. “He’s hardly a
boy
.”

“Well, even so. If all he’s been playing with are sweet little country girls, he still has a lot to learn,” Sam said, running her hands over the skirt she wore. Sam was from Omaha, but everyone in Omaha believed anyone living west of the city limits was a hick.

Hailey rolled her eyes. “Us sweet little country girls know a thing or two,” she said.

Samantha laughed. “How do you know? You haven’t been sweet a day in your life.”

It was true that Hailey’s typical persona had been rewarded in college even more than in high school. She was the Social Chair of her sorority as a sophomore, a position that had never before gone to anyone less than a junior, and she was making a name for herself in student government as well.

No, sweet wasn’t something she was…or wanted to be.

Which could absolutely work in her favor here. Samantha knew Hailey—and knew that Hailey wasn’t someone she wanted to mess with. Samantha had run for Social Chair against her.

“Ty’s off-limits,” Hailey said firmly.

But Samantha was beautiful and naturally had the confidence and sophistication that Hailey faked every day. She was sexy and smart. She was going to be a lawyer someday and follow her State Supreme Court Justice mother’s footsteps. She had no trouble using any and every advantage she had to get what she wanted.

Sam turned to face Hailey and crossed her arms. “What?”

But Hailey knew Samantha had heard her. The other woman was responding to the possessive note that had crept into Hailey’s voice. She was rising to the challenge.

Fine.

Hailey was going to keep Samantha’s hands off of Ty. Whether he had a girlfriend or not, Samantha was not going to mess with him.

If an older woman was going to mess with him, it was going to be Hailey.

The moment the thought went through her head, Hailey tamped it down.

That wasn’t fair. She’d been putting him off for years and now she’d finally seen him without a shirt and she was going to jump him? No, that was not going to happen. And no, it didn’t matter that her boyfriend of six months had dumped her a month ago because he wanted to date other people. Ty had always made her feel better but it had never been with sex, and she’d loved that. Ty had liked her, or thought he had or had pretended to or whatever it was, without her having to sleep with him.

That had been her favorite parts of his flirtations.

Well, besides that slow, sexy grin he gave her that she’d never seen him give anyone else.

And she’d never admit to anyone how much she’d watched him when he was with other girls. It was stupid and borderline stalkerish and more than borderline pathetic.

If she wanted him, she could have him.

Well, she was pretty sure.

Not that it had ever gotten to the point where she could have tested it, she realized. Their interactions had always been in public or semi-public—school hallways, near the concession stand at football games, in line at the Ferris wheel during the annual festival.

She frowned, thinking about that. They’d never had a chance to really be alone together. He’d never
tried
to get her alone. Never even teasingly suggested it. He hadn’t even asked her to go on the Ferris wheel with him. She would have said no—it was a well-known town tradition that if you took a girl on the Ferris wheel it was like announcing to the town you were intending to kiss her. And if you kissed a girl on the Ferris wheel at the festival, you were going steady—but it seemed like the kind of thing Ty would have at least
asked
her to do.

But he never had.

“I said, Ty’s off-limits.” Hailey put enough frostiness in her tone that Samantha’s eyes widened.

“Oh really?”

Samantha’s attention went to something over Hailey’s shoulder, and Hailey knew she was studying Ty with renewed interest. As if seeing him coming out of the water wasn’t enough. Samantha was absolutely the kind of woman to want something even more if she thought someone else wanted it. Even a friend.

“Yes.
Really
,” Hailey said.

Samantha was powerful in their house and on campus, but Hailey was her equal. At least. And this was Hailey’s turf now. Samantha wouldn’t push her.

“And why is that?” Samantha asked, looking at Hailey with a speculating gleam in her eye.

“Because I said so,” Hailey told her. “That’s all you need to know.”

“Well, I think
I
need to know a little more than that.”

The deep voice was so familiar it made Hailey catch her breath, and the ember of desire that had sparked to life when she’d seen his pecs and abs earlier glowed brightly.

She caught Samantha’s sly grin as she turned and knew her friend had seen that Ty was close enough to hear Hailey’s possessive statement.

Dammit.

But her embarrassment evaporated instantly when she faced Ty. He was looking at her with an amused half grin, but in his eyes she saw that same desire she felt burning in her belly.

Then he leaned in and she felt her heart trip. He reached past her, his arm brushing her shoulder, the heat from his body reaching out and wrapping around her. Then he pulled back with a towel in hand.

He toweled off his hair and then stroked the towel over his arms and chest and Hailey felt her mouth go dry.

“I’m eighteen and single. Why am I off-limits to your friend here?” Ty asked.

Something about the way he asked the question told her that he already knew the answer. But he wanted to hear her say it.

And something about that turned up the temperature.

Ty had been the sweet pursuer, the guy with the notes and chocolate kisses. But he’d never pushed; he’d never made her respond to him. He’d dropped little teasing hints. He’d say things like, “I still think about the flavor of your lip gloss”. But he’d never pressed for a reaction from her. She never had to answer him back. It was as if he was happy just planting little seeds, confident enough to know they would take root and patient enough to let them grow.

Now there was something in his tone of voice, in his eyes, in the way he stood too close to her, that made her think her time of leading him on had run out.

He wanted a reaction from her now.

“Hailey?” The look he gave her dared her to tell him the absolute truth.

Hailey thought about the situation for about half a second. Then she lifted her chin, met his eyes and said, “Because if you’re going to get lucky tonight with a college girl, there’s only one option.”

One eyebrow went up. “Who’s that?”

He was going to make her say it. She’d known it.

“Let’s go.” She took his hand and started across the grass toward her car.

He followed for about thirty feet, then he tugged on her hand, bringing her to a stop. The glow of the fire didn’t reach this far out and they were past the lanterns set on the tailgates. It was nearly dark now, but there was enough glow left in the west that she could see his face when he turned her.

“If you take me out somewhere we’ll be alone, you’re not leaving until morning and there’s a very good chance you won’t be able to find your panties when the sun comes up.”

Everything in her felt like it had liquefied and been set on fire.

“Holy crap, Ty, when did you start talking like that?” she asked him, breathless.

He gave her a surprised grin. “That just came out.”

“Well, I like it.”

“Do you?”

She held his gaze for a moment. “I really do.” Then she bent and reached under the skirt of her dress, hooked the top of her panties and pulled them down her legs, over her boots and off. She stood, took a step forward and tucked them in Ty’s front pocket. “Now we’ll know where they are the whole time.”

“I have never wanted anything more than I want to pull those out of my pocket and rub them all over my face.”

She laughed. She couldn’t believe it. She was laughing while more turned-on than she’d ever been.

“You’re not getting them back,” he told her.

She hooked her finger in the waistband of his swimming trunks and pulled him closer. “Let’s see if we can find something else that you want even more.”

He put a hand on the back of her neck and tipped her head. “Already there.”

His voice was deep and rough. The way he was looking at her, the way his thumb stroked over her throat, the way the air around them filled with heat and anticipation.

God, there was something about the way he
wanted
her that made her feel high and light and free. More than his gorgeous muscles and sexy smile and big, confident hands, the way he was affected by her, flooded her with desire and happiness.

She had never had sex with a guy who made her feel almost giddy on the verge of the act. She’d never wanted to rip her clothes off. Or rip the guy’s clothes off. She’d never wanted to be naked as much as she did at that moment.

She wanted to bare her whole body for Ty to look at and touch and kiss and worship.

That was how he made her feel—like he was going to worship her.

Usually she felt as if the guy wanted to get off more than he wanted
her.
As though really any girl would do. And that the end result was the purpose.

In their defense, they were twenty-year-old guys. The end result really
was
the purpose.

But with Ty, she felt as if it had to be
her
and that everything along the way—the kisses, the touches, what they said—would be relished as much as the end orgasm.

It had never been about sex between them before this. He’d liked her, teased her, complimented her, without ever getting laid.

Hell, he’d
earned
this.

“Ty, please tell me you have a sleeping bag and lantern in your truck.”

It was tradition for the seniors to camp out after the graduation party.

“I can turn the lantern on?” he asked, eagerness in the question.

She laughed. “Yes. Definitely. Why?”

“I’ve just…pretty much always been in the dark, you know?”

“Well, there are a lot of things I want to see too.”

He moved in until he was almost on top of her. He lifted his other hand and cupped her face. He stared into her eyes. “Jesus, Hailey. We’re really going to finally do this?”

She let her gaze roam over his shoulders, chest, abs and lower. “I might burn up and die if we don’t.”

She’d thought about this, with Ty, a time or two. He was a really good-looking guy who flirted with her constantly. But she hadn’t let herself go into full-fantasy mode with Ty. For one, she’d always put him in the young-and-sweet box in her mind. For another, she knew that the pedestal he had her on was pretty damned high. She wasn’t sure she could have measured up to the dream girl he’d built in his mind. She hadn’t wanted to disappoint him.

But it was as if tonight had crushed that young-and-sweet box and flung everything he’d ever said or done—every wink, every smile, every positive word—out into her imagination like confetti. And her imagination was definitely making a party of it.

“Just because you’re jealous of your friend’s interest back there?”

Hailey gripped his wrists but not to move his hands. To keep them where they were.

“Do you want me to be jealous?”

He nodded. “Yeah. I know that’s not cool, but yeah, I do.” He ran his thumb over her jaw. “You’ve never been jealous before.”

That wasn’t exactly true. But she’d known it wasn’t fair for her to be jealous of girls giving him what she couldn’t. Or wouldn’t.

“I’m going to be honest with you. If she was a sweet thing who would take good care of you and fall in love with you and have an actual relationship with you, I would have let her take you out here and make your night.”

Something wavered in his eyes and she felt his hold loosen on her. She tightened her grip on his wrists.

“Ty, I wouldn’t stand in the way of a girl treating you like a prince and possibly being your one true love. But that’s not Samantha.”

“So you’re saving me.” He didn’t sound happy or thankful about that.

“Kind of. I also realized that if you’re in the mood to just have a hot night in a sleeping bag, then it shouldn’t be with someone who doesn’t know how great you are.”

“And you’re doing me a favor.”

He was doing
her
a favor.