Getting His Way: Sapphire Falls Book Seven (4 page)

It was funny to him—then and now—that she’d really thought she had been keeping her identity a secret. He smiled at a lot of girls every day, but only one had ever lit up like a Christmas tree for him.

She met his eyes from across the five feet that separated them and took a huge breath. “Bryan, that’s sweet. You’ve always been sweet to me. But I don’t want sweet. And I don’t…want…this.”

Bryan watched her slip out the door and it bump shut behind her. He let her go this time.

There would be other chances to be with Tess. If nothing else, this was Sapphire Falls. It was impossible to avoid someone indefinitely. Besides, he had a better plan than trapping her in his office and kissing her until she saw things his way—though that certainly had merit. But remembering those notes from seventh grade and watching Tess try to deny how she felt, he knew just what to do.

He really did love a challenge.

Chapter Two

Tess got to the parking lot before she swore.

Dammit. Hell. Shit.

She leaned against her car and took a deep breath of the humid night air. Well, this sucked.

She needed to get out of Sapphire Falls.

It was time. She’d been planning it—more or less—for about a year now. She was going to Denver to train with Jake Elliot. Jake specialized in taking runners from casual to competitive. While she didn’t consider herself a
casual
runner exactly, she had only done a couple of 5ks in all the time she’d been running. And she was ready for more. She didn’t need or want the medals or trophies, but she needed something to keep pushing her. Competing against other runners seemed like the obvious way to measure if she was getting better.

She had stumbled across Jake’s name and information incidentally through Bryan’s blog. She’d followed a link about shoes, which had led to another about shoes, which had led to one about hydration, which had led her to Jake.

Tess had been running for two and a half years now. She was almost up to half-marathon distance, and she was ready to get more serious and run in places that weren’t flat and surrounded by corn. She was ready to push herself. And to get out of her tiny hometown.

She’d started saving up a year ago, not just to move, but for race fees, travel and to pay Jake. She was a few hundred short of her goal, but it was time to go. Obviously.

Bryan Murray wanted to date her.

She couldn’t do that. She’d risk falling head over heels for him. Again. She’d get drunk and tell him that she’d wait for him forever. Again. Hell, she might even start writing him love notes again.

She shuddered. Putting a few hundred miles between them seemed like a good idea. Her pride would thank her.

And leaving didn’t seem so difficult. Once the festival was over, she could move on. Bryan kissing her just now had helped her see that.

The kiss had been sweet and romantic and…
nice.
And he’d done it that way on purpose. The kiss on the Ferris wheel all those years ago had been hot, wet and out of control. Because of the Booze, but still something that could make her warmer just thinking about it. Fully sober, Bryan kissed her
nicely
.

She wanted more of the hot, wet and hungry ones.

Thankfully, she had never put
that
in one of the notes she’d sent him. Surprisingly. She’d put just about every other thought and feeling into those notes. The notes that Bryan had known were from her all along. She rubbed her forehead. How embarrassing. But she’d been thirteen, for God’s sake. She couldn’t believe Bryan still thought that all meant something.

That had all been so stupid. But, at the time, it had been so therapeutic too.

She’d been able to say things to him that she so wanted him to know but that she hadn’t been brave enough to say in person. Like how wonderful she’d thought he was when he’d rescued the dogs that were being left outside in the cold. Or how amazing he’d been to the new kid who had moved in and didn’t have any friends. Or how much she’d loved watching him with his mother because he was so sweet to her.

That’s how the notes had started. Just little I-think-you’re-great notes left in his locker. Over time, as she’d felt more secure that he didn’t know who she was, they had become longer and more and more about
her
. Her thoughts and feelings and dreams. Somehow Bryan had unwittingly become the friend she needed—the one who just listened, never laughed and never judged.

She’d had a close girlfriend growing up, but Kacey had moved away the summer before their seventh-grade year. Tess supposed that was part of why she’d needed to write everything down. Why she’d given all of the thoughts and feelings to Bryan was still kind of a mystery. Probably because she’d
wanted
to be close to him, and having him know things no one else did felt good. Even if he didn’t know who she was. Except he did—had—
did
know.

Great. Bryan had always known about her crush, but now she knew that he knew about so much more.

“Hey, you okay?”

Tessa jerked upright as Hailey Conner Bennett came around the front of the car parked next to Tessa’s. “Hey.”

“Are you all right? I tried to stop you on your way out, but you were moving like you were on a mission,” Hailey said, settling her butt against the side of Tess’s car.

Yeah, on a mission to get the hell out before she ruined every
sweet
image anyone in Sapphire Falls had of her. “Bryan just…upset me.”

Hailey nodded. “Got that. What did he say? Or do?”

Tess focused in front of her instead of on her ex-boss and kind-of friend. Hailey had been the queen bee in Sapphire Falls all her life. She’d always been this cool, put-together, gorgeous, in-charge woman who had intimidated the hell out of Tessa. Hailey was two years older than Tess, Bryan and Ty, and that hadn’t helped the intimidation factor either. Tess had taken the job as Hailey’s assistant when she’d been mayor because Tess was awesome at being the behind-the-scenes girl, making others look good, while Hailey was awesome at being in the spotlight and looking good. They had worked perfectly. Plus, the job had been flexible. And easy. Well, flexible in that she could take off in the middle of the day for her other jobs because she could do a lot of her work at night at home. Easy in that Hailey had taken care of almost everything on her own anyway. The beautiful blonde loved being in charge, and Tess had taken care of the tiny details that drove Hailey crazy.

Now Hailey headed up the tourism and business development in town—the things she loved and handled almost entirely on her own. The other nitty-gritty detail things she hated fell to their new mayor, TJ Bennett.

Tess’s job had gotten more demanding since TJ had taken over. Now she actually had to be an assistant. TJ not only didn’t have the time for everything Hailey had done, since he was still farming and had a new wife, he also didn’t have the patience for the little headaches that popped up on a daily basis.

Tess had needed to get really creative with juggling her other jobs. Fortunately, Hope, the woman who owned the yoga studio and natural healing shop, was TJ’s wife. So she was happy to work around Tess’s other job responsibilities. Delaney Bennett, one of TJ’s sisters-in-law, was Tess’s other boss, and she was great too. She did home remodeling and furniture refinishing, and Tess could do a lot of those projects on weekends if needed.

She sighed, thinking about all of the balls she was juggling, and looked over at Hailey. “I miss working for you.”

Hailey smiled at her and tucked her long hair behind her ear. “I was a peach,” she said drily.

“You were easy.”

Hailey laughed. “I’m so telling Ty you said that.”

Tess chuckled. She doubted there was anyone else in the world, including Hailey’s completely head-over-heels husband, Ty, who would use
easy
as a word to describe Hailey. But she had been in many ways.

“I also have to tell Ty what Bryan said or did. He wanted to come out here too.”

Tess shook her head. “It’s nothing Ty needs to be upset about.”

Although…it might be good for everyone to know Bryan had asked her out and that she’d turned him down.

Everyone knew she’d pined for Bryan all this time. It might be good for her reputation if they knew she’d moved on. As she’d proved by
not
melting into a little puddle at his feet when he’d kissed her. Her knees had
maybe
wobbled, slightly. But if that was how he was going to kiss her, she was safe from making an ass of herself.

Sweet might describe Tessa, but that was not how she wanted to describe her love or sex life.

She looked at Hailey. Somehow, she thought she could tell the other woman what she was feeling. They hadn’t really been
friends
, but when Hailey had last run for mayor—and had lost—a lot of things had come out. Like the fact that Hailey could be vulnerable and sweet. And that she had ADHD, which explained a lot about her personality and habits. And that she did actually know how to ask for help. Tessa had been happy to pitch in on the campaign, and since then, they’d had more of a friendship than before.

It maybe also helped that Tess didn’t work for her anymore. Now they worked
together
. A lot of Hailey’s projects, like her most recent campaign to expand the size of the annual town festival in Sapphire Falls and bring people in from a wider radius, needed extra hands and heads. Tess was the one Hailey always asked first. Yes, because Tess and Hailey both worked for the town, specifically the mayor’s office, which was ultimately in charge of the things Hailey was doing and developing. But also because they made a good team. Hailey was the visionary with the big ideas and enthusiasm and gumption to get things done. Tess was the detail girl who made sure all the I’s were dotted.

“If it helps,” Hailey said. “I think Bryan really does like you. I agree he shouldn’t be telling other guys they can’t ask you out, but I think it’s because he has feelings for you.”

“Actually, that doesn’t help at all. That’s the entire problem,” Tess said with a sigh.

“It is?” Hailey turned toward her.

“He does have feelings for me,” Tess said. “At least that’s what he said in his office just now.”

Hailey’s eyes went wide in the parking lot light. “He did? That’s great.”

Tess shook her head. “No. It’s not.”

“But…” Hailey frowned slightly. “I thought you…haven’t you been in love with him like all your life?”

“Yeah. Up until a couple of years ago.”

“Yeah, you were even his secret admirer that one year—”

Tess groaned. “
Everyone
knew?”

“Yes.”

Tess groaned louder.

“But,” Hailey said, “it was sweet. I think he really liked it.”

“I know he did. I’m part of the reason Bryan has such a huge ego,” Tess said.

Hailey laughed. “That’s true. But that’s not a bad thing. That ego helped him through some tough stuff over the past couple of years.”

Tess liked that idea. Maybe her sad crush hadn’t been all bad then. And Hailey knew Bryan. Hailey was now married to Ty Bennett. Bryan’s best friend. They’d only been married for a little over a year, but Ty and Hailey had carried on a secret affair for years before anyone had even known they were dating. Except for Bryan. Hailey would go out to Denver to visit Ty without anyone in Sapphire Falls knowing, but Bryan had lived in Denver
with
Ty. He’d known all about it. No doubt Hailey knew Bryan pretty well.

“He kissed me.”

Hailey came around to face her fully. “In seventh grade? Really?”

“Tonight. In his office.”

“Oh.” Hailey’s face relaxed into a smile. “That’s awesome.”

“No. It was…just okay.”

Hailey just blinked at that. Then she asked, “
Where
did he kiss you?”

It was Tessa’s turn to just blink. And catalog all of the places she
wished
Bryan would kiss her. Because some of
those
would have saved the kiss in his office from being sweet and friendly.

“Like on the cheek or the forehead?” Hailey prompted.

Oh. Right. Cheek or forehead. Sure. “Um, no. Lips.”

“He kissed you on the lips. And it was bad?”

Tess sighed. “Well, not
bad
. There just wasn’t…”

“Wasn’t what?”

“Heat.”

Hailey frowned. “Really?”

“Really. It was very nice. Sweet.” She stopped and thought about it. “Yeah, nice. It was nice.”

“And you wanted heat?”

“Definitely.” Tess decided to let it all out. “That was the kiss I would have wanted back in high school when I was romantic and innocent. But now…”

“The books,” Hailey said.

Tessa couldn’t deny that the hot romances she read were a part of her new fantasies. “And I’ve had nice, romantic kisses. That’s not what I expected from Bryan.”

Hailey actually nodded. “I have to say, that surprises me too.”

“It does?”

“Well, I’ve been…around,” Hailey said.

Right. She’d been around in Denver. At the house where Bryan lived. Which meant that Hailey would have witnessed Bryan bringing girls home on occasion. Or all the time.