Free Getting to Her: A Sapphire Falls BONUS Novella by Erin Nicholas

Again is a full-service bar. How in the hell am I supposed to avoid serving things they serve?”
    Hailey narrowed her eyes and stepped up to his desk. “Exactly. That would never work. Which is why opening a bar and grill in Sapphire Falls is a terrible idea.”
    Ty felt his mouth drop open. Was she fucking kidding?
    “You mean the idea that I said no to from the very beginning? The bar and grill I wanted no part of from the first minute I heard about it? That bar and grill?” he asked. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
    “I don’t want or need your money. Or your business anymore, Ty. The whole project is complete. Without you.” She put her hands flat on his desk and leaned in. “But you didn’t say no from the very beginning because it was a bad idea. You said no because it would piss me off. I could have asked you for anything and you would have said no. If you had, even once , sat down like a grown-up and had a business discussion about this, we would have agreed on this months ago.”
    He didn’t know which thing to comment on first. That she was completely wasting his fucking time, that she had come all this way just to tell him that she didn’t need his money, or that…she was right.
    But then it hit him. She hadn’t come all this way to tell him she didn’t need his money.
    She’d come all this way to see him.
    “I wasn’t the only one to say no. I couldn’t have been.”
    “No,” she agreed, pushing back from the desk. “You weren’t. But you were the only one who did it out of spite.”
    “You think I did it out of spite?” he asked, truly surprised.
    “Didn’t you?” she tossed back.
    He watched her as he thought about how to respond. He hadn’t done it because she’d left him on the riverbank. He’d known she would leave. He’d been disappointed, but not surprised.
    He’d done it because he wanted her to want something from him.
    Nice? No. Mature? Not especially. Effective? Apparently.
    “Madam Mayor,” he said, lowering his voice. “We’re done talking about the building project. It’s over.”
    She looked taken aback. She crossed her arms and lifted her chin—her sign of bravery. “Fine.”
    “Now I want you to walk to my office door. And when you get there, you have a choice. You can either walk through it and shut it behind you. Or you can stay on this side of it. And lock it.”
    She stared at him. Her mouth formed a little O and her arms dropped to her sides.
    “Wh— What?”
    “You heard me.”
    She’d heard and she’d understood. She had a choice to make. If she stayed, she knew exactly what was going to happen.
    No, actually that wasn’t true. She couldn’t know exactly what would happen. Because she didn’t know that Ty had become her dream lover over the past seven years.
    But she had an inkling.
    She pulled her shoulders back, licked her lips and turned away from him.
    Ty hated it but he watched her, not knowing what her decision would be and unwilling to do anything else to influence it.
    She got to the door and gripped the doorknob. But she didn’t even pause. She pushed the door shut, stepped forward and turned the lock.
    “Come here.” The command was gruff and low.
    Ty came out from behind his desk as she walked back toward him on those fuck-me heels. Oh yeah, she was definitely leaving those on.
    He moved to the front of his desk and leaned back on it as he had when she’d first come into the office.
    “Take your clothes off. Shirt first.”
    On that riverbank, he’d been a kid. He hadn’t felt like it at the time and, looking back, he thought he’d done okay that night. She’d had an orgasm. She’d been happy.
    But the hints of dominance from him had turned her on. He saw that even clearer now. He’d also been sweet and loving. He’d made love to her that night, even if she didn’t know it. And she’d walked away. He hadn’t been surprised, but it had hurt. He could admit that. To himself anyway.
    She was walking away today