Free Getting His Way: Sapphire Falls Book Seven by Erin Nicholas Page A

school. Her best friend growing up had been Kacey Sherwood, one of Phoebe’s cousins, but Kacey’s family had moved away before junior high. Tessa had been one of those girls that everyone liked, but he couldn’t remember her being especially tight with anyone after Kacey.
    “And one of her friends told you?” Bryan asked. No way. For one thing, Kate, Delaney and Hope all had husbands—the men who had stolen their hearts on their supposedly temporary visits to town. For another, they were all very nice women who would never share a friend’s confidence.
    Then again, he’d also seen her in the Come Again with Peyton Wells a few times. Peyton was almost eight years younger than Tess, but they worked together at the bakery. Peyton had been there for a couple of years, but Tess had started helping out after Caitlyn had left the shop, and town, to go with Eli. Peyton was a bit of a wild child and definitely came off as more mature…or maybe it was just streetwise. She’d settled down a little since her half-sister, Hope, had come to town, but she still had an edge. But Peyton was loyal and wouldn’t spill a friend’s secret.
    Derek rolled his eyes. “I’m a bartender, Bry. People talk in bars.”
    “So you overheard this,” Bryan said. That made sense.
    “You know the kinds of things we overhear.”
    Even growing up in the small town where everyone knew everything about everyone else, Bryan was sometimes surprised by the private conversations people had inside the Come Again.
    Liquor did that to people.
    He nodded. “Yeah, I get it.”
    “So, anyway,” Derek said, propping a hip against the back counter and folding his arms. “I just wanted to be sure you realize what was going on here with Tess. And make sure it doesn’t mean more to her than it does to you.”
    With him being all protective of Tessa, his Tessa, Bryan realized that Derek was a pretty big guy. He had impressive biceps under the sleeves of his black T-shirt. He was probably six-two or three and in good shape. He was also three years younger than Bryan. Oh, and had a fully functioning spinal cord.
    Bryan narrowed his eyes and nodded. “I completely realize what’s going on with Tess. But thanks for looking out for her.”
    That seemed to be all Derek needed to hear. “Okay then.” He pushed off the counter and returned to his cleaning activities.
    Bryan thought it all over, and three minutes later, he realized he had no idea what the hell was going on with Tessa. She’d loved him for a quarter of a century—that sounded impressive when stated like that, and he thought maybe he’d use it the next time he talked to her. Now here he was, declaring that he wanted the relationship she’d been writing about in her diary all these years. She was a fricking virgin for God’s sake. She’d been saving herself for him . But she was fighting him?
    What ?
    And he was even more confused about the banging-on-his-desk stuff now. She was a virgin. What did she know about banging on any surface? And could he ogle her or not? Because he really wanted to. But there was surely some special care to be given a virgin.
    Though Bryan was absolutely not the guy to know about that.
    “Hey, Derek?”
    “Yeah, boss?”
    “You ever dated a virgin?”
    There was a beat of silence and then Derek started laughing.
    Bryan just waited for him to finish. “So that would be a no?” he asked mildly after Derek quieted down.
    “Uh, that would be a not-on-purpose,” Derek said. “My high school girlfriend was a virgin, of course. But I never got past third base there.”
    “So you’ve never been someone’s first?” Bryan asked.
    “Nope.”
    “Damn,” Bryan muttered, racking his brain for a friend of his who might have some experience with virgins. He came up very lacking.
    “But,” Derek said.
    Bryan’s head came up. “But?”
    Derek shrugged. “Not to be crude, but it’s kind of a blank slate then, right? I mean, she might not know what she likes and