Chapter 3
Amethyst smiled at Chloe, Gabby, and Ashleigh as they sat at a tall round table at a local restaurant two days later. “I’m so glad you were all free tonight.”
“Me too,” Ashleigh said. “I don’t know what we’d do without you to organize these things.”
“It’s my pleasure,” Amethyst said with a smile. She loved getting together with her friends, and she was happy to set it up.
“I’m just glad we could pull Gabby away from Travis for one night,” Chloe added with a grin.
Gabby smiled. “So sorry that Travis wants to spend all of his free time with me.”
“No you’re not,” Chloe said with a smirk.
“No,” Gabby said. “I’m not.”
They all laughed.
“So,” Amethyst said a moment later. “I have a new neighbor.”
Ashleigh’s eyebrows rose. “And?”
“And all I know is that his name’s Justin.”
“Is he single?” Chloe asked.
“Is he cute?” Ashleigh asked at the same time.
Amethyst looked at Chloe. “I don’t know, but he seems to be alone.” Then she looked at Ashleigh. “Most definitely.”
“Well,” Ashleigh said, her voice ringing with enthusiasm. “That sounds promising.”
A wry smile curved Amethyst’s mouth. “I don’t know. I brought him a plate of cookies the other day, and he barely said two words to me.”
Gabby’s eyebrows pulled together. “Hmm. Maybe he’s not single. Maybe he’s in the middle of an ugly break-up.”
“That would be my luck,” Amethyst murmured.
“You know,” Chloe said with a glint in her eye. “You do need to get your plate back from him.”
Chuckling, Amethyst nodded. “True. And it is one of my favorite plates.”
“Let us know what happens,” Ashleigh said, as if going back to his house was a forgone conclusion.
“You know I will,” Amethyst said, then she lifted her drink and took a swallow.
Amethyst spent the next morning, Saturday, cleaning her small house, then she went out back to work in the yard. As she weeded the flower bed that lined the fence she shared with Justin, she listened for any sound coming from his side of the yard.
What was she doing? The man was obviously not interested in making friends with her, so she just needed to let it go.
But her innate need to bring people together wouldn’t let her give up so easily. She would just drop by and see if he was done with her plate. That was a reasonable excuse to go over there.
Smiling, she finished working in the yard, then showered. As she put on her make-up, she caught herself doing an extra careful job and held back a frown as she admitted to herself that she wanted to put her best foot forward when she faced Justin again.
Sighing, she fixed her hair, then she made herself do some work in her studio before finally walking out her front door and over to Justin’s house. Moments later she pressed the doorbell, and when she heard footsteps approaching, she was surprised to feel her heart beat a little harder.
Sawyer had seen his neighbor—Amethyst—approaching the house, and though he’d momentarily considered not answering the door, he’d decided it wouldn’t hurt to see what she wanted. It wasn’t like he had to be friendly. In fact, this would be his chance to be decidedly unfriendly.
Pushing a frown onto his face—which wasn’t hard when he considered the danger he was in—Sawyer pulled the door halfway open. “Can I help you?” His voice sounded gruff and impatient.
The smile melted from Amethyst’s mouth, which made Sawyer feel like a total jerk.
But wasn’t that what he was trying to do? How else was he going to discourage her from coming over?
Still, he didn’t like it, especially the way the bright light in her emerald-green eyes seemed to dim. Why did she have to be so beautiful?
“Sorry,” she said, her voice a soft lilt. “I didn’t mean to bother you. I just…I was wondering if I could get my plate back.”
“Uh, yeah. Sure.” Leaving her standing on the porch, Sawyer closed the door and went into the kitchen where the cookies sat untouched. It’s not that he didn’t like cookies, but his stomach had been in knots ever since he’d left Los Angeles the week before and he’d hardly been able to eat at all.
He dumped the cookies onto one of the paper plates stacked on the counter then went back to the front door. He held out the empty plate. “I, uh, I didn’t have a chance to wash it.” Holding back the smile that wanted to break forth as he looked at her, he said, “Thanks for bringing them over.”
Half wishing she would leave, and half glad that she didn’t seem in a hurry to go anywhere, Sawyer resisted the temptation to invite her in.
“You’re welcome.” Then, determined to find out at least a little about her new neighbor, Amethyst asked, “What brings you to Emerald Falls, Justin?”
There was that panic on his face again, and though he quickly recovered, this time she was certain of what she’d seen.
What was going on with him?
Sawyer had to be careful. He hadn’t completely worked out his cover story yet.
“I, uh,” he began. “I’m starting a new job.”
“What do you do?” Amethyst asked.
“I’m in sales.” Then, before she could ask a follow-up question, he asked, “What about you? What do you do?”
What was he doing? He should stop talking and shut the door.
“I design jewelry,” she said. “I sell it online as well as in some local boutiques.”
Sawyer couldn’t miss the way her face lit up as she spoke about her work, and before he could stop himself, he said, “So you work from home?”
Why did he want to know that? It wasn’t like he was going to go over and visit her.
“Yes,” she said as her smile grew. “I have a little studio where I spend most of my time.” She paused a beat. “What about you? Don’t people in sales work from home a lot?”
Sawyer opened his mouth to tell her that yes, he worked from home—although in reality he wasn’t working at all—but before he spoke, his brain finally took control and he frowned before saying, “Actually, I’m on the road a lot, so you probably won’t see much of me.”
Maybe that would discourage her from dropping by.
Amethyst nodded. “Okay.” Still curious about Justin’s story, she wanted to probe more, but got the feeling he wasn’t ready to open up to her.
“I’d better get back to it,” he said with a half-smile.
“All right. Well, if you need any suggestions on where to eat or anything, let me know.”
“Sure thing.”
He’d never opened his front door all the way, giving Amethyst the sense that he wasn’t interested in a prolonged conversation.
“Thanks again for the cookies,” he said before taking a step back in an obvious attempt to get her to leave.
“You’re welcome.”
A second later he shut the door. Feeling dismissed, Amethyst turned and walked back to her house.
Dissatisfied with her interaction with Justin, she decided she wasn’t ready to give up on him yet. He was new in town, and as a long-time resident, it was up to her to make him feel at home.
She let herself into her house and held back a smile.
Was that really the reason, or did she find him too attractive to ignore?
When she imagined reporting back to her friends, she softly chuckled. They were going to tell her to go back over there and try harder. But in reality, she didn’t need their encouragement at all.
Chapter 4
“You know I can’t do that,” Sawyer said into the phone, urgency in his voice.
“Don’t you think it would be better than hiding out?” Paul said, his tone insistent. “If you came back and confronted Tyler, what’s the worst that could happen?”
“You don’t know what you’re suggesting.” But Sawyer did. He’d seen what Tyler and his peopl
e were capable of. Tyler had made sure Sawyer knew what would happen if he turned against him. At a minimum, he would get a severe beating. He didn’t want to consider the worst.
His gaze shot around the living room, his heart pounding as if they’d found him. Pacing from one end of the small room to the other, he tried to come up with a way to explain his decision to his good friend.
“Paul,” he began, “I had to do what I thought was right. I knew it would be a risk, but I couldn’t continue down the same path.”
“You really had no idea what kind of people you were getting involved with when they hired you?”
Feeling like an idiot for his naiveté, Sawyer closed his eyes and shook his head. “I really didn’t know, okay?” His breath came out in a rush. “But I do now.” He knew his longtime friend was on his side. “Thank you—again—for letting me stay in your mom’s old house.”
Paul sighed. “It’s not like I’ve been using it. And maybe you’ll stay hidden in that little town.”
“Yeah.”
“What are you going to do?” Paul asked.
Sawyer stopped in front of the window and stared at the quiet street, then massaged his forehead. “I don’t know yet. I need a little more time to figure this out.” Grateful to have one person to talk to about his situation, Sawyer hoped Tyler didn’t know he and Paul were friends—in the few months he’d worked for Tyler, he’d never discussed his personal life. But Tyler had resources, so Sawyer couldn’t be sure he wouldn’t discover the connection.
“You need to be careful too, Paul.”
“Why? Do you really think Tyler would approach me?”
He didn’t want to worry Paul, but he had to make sure he understood the potential danger. “I don’t know, but…just be careful, okay?”
“I will, but I’m not worried. You said you don’t think Tyler knows we’re friends.”
“Right.” But he couldn’t know for sure. Worried for his friend’s safety as much as for his own, Sawyer closed his eyes.
“I’m sure I’ll be fine, but keep me posted.” Paul paused a beat. “I’m here for you.”
Sawyer opened his eyes and let his lips turn up in a small smile. “I appreciate that. I really do.” As Sawyer told Paul good-bye, he saw Amethyst walk down her driveway to her mailbox. His gaze stayed on her as she removed the mail then began sorting through it as she slowly walked back to her house.
Tucking his phone into his back pocket, Sawyer wished he’d met her under different circumstances. But he wouldn’t have met her at all if he hadn’t been on the run from Tyler and his goons.
His mouth twisting into an expression of irony, Sawyer watched until Amethyst walked through her front door. Maybe getting to know her wouldn’t be the end of the world.
With a deep frown, Sawyer huffed out a laugh. “Yeah, right. That would be even more idiotic than taking the job with Tyler had been.” Well, maybe not more idiotic, but certainly a bad idea.
Smiling to herself, Amethyst dropped the junk mail in the trash, then went into her studio to begin working on a custom piece she’d been looking forward to starting. As she worked, she thought about Justin and tried to think of the best way to make him feel welcome in Emerald Falls.
Maybe she could throw a barbecue and invite him. That way he would get to know some people in town, yet he wouldn’t feel like she was pressuring him to spend time with her.
Satisfied with the idea, she called her friends to see who would be available on Monday evening. Most were, so she set it up. She would speak to Justin the next day and convince him to come.
When a knock sounded on Sawyer’s door the next afternoon, he peered through the peephole before reaching for the door.
Happy to see his pretty red-headed neighbor standing on his porch, he reminded himself that he needed to discourage this habit she seemed to have of coming over. Yet he didn’t really want to. Ever since he’d fled LA, he’d been alone with limited forays away from what he considered his sanctuary. And he didn’t like it. Normally someone who enjoyed socializing with others, he’d found it painful and lonely to be in hiding.
That was why he had to figure out how to resolve this—preferably without Tyler finding him first.
Holding back a frown, Sawyer opened the door.
“Hi, Justin,” Amethyst said.
Almost flinching at the use of his alias, Sawyer forced a small smile onto his mouth. “Hi.”
Amethyst returned his smile, glad she’d come over. He really was a good-looking man. She just wished he wasn’t so standoffish.
“Hey,” she began, “so tomorrow I’m having a few friends over for a barbecue and I wanted to see if you’d like to join us. You know, get to know some of the residents of Emerald Falls.”
Though his hesitation was obvious, Amethyst wasn’t discouraged.
“It’s just a few people,” she went on when he didn’t reply.
In any other circumstance, Sawyer would have jumped at the invitation. But this wasn’t any other circumstance. This was the result of his bad decision to get involved in Tyler’s organization.
“Thanks for the invite,” he finally said, “but I don’t know if I’ll be able to make it.”
The look of disappointment on Amethyst’s face made Sawyer want to change his answer, but he didn’t.
She smiled, which lit up her whole face, making Sawyer regret turning down her invitation even more.
“All right,” she said. “But I hope you’ll be able to come.”
He nodded. “Thanks.”
They stood in silence, Sawyer hating that he couldn’t be himself.
“Okay,” Amethyst said. “I’ll talk to you later.”
He hoped so. “Bye.” He’d almost added her name, but knew doing so would only make it harder to keep her at arm’s length.
Amethyst was discouraged that Justin had turned down her invitation. Maybe she was wasting her time. Maybe he was kind of a hermit and didn’t like to be around people.
Nearly ready to give up on him, when she glanced back at his house as she walked across the grass, she saw him watching her from his front window. And to her surprise, he lifted his hand in a wave.
Optimism shot through her as she waved back, and as she walked into her house, she couldn’t get the smile off of her face.
Chapter 5
Amethyst finished setting out the food for the barbecue as her guests began to arrive. Travis and Gabby were the first, and when they walked through her gate, their fingers intertwined, Amethyst smiled.
“Hello, you two,” she said as she approached them.
“Hi,” Gabby said before giving her a brief hug.
Cody showed up a few minutes later, then Chloe and Ashleigh, and finally Gage.
“Looks like everyone’s here,” Amethyst said even as her gaze shifted to Justin’s house.
“I hope you don’t mind,” Gage said as he held out a large box, “but I brought something from my bakery for dessert.”
“You know I never mind treats, Gage,” Amethyst said with a laugh.
“That’s what I was counting on.”
She smiled as he set the box on the table that was loaded with all the side dishes the others had brought.
When the meat was done, they filled their plates before sitting at another table.
“I’m hoping to get a glimpse of this neighbor of yours,” Chloe murmured as she sat beside Amethyst.
“You and me both. I invited him, but he turned me down.”
Chloe frowned. “Bummer.”
The sounds of a party coming from Amethyst’s backyard made Sawyer long to join them.
He should go over there. She’d invited him, after all.
But fear kept him in place. Fear of too many people seeing him, which could lead to Tyler finding him.
As the party began to wind down and Justin still hadn’t shown up, Amethyst knew he’d never intended to come. Tamping down her disappointment, she focused on her friends, and after they’d left, she turned he
r attention to cleaning up.
Sawyer watched as the last car drove away. He hated feeling like such an outsider, but knew that’s just the way it was and that he’d better get used to it. He walked into his kitchen and looked toward the fence he shared with Amethyst. Sure enough, he could see her red hair appear occasionally as she worked in her backyard.
The longing he’d felt earlier hit him again, stronger this time. What would it hurt to go over there now? Amethyst was all alone, and she already knew what he looked like. It wasn’t as if her seeing him would make it more likely Tyler would find him.
He watched her for another minute, then he set down the glass of water he’d been drinking and headed toward the front door.
The sound of her gate opening caught Amethyst by surprise. Expecting to see one of her friends, when she saw Justin instead, a small gasp slipped from her lips, but it was quickly followed by a bright smile.
“Justin. Hi.” She set down the bowl she’d been about to carry inside and went toward him. “You’re a little late,” she said with a laugh. “But I’m glad you came.”
“I’m sorry I missed your friends.”
Thrilled that he’d actually come, she said, “That’s okay.” Then she gestured to the kitchen door, which stood open. “If you’re hungry, I have leftovers inside.”
He smiled. “I’m starving, actually.”
“Great. Follow me.” Leading the way, Amethyst walked into her kitchen with Justin right behind her. She gestured to the food that sat on the counter. “There’s not a lot left, but please, help yourself.”
When he picked up a plate and began spooning food onto it, Amethyst couldn’t hold back her curiosity any longer. “Why didn’t you come over earlier?” He didn’t look at her as she asked the question. Maybe he was the kind of person who didn’t like parties but was too embarrassed to admit it.
He glanced at her, but when he spoke he looked at the bowl of potato salad in front of him. “I, uh, I had some stuff I had to do.” Then he glanced at her again, this time with a smile.
Dangerous Lies: Sawyer and Amethyst (An Emerald Falls Romance, Book Two) Page 2
