The Outskirts (The Outskirts Duet #1)

“I love your new house. How are you liking being a homeowner?” Josh asked.

“Honestly?” Sawyer looked up at the house. “I’d like it better knowing that Sterling wasn’t the one who bought it for me.”

“Sterling bought it for you?” Miller asked, scratching his head. He and Josh exchanged knowing glances. “What makes you think that?”

“He…he said the investor bought it for me. The one whose been helping all the people in town keep their houses. And since he and Finn were the only ones there that day when…” she trailed off as the realization took hold.

Miller winked and Josh chuckled.

“It was you,” Sawyer said, glancing over to me. “How? Is it your job or something?” Her confusion was downright adorable. “You bought me a house?”

All I could do in response was smile. My heart was swelling as her smile grew. Initially I had no plans to tell her, but I couldn’t let her think that shit-bag Sterling had bought it for her and associate it with him every time she looked at it.

“Finn don’t need to work, he’s the largest land owner in three counties. He leases land to the government,” Miller said between bites. He grabbed another roll from the basket and tore it open down the middle.

“What?” Sawyer gaped. “But you live in…” she looked over my shoulder toward the swamp shack.

“That’s not my house,” I said, pulling her down on my lap when she stood up from her chair.

“That’s just his hiding place,” Josh said. “And a lousy one at that. Miller and I have known where you were from day one.”

“We have?” Miller asked, sounding confused.

Josh just shook her head and chuckled. “Okay, I knew where you were,” she amended.

“So, is that your job? Or is it more of a passion of yours?” Sawyer asked innocently. I kissed her jaw and felt her shiver on my lap. I also felt the stares from across the table as Josh and Miller put their own two and two together and learned firsthand how serious I was about Sawyer.

“My passion is you,” I told her, watching her cheeks heat between the freckles. “I have a property management company that handles everything. I get a paycheck. And sometimes I use that paycheck to invest in other properties.”

“You bought me a house?” Sawyer repeated like she couldn’t believe it. “When?”

“The day you saw it in the junkyard. After I dropped you off at Critter’s, I went back and talked to Sterling. Set it all up that afternoon.”

“Thank you,” she said, her eyes dancing with wonderment. She looked up at her new house like she was seeing it again for the first time.

My heart swelled. Something inside me was shifting, and for once, I didn’t hate the way the new emotions were slowly moving guilt and self-hatred more and more to the background. I wanted Sawyer. And more than that?

I wanted to make Sawyer happy.

I also wanted to make her come again. And again, and again.

The vision of her coming apart in my arms during the storm was playing on a loop in my brain. I’d never seen anything so beautiful as when her body finally let go.

“Speaking of Sterling,” Josh started. “He won’t be bothering you ever again. You can be sure of it.”

“What did you do?” I asked.

Josh smiled and tossed her hair over her shoulders, her gold bracelets clanked together and her heavy earrings swayed. “Let’s just say I did the unthinkable. The darkest, dirtiest shit you can do to someone in the south,” she said, ending on a whisper.

“Oh shit,” Miller gasped, covering his mouth and speaking into his hand. “You told his mama, didn’t you?”

“I sure as shit did,” Josh smiled proudly. “She’ll do worse to him than I ever could by locking him up.”

“Thank you,” Sawyer said, reaching out and giving Josh’s hand a squeeze.

“No need to thank me. We’re family now.” Josh looked from Miller to Sawyer and then finally to me. “Right?” she asked with a tip of her chin.

“Right.”

It was a simple exchange. Only two words spoken. But with those two words, Josh was telling me we could move on. All of us.

Together.

“Are you going to try this?” I nodded to Sawyer’s wine glass.

She looked down into her glass and sniffed it. I knew she hadn’t been lying about never having tasted wine before when she picked up her glass with two hands and lifted it to her mouth.

The three of us watched her intently.

It was damned adorable the way she looked at me over the rim of her glass like she was asking me if she was doing it right.

I offered her a reassuring nod.

Sawyer took a large gulp and swallowed. She made a face like she’d bitten into something unexpectedly sour. “This,” she looked down into her glass and grimaced, “is really disgusting.”

We all laughed, including Sawyer, and the sound carried over the table and struck me right in the chest.

“You’ve really never had wine before?” Josh asked, pouring herself another glass.

“Nope,” Sawyer said, taking another small tentative sip. “This would be the first time.”

“Oh really? What else haven’t you done before?” Miller wagged his eyebrows suggestively. Josh and I exchanged knowing side glances, Sawyer frowned, not fully understanding his unique brand of innuendo.

“There are a lot of things I haven’t done. Some days I feel like I haven’t done MOST things.” Sawyer leaned forward in her chair.

The breeze picked up and blew a lock of hair in her face and I was mesmerized by the pure beauty that was Sawyer.

Then, as if she was reading my mind, she tucked the strand behind her ear.

“What is on your list? What would you like to do?” Josh asked, steering the conversation back into the PG zone.

Sawyer bit her bottom lip and her eyes lit up. She looked whimsically at the stars as she thought over her answer. “Mostly it’s little things.”

“Like what?” I found myself asking. I sipped my beer, staring at Sawyer over the bottle.

“Well, I’d like to read any book I want without it being approved. Which is why I wish the library was still open. “

“If it were, I’m pretty sure you and Finn would be the only people going there,” Josh said.

“Finn?” she asked, glancing up at me.

“Didn’t you know? Finn here has read like every book ever,” Miller said, stabbing his fork into a cheese cube.

“At least he knows how to read,” Josh muttered.

“I know how to read,” Miller argued, pointing the cheese at Josh. “Maxim has more than just pictures, you know.”

“What else?” I prompted, curious as to what else she could possibly have on her list. What else I could give her.

How else I could make her smile.

“Well, now that I’ve tasted wine…” Sawyer chuckled, taking another sip and grimacing all over again.

“It’s an acquired taste,” Josh assured her.

She smiled and sucked in air through her teeth. “Everything. Everything is on my list. I want to taste and experience everything life has to offer. It’s too short to waste and I’ve spent twenty-one years wasting it.”

“So, you’re saying that you want to commit crimes and rob banks?” I teased.