A/N: It was brought to my attention that there was 0 Sawyer/Juliet interaction in the last chapter. My bad. I hadn't even noticed.
.

.

"Oh my god!" he exclaimed. "Juliet Carlson? Is that really you?"

If she had been surprised to find Sawyer in her home, now she was shocked by the fact that he was openly acknowledging the fact that they knew each other already. What on earth could he be possibly up to? Was he here to sabotage her? Get back at her for screwing up his con?

Nevertheless she tried to keep her features unreadable, she didn't want him knowing that he set her off balance. She stared at him straight in the eyes, and he stared back, she could feel the tension build up between them, but neither of them had any intention whatsoever of giving an inch.

"You two know each other?" Edmund looked back and forth at both of them with curiosity in his eyes.

"Know each other?" Sawyer said, and Juliet could tell that Edmund's reaction was exactly what he had been looking for. What was he going to say now? Something about not knowing she was married, hence why he called her by her maiden name, and then making up a lie about them having a more than torrid and passionate one night stand. That would seriously screw up her and Valerie's plans to bring down Edmund.

"Know each other?" Sawyer repeated. "We went to the same college."

WHAT?! She forgot to breathe for a minute. What was he doing? The same college? Had he gone insane? Why was he doing this?

Her heart was beating so fast in her chest, it felt like it was going to explode.

"We weren't in any of the same classes. What a small world," he sighed as he approached her, and pulled her in for a hug. He held her slightly too close for her liking, but he smelt so good, right then and there she realised that she had missed the smell of his aftershave, she almost gave into the hug, but quickly snapped out of it. She was going to play along with his game, it was her only way out right now, but she wouldn't fall for him. She had learned her lesson, the hard way.

"Who would have thought?" she forced a smile, as she backed out of his arms. She looked over at Edmund, who was sporting his confused faced, he was in a situation where she wasn't in control, and Juliet knew he didn't like it.

"So what?" Edmund asked puzzled. "You two sat together in biology class?"

"No," Juliet replied, before Sawyer had the opportunity to speak. "When I was a freshman, James here was a senior. Besides, I was a pre-med, whereas he studied literature."

"Literature, eh?" Edmund said, unconvinced. "You don't seem the type."

"You shouldn't judge a book by its cover," Sawyer countered. "I love the books."

"I see reading as a big waste of time, time that would be better being spent on other things," Edmund commented.

"All the great men of this world read. Winston Churchill said he read one book a night, and he still managed to be a formidable leader," Sawyer remarked.

Juliet tried to stop herself from smiling, Edmund being told off was a scene she had hoped to live and see.

She cleared her throat and suggested that they head to the dining room, before dinner got cold. She disappeared into the kitchen for a moment, and came back with extra cutlery and a plate for Sawyer and set them down in front of him, before sitting down in her own seat.

"So if you two weren't in any classes together," Edmund began. "How did you meet?"

She glanced up at Sawyer, he was the one who made up lies for a living, so best leave it to the pro, she thought. Apparently he got the hint, because he launched himself into an intricate story about how exactly they had gotten to know each other.

According to him, they had met at a party, that he and his "buddies" had crashed, the party had turned out to be one of the most boring events of the semester, but somehow they had wound up talking to each other, about everything and nothing, but then she had left the party without giving him her name. He had been a bit crushed, but a couple of days after, they had bumped into each other, she was on her way into the library, and he was on his way out. From then on they had been friends.

"Just friends?" Edmund had asked suspiciously. Edmund thought that there was no such thing are purely platonic male/female relationships.

"Yeah, well," Sawyer chuckled. "I sort of had a thing for her back in the day, but she wasn't having any of it."

Edmund burst out laughing, "As if Juliet would ever appeal and actually have a shot with a guy like you. Unless you were some sort of skinny, nerdy and awkward geek back then too."

.

***

.

Sawyer shot Edmund a death stare, but the other man was gazing down at his plate, and didn't even notice.

How dare he?

He looked over at Juliet, she was trying to not look hurt by her husband's comment, but he could see that she was. She noticed that he was looking at her, and he tried to convey her some sympathy with his eyes, but she just looked the other way. He couldn't believe that Juliet actually thought that Edmund was right, and that she couldn't get a guy like him (or the guy he was pretending to be). Juliet could have any man her heart desired, and whoever that lucky guy was should thank the lord every day for his good fortune.

How could Edmund not realise how fantastic his wife was? It outraged him.

It made him want to punch Edmund, beat him to a pulp, bash his head against a wall to knock some sense into him.

It made him want to get up, right now. And throw Juliet on the table, and take her, right there and then, beside the mashed potatoes, in front of Edmund. Just to show the little sleazy bastard what he was missing out on.

The sound of a phone ringing interrupted the clinking sound of their forks against their plates. It was Edmund's cell phone, and his ring tone was 'Darth Vader's Imperial March' from Star Wars, of course it was, he is just that obnoxious.

Edmund fumbled for the device in his poket and took a peak at the caller display, and grinned.

He cleared his throat, "Sorry, I have to take this. Important business call."

Business, my ass, thought Sawyer, with a grin like that pasted over his face, it could only mean one thing, the person calling him was a skirt.

Edmund got up and left the room.

Sawyer turned to Juliet, "How can you let him treat you like that?"

"What? I don't know what you mean," she feigned confusion.

"Like hell, Juliet. The man treats you like dirt, he insults you to your face."

She looked at him blankly.

"Listen, Juliet, I'm sure years of this kind of mental abuse can do serious damage to a person's self esteem, but damn it, you're a great person. A fantastic person! You shouldn't be treated like a piece of crap. You deserve so much better."

For a second, she seemed rather taken aback by his outburst, but she quickly concealed her feelings again, and said, "Oh really? And someone like who?"

"Someone who would love you, and respect you, and treat you right," he replied.

"Someone like you?" she asked ironically.

He didn't say anything, and they looked into each other's eyes for a long moment. The look meant everything and nothing at the same time. It was the most intense eye contact he had ever had with another human being. The air in the room felt stuffy, he was almost having trouble breathing.

He leaned forward towards her, she leaned towards him. He wanted to kiss her. He had to kiss her. He needed to kiss her. He was going to kiss her. He leaned even further, their lips were only inches apart now, she wasn't pulling away.

"Why are you here?" she whispered, as their lips almost touched.

They jumped apart when they heard Edmund barge back in the room. Excellent timing, jerk, Sawyer said to himself. But he didn't sit down, instead he announced, "I have to go out. Work emergency. You know, potential investors going crazy. I have to fly in and save the day."

"Work emergency, at 8 pm, wow, you certainly work hard," Sawyer couldn't help himself from saying.

"Yeah, these investors are in LA, it's still business time on the West Coast, and I must go and smooth things over via video conference, before they bail on us, and we come out short on funds."

This dude was the worst liar in the history of liars. And it was almost as if he knew everyone knew he was lying, and just didn't give a rat's ass about it, what a douche bag.

"Anyway, I'm sorry, I have to bail on you," he said to Sawyer. "I've got your business card, so I'll most definitely call you to talk a bit more about that business investment thing of yours. Just finish your dinner calmly, you and Jules can reminisce about the good old days, eh?"

He turned away and headed for the door, just as he was reaching it he called back "Don't get frisky now."

And then he laughed, as if it was the most absurd and preposterous idea of all times, he laughed all the way to the front door, the unnerving cackling only ceased after they heard the front door slam behind him.

"You know, I will have sex with you right now, just to spite him, if you want to," he joked, she laughed a little, and his heart fluttered.

He wondered if they were going to take off from where they had been before Edmund had ruined the moment.

"You know what," she sighed. "I need a drink. Follow me to the living room?" she said, standing up and leading the way out of the room.

He sat on the sofa, she handed him a glass of Rhum, and took the armchair. They sat in silence for a while, she was looking out of the window. Sawyer looked around the room. Everything was disproportionately large and flashy. It all looked expensive, a whole load of bling.

"Nice diggs, you got here," he said. "I honestly didn't peg you as a big, imposing, leather couch -just to show people how big my pay check is, kind of person."

"Edmund did the decorating," she said, turning her attention.

"Figures, I picture you in more soothing and neutral tones."

She looked at him oddly, "You didn't answer my question."

"What question was that?" Sweetheart, he had almost added, but he decided it wasn't the time to be a full blown smart ass.

"Why are you here?"

Of course, he had known that this was the question she was referring to, why was he here? Because he couldn't go another day, another hour, another minute without seeing her, if he told her that, in the best case scenario she would laugh in his face, and in the worse she would call it bull shit. Even though it wasn't, but she would never believe that.

"You hired me to do a job, I'm just here to execute it."

"Why didn't you run off? If you had any good sense, you'd have taken your opportunity to flee," she commented.

I don't have any good sense when you are involved, he sighed, "I owed you."

"As if that even mattered, I have nothing on you, you haven't committed any felonies, yet. You could have walked."

He stayed quiet, she kept talking, "Well … I'm officially letting you off the hook. You can go free. Leave Miami. You don't owe me anything, in fact, at the end of the day, you sort of did me a favour."

"What do you mean 'I did you a favour'?"

"This whole thing that happened with you pushed me to finally pull myself together and get out of this destructive dead end marriage I was trapped in," she revealed. "Edmund will be served divorce papers in the morning."

He smiled at her genuinely, "Juliet, I am so happy for you. I meant what I said earlier, you deserve much better than a guy like Edmund Burke. Hell, you deserve the best that life's got to offer."

He was not only pleased for her, he was actually proud of her, she was going to rid herself of that moron, and start fresh.

"For what it's worth," he began. "I truly and honestly am sorry about what I did to you. I never wanted to hurt you."

She looked at him with doubt in her eyes.

"Sure, when I came to Miami, my only intention was to con you out of all that money, in a typical 'wham, bam, thank you m'am' fashion. But then I got to know you, and I didn't want to hurt you. I know you'll never believe me, but, you know the day you came over to my hotel room and told me you knew everything, well I was going to come clean with you that day. I really was. I guess you beat me to the punch."

He chuckled half heartedly, staring at his shoelaces as if they were the most fascinating thing in the world, in order to avoid her gaze, he could feel her eyes on him. It was as if she could see right through him. He wished she really could, that way she would know he wasn't lying, not this time.

"I believe you," she said calmly, maybe she really could read his soul. He looked up at her, and she added, "It's okay now. As I said before, you're free to go."

They settled into an awkward silence, the tension in the air between them was building up again. Do you want me to go? He wanted to ask, but he was afraid to. He was scared of the answer. Scared that her answer would be 'no'. "If I go through with conning Edmund anyway, will you call the cops on me?"

"Why would you do that?" she questioned, sitting on the edge of her seat. They were as close as it was physically possible while staying seated.

"Because he deserves some form of punishment for hurting you," he said.

"And who's going to punish you?" she asked.

The fact that I'm never going to have you and make you mine is the worst punishment ever for me, he thought, but he didn't say it out loud.

But maybe he did say it out loud, because the next thing she said was, "I won't call the cops on you."

.

.

TBC …

.

A/N: There's your Sawyer/Juliet interaction. Albeit a bit on the cheesy/RomCom side, but nevertheless, it is there.

This chapter was definitely more fun to write than the last.

Thanks to everyone who takes the time to review, they make me happy, and urge me on :)

Oh, and I'm desperately trying to come up with an excuse to get out of a night on the town, I'd promised I'd go to, but I'd rather not (there's loads of people I can't stand going), so if you have any suggestions, please help me out.