I sat back down at the table completely flushed. Rory looks to me quizzically so I say, "I tripped on my way back from the bathroom over there. A bit embarrassed." He asks no further questions as I smooth my ruffled hair down and the waitress comes back over to take our order. With Austin being my brother I am used to waitstaff lingering around longer than necessary and this time is no different. Rory's gaze on the pretty girl gives me a moment to get my wits in order and I take a large gulp of my wine. To break up their flirt fest I interject, "Another Chardonnay would be swell thanks." She remembers there is another person at the party and blinks away her annoyance.

"I'll go put your order in," she says and then saunters away. Slightly annoyed I tell Rory, "If you want to take her home don't let me stop you. I'm merely here for the free wine." He laughs and then brings his full attention back to me. He rests his hand on my knee and I am almost waiting for Ryan to yell "Abort!" in my ear.

"I don't make a habit of shagging waitresses," he tells me smugly. I shrug, "Maybe she's also an actress. Or a law school student. Maybe this is Undercover Boss and she actually owns the joint." Rory doesn't know what to make of my sarcasm as he sits there confused. I know I need to not piss him off so I add, "Is a restaurant one of the things you own?" And he's back to his comfort zone.

"My cousin owns a pub in Ireland but that's it. The food industry isn't really our expertise," he tells me. He starts naming off other industries that are his expertise but all of it went completely over my head. As he babbles on about assets and capital gain I think back to Ryan and his odd behavior. He is never one to do it in public and tonight he practically threw himself at me. I'm wondering if he's struggling with the pretend aspect of this case. Rory wining and dining me at fancy restaurants, offering to take me to Europe, having his hands on me one way or another. Maybe that bathroom stint was reassurance for him.

Rory asks me a question that I completely miss and I shake my head, "I'm sorry what?"

"Where are you buying your wine from? For the winery?" He asks again and I reply, "Oh, the people that bought the vineyards from the Penderghasts. An older couple from California that have business in Napa as well."

"Well, I know a wine distributor that's an expert in French wines if you want to diversify your menu. I know the Penderghasts sold their wine exclusively but if you're looking to do something different," Rory suggests and I am actually open to the idea.

"I'm not stuck on bein' exclusive with Mississippi vineyards. I'd be open to meeting with your guy," I tell him. Rory nods, "You won't be disappointed." The food runner appears at our table and drops Rory's steak down followed by my salad. The waitress of course has to come and ask if we need anything else and I am surprised at Rory's short response back to her. I have to grin to myself as she walks away disappointed. The rest of the dinner we spend talking about wine in every sense of the word and I dare say I actually enjoyed myself.

As we walked outside Rory offers to take me back to his place for another drink but once again I decline due to work. I give my ticket to the valet and as I am waiting Rory pulls me into him for a kiss. I hesitate, not knowing where Ryan is in relation to us but his lips are on me before I can do anything. I pull away as quickly as possible and don't allow my eyes to close. I am not enjoying it and do not want to appear to be either. The valet pulls up with my car and Rory helps me inside.

"I'll see you at your party on New Years," he says and I smile back to him, "Should be fun." He closes my door and less than a second after I am back in the silence I hear Ryan, "Come home. I'll get your wire then." He says it flatly and I feel like I am in trouble. I punch his address into the G.P.S and head out towards his place.

*****

When I get to Ryan's the front door is unlocked and the patio light is on. I don't know how he beat me here. I push the door open and the living room is covered in darkness but the kitchen light is on. I continue on toward the back of the house and find Ryan pulling a beer from the fridge. He holds one up to me and I shake my head, "I've had enough already and have an early morning." He pops the top and then comes to settle next to me on the bar stools.

"I've been thinkin'," he starts and I spin the stool so I can face him. "that we have enough intelligence on this case to wade through that we can pull you out for a bit."

Surprised I ask, "Really? What changed between yesterday and today?"

He looks at his bottle before saying, "Yesterday I hadn't seen Rory with you. Today I have."

"Well, you heard how he was with me." I tell him but he instantly shakes his head, "Hearing a guy flirt with you is one thing, watching him kiss you is another."

"Well if you want me to stay out of the case I will. Aurora won't like it though," I admit and I catch Ryan's confusion.

"Since when do you care what Aurora likes?" He asks and I want to say since she threatened to blackmail me. But instead, I say, "I just know this case is both of your dangled carrot leading you to a promotion. Your boss wants it solved and Aurora is overly eager to solve it."

Ryan thinks while he takes a drink and then says, "Well we're clever agents. We can find another way to solve it without involving you." I'm taken back. He must catch my head pop back in surprise because he asks, "What?"

"Well if y'all are so clever why haven't you pulled me before tonight? When I'm uncomfortable it doesn't matter but as soon as you are you suddenly have another plan?"

Ryan squeezes his eyes shut and shakes his head for a split second. Perplexed he asks, "What? When were you uncomfortable? Why didn't you tell me?" My jaw hangs open as I berate myself for spilling the beans. In my silence, Ryan adds, "Why haven't you mentioned this until now?" He quickly becomes frustrated as I remain silent. Finally, before he explodes I confess, "Aurora didn't want you to know."

"Aurora? You told her you were uncomfortable? When? And why wouldn't she want me to know?" He asks completely bewildered.

I exhale a long breath through my teeth and reply, "I told her I didn't want to continue helping y'all after Rory kissed me the first time...and after the second time. Tonight was the third."

"Wait, he's kissed you before? I knew of the one time but..." Ryan asks.

I nod, "Yeah the first time was the ballet. I told Aurora after that. She knew about the other time at dinner too."

"After dinner?! That was a week ago! Jesus Sawyer, why am I just now hearing about this?" He snaps. He stands from the stool and runs his hands down his face in aggravation. "So you've kissed Rory every time you've been together?"

Suddenly I wave my hands in front of me as if to clear up any confusion, "Ryan, I did not kiss Rory ever. But Rory has now kissed me three times. And I would have told you but Aurora has been blackmailing me to keep silent."

Ryan looks to me like I've just spoken to him in Mandarin. He places his hands on his hips and snaps, "Blackmail? What the hell don't I know?"

"Not you. Annabeth. Gus and I talked at the holiday party about a prenup and after Gus's parents presented it to her Aurora knew where the whole idea stemmed from. She threatened to give our conversation about it to A.B if I told you I was wigged out by Rory," I confess, speaking so quickly I almost become tongue-tied.

Ryan's green eyes shine with anger. I've seen him angry in general before but this is the first time it's solely directed at me. Usually, he gets frustrated with me and his tantrums end in minutes but this is a different kind of anger I'm seeing. I'm not sure how to diffuse the situation.

"It was worth you keeping this from me? A conversation about a damn prenup?" He asks puzzled.

I nod, "Yes, if Annabeth found out it was Gus and not his parents demanding a prenup she would call off the wedding."

Ryan rolls his eyes- something I never see him do- and snarls, "Oh so lying to me and she is a much better choice, Sawyer? Really?"

"That's not fair, I wanted to tell you. I didn't want to lie to you, Aurora did. If you wanna be mad, be mad at her!" I cry out but he refuses to look at me.

"You could have come to me Sawyer, I could have figured something out. I think you know that and Aurora was a nice excuse."

Confused I ask, "An excuse for what?"

"To keep going out with Rory! After the first time he kissed you you should have backed off. But instead, you found a nice excuse to keep seeing him," Ryan yells back at me.

"Oh yeah, I really wanted to hang out with pompous ass Rory Cunningham when I already have a million things on my plate. I wanted him to shove his tongue down my throat and caress my leg all though a disgusting dinner. I wanted to hang out with your ex-girlfriend or whatever the hell she was instead of spending time with you, yeah you're right Ryan I wanted all that," I seethe out.

"You made out with Rory?" Ryan yells and I am appalled that out of everything I said that was what he lingered on.

"Oh my god, Ryan you are focusing on all the wrong things! Aurora forced me into these situations and I never once reciprocated anything. This was all for your promotion you know," I tell him but he's having none of it. He starts walking out of the kitchen but something forces him to spin around and ask, "How far would you have gone Sawyer? Before the threat of the blackmail would no longer matter."

"Jesus, are you askin' me if I would have slept with him?" I ask bewildered. He stays silent and his eyes are locked on mine so I know that is exactly what he is asking. "I'm not even going to pretend you actually think I would ever sleep with anyone other than you," I reply back.

"I don't know what you'd do anymore Sawyer. For me, you, Annabeth...I really don't know," he says quietly before he turns back to head towards the stairs. He leaves me standing alone in the kitchen perplexed at what just happened. I tell him Aurora was forcing me to stay quiet and all of a sudden Ryan no longer trusts me? I hate Aurora at this moment and I hate that I didn't go to Ryan sooner. He's right, he would have figured something out and knew how to deal with her but instead, I assumed it would all work itself out and I'm paying the price.

I listen to his heavy footsteps storm up the steps and I follow them into his bedroom. He kicks the door shut and I remain annoyed in the kitchen. Fine, he wants to pout, I'll let him, But I am not going up there and accepting all the blame in this. Instead, I grab my keys off the counter and stride out to my car. I slam my car door shut after I drop inside but wait for a moment to see if Ryan is going to come out here to try and make amends.

When the front door stays shut I roll my eyes and seethe all the way back to my mother's house.