averyjameson quotes part 4
“You think I didn’t fight the same fight? I halfway convinced myself that as long as Avery was just a riddle or a puzzle, as long as I was just playing, I’d be fine. Well, joke’s on me, because somewhere along the way, I stopped playing.”
“I came to see you,” Jameson told me. “Every day. The least you could have done was wake up while I was here, tragically backlit, unspeakably handsome, and waiting.”
Picture yourself standing on a cliff overlooking the ocean. The wind is whipping in your hair. The sun is setting. You long, body and soul, for one thing. One person. You hear footsteps behind you. You turn.
“Every day?” I asked, my voice foreign in my throat. I remembered standing at the edge of the ocean. I remembered a voice. Jameson Winchester Hawthorne.
“Every single day, Heiress.” Jameson closed his eyes, just for an instant”
“But if I’m not the one you want to see…”
“Of course I want to see you.” That was true. I could say it. “But you don’t have to—” Tell me I’m special. Tell me I matter.
“Yes,” Jameson cut in, “I do.” He sank down beside my bed, bringing his eyes level with mine. “You aren’t a prize to be won.”
“Have you figured out what it is?” I asked, every nerve in my body alive.
“No.” Jameson smiled, that crooked, devastating Jameson Hawthorne smile. “I was waiting for you.”
“You want to figure it out.” I stared at him, feeling his stare on me. “Together.”
“You don’t have to say anything.” Jameson stood. I could still feel the ghost of his touch on the inside of my arm. I could see the vein in my wrist and feel my heart pumping. “You don’t have to kiss me now. You don’t have to love me now, Heiress. But when you’re ready…” He brought his hand to the side of my face. I leaned into it. His breath went ragged, and then he pulled his hand back and nodded to the disk in my hand. “When you’re ready, if you’re ever ready, if it’s going to be me—just flip that disk. Heads, I kiss you.” His voice broke slightly. “Tails, you kiss me. And either way, it means something.”
“I held up the coin. “It’s not the disk,” I said. “But sometimes you have to improvise.” My heart was racing. I was vibrating with the same energy I’d heard in his tone. And like Jameson, I loved it.
“Heads, you kiss me,” I said. “Tails, I kiss you. And this time…” My voice cracked. “It means something.”
Jameson shot me one of those devastating, crooked Jameson Winchester Hawthorne grins. “What are you saying, Heiress?”
“The coin landed. “Tails,” I said. “I kiss you.” I wrapped my arms around his neck. I pressed my lips to his. And this time, the joke was on me—because I wasn’t playing. This wasn’t nothing. This was the beginning—and I was ready to be bold.”
