𝐚 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐤𝐲 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐞

13 | heads nor tails

Jameson slammed a newspaper down on the dining table, startling the spoon out of my hand. Grinning, he bypassed my chair and nibbled on my ear on his way to his seat.

"We made the front page, Heiress."

I didn't see it as the triumph he did. Although Jameson was the best thing that I had, I preferred a private relationship. But for me, private was one word that shouldn't have been in my dictionary.

"We wouldn't have," I said, taking a slow bite of my cereal, "if you could keep your hands to yourself."

It wasn't an insult. It was a statement.

The whole world knew that Jameson couldn't keep his hands off me.

I liked it.

What I didn't like was that every photographer in the country seemed keen on capturing it. Not to mention proposing theories that pertained to everything from my choice of heels to the amount of times I smiled in their proximity.

Lately rumors had been flying that we were engaged.

Jameson kept feeding the fire, because he reveled in the attention.

"You're a drug, Heiress," he murmured. "And I have no intention of getting clean."

I blushed.

Jameson's smirk faded as he met my eyes. We'd both had a long night.

The skin around his eye was a deep shade of purple. Honestly, it looked worse than last night.

He scooted his chair against mine, forming a bench, and murmured, "How much sleep did you get?"

"An hour, tops."

His green eyes were soft, unlike their usual sharp alertness. "Good thing I have a surprise for you, then."

My eyes widened.

Jameson flashed a crooked grin. "Knew that would wake you up."

"What is it?" I asked. "A game?"

"Of sorts. Only I," he murmured, kissing my jaw, "can't help you."

I sighed. "Give me the clue."

Smirking, Jameson removed a small piece of paper from his back pocket.

In italic lettering, it read, Heads, you win, tails, I lose. Unfortunately, that's not the case in this clue. Without a dime, I need ten of these.

"Pennies," I translated immediately.

Jameson grinned. "And where would you find them?"

I paused, thinking. "The bank?"

Laughing, he specified, "On this property."

I reached for his back pocket, where his money usually was. "Your wallet?"

Jameson emptied the small leather square. Besides pennies and dimes, he had several coins and dollar bills. "Think, Heiress."

Since everything was done with cards nowadays, I doubted I had any pennies in my wallet either. Heck, the smallest bill I carried was probably a fifty.

I could certainly go to an ATM - or a credit union - and pull some pennies from my account, but I figured that wasn't what Jameson wanted. What he did want, however, was me to attend to a certain location.

Pennies were everywhere. People tended to drop them on the streets and down into gutters, since their worth seemed worthless when compared to larger sums of money. The only place I'd seen people particularly happy about them was perhaps when they tossed them into pool of water for good luck.

Luck.

Eyes brightening with the promise of success, I brushed past Jameson and made my way to the back of the dining hall. As I opened the double doors leading onto the back patio, my eyes searched wildly for the object of my concern. When I saw it, I began jogging.

Smiling, Jameson followed me.

The fountain glistened in the daylight.

I peeked my head down and inspected the blue water.

Just as I suspected, several coins were floating at the bottom of the pool. I bent and collected the pennies one by one.

Sure enough, there were ten.

Smiling, I deposited them into Jamison's palm. "Impressive, Heiress." He checked his watch. "Two minutes and thirty four seconds."

"What's my prize?"

"Me, of course." Jameson smirked before pulling out the real prize. It was a dime.

"That's all?" For a Hawthorne surprise, this was next to nothing.

Grinning, he readied himself to flip the coin. "Heads or Tails?" he asked, tossing it up several feet.

I snatched it, grinning back, before it could land. "Neither." Grabbing his face, I said, "I'm going to kiss you either way."

Jameson's smile only got bigger as our lips met several times. Repetitively.

As we kissed, I flipped the dime into the fountain.

But really, I didn't need luck.

Because I had Jameson.