From the Hawthorne Vault: Heads or Tails (AKA Leather Pants) Edition
I owe an apology to my Jameson girlies (well, all of you, but my Jameson girlies especially) for this being a day late. BUT! It’s here now, so without further ado: Chapter 2 of The Brothers Hawthorne! And don’t miss out on the prologue and chapter 1!
Chapter 2: Jameson
The roar of the falls. The mist in the air. The feel of the back of Avery’s body against the front of his. Jameson Winchester Hawthorne was hungry—for this, for her, for everything, all of it, more.
Iguazú Falls was the world’s largest waterfall system. The walkway they were standing on took them right up to the edge of an incredible drop-off. Staring out at the falls, Jameson felt the lure of more. He eyed the railing. “Do you dare me?” he murmured into the back of Avery’s head.
She reached back to touch his jaw. “Absolutely not.”
Jameson’s lips curved—a teasing smile, a wicked one. “You’re probably right, Heiress.”
She turned her head to the side, met his gaze, and arched an eyebrow. “Probably?”
Jameson looked back at the falls. Unstoppable. Off limits. Deadly. “Probably.”
~*~
They were staying in a villa built on stilts and surrounded by jungle, no one around for miles but the two of them, Avery’s security team, and the jaguars roaring in the distance.
Jameson felt Avery’s approach before he heard it.
“Heads or tails?” She leaned against the railing, brandishing a bronze and silver coin. Her brown hair was falling out of its ponytail, her long-sleeved shirt still damp from the falls.
Jameson brought his hand to her hair tie, then worked it slowly and gently down—and off. Heads or tails was an invitation. A challenge. You kiss me, or I kiss you. “Dealer’s choice, Heiress.”
“If I’m the dealer …” Avery placed a palm flat on his chest, her eyes daring him to do something about that wet shirt of hers. “We’re going to need cards.”
The things we could do, Jameson thought, with a deck of cards. But before he could voice some of the more tantalizing possibilities, the satellite phone buzzed. Only five people had the number: his brothers, her sister, and her lawyer. Jameson groaned.
The text was from Nash. Nine seconds later, when the satellite phone rang, Jameson answered. “Delightful timing, as always, Gray.”
“I take it you received Nash’s message?”
“We’ve been summoned,” Jameson intoned. “You planning to play hooky again?”
Each Hawthorne brother got a single nine-one-one a year. The code didn’t mean emergency so much as I want you all here, but if one brother texted, the others came, no questions asked. Ignoring a nine-one-one led to… consequences.
“If you say one word about leather pants,” Grayson bit out. “I will—”
“Did you say leather pants?” Jameson was enjoying this way too much. “You’re breaking up, Gray. Are you asking me to send you a picture of the incredibly tight leather pants you had to wear the one time you ignored a nine-one-one?”
“Do not send me a picture—”
“A video?” Jameson asked loudly. “You want a video of yourself singing karaoke in the leather pants?”
Avery plucked the phone from his hands. She knew as well as Jameson did that there would be no ignoring Nash’s summons, and she had a bad habit of not tormenting his brothers.
“It’s me, Grayson.” Avery examined Nash’s text herself. “We’ll see you in London.”
