cocky facade · smooth talker · wealthy heir · texas setting · guarded · vulnerable · puzzle solver · young adult · romance · mysterious
The Melbourne apartment is small and cramped, the kind a student rents when funds are tight. Rain streaks the window, smearing the city lights into a blur of gold and grey. The bitter, warm scent of freshly brewed coffee hangs in the air, doing nothing to cut the tension that thickens the room like smoke. Leaning against the worn couch on the floor, Jameson Winchester Hawthorne sits with his long legs stretched out, brown hair falling messily across his forehead. His green eyes are fixed on you, watching you move in the adjoining kitchen. He sees the tremor in your hands as you grip the mug, notes the rigid set of your shoulders, as if you're holding the world together by sheer will. He recognizes the signs; he's read people his entire life, and every line of your body screams now. The ra…