Page 16 of Embers of You (Amity #1)

Jameson

Sutton’s doing her absolute best to avoid eye contact with me. Holding onto the teddy bear I won for dear life and I’m pretty sure that I’m walking around with a perpetual smirk on my face because of it.

I take my time picking out the ride for us to go on.

Pretending like I’m seriously weighing our options, even though I’ve known exactly which one I’d pick.

I just wanted an excuse to be around her longer.

I’m not ready for it to end. Because once she’s done holding up her end of our little deal, that’s it.

She’ll leave. Go home. And I’ll be standing here alone, trying to convince myself it didn’t mean more than it did.

This is the first time I’ve gotten to spend an extended amount of time with her since she came over to groom Juniper. Even then I tried not to hover because I knew she wouldn’t want that. Right now, she’s not complaining but she’s also not saying anything, either.

“How about the Ferris wheel,” I finally offer after the third time we’ve made a rotation around the small fairgrounds.

“That works.”

We walk toward the ride, and there’s a short line, but it moves quickly.

“You’re going to need to leave the bear with me,” the attendant tells Sutton.

“Guess you can’t use him as a buffer between us,” I joke.

“I wasn’t going to do that.”

“I don’t think I believe that.”

Sutton sets the stuffed toy down by the attendant’s stand before we both sit on the small bench seat on the ride. The bar comes down across our laps and the attendant says, “Enjoy.”

The ride starts to take us up, and Sutton is looking around, taking in the view as we get higher. I’m just looking at her.

Everything about her pulls me in. From her dark green eyes, to the perfect slope of her nose and her plush pink lips. But it’s more than that. She’s strong, funny, and enthralling. She’s everything I’ve ever wanted in my life but never found. She’s completely and utterly perfect.

“What’re you staring at?” she finally asks, not looking at me.

“The only thing worth looking at up here.”

I hear her sharp intake of breath as she turns to look at me and this view is even better than just her dimly lit profile against the setting sun. Her eyes flick down to my mouth, then back up to mine.

“Why do you keep doing that?” She sighs.

“Doing what?”

“Saying things like that.”

“Like what? The truth?”

She opens and closes her mouth in the way she does when I’ve caught her off guard. I stretch my arm out around the back of the bench, not touching her. She does the most surprising thing, and scoots closer, ever so slightly so our sides are completely pressed together.

Sutton looks up at me, gaze bouncing between my eyes and my lips once again. “You make it really hard to justify being just your friend.”

“You’re the only one making that a rule.” She presses into my side a little harder, and I feel myself leaning down slightly. “I’ll take whatever you’re willing to give me.”

“I have nothing to give,” she practically whispers, our faces only a couple inches apart.

“That’s okay, because I’m here regardless.”

Our foreheads are almost touching as we both lean toward each other. I feel her breath caressing my lips and we’re closer than we’ve ever been. I think she’s going to let me kiss her, and before it’s even happened, I already know it’s going to be the greatest kiss of my life.

Because it’s her. It’s Sutton.

Without thinking about it I bring my hand up to her cheek, cupping it, and running my thumb along her jaw, tilting her chin up just slightly, enough so our lips barely graze each other. It’s not a kiss, not yet, but she hasn’t stopped me. And I don’t think she’s going to.

“Alright, time to get off,” the voice of the ride attendant breaks through the haze we’ve found ourselves in. I watch Sutton’s eyes shoot up to mine right before she scoots away from me, seeming to realize exactly what was about to happen.

Her head is ducked as she stands up and beelines away from the ride. I remain seated a moment longer to glare at the attendant.

“Really? You couldn’t have let us have one more time around?”

He shrugs. “Sorry, man.”

I sigh, racing after Sutton because I know she’s going to try and push me away again. I hope she doesn’t, because she can deny it all she wants but we had a moment. And for that brief moment, I managed to break down one of the many walls she’s built around herself.

“Sutton, hold on.” I jog to catch up with her after snatching up the teddy bear she didn’t remember to grab in her haste to get away from me.

It doesn’t take long for me to catch up, stepping in front of her, effectively blocking her path as I hold the bear out to her. “You forgot this.”

She freezes, panic written all over her face, probably already regretting what we came so close to doing. I don’t want her to regret it. I don’t want her to be afraid. She takes the stuffed bear hesitantly with a small, “thank you.”

"How’re you getting home?” I ask, because maybe if I pretend like the Ferris wheel didn’t happen then she won’t freak out as much.

“I came with Bailey because we’re neighbors, so I was going to… oh. ” She seems to realize that Bailey left and that was her ride home.

“I can give you a ride if you need,” I offer easily.

“No, no that’s okay. I can call a ride-share or a taxi,” she says, waving me off.

“Sutton.” I give her a pointed look and put on a fake southern accent. “I know you’re still getting used to this small-town life, but ‘round here we don’t have those fancy shubers or taxi cabs.”

A laugh bubbles out of her, and I smile proudly at the fact that I was able to get it out of her.

“Seriously, though, let me give you a ride home.”

She sucks her bottom lip between her teeth, nibbling on it slightly, and it only serves as a reminder of how close I was to knowing how those same lips would feel pressed against mine.

“Okay,” she sighs quietly, and I call it another win for the night.

“Don’t act like it’s such a hardship,” I tease.

It earns me another small laugh and I feel like I should be collecting these, saving them up so I can savor them forever.

If I have one goal in life, it’s to make Sutton laugh at least once every single day because the sound of her laugh is the greatest thing I’ve ever heard.

And to hear it every day forever would be a prize greater than anything I could ever win.