Chapter Five
Autumn
I’d been nervous and bloody cold while I waited for Ross outside my house. When his van pulled up, relief flooded me. A part of me had worried that he had changed his mind overnight and a text would come through telling me that, unfortunately, he couldn’t pick me up.
I also fretted a little about the ride being awkward. But, it was strangely lovely and a part of me even thought that I could get used to this routine.
Ross brought me coffee to go—with milk but no sugar—exactly the way I took it. Soft music sounded from the radio and I couldn’t get over the way this rough giant man looked out for me.
Our conversation was stilted, but it improved the longer we sat there.
I found myself sneaking in people skills tips and modelling small talk for Ross.
It was the best morning I’d had in a long, long time.
Ross stopped me from getting out when he parked outside of Scales & Steam. “Autumn, there’s one more thing.”
“Oh…” My happiness deflated like a punctured balloon. “I understand that it’s too much of a detour for you. It’s no big deal, I’ll manage, it’s fine.” I gave him what I hoped was a convincing smile.
“What I intended to say,” Ross interrupted me with his hand on my arm, “...is: please wait in your house tomorrow. I can wait a few minutes for you to get outside to the van. It’s getting colder every day.”
I’d never noticed before how the tips of his horns gleamed, like he polished them.
Wait, does he polish his horns?
“Oh, oh yeah.” I came back to the present. I shook my head to clear it. “Okay.”
I wasn’t used to people taking care of me. “Do you want to come inside for a cup or do you have to leave straight away?”
“Yes, I can do that,” Ross said. He followed me to the door and entered the darkness of the cafe behind me. I flipped the two switches on the left side of the door and the lights doused the room in their warm glow.
“You know, I have, uh, a proposition, Autumn.” He wrung his enormous hands and the flex of his forearms momentarily distracted me from what he was saying.
“You’re good with people, aren’t you?”
I cocked an eyebrow at him.
“Is that a rhetorical question?”
“Yes.” Ross snorted and his shoulders dropped a few inches.
He’s so big.
“I suck at dealing with people, okay? I don’t even like most people, but unfortunately I need them to buy my products.”
Oh my God, his unfiltered honesty was so disarming and charming that laughter burst out of me.
This big grump is so adorable.
Ross’ eyes narrowed on me for a moment and then he joined in. I’d never seen him this mischievous before and it did something to me.
“I need someone to help me become better at this ‘people thing’.” He waved a huge hand in the air. “And I was thinking that maybe you could…” His voice trailed off as if he couldn’t bring himself to actually say the words out loud.
“You are asking me to help you with your social skills?”
His thick pecs moved when he exhaled.
“Yes.” Ross sounded relieved that I had understood him. “I will pick you up every day even if you say no, okay? There aren’t any strings attached. I just…”
He took a step closer. “I can’t go back to my old job. This needs to work.”
Ross’ ears twitched and a soft rush of affection caught me by surprise.
“You’re great with people and I’m…not. I was just thinking you could help me suck a little less at dealing with customers.”
A stubborn part of me wanted to say no. I was an independent woman. I didn’t need anyone, but if I was being honest with myself? It was comforting to have someone like Ross to lean on.
He was so big and solid, and perhaps I didn’t need to carry everything all by myself.
“Yes, I’d love to help you. And I’m looking forward to seeing you every morning.” Oh no, what am I saying? Our eyes met and for a moment neither of us looked away. “I mean, it’s nice to hitch a ride with you.”
He swallowed hard and his throat bobbed under his red fur.
Is it hot in here?
“I enjoy it, too,” he said in a voice so low it travelled all the way through me and pooled in the pit of my stomach.
“Okay,” I breathed as I turned on the machine to make him a cup of coffee. “Then we have a deal.”
Ross picked me up from home again the next morning. I could have cried when his black van pulled up and it sank in that I didn’t have to walk twenty-five minutes through the darkness to get to work.
The air had a bite to it that made me shiver even on the short walk to his vehicle.
“Good morning.” I slid into the seat, shut the door behind me, and rubbed my icy fingers together. “Gosh, it gets colder every morning.”
Without speaking, Ross reached for a button on the dashboard and turned my seat heater on.
Okay, that’s cute.
“Cheers.”
He mumbled something I didn’t catch over the music, waited for me to close my seatbelt, and we were off.
A cheerful voice from the radio announced a new single by Scotland’s favourite singer Conall White.
“It’s the first song from his upcoming double album ‘Salt Snake.’ Conall was gone from the public eye for months after his messy divorce and returned with treats.”
“That first song sounds like he wasn’t alone in hiding, though. What do you think, Lou?”
“Oh yeah,” the woman called Lou laughed. “It sounds like he found someone to heal his heart.”
“Folks, get ready for ‘Finding My Way Home’ by everybody’s favourite man, Conall White.”
“You’d think there were no other Scottish musicians than that bloke,” Ross grumbled.
“They seem awfully stuck on him. I mean his music is good, but come on. Stop being so nosy about his private life.”
“Right? I don’t understand people,” he snorted as if he’d cracked a joke.
“Which is where I come in. But I can’t help you with celebrity gossip. That is beyond me.”
“Like a light in the dark/ You guide me home,” Conall’s smoky voice cut into our conversation. We listened in silence as Ross manoeuvred his van through the early morning traffic.
It was a beautiful tune. My favourite of his so far.