Chapter Six
Ross
Iparked behind the cafe and turned off the engine so Autumn wouldn’t rush out of the car.
Just say something, Ross.
No words came out of me.
What the fuck is wrong with you?
“Okay, I, uh, I guess I’ll…”
“Yes, uh.”
Painful. This is painful.
Then she paused with a hand on the door handle.
“Come inside for a coffee, okay? I’m not done with you yet.” She winked and pushed the door shut behind her.
I froze and gripped the steering wheel tighter, and watched her bounce towards the cafe door.
Her coat ended just over her backside, her very round, biteable backside…
Gods. Autumn’s curves were something else.
I exhaled through my nose and caught the last traces of her in the air when I drew a deep breath. It didn’t just fill my lungs, it lingered in my vomeronasal organ, that ancient switchboard of instinct I’d spent years pretending I didn’t have.
You’re not an animal, Graham.
And I knew that to be true on a soul level, but that faint trace, that thorn in my flesh was still there. And that part of me hungered for her.
I could walk away. It would be safer, the easy choice. But I didn’t want a way out. I wanted her.
I hesitated for another moment but, in the end, unclipped my seat belt. As usual, I snagged the end of my horn on the door frame and straightened up.
Let’s hope she didn’t see it.
Autumn had already shrugged out of her coat and changed her boots into trainers, which made it obvious how much shorter she was than me, and tied on her buttery soft apron with the cafe’s logo burned into the tan leather. The coffee machine heated up and ran its first cleaning cycle of the morning.
“Come closer, good sir.” She beckoned me forward with a cheeky grin on her face, and I followed her invitation. “I don’t bite.”
Gods, woman!
The counter barely reached my navel. I smelled her soap over the coffee beans, warm and clean and entirely too distracting. That old and stupid thing in me leaned forward, inhaling deeper, before sense dragged it back by the horns.
Autumn brewed my coffee meticulously as ever, then set it in front of me in a branded porcelain cup. The first time she’d prepared it to go, but today she knew I would stay.
“Good?” she asked when I’d taken the first careful sip of my hot brew.
I hastened to answer and burned my tongue. “Ouch, yes. Very.”
“Sorry,” she chuckled and dug her teeth into her bottom lip.
I waved her off and took a second, more careful, sip.
“I’m only working a half shift today, by the way.
” Autumn spoke more with the machine than with me.
“I could come over later for our first official lesson.” She let her offer hang in the air, waiting for me to pick up the hook she’d thrown out.
No, it was worse, this wasn’t just bait, it was a sweet and deliberate lure.
You can give me lessons any day.
She flirted…with me.
Just say yes!
“That would be great.” I swallowed hard.
“Great,” she repeated.
Autumn turned away but not before I caught a glimpse of her face. She beamed.
She is flirting.
“Let me pay for my coffee today,” I blurted out. I could have kicked myself when she turned to face me and the smile slid off her face.
The way her dark red curls framed her face mesmerised me.
She looks like a fairy.
“Just today. You always treat me to a coffee, and I just want to… Please let me pay for my drink today.”
Her brown eyes searched my face, then she nodded and a hint of her smile returned.
“Okay.”
I tapped my card to the reader and slipped a ten crown note into the tip jar.
“No ifs and buts,” I interrupted her before she could protest. “I’ll see ye later.”
Two guests entered the cafe and I took it as my sign to leave.
I floated out of the cafe, got into my car, and only came to my senses when I was in my workshop.
What’s happening to me?
I barely managed to set up the first batch for roasting before my phone rang.
Gods, I hated phone calls. I had to ask Autumn to practice those, too, even though the idea of having to fake a phone call with her made me actually cringe.
“Wild Bull Roast, Ross Graham speaking?” My voice came out way too gruff. “What can I do for ye’?” I added in what I hoped was a kinder tone.
“Hi, Ross, it’s Maeve.”
Ah!
I straightened my spine. I liked her almost as much as Autumn.
Well, no.
I grimaced at myself in the small mirror beside the door. Nobody moved me as much as Autumn did.
And there was no way I’d ever get in between two Dragonborn. “I hope I’m not disturbing you, but I wanted to ask you if you had time for a meeting this morning?”
A meeting? “Nah, yer not disturbin’ me, lass. I am free this mornin’. I just have something after lunch.”
“Great! It shouldn’t take that long. Can we meet in Gillam Park?” Maeve gave me an address that I jotted down on my notepad. “There’s a lovely restaurant there, opposite Frostfire Real Estate.”
She described the company’s car park and how to get to the restaurant on foot.
“Perfect. I’ll see ye there.”
An hour later, I approached Frostfire’s building. It was a square four-storey red brick building with large windows and a construction site at its top.
Maeve already waited by the door. She beamed when she spotted me, and waved.
“Ross, it’s so good to see you.” She dashed over, pulled me down by the sleeve so she could reach, and pecked me on the cheek.
“Good to see you, too,” I told her.
“Come on, are you hungry? I’m starving.” Without letting go or waiting for my reply, she pulled me across the square to a door in a large window front. The Breadfather, the sign read.
“You haven’t been here, have you, Ross?” Maeve pushed open the door.
“Uh, no.” Her enthusiasm and energy overwhelmed me for a moment.
Maeve led me towards a table by the window. “I always sit here,” she added with an apologetic shrug. “Pick whatever you fancy. My treat.” She threw back her purple hair and waved a hand at the menu.
“Good morning, Gavin,” she greeted the server, a slender, sandy-haired guy of about 25.
“Good mornin’,” he said in a slight Kirkmuir lilt and gave us a lopsided, but extremely charming smile. “What can I get ye?”
“I’ll have the Family Business and a Big Squeeze. That’s a lemonade with basil and cucumber and I love it,” she added for my benefit.
“I’ll have the same, thanks,” I said, glad to be spared making the choice myself.
I always had the hardest time picking something at a new-to-me place.
That’s why I had a rotation of 10 dishes, always bought the same emotional support crisps, and owned multiples of each piece of clothing I liked.
I knew that I would never order anything else here than that sandwich and the lemonade.
I took a deep breath. I needed a moment to compose myself. The speed with which Maeve moved was too fast for my brain.
“Thank you for meeting me at such short notice, Ross.” She beamed over the table at me.
“Sure,” I mumbled. Just then, Gavin arrived with our drinks. We thanked him and both took a sip.
“Taran always says I’m too impatient, and he’s absolutely right.” She snorted. “But when I have an idea, I need to put it into action straight away.”
“Okay?” I still didn’t know why I was here.
Maeve seemed to read my mind. She clapped a hand to her forehead. “Of course, I didn’t tell you why I asked you to meet me.”
Wait. Are Dragonborn psychic? Don’t think of Autumn. Stop!
Her wide smile and pretty face flashed before my inner eye.
“Taran and I acquired a cafe in Kincardie a while ago and we’ve just closed on premises in Carranbrae, too.
Do you think you’d have capacity to supply not just Scales the scent of fresh bread and olive oil had got more intense the closer it got to lunchtime.
Two Wolfmen and two human women entered by the time we’d finished our food and I’d helped Maeve back into her coat. They greeted her and picked a table in a corner.
“You should get in touch with them and ask if they’d be interested in your coffee,” Maeve said as we were about to leave the restaurant.
She took one of their business cards from a table by the door and pushed it into my hand.
“They could do with better beans.” The sun caught on the light purple scales smattered across her cheeks like freckles as we stepped out.
Maeve hugged me goodbye and this time I returned the gesture.
“Oh, one more thing, Ross. We have a stall at the Autumn Market next month. Do you want to share the stall with us? We’re selling coffee, but I bet people would love taking the beans home.”
It was only the thought of her Dragon mate that held me back or I would have kissed Maeve straight on the lips in gratitude.
“I’d love that. Thanks, lass.”
“You deserve it, Ross.” Maeve squeezed my arm before she walked back towards the brick building. “I’ll be in touch about the stall soon!” she called from the door, waved one last time, and disappeared inside.
I turned and staggered back to my van, torn between elation about the opportunity and apprehension about seeing Autumn in a few short hours for our first lesson.