Chapter 5 #3
“I don’t understand,” she whispered.
I reached across the table and touched her cheek. “Neither do I—but I’m not fighting it.”
She smiled but looked worried.
“I think I should talk to Bonnie,” I said, sharing my decision.
“About us, you mean?”
“Yes. We’re close. I think she’ll have questions only I can answer. I’ll talk to her first, then you can follow up. I’m sure she’ll think of another hundred questions to ask.”
“Do you think she’ll be upset?”
I shook my head. “She knows me, Autumn. This isn’t my usual MO. I don’t jump in with both feet—ever. She’ll understand that and realize this is different.” I studied her for a moment, taking her hand. “Important.”
She blew out a long breath. “Okay.”
I squeezed her fingers. “I’ll settle the bill. You think about what sweets you want from the bakery.”
“Sounds good.”
Time seemed to fly by the next twenty-four hours.
While in the village, I had contacted the heat pump company, who had sent someone out and got it started again.
They agreed it needed a protective cage around it that would still allow it the fresh air it needed, and he assured me I would see plans in the next few days.
The cottage was once again warm, but it didn’t stop me from staying close to Autumn.
I had meant what I said when I told her I had fallen hard and fast. I was also a man who hated games and said what he thought and felt.
After the workman left, I came inside and sat on the sofa, drinking the hot coffee waiting for me.
Autumn was in the wingback chair she’d been sitting in when I first arrived, a coffee beside her, her Kindle open.
But I noticed it wasn’t on, and it was being used as a prop.
“Why are you over there?” I asked quietly.
“I’m reading.”
“With no screen?”
She glanced down. “Oh, I guess it shut off.”
“What are you thinking, mo fhiadh beag? What is causing that little vee on your forehead?”
She lifted her finger, rubbing between her eyes as if to erase it. She paused, and I held up my hand. “Don’t tell me nothing. I already know you well enough to see your tells.”
“What you said in the pub…”
“I meant it.”
“Are you sure it’s not just the, um, sex?”
I shook my head. “Don’t get me wrong, the sex is phenomenal. Best I ever had. But it’s not just that. It’s what you do to me in here.” I tapped my chest.
“Which is?”
“I feel alive. Looking at you makes me smile. Talking with you is fun. Laughing with you is even better.”
“But it’s new—that will wear off.”
“No. It won’t. I’m not that sort of man.”
She was quiet, contemplative.
“How would that work, Sully? I live in Canada. You live here.”
“And you’re unhappy in Canada. So you apply for a place in the Scottish office and move here. If that doesn’t work, you find another job. Or come work for me.” I shrugged. “Or don’t work. Volunteer places. We’ll travel. Have adventures. Be together.”
“You make it sound so simple.”
“It could be. Or it could be difficult. We can get married and sort it out later.”
She gaped at me. “Married? Holy shit, hold your horses, mister. We just met.”
I had to chuckle. “Just putting that out there so you know how serious I am.”
She leaned forward, earnest. “You don’t know me. I might be a kleptomaniac. I might sleepwalk. Maybe I’m a serial killer. I might hog the blankets some nights.” She sat back as if triumphant. “I might have planned this entire encounter to lure you into my trap and steal all your money.”
I burst out laughing. “Yes, no doubt you and Lloyd are in cahoots. He got me here, and you seduced me with your wiles. You conjured up the storm with your hidden powers so we’d be stuck, and you fiddled with the heat pump.
I should have known.” I shook my head, feigning sadness. “Too good to be true.”
She sighed in exasperation.
I stood and crossed the room, kneeling in front of her chair and taking her hands. “Maybe I’m a difficult man. Bossy. Irritating. Maybe I can’t keep my hands off you. Maybe I’m thinking I found the best thing in my life and I don’t want to let her go.”
“You are all those things,” she responded dryly. “Except I don’t understand the last one.”
“I know you don’t. Whatever men have been in your life haven’t treated you the way you should be treated. I plan to change that. Everything you find wrong, I find perfect. Even how you snore and drool on my chest at times.” I tapped the end of her nose. “And you do hog the blankets.”
Color flooded her cheeks, making me chuckle.
“I know you’re not perfect, Autumn. Neither am I.
But I think we’re perfect together. I love talking to you.
Listening. Your voice soothes something inside me.
The way you look at me makes me feel invincible.
I want to protect you. Find the man who scared you and end him.
Keep you safe. Let you feel how loved you are. ”
She blinked. “You can’t possibly love me.”
“Because it’s too fast?”
“That doesn’t happen in real life.”
“My cousin Finn met his wife Una when she was eighteen. He walked away because she was too young. But he was never able to get her out of his system. They met again years later and are married and happy. He always knew. Niall helped Anna out of a terrible situation and couldn’t let her go.
They’re married now too. I think maybe hard and fast runs in our DNA. ”
I drew in a deep breath. “But if you tell me you don’t feel anything, I’ll make sure you get back to Edinburgh and leave you alone. I won’t bother you.” I swallowed. “Is that what you want?”
Her lovely eyes filled with tears, and she shook her head. “I hate thinking of saying goodbye,” she admitted. “But it seems so unreal.”
I wiped away the tears falling down her cheeks.
“It is real. I promise. And it might be difficult. But I’m serious.
Tell me I can see you while you’re here.
Promise me you’ll keep an open mind. We can figure it out together.
If you have to go back, we can work toward a future.
Because I want that with you. I’m certain of it.
” I paused. “As long as you want it too.”
“I do.”
“Then we go back to Edinburgh together. We see each other as much as possible. We make plans.”
“My aunt,” she whispered.
“Tells you all the time to find your life. Maybe you have now.”
“I don’t know if I can leave her.”
“You can visit anytime you want. We’ll introduce Anna and Una to her. They’ll visit as well. So will Finn and Niall. They understand the importance of family.”
“They don’t know me. Why would they do that?”
“Once you meet them, you’ll understand. I know it’s a lot to think about, but don’t shut the door on this, Autumn. It’s important. More than I think we realize.”
She was quiet for a moment.
“How will you tell Bonnie?”
I laughed. “I’ll tell her over a pint and a plate of her favorite fish and chips.
Once she gets over the shock, she’ll be thrilled.
She’ll want to help. She’s talked about you so often, I almost felt as if I already knew you.
She spoke of your kindness and intelligence.
How well the two of you got on. She was so worried about being in a strange place, and she told me you made her so welcome and you hit it off right away.
You made her feel as if she wasn’t the odd man out.
She liked the way you cared for your aunt—much like I care for Roisin.
How grateful she was to have met you. She missed you when she came home, and I know she’ll be thrilled that you might stay. ”
“She talked about you all the time as well.”
I grinned. “Maybe she’s the witch who put this together.”
Autumn smiled, the smile that was my favorite, wide and filled with joy.
“Maybe,” she said.
I pulled her into my arms, holding her tight. I liked how she felt in my embrace. I liked everything about her.
And I planned on making sure she knew that so the next three weeks could become more.
They would become forever.
Our forever.