Monthly Bonus Content #4—'Cinnamon, Chill, Cobblestone' (Ava Autumn Scenario Special)

I groan out a sigh, flopping down to sit on the curb of the street, the autumnal cold of the cobblestone path seeping through my clothing. “Well, this is boring.”

Ava looks at me from where she was doing a tactical sweeping gaze for the fiftieth time across the very empty, very boring Square.

“Were you expecting something more, Detec—Agent?” she stumbles on my title yet again, and I lick at my lips to stifle a chuckle.

I shrug. “Maybe? Just something a bit, you know, more.”

She examines me, cocking her head and disturbing the stiff collar of her woollen grey peacoat. “Then let me rephrase the question: Were you hoping for something more, Agent?”

Her correct use of my title, and the way it practically falls from her lips like velvet, makes me shiver. The way she watches close for a reaction makes me wonder if she’s well aware of the effect it has on me…and enjoys the response.

I clear my throat. “We’ve been patrolling the Square every night for a week.” I fling my hands up and sigh. “And it’s been the most boring week of my life.”

Her lips thin. “I apologise that my company hasn’t been more stimulating for you.”

Once again, she watches closely for my reaction, her choice of words chosen carefully and making me raise a brow.

“I’ve barely had your company,” I throw back, standing up as I approach her, jabbing a finger towards her. “Your focus, as always, is on the mission.”

She raises a brow. “And just where would you prefer my focus be?”

On me. The words are so close to shooting out of my mouth that I have to snap my lips tightly shut to stop it before it happens.

I hold her sparkling emerald gaze for a moment longer before turning away. “No. You’re right. We should be concentrating on the mission.”

Her hand comes to rest on my arm, drawing my attention back to her. “You did not answer my question.”

I frown. “Yes, I did.”

“No,” she replies, her hand still on my arm, the touch warming the chill that had been lingering through me. “You evaded it.”

“Maybe I learned that from you. You are a master at avoidance.” I don’t stop the words as they shoot out of me this time, folding my arms as I hold my position, but trying not to shirk her touch I’ve been craving for so long.

She flinches. “…A fair assessment.”

“You bet it is,” I mutter.

As we stare at each other, the prickling of tension turning into something exhilarating and tempting as it always does between us, a light flickers on from one of the shops.

We both swing around to find Haley peering out of the bakery door at us, sleep clouding her eyes, her hair tumbling around her, but tiredness wiping away her usual smile.

“Are you both alright?” she asks, her voice croaky.

“Uh,” Ava and I let out at the same time.

“We are quite fine,” Ava says, recovering quickly.

I snort at that statement. “We’re on the job. Patrolling.”

“Oh right,” she replies, smacking her lips together and looking away sheepishly for a moment. “It’s just you were being kind of…loud.”

Ava and I glance at each other.

“Sorry.”

“My apologies,” Ava adds as well.

She looks between us, a small smile now on her lips before she dips back inside.

I side-eye Ava and cock my head. “So much for being inconspicuous.”

“Was that our intention? The town should know we patrol. It will give them confidence in us,” she says. “They may not know it’s to protect them from the supernatural, but it is good they know we’re protecting them nonetheless.”

I nod at that.

Before I can say anything more, the door to the bakery swings open again, and Haley jostles out in her flannel house robe and fluffy slippers. She carries two mugs, steam curling out of them and dancing in the night’s crisp air.

“You both look like you could do with warming up,” she says. “And if you won’t do that together, like you should, I can at least help in this way.”

It takes a moment for my brain to process what she just said, and she slips the mug into my hand in the meantime, smiling at me a final time before sheading back inside the bakery.

The delicious scents of cinnamon and maple catch my senses, drawing me out of my surprise, and bringing a smile to my lips.

“She is…blunt,” Ava says after a moment, her fingers wrapped around her own mug, but by the wrinkle on her nose, I’m guessing she’s not quite as taken with the autumnal aromas as I am.

I chuckle. “She isn’t normally. I guess us waking her up brought out that side of her.”

“I suppose we shouldn’t insult her by not partaking,” Ava suggests, gesturing to my makeshift seat from before, and we both sit down on the curb of the pavement, hugging our mugs to ourselves.

We sit close, her side pressed against mine, and the touch does more to soothe me than any warming drink ever could.

“I apologise for being so distracted,” she states suddenly. I sip at my drink, letting the deliciousness of it slide across my tongue. “But you must understand, when you are near, focusing on anything but you is an impossibility.”

I inhale a deep breath and stare into my mug. “…I know how you feel.”

We fall into a comfortable quiet then, sitting together, not needing to say anything to each other for so much to be spoken in the silence.