24
ASTRID SAT IN the lounge listening to Leifur moving around inside the bedroom, tidying up and changing the sheets on the bed.
She loved that he was so concerned about his cottage being perfect for her first visit, so even though she’d found it funny that he wanted her to stay in the lounge, she didn’t mind at all.
The first thing she noticed when she walked in was the driftwood mantelpiece.
It was exquisite and perfect for the cottage.
A huge squashy sofa faced the fireplace, with small tables on either side of it and a compact dining table behind.
Two equally comfy-looking smaller chairs faced a tall window that reached from floor to almost the ceiling and gave a wonderful view over the fjord.
The dark hardwood floors added to the cosy feel, as did the creamy-coloured walls.
Leifur had lit the stove and a couple of candles as soon as they came in and the fire flickered welcomingly as the flames took hold.
‘This is gorgeous,’ she said. ‘Exactly as I imagined it would be. It’s like you in cottage form.’
‘I’ll take that as a compliment,’ he said.
‘It is. You’re snuggly, safe and strong. This place is all of those things too. I love it. ’
‘I won’t be long,’ he said.
She checked her emails while she waited, excited to see she had one from Sofie.
It was the first time she’d heard from her friend since she’d left Troms?, but she decided not to read it now but wait until she had time to savour it, and there was a response from the Costa Rica research team which was almost certainly a rejection after all this time.
But there was no time to check now since Leifur had finished.
‘Want to see the bedroom?’ Leifur said softly, but with a glint in his eye. He held out his hand.
‘Thought you’d never ask.’
He led her into his bedroom, which was at the back of the cottage, also with a view over the fjord from the two small windows.
It had a dark wooden floor like the rest of the cottage, and the walls were navy blue, which gave it a masculine feel.
Astrid felt almost intoxicated with it, the feeling of being totally immersed in Leifur’s space.
It felt more intimate than anything else they’d done so far.
The bed was enormous, low to the ground and with a headboard that reminded Astrid of the driftwood mantelpiece in the lounge.
‘You made the bed?’
‘Clean sheets and everything.’
‘No, I mean, you made the bed.’
‘Oh. The headboard, not the entire bed.’
‘I love it. It’s beautiful.’
‘It feels as if I made it for you. I didn’t know then, but I knew it was for someone I was going to fall in love with one day.’
Astrid felt a lump in her throat. He’d fallen in love with her?
‘Leifur —’
‘I’m sorry. That sounded like I’ve fallen in love with you already, and I didn’t mean —’
‘I’m falling in love with you too. ’
He was still holding her hand, and now, he pulled her towards him and looped his arms around her waist. She looked up at him, at the same time noticing that his beard smelled insanely good.
‘You are?’
She nodded and leant her cheek against his chest. He kissed the top of her head.
‘The summer’s going to be over before we’re ready. It makes it harder,’ he said, reading her mind.
‘It’ll be hard whenever we have to say goodbye now.’
‘Let’s make sure we have plenty to think back on then.’
He pushed her gently backwards until her calves hit the side of the bed and she sat down. Then he kept coming until he was lying on top of her, leaning on one elbow while his other hand began exploring.
As they kissed, she reached down and ran her fingers around the inside of his waistband.
He’d taken some layers off, as well as his waterproofs, so there wasn’t much between her and the hardness she could feel inside his trousers.
He gasped into her ear as she continued, briefly taking his erection into her hand before letting go, eliciting a moan from him instead.
‘Astrid…’
She moved her hand upwards, burrowing up and under his top, loving the feel of his muscles under her hands.
He had an incredible body. It looked strong and capable and made her feel safe.
Even feeling safe felt sexy. Here, in his bedroom, she felt the connection between them more strongly than when they’d been on the boat, or even in her apartment, which didn’t feel like home enough yet.
She didn’t know why, but this room, this cottage, felt like home and gave what they had together some deeper meaning.
Being invited here, when she knew it wasn’t something he was in the habit of, felt as if he was letting her in.
Leifur was a man of deep feelings but few words, but now she was here, she knew how he felt about her.
It was scary, but it was too late to run away now.
And for the first time since she’d arrived back in Reykjavik, she didn’t want to.
As she lay in his bed, naked, thanking the weather gods for the storm that had given them the afternoon off, Astrid realised her priorities had shifted.
This was what life was about. Connection, having somewhere to call home that really felt like home, and love.
Because she had to be honest with herself and admit she was in love with Leifur.
It hadn’t been part of the plan, but then she remembered what her friend Sofie had said before she left Troms?.
The best adventures in life happen when the plan goes wrong. Perhaps that was true.
Leifur was dozing next to her, with the hint of a smile on his lips.
What would it be like to wake up like this every morning?
With her legs tangled in his and her arm lying across his stomach, rising on each breath he took.
How would it be sharing her life with someone for good rather than the way they’d been together for the past couple of weeks, which until now, had felt temporary.
‘Morning,’ he said a couple of minutes later, his eyes still closed but the lazy smile growing.
‘It’s not morning, it’s still yesterday.’
‘That’s the best news I’ve heard all day,’ he said, reaching his arm around her waist and pulling her to his side. Feeling the warmth of him against her whole body was delicious.
‘Shall I make us some food?’
‘I can take care of that,’ he said. ‘I have a freezer full of food from my mother. We just need to gamble on what it is and heat it up.’
‘You don’t have your frozen foods immaculately organised and labelled?’
‘Do you?’
‘No, but I don’t have home-cooked food donations to freeze very often.’
‘I can’t get out of bed.’
‘I need to go to the bathroom. Can I borrow a sweater?’
‘Middle drawer,’ he said.
She slid out of bed and chose a soft navy-blue sweatshirt from the drawer, then opened the top one and pulled out a pair of woolly socks.
After she’d been to the bathroom, she went into the kitchen and opened the freezer. There were cartons and bags of all shapes and sizes, and it was impossible to know what they held.
‘I’m going to choose some freezer food and put it in the oven,’ she called.
‘On your head be it! Come back to bed!’
She picked up a foil carton and peeled back the lid. It was as unidentifiable as everything else. She shrugged, turned the oven on and pushed it inside before padding back to the bedroom.
‘What did you pick?’ Leifur asked, welcoming her back into the bed and opening his arms out so that she could lie next to him with her head on his shoulder.
‘I don’t know. But your mother’s a good cook, right?’
‘I’d say so.’
‘It’ll be fine then.’ She reached over and grabbed her phone, setting a timer for twenty minutes. Being with Leifur was like a time warp. It felt like days since they’d been on the boat, and it was only a few hours ago. ‘This is so nice.’
‘Having the day off or spending it in bed with me?’
‘Both, but mainly this. What will we do tomorrow?’
‘I want to have a lie in and I know we’d planned to spend the night together, but I need to go and see my mother in the morning before she goes to her mahjong group. Sorry.’
‘I don’t mind. Can I come with you?’
‘You don’t have to. And you can stay here if you want to. ’
‘I liked your mother. It’d be great to meet her properly.’
‘She’s going to read more into it than there is.’
That would have been enough to make Astrid rethink her offer a week or so ago, but she wanted to visit Peta, and she liked Leifur far too much to be worried that anyone might get the wrong idea about their relationship, even his mother.
‘I’m not sure she can read much more into it than there actually is,’ she said, turning to look at Leifur, making sure he understood what she meant.
He grinned. ‘We’re there already? Even though it’s only for the summer?’
Astrid propped herself up on her elbow and laid her other hand on his chest. ‘Have you ever heard that the best things happen when your plans go wrong?’
‘No, but I like it.’
‘So do I. And I didn’t have a plan anyway other than to come back to Iceland while I found a job. And now I have a job, and it’s so much more than a job. I hadn’t expected to love working on the tour boat, but I really do.’
‘I want to make sure I’m not misunderstanding you. You’re saying you might stay longer? Keep working on the tours?’
She took a deep breath. It felt as if she was about to make one of the biggest commitments of her life. But she was ready for it. ‘I’m going to stay for as long as I can, if Jonas will have me.’
‘Never mind about Jonas. I’ll have you.’
By the time they left the bed, the food had been in the oven longer than was ideal, but neither of them cared.
It felt like they’d reached a milestone in their relationship.
As they gazed at each other with grins on their faces, eating food they still couldn’t identify but which was surprisingly delicious despite being half charred, Astrid didn’t have any regrets.
‘You don’t think you’ll get bored with looking for whales all the time in the same place instead of being off around the world?’ Leifur asked her later, when they were back in bed and supposedly going to sleep.
‘I don’t think so. I’ve loved this week.
And I know it’s too early to make a proper assessment, but I like the interaction with the guests.
It’s so immediate. I’ve never worked in a job where you’re with customers like that and you get to see the difference your job is making to them. I won’t get tired of that.’
‘I’m not looking forward to the day when we don’t see a whale. Imagine the backlash.’
Astrid giggled. ‘That’d be awful. But I suppose the day will come when they move away from the feeding grounds and head south to breed. Do you think that’s how we’ll know the season is over?’
‘We can probably switch to something else in the winter. We would still see whales, but the chances would be lower. Perhaps we can run northern lights boat trips instead.’ He paused and then said softly, ‘Do you think you would still want to be here then?’
The northern lights didn’t hold as much appeal for Astrid as the whales, but now, neither of those were what was keeping her in Iceland.
‘You come out as the top reason why I would want to be here, Leifur.’
‘You like me more than the whales?’ He shifted, so that they were facing each other.
‘Yes,’ she said softly. ‘Although if I saw a blue whale, that might trump you.’
He laughed and leant in to kiss her. ‘That would be understandable.’