Page 36 of Meet Me Under the Northern Lights

CENTRE OF REYKJAVIK

Chloe was pacing up and down outside the five-star hotel wondering if she was cold from the steep drop in temperature since she had arrived on the island or if it was down to sheer nerves.

The woman she was meeting was going to be here in thirty minutes and Gunnar was supposed to be here already so they could talk through her non-speaking backstory and work out how he could run the meeting without her having to talk in any language at all.

All this because she needed to cover up a stupid lie, one she didn’t think she’d have to worry about ever again.

Was it worth it? Should she come clean now?

Or was she too far gone, Kat in her corner, Gunnar on board with the ruse, her partnership possibilities nearly in reach?

Before she could think any more she saw Gunnar walking towards her down the icy pavement.

And there was that feeling again. That feeling that acknowledged the sheer hot masculinity of the man, his perfectly proportioned stature, his fine jawline, those stunning eyes…

Chloe swallowed. She hadn’t actually felt this ‘lust queasy’ for…

well, she couldn’t quite remember another time.

‘Hello, krúttio mitt . I am sorry I am late. There was a puffin on my truck.’

Why that had sounded like something sexual to her she didn’t know, but it had. And she needed to answer and not look at his lips…

‘It’s OK.’

‘It is not OK,’ Gunnar said. ‘It had left shit all over the windscreen.’

Chloe laughed and it felt like a release of so much more. ‘That’s funny.’

‘Oh, you think this is funny! This is good,’ Gunnar said, smiling. ‘Because after I have spoken Icelandic for you, you can help me clean it off before we go to see the dogs.’

‘Eww no,’ Chloe said straight away.

‘And if I make it a condition of me helping you now?’ he asked, eyebrow raising.

‘Ah, Gunnar, that is the thing with negotiations, once the deal has been agreed there is no more re-aligning the contract. You said you would help me and now you want to add conditions?’

He took a step closer, eyes locked on hers. ‘This seems very harsh. No amendments? No time to reconsider? I might have to insist on a cooling off period.’

Cooling off didn’t seem to be an option for Chloe with those bright blue glacier-like eyes fixed on hers. It was intense. It was hot.

‘I don’t think you’ve paid enough attention to all the clauses. The fine details.’

‘No?’ he queried, tone pure devilment. ‘Then tell me, what did I overlook?’

Chloe’s heart was beating in her ears now and it wasn’t the nervous energy of knowing she was going to have to lie her way out of a situation in no time at all, it was Gunnar making her feel a certain way on an icy moonlit street that was becoming hotter by the second.

‘I think,’ Chloe began, inching closer towards him. ‘That you might have underestimated my strategy. Maybe from the very beginning.’

‘Oh really,’ he countered quickly. ‘In that case, I feel I need to question why, when we first met, we ended up on top of each other.’

She had no answer, but his words were sizzling between them and all she had to do was move ever so slightly more and…

‘Gunnar?’

* * *

That voice saying his name had Gunnar stepping back like he’d been zapped by a Taser. He had to have imagined it, right? Except, when he turned around the truth was right there in front of him. Kirstin.

‘Hello,’ he replied, the word never having sounded so awkward on his lips. ‘Kirstin.’ That felt odd too.

‘This is so crazy! Isn’t it? I am here for one night only and we bump into each other like time has not passed.’

‘So crazy, yes.’

He wanted to leave. Or Kirstin to leave. Because he had business to attend to with Chloe and not whatever may or may not have been about to happen on the street between them that had him more flustered than he currently wanted to admit, but an actual, real business meeting.

‘Should we hug? I don’t know,’ Kirstin said. Then: ‘We should hug, right?’

Before Gunnar had any chance to do anything else, his ex-girlfriend had put her arms around him and hugged him exactly how she had when they had said goodbye. And then she let go exactly the same way too.

‘So, what brings you to town tonight?’ Kirstin asked. And then it was like Kirstin only just noticed Chloe standing on the street. ‘Oh, halló .’

Chloe waved a hand but the expression on her face wasn’t a warm and welcoming smile for a new acquaintance, it was panicked, wide eyed and completely directed at him. And she hadn’t replied to Kirstin’s salutation.

‘Kirstin, this is Chloe,’ Gunnar introduced.

‘Chloe,’ Kirstin said, an odd expression suddenly on her face.

Chloe still wasn’t saying anything. And that was when the penny finally dropped. Kirstin was who Chloe was meeting. Gunnar was about to have a discussion with his ex-girlfriend about the event Chloe was in charge of planning. How was this possible?

‘You are the Chloe I am meeting. From the events company,’ Kirstin stated, hand held out for greeting.

Chloe made some kind of throaty noise and nodded. Gunnar needed to stop thinking about his feelings in this situation and start focussing on what he needed to do for Chloe.

‘And that is why I am here,’ Gunnar told Kirstin in English for Chloe’s benefit. ‘Unfortunately, Chloe cannot speak today. She has a… virus.’

Chloe shook her head at speed, like if she carried on doing it at that level it might fly off and drop to the ground. Think, Gunnar.

‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘Not a virus, obviously, because it would not be good to spread illness. It is laryngitis, non-contagious, but no speaking.’

‘Oh,’ Kirstin said. ‘That is disappointing.’

She was now looking at Chloe as if she was something potentially hazardous.

‘For Chloe it is more than disappointing,’ Gunnar stated firmly. ‘To unfortunately be unwell. But, she is a professional. There was no way she was going to cancel something so important.’

‘But, how will we communicate?’ Kirstin asked, frowning like this situation was one of the most complicated she had ever encountered. ‘And why are you speaking English?’

Chloe was already pulling her laptop out of her bag.

‘Chloe can show you the ideas she has and I can talk you through everything,’ Gunnar said as calmly as if this had always been the plan. ‘Sorry, I speak English because all day I speak English to the tourists. A habit. And I like to practice. This is OK?’

‘I guess it will be?—’

‘But, let us go inside the hotel,’ Gunnar interrupted quickly. ‘It is so cold tonight and we do not want Chloe’s throat to get any worse, no?’

‘Oh, yes, fine,’ Kirstin agreed.

‘Good,’ Gunnar said. ‘Please.’ He offered out an arm, directing the way almost like one of his coach tours, but as the two women headed in the direction of the entrance he couldn’t help wondering what kind of curveball the universe was going to throw him next.