Page 54 of Meet Me Under the Northern Lights

Despite the chaotic nature of his life right now, with Magnús’s school issues and Hildur in hospital again, Gunnar had never felt as purely content as he did in this moment.

He put another piece of wood on the fire he had built beside the thermal pool from whatever they could gather and then his gaze found Chloe, bundled up in towels and his coat as well as hers sitting on a luxury blanket from the luxury minibus.

What they had shared together he couldn’t even put into words in his own head.

It had been sexy, but oh so much more. They had moved with each other with such an intensity, from their touches, to their eye contact sizzling with desire, to the way he had felt like she was giving him not just her body but her soul too.

He swallowed. It had never ever been that way for him before.

‘I’m thawing out,’ Chloe said as he went to join her on the blanket. ‘Like a slowly defrosting Christmas turkey.’

He put his arms around her, drawing her close to his body. ‘You are nothing like a Christmas turkey. You are so much more beautiful.’

He kissed the top of her head that was now wearing her hat and his and found her gloved hands, holding them tight.

‘I won’t put this place on the itinerary for Sinclairz Chairs,’ she told him.

‘You think it is not special enough?’ he asked.

‘What? No!’ Chloe exclaimed, wriggling against him. ‘That wasn’t what I meant at all?—’

‘Relax,’ Gunnar said, laughing. ‘I am joking with you.’

‘Well, good,’ Chloe said, settling. ‘Because I meant the exact opposite. It’s too special for Sinclairz Chairs.

That and the fact there’s nowhere to get cocktails.

Although I have brought in a mobile cocktail-making van for events before.

And we could bring a loud band here on one of your buses and actually we could serve a whole banquet right next to the pool – we might need two buses to park here on the turf for all the staff and?—’

In one quick move he tipped her sideways, then released one of his hands from hers and clamped it over her mouth and nose until all he could see was her eyes.

What was lying there in those pupils staring back at him.

Was she smiling now? Laughing? Something else? He knew she had been kidding with him.

‘I know you do not mean that,’ Gunnar said, his hand still pressed against her face. ‘I see you, krúttio mitt . Ow!’

He let her go and she sat up, grinning.

‘Did you bite me?’ Gunnar asked, eyes wide.

‘Only a little one,’ she told him. ‘Like the one you did on my shoulder. Kat will be asking questions about that if she sees it.’

‘And what will your answer be?’ Gunnar wanted to know.

‘I will tell her that it was an injury.’

‘Oh really,’ Gunnar said, leaning closer to her again.

‘Yes,’ Chloe said. ‘I will say that I went to do research… maybe a wood carving workshop or something that involved sharp tools or… birds of prey and?—’

‘You would rather say you were beaked by a falcon than say you were bitten by me? I am offended.’ He folded his arms across his chest.

‘Oh, Gunnar, no, I didn’t mean it.’ She rose up on her knees and put her arms around his neck, hugging. ‘I know I said I know Icelandic to my boss but I’m really not a compulsive liar.’

‘Really?’ he asked. ‘That is exactly what a compulsive liar would say.’

‘Bite me again,’ Chloe whispered in his ear. ‘Make it look as far from a chisel shape as you can.’

He laughed and kissed her lips instead until they were again so wrapped up in the passion she started to shiver.

‘You are cold,’ he said. ‘We should not stay here too long.’

‘Just hug me warmer,’ Chloe said, burrowing into him again. ‘And talk to me. Tell me about Magnús and how long you’ve been looking after him.’

‘The volcano, it was not expected to happen. And I know that these things do not follow a precise calendar, but the volcanologists can predict a close approximation. But not this time.’ He sighed, remembering back.

‘A friend, he texted me about the eruption, and I got in my truck and I drove there.’

‘You drove towards the volcano?’ Chloe asked.

He nodded. ‘What was I going to do? Sit in my safe home and wait for news about the deaths of people, the loss of animals and nature?’

‘Most people would have done exactly that or, I don’t know, tried to help from a distance. Not put themselves in danger.’

‘I think I was just confident that, knowing the area very well, having experienced eruptions before, it was my duty as an Icelander to try to help.’

‘And there was Magnús?’ Chloe asked. ‘On the road? In a field?’

‘Actually, Magnús was underneath a wheelbarrow. And he was terrified. He was covered in ash, he had burns, it really is a miracle that he survived.’

‘So, you just took him to the hospital and then gave him a home?’

Chloe’s outside perspective was making it sound like it had been easy but it had been anything but.

It had taken Magnús weeks to get out of the hospital, longer to even speak about what had happened, and all the while, in the background, Gunnar was working with the authorities to be able to become his guardian.

‘He was in hospital a long time and then the papers for me to become his guardian were taking even longer. I do not know if it was because I was a single man and that usually these things are done by a couple, but I decided I needed to ask someone for help for Magnús’s sake.’

‘Who?’ Chloe asked.

‘Someone else I should have told you about much sooner,’ Gunnar said, sighing.

‘Her name is Hildur and she is the most cranky, irritating, opinionated woman I have ever met. But she is also one of the wisest, kindest people I know too. She was my mother’s friend and I fear she is someone my mother set the task of looking out for me after she died.

’ He paused before continuing. ‘Hildur offered to move into my house and help with Magnús. She thought that having a woman in the home would make the paperwork on Magnús’s guardianship speed up. ’

‘And was she right?’ Chloe asked him.

He nodded. ‘Yes, she was. She is right about most things. Except she is very bad with spatial awareness when it comes to roofs.’

‘What?’

‘It is a long story,’ Gunnar said. ‘Thankfully one that everyone has survived to be able to tell the tale of over dinner.’

‘I don’t understand,’ Chloe said, looking bemused.

‘I know,’ Gunnar replied, holding her hands again. ‘But I want you to. Will you come to dinner with me? To my home. Meet Magnús and Hildur, when she gets out of hospital.’

‘Hospital?’ Chloe exclaimed. ‘Well, is she OK?’

‘Yes, she is OK,’ Gunnar said. ‘But my life is currently a lot of drama. I will understand if it is all too much and?—’

‘No,’ Chloe said. ‘We aren’t going to let honesty and the truth of things change how we feel towards each other, remember?’

‘I remember, krúttio mitt ,’ Gunnar said, cuddling her to him. ‘I also remember that you like it when I kiss you… here.’

He put his lips to the space just behind her ear and he felt her weaken against him like she had in the water before.

‘I do like that,’ she breathed. ‘And do you know what else I’m going to like?’

‘What?’

‘You cooking me dinner,’ Chloe told him.

He held her away then, looking at her, taking her all in, so beautiful bundled up in every item of clothing and all the layers he had to offer.

‘Really?’ he asked her.

‘Really,’ she replied. ‘I want to meet your family.’

Family. Yes, it was. Unpredictable, a little scary, but real life. And undeniably a part of him he had now shared with someone he was starting to care so deeply about.