Page 64 of Viktor at Sea

“Can I persuade you to sneak away somewhere with me?” I leaned down to whisper into her ear when no one was looking, too busy awaiting dessert. I knew it didn’t matter if we weren’t around for it. Gustav would save two slices of cake for us.

“Is this the part where you lead me somewhere under the pretence of a surprise and then kill me?” Astrid joked but eagerly accepted my hand.

“If I planned to kill you, I wouldn’t have needed to concoct this grand plan of getting married to you first before killing you,” I laughed and winked when she sent me a dirty look.

“Then where are you taking me?”

“You’ll have to wait and see, but don’t worry, it won’t take us long to get there,” I said. “It’s just at the other end of the beach. Behind the trees.”

“You couldn’t have kept it somewhere closer?” She asked, her lips turning down in a small pout.

“I could have, but then it wouldn’t have been much of a surprise.”

“What is this?” Astrid asked when we came to a stop in front my surprise not even ten minutes later.

“Astrid,” I grinned at her and tugged on her hand, pulling her toward the boat. “Meet Astrid.”

“Astrid?” She questioned with a laugh. “You named this rowboat after me?”

“I built it for you,” I replied. “I know it isn’t much, but this is my wedding present to you. For those times when I drag you swimming with me even though you don’t feel like it, you can relax on the boat while I swim. That way, you don’t have to get wet, and we still get to spend time with each other. It’s a win-win if you ask me.”

“This is perfect,” Astrid exhaled. “How did you manage to keep this a secret?”

“The crew helped me,” I chuckled. “Surprisingly, all of them did a good job of keeping this a secret while they helped me. I was sure one of them would let it slip and ruin the surprise, but I was wrong. Now, care to go on a night-time boat ride with me?”

“With this thing looking so good, there’s no way I can say no,” she grinned and accepted my hand.

“There’s two oars, but don’t worry. I don’t expect you to row,” I told her as we took a seat on the boat next to each other. “And I have a blanket here in case we get cold out on the water.” I reached behind me where I had stored it earlier.

“I don’t know who told you I don’t know how to row,” Astrid playfully turned her nose up at me as she reached for an oar, the first one to dip the flat end into the water. Following her lead, we pushed off the shore and rowed for quite some time until the island was nothing but a small blimp in the distance, gently bobbing up and down.

“This is really nice,” Astrid smiled warmly at me, snuggling closer to me under the blanket she had thrown over us both.

“I’m glad you like it.” I leaned down to rub the tip of my nose against hers.

“I do,” she whispered and inched her face closer to mine. “I really do.”

I closed the distance between us and sucked her bottom lip into my mouth. I moaned at the sweet taste of cinnamon that lingered on her tongue from the warm drink Gustav had whipped up after dinner and slanted my head to deepen the kiss. She wound her arms around my shoulders and tugged on the loose strands of my hair that had escaped the bun I had tied it into earlier. We kissed hungrily until we needed to come up for air, but I didn’t let her go too far, needing her close.

“Did I tell you how handsome you look today?” Astrid whispered against my lips, still playing with my hair. Her touch was heavenly.

“You did, but I could do with a reminder,” I chuckled, and when the opportunity arose, I sucked her tongue into my mouth. When she moaned and pressed herself harder against me, I couldn’t resist pulling her onto my lap. I knew things wouldn’t progress further than that for us tonight, but it was more than I could have asked for.

This moment, kissing in a boat I had specially built for her and named after her, under the beautiful moonlight and in the middle of the water with nothing and no one around us, was all I could have ever asked for.

“I didn’t say anything earlier because we were dancing, but did I see Kis wearing a hat?”

“You did,” Astrid grinned, playfully brushing her lips against the underside of my chin–a healing scab from where Kis had scratched me a few days ago–before pulling away to glance up at me. “I tried to get her into the dress Sallie made for her, especially for today, but she kept scratching me. So, we settled on the matching hat instead.”

“It was both very adorable and disturbing at the same time,” I laughed.

“She only wore it for a little while,” Astrid echoed my laughter. “When I saw her last, it was gone. I dread to think what she’s done with it.”

“There’ll never be a dull moment. Not with Kis in our lives,” I chuckled.

“I don’t want to ruin the mood, but I have some news you might be interested in,” Astrid murmured, her lips turning down slightly at the corners.

“And what news might that be?” I asked, my interest piqued.

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