Page 14 of Astrid at Sea

I frowned. “I don’t remember.”

“You must have still been drunk,” Odin joked, and everyone laughed. Me included.

“That’s very possible,” I chuckled.

I know Odin teasing me was insignificant within itself, but it felt significant to me. It felt like they were starting to accept me, and not just because I was the Captain’s wife. There was a real sense of family and belonging among these men, and I was grateful that Viktor had these people in his life. And now, me, too.

Jerrik and Manny were the only ones who didn’t talk much to me, but I knew they were more reserved than the others.

Either way, I enjoyed the company more than the food at dinner, but that had more to do with my apprehension about fish than Gustav’s cooking. However, I had a feeling that would soon change with all this water around us. Fish was pretty much the only thing we had access to. It was either fish or starve.

I helped Gustav clean up after dinner, and Roscoe and Manny, the two juniors on the ship, did the washing up. Lathamswitched with Garth, and we all enjoyed some ale. After last night’s and this morning’s events, I opted out and instead moved over to the rail to stare at the water.

The water was beautiful during the day, but it was extra special in the darkness of the night.

The water almost glistened under the moonlight.

When I felt a pair of eyes bore into my back, I didn’t need to look back to see who it was. My husband watched me all evening, but I couldn’t complain. The feel of his eyes on me made me feel warm and protected. Safe and loved.

He always told me that he loved me, and while I believed him, there was something ultra special when he looked at me like that. I didn’t think he even realised how he looked at me, so unashamedly uncaring of who was looking, whether it was a stranger on one of the islands we stopped at or one of the crew.

If I had turned down his offer of marriage for Crosby’s, it would have been the biggest mistake of my life. It was evident that no one would love me the way Viktor did, and as of recently, I had grown to appreciate that so much more.

And now, I couldn’t help but start to return his feelings. It was impossible not to when he looked at me the way he did and treated me like I was the most precious thing in the world.

It was both gross and endearing that he had held my hair back while I threw up the entire contents of my stomach this morning despite my pleas for him to leave. I couldn’t imagine anyone else doing that for me–anyone else ever caring about me in that way–other than my family.

“Do you want to head to bed, my siren?” Viktor asked as he came to stand next to me at the rail, holding his hand out for me to take.

I accepted it without a second thought and squeezed his hand, allowing him to lead me downstairs to our bedroom.

I loved the feeling of our fingers laced together. There wasn’t anywhere I wouldn’t follow this man if he held my hand like this.

“I’ve been thinking about something all day,” I murmured as he closed the door behind us.

“What’s that?” Viktor hummed in question and reached for the bottom of his tunic, getting undressed for bed.

Unable to look away from his chiselled chest, made all that more prominent when he flexed with his arms above his head, I swallowed.Hard.

How was I lucky enough to marry such a fine specimen of pure testosterone?

“What have you been thinking about all day, my siren?” Viktor laughed at my stunned expression, leaning in to steal a quick kiss before he continued stripping.

“Oh, right,” I murmured breathlessly. My fingers shook as I reached behind and began on the buttons along the back of my dress. “I want to make our marriage real.”

Viktor was down to only his briefs now, and his fingers halted at the waistband as he held my eyes. “Our marriage is real.”

I slipped the dress off my shoulders and allowed it to pool at my feet, leaving me in only my thin slip. “We haven’t consummated it yet,” I whispered.

His eyes darkened with need and desire. “What are you saying, my siren?”

“I want to have sex with you tonight.” My voice was laced with raw need as I stared at him, both of us in equal states of undress. “I want to have sex with my husband.”

“What?” Viktor whispered, looking like he couldn’t believe what he had just heard.

“You heard me.” I sent him a sultry, pointed look and slipped off the slip, leaving me as naked as the day I was born. “I want to have sex with you, Viktor. I want to feel you inside of me.”

My husband gulped, physically struggling. The prominent bulge growing in his underwear told me he was far more than ready, and that only made me want him so much more.

---