Page 45 of Snug in Iceland
“Rachel…” He stroked her cheek with his fingers and then gently lifted one of her eyelids.
“Jonas! Okay, I’m awake.”
He pulled her into him. “Sorry, but it is going to be a beautiful day. Let’s make the most of it. Can you have the day off?”
“I probably could. I’ll see if it’s okay with Gudrun.”
Jonas passed her phone from the bedside table and she typed off a quick text to Gudrun.
She leant over Jonas’s chest to put her phone back, now that she was awake, suddenly aware that they were both naked, in bed together. It felt like it had been a long time coming and it felt right. “I love this,” she said, resting her head on his chest.
“So do I.”
They lay for a few minutes in silence until Rachel’s phone pinged with a text from Gudrun confirming that she was going to be more than okay and that she was thrilled Rachel was taking the day off to be with Jonas.
“Okay, I’m all yours. What’s the plan?”
“It’s a secret but you’ll love it.”
Rachel snuggled further under the covers. “We could stay in bed for a bit,” she said, kissing Jonas’s neck.
“We could.” He pulled away and by the mischievous look in his eyes Rachel could tell she’d won him over and managed to put him off wanting to get out of bed.
“We’re making things hard for ourselves,” Rachel said as they lay said by side afterwards, holding hands.
“I think it is worth it.” Jonas squeezed her hand.
“Me too.” It was easy to ignore the fact that they had such a short amount of time when they were together like this and somehow, the thought of leaving Jonas behind was still not as bad as the thought that they might never have found each other in the first place.
“But we cannot stay in bed all the time.” He threw off the covers and headed into the bathroom. “We have things to do.” He grinned. “Get up.”
Rachel groaned. “I’ll get up when you’ve finished in there.” She saw him roll his eyes just before he closed the door and it filled her with delight that he was here with her. She loved the feeling of total acceptance that they already had with one another. It was as if they fitted together perfectly and had hardly anything more they needed to know about each other and yet everything to still discover. It felt magical.
“Make sure you wear layers and bring your waterproofs and snow boots. Probably wear everything you have,” he said when he came out of the bathroom.
“Where are we going? Because I don’t have any proper waterproofs, just my normal coat and these trousers.”
“That will be fine.” He came over and gave her a gentle, lingering kiss. “You can borrow some of mine.”
She was intrigued but nervous. Jonas was very outdoorsy and although she loved what she’d seen of Iceland so far, she knew there were a lot of much more adventurous things on offer that she really wouldn’t be up for. She hoped Jonas realised that.
“So is it something like glacier walking, like a sightseeing thing?”
“It’s a surprise. But we’ll need to go to my house first so I can get changed.” He was still wearing the jeans, shirt and jumper he’d been wearing the night before, of course.
Rachel was excited about seeing where he lived. It must be fairly close by because it had taken him no time at all to come to her rescue when she’d got locked in the shop. She wondered what it would be like.
Once she was ready, they left the hotel and walked towards Laugavegur. It was a clear, cold day.
“The weather is perfect today,” said Jonas, taking her hand as soon as they had both put their gloves on. He looked at her and smiled, then leant in and kissed her. “I will not get tired of doing that.”
No-one had ever looked at her the way he did. It was as if she could see everything he felt for her in his eyes. She kept looking up at him as they walked, each time he returned her smile with that look and she couldn’t imagine ever getting tired of seeing it.
It only took about five minutes to get to Jonas’s. It was on a small cobbled path somewhere uphill from the harbour but down from the church. His tiny garden was full of fairy lights and small stone statues.
“Are those gnomes?”
Jonas frowned. “I don’t know what that is. These are trolls.” They looked just like gnomes but unpainted, without hats and not as happy looking.
