Page 34 of Ignited in Iceland
‘The very few men I’ve been out with are never interested in what I do. Not even a little bit. And the one time I did find someone I liked who was in a similar field, it didn’t end well.’
‘Because?’
‘Because I got drunk and accidentally kissed someone else. By mistake. He couldn’t get over it, so we split up.’ She didn’t add that she had thought he was the love of her life and it had left her heartbroken.
‘That is sad.’
She shrugged. ‘It was sad for quite a long time, but if he couldn’t trust me, it wasn’t going to go anywhere after that.’
‘And why could he not trust you if it was a mistake?’
‘The person I kissed was someone I worked with. He’s my boss now, unfortunately. And my ex-boyfriend couldn’t handle me seeing Jay every day.’
‘Could you have moved jobs?’
‘Not really. The place I work for is one of the few labs in the UK where I can get paid and be researching at the same time. It could have been the end of my career before it had even started if I’d left back then.’
‘How long ago was it?’
‘About ten years ago.’
‘And you have not had a boyfriend since? No one serious?’
‘Is that weird?’
‘It is sad, Iris.’ He didn’t say it unkindly, but it brought tears to her eyes because he sounded sad about it himself.
‘Well, don’t be thinking that you’re some kind of miracle man who has brought my heart back to life,’ she said, trying to lighten the mood, but looking out of the window next to her while she blinked the tears away.
‘And don’tyouthink that I kiss every woman I take to the Silfra fissure,’ he said with a smile. ‘That was the first time for me.’
As they drove into the city, nearing the hotel, Iris asked, ‘What shall we do now?’
‘If you are asking what I would like to do, I would like to take you out to dinner, finally.’
She smiled. ‘I’d love that. Can I have an hour to get ready?’
‘Sure. I will meet you back here.’
‘Thank you.’
He stopped the jeep outside the hotel and left the engine running while they kissed again, then reluctantly, Iris climbed out and waved goodbye as he drove away. She went into the foyer and was greeted with a filthy look from Embla. She might have felt worse, but Embla had been throwing dirty looks the very first time she’d set eyes on Iris, so the fact that she was with Siggi now should make no difference.
After she’d showered, Iris surveyed her clothes and wished she had something more exciting to choose from. She wouldn’t want to wear a dress, but a pair of boots that weren’t practical hiking boots might be nice, or a top in a more interesting shade than grey or navy blue. In the end, she settled on her newest jeans, skinny fit with a high waist, a black t-shirt where the hem just skimmed the waistband of her jeans and a relatively new dark green hoodie that was made of a light knit fabric which made it smarter than her only other options of a sweatshirt or fleece. There wasn’t much she could do about the boot situation, but she felt certain that Siggi probably didn’t go for smart clothes either, so it would probably be okay. She put some extra make-up on; eyeliner and some liquid eyeshadow that her sister-in-law, Bec, had given her, her usual mascara and then a slick of plummy-brown lipstick, another gift from Bec.
She scrunch-dried her hair and pulled some hair-oil through the ends, hoping it would stop the frizz, then looked at herself in the mirror. She looked okay. Hopefully, different from the other times Siggi had seen her because now things between themweredifferent and she wanted to make an impression.
‘Where are we going?’ she asked when she skipped down the hotel steps to meet him.
He put an arm around her shoulders as if he’d done it a hundred times before, and pulled her into his side. ‘You look beautiful,’ he said, twisting to kiss her.
‘Thanks. So do you.’
He laughed. ‘Thank you. I am thinking a bar that has good food?’
‘That sounds perfect.’ She was relieved that he wasn’t interested in showing off by choosing somewhere fancy where they might end up feeling uncomfortable.
She loved walking along the street wrapped in each other’s arms. Her arm was around his waist, feeling like they were the perfect fit for each other, even with their bulky coats on.
