Page 46 of Ignited in Iceland
Iris felt him move to sit next to her. She smiled, but kept her eyes shut. ‘That’s not true. We went in the hot tub on the roof of the hotel the other night.’
‘Oh Iris, that does not count. Here, it is you and me in nature. I don’t think you would get naked in a hot spring in the middle of nowhere, so this is the next best thing.’
‘You think I’m a prude?’ She was definitely a prude, but Siggi was bringing out her adventurous side and she wanted him to know how far she’d come.
‘You are a lovely prude.’
Iris stood up in the middle of the hot tub. The water was at waist height, thankfully, because she certainly would have been prudish about baring everything. She flung her arms out to thesides and lifted her face to the sky, grinning, and enjoying the feeling of the cold air on her skin, knowing she would plunge back into the heat at any moment.
‘Okay, you have convinced me,’ Siggi said, laughing. He put his hands on her waist and brought her over to straddle his lap. She felt ready to suggest they went back inside to the bed. ‘Oof, you are cold!’ he said, as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pressed herself against his chest. But he pulled her to him anyway, and Iris didn’t think she’d ever feel as happy as she did right now, ever again.
Once the fire underneath the hot tub began to die down, it got colder and Siggi announced it was time to get out. ‘It will soon be time to leave for dinner,’ he said.
‘Where is this dinner place? Can we walk?’
‘Yes,’ he said, handing her a robe and a towel as she stepped out of the tub. ‘It is an amazing place that people travel especially to get to, so it is always booked up, even if no one is staying here. It helps them to keep the business going in the winter months when it is too cold for camping.’
‘This isn’t camping,’ Iris said.
‘No,’ agreed Siggi. ‘This is not camping,ástin mín.’ He kissed her.
‘What does that mean?’
‘My love,’ he said, and she thought her heart might explode.
My love. That was what he’d called her.
My love.
She was his love.
15
WHEN THEY’D GOT back from the camping trip yesterday, they’d spent the night at the hotel together. After not much sleep, it was a wrench to leave Iris, especially after such an incredible weekend. All Siggi wanted was to lie with her in his arms for as long as she’d let him. But she had an appointment with her colleague at the IMO, so he left while she was getting ready and headed back to his place.
From the hotel, he walked along Hverfisgata and headed into Te & Kaffi for a double espresso to take out. Then he strolled along the seafront, enjoying the keen wind that was coming off the sea, sending spray from the tips of the cresting waves through the air. He needed to clear his head. It was as if he was in the grip of something, and he wasn’t sure what.
He had taken himself by surprise with what he’d said to Iris over the weekend. It might have seemed insignificant, calling herástin mín, but it was the tip of the iceberg of his feelings towards her. The need to let her know how he was feeling was overwhelming. And it had felt good to say. For years he hadn’t had any meaningful relationships, never pursuing women, but then giving in too easily to women who were pursuing him. Iris was the first woman in the longest time that he actually would want to have pursuing him. They had an actual connection. Something that he hadn’t known he needed until he had met her. The difficulty was that he was falling for her. Hard. And he didn’t know what to do about that, given that she would be leaving. Hewasn’t sure when that was, and he wasn’t sure she knew either, but it was too soon.
For years, as soon as he was back in Reykjavik, working, he started thinking about where he was going to travel to next. He had to have a plan. Something to keep him going while he worked endless Northern Lights excursions and Golden Circle tours. Not that he didn’t enjoy his job, but it wasn’t what fulfilled him. The next destination did that.
He showered, dressed and lay on his bed, his hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling. The past few days had been slightly surreal. He’d actually enjoyed the Northern Lights tour immensely, and not just because the aurora had put on such an amazing show, but because he’d shared the experience with Iris. It was incredible how being there with her could put a completely different complexion on something he’d done a hundred times before. And it had stunned him. The camping trip had been a way of prolonging that feeling. But this time, with just the two of them, it had actually been magical.
They’d eaten at the restaurant along the road from the campsite, sharing a bottle of wine that paired perfectly with the lamb they both chose as their main course. Then on the walk home, it had begun to snow. Great big, soft flakes of snow that delighted Iris. They’d lain in bed, with the fire stoked up to keep them cosy, and watched through the window as the snow fell, turning the landscape into a winter wonderland, until they’d fallen asleep in each other’s arms.
After a yawn that made him realise how tired he was, and that lying on the bed and daydreaming about the weekend probably wasn’t the best idea when he needed to get to work, he sighed and got up.
He picked the minibus up and drove to the Icelandic Adventures industrial unit. He wasn’t due out for a few hours,but he needed to load the bus with supplies. The door was open, which meant there was somebody else there.
‘Hey!’ he called out as he went inside.
‘Siggi?’
Jonas and Rachel were there. They had the wood-burning stove lit and Jonas was sitting at the table with something in front of him he had taken apart, while Rachel was curled up in the corner of the sofa with her laptop open.
‘I guess the lights put on a good show for you last week,’ Jonas said. ‘We’ve already had a couple of reviews on the website.’
‘It was incredible. I have never seen them so vibrant.’
