“Okay. We’ll ride together then. I’ll drive to start but you can have a turn later on.”
“Is it like riding a motorbike? Not that I’ve ever done that either.”
“It’ll be fine,” said Jonas reassuringly. He took Rachel’s coffee out of her hands and put it on the table. “You just need to relax.”
He gently pushed her back so that she was lying in the corner of the sofa and he was looking down at her with that expression she loved, as if she were the only person in the world. Kissing him was not going to get old, she knew that. Every time they kissed it was like the first time and Rachel felt like time expanded as she got lost in those moments.
After a couple of minutes, he sat up and sighed. “I could stay here all day.”
“Me too.”
“We have to go.”
“Do we?” She put a hand behind his head and pulled him back to her. One more kiss was all he would give in to though.
“We can’t waste a beautiful day.”
“I don’t think we’d be wasting it.”
“Come on, it will be worth the effort, I promise.”
Rachel hauled herself off the sofa and finished her coffee as Jonas picked out several helmets for her to try until he was satisfied that she had the best fit. He opened a large door on the side of the building and pushed a snowmobile outside in readiness. He packed a bag into the cubby under the seat which had goodness knows what in it before locking everything up behind them.
He climbed onto the snowmobile and Rachel climbed on behind him. He half-turned his head. “Ready?” he asked, his voice muffled by his helmet.
“Ready!” she shouted.
He started the engine, gave it a couple of revs and they were off. Jonas started fairly slowly but once he speeded up Rachel was terrified that she would be thrown off the back of the snowmobile and hugged tightly to his back.
As ever, the scenery took her breath away. Being on the snowmobile instead of inside a vehicle made Rachel feel more connected with it. Despite the extra clothes and the helmet she wore, she could feel the cold and see everything more closely. They passed steaming pools of water which had broken through the ice and snow. Powder-like snow blew over them and she periodically had to take her hand and wipe her visor because once she’d relaxed, she was more worried about missing everything there was to see than she was about falling off.
They were traversing a proper wilderness. There were hardly any buildings save from the odd small isolated house or cabin and unless they happened to be near a road, no traffic and the roads they did see were quiet.
“We’re almost there!” Jonas shouted, turning his head so that Rachel could hear him.
She squeezed him around his middle in reply. All she could make out was a small building, it looked like a shed from a distance but as they got closer she saw that it was next to a stream of water that was steaming and appeared to be warm enough that it had kept the snow off the rocks that edged it.
Jonas stopped the snowmobile and pulled off his helmet before he got off and then held out his hand to help Rachel.
“What do you think?”
It wasn’t massively picturesque but as Rachel walked to the edge of the water, she could see how clear it was and when she pulled off her glove and dipped her hand in, it was easily as warm as the Blue Lagoon.
“It’s lovely, like a natural Blue Lagoon.”
“Shall we get in?”
Rachel thought he was joking but his face told her he wasn’t. “But we didn’t bring any swimming stuff.”
Jonas shrugged and grinned. “What do we need? It is just us. I do have some towels.” He pulled the bag out from under the snowmobile seat. “And we can leave our clothes in there,” he said, pointing to the shed.
“You mean, skinny-dip?”
“That is exactly what I mean.” He had a mischievous look on his face now. “Come on Rachel, this is proper Iceland. No-one comes on tours here, it’s just for locals who know about it. You are very lucky.”
He took her hand and led her to the shed. Inside it was still just a shed but had a wooden bench and hooks on the walls. Jonas started to undress, hanging his clothes on the hooks. Rachel wasn’t sure what was holding her back. They’d seen each other naked, not in broad daylight like this, but still. It was just so funny to be faced with the thought of being completely naked out in the snow, in the middle of nowhere. She sighed and allowed the tension to fall away. This was exactly the kind of experience she should embrace and why she loved spending time with Jonas; you just never knew what was going to happen next.
Once they’d both undressed, Rachel wrapped herself in the towel that Jonas handed her although he had opted to carry his and stay completely starkers with no hint of shyness.
