A thump on the bedroom door woke them several hours later. Arve tensed and rolled her so he lay between her and the door.
“It’s morning,” a voice called. “I’m coming in.”
Arve relaxed. “Josef,” he explained.
“Oh.”
The door flew open and a naked Josef stood in the doorway. “Fiona might like to have a shower. I’m offering to be her washroom attendant.”
Arve groaned and rolled his eyes at her. “Fiona, mine. He is very insistent. He will not give up until you agree.”
Fiona peered at Josef. His golden blond hair twisted in messy yet sexy curls. He grinned at her and she remembered Stig telling her Josef joked around a lot and was the troublemaker of the brothers.
Arve turned to her. He cupped her face in his gentle way. “Josef would never hurt you. He’s feeling left out because all of us have spent time with you apart from him. If you’d prefer to shower alone, I can tell him.”
She peeked over Arve’s shoulder and glimpsed a lost boy—one who acted out to grab attention.
You should not do this. Her good girl trying to exert control.
Fiona beamed instead and went with her instincts. Josef wouldn’t hurt her. His brothers wouldn’t let him.
“Fiona, mine,” Arve protested as she climbed off his bed. “I need a kiss to sustain me while I make us coffee.”
Smiling, she paused to kiss Arve. “You’re more talkative today. I like it.”
“That’s hot,” Josef said, his bear slipping into prominence. “You have beautiful breasts. I imagined but reality is much better.”
Fiona straightened abruptly and sucked in her stomach.
“Don’t be shy, pretty lady,” Josef said, extending his hand.
His fingers twined with hers as she accepted his touch.
“My brothers worship you. They fought Ma on your behalf.” He slung his arm around her shoulders, behaving in a relaxed and casual manner. He nuzzled her neck and inhaled. “Your scent is like my brothers but there’s this edge of wild sweetness.”
“Like honey,” Arve rumbled from behind them.
“Yes,” Josef agreed.
“Do polar bears eat honey?” Fiona asked.
“This polar bear does,” Josef murmured, and somehow, she didn’t think he meant the stuff made by bees.
They made it to breakfast almost an hour later. Leif, Arve, Kirk and Stig were sitting around a round table, the remnants of breakfast in front of them. The faint aroma of burnt toast perfumed the air.
“Do we have any hot water left?” Leif pushed a lock of honey-blond hair from his forehead, and Fiona saw that his deep brown eyes twinkled.
“More important,” Josef said, his arm around her waist. “Is there any breakfast left?”
“Have a seat,” Arve said. “I saved you eggs and bacon. Sorry, I burned it a bit. Coffee, Fiona?”
“I’ll get the coffee,” Stig volunteered.
“We were discussing our plans for next week,” Leif offered.
Josef brushed aside a half-finished polar bear carving to seat her beside Kirk and took the empty seat on her other side. “Yeah?”
“We will sort out the produce and try to sell it all today. Kirk said he’d deliver the dog food. We’ve brought enough to keep them going for two weeks. Since they’re our only customer so far, we figure we can take a week off to spend time with Fiona to take her out on the tundra.” Leif cocked a brow at Josef. “Do you have any suggestions or objections?”
