“I got that. But are you serious about going through with this? I mean, we might actually end up getting married and you really don’t seem to like me very much.”
“It’s only for show. We need to have something drawn up into how we’d split the property when we buy it. Neither of us wants this going south.” I doubted my own sanity at this point.
“Get in the car. I want to take you somewhere.”
I looked at him, slightly concerned about where this was going.
“Do I need to make a safety call?”
He laughed. Loudly. The mask of severity dropped and for the first time I saw something akin to warmth.
“Sophie, I wouldn’t lay a finger on you to harm you.”
I eyed him. “There’s nothing wrong with a good spanking.”
A light in his eyes flickered. “If it’s asked for.”
I couldn’t look away from him. “I doubt you’d have the metal for it if I asked you.”
“Want to try right now? I mean, I had other plans to show you something, but say the word and I’ll happily take my palm to that arse.” There was a gravel to his voice that I hadn’t heard before, gravel that did something to the space between my legs.
But he wasn’t going to win that easily.
“You’ll have to work harder than that. Now where were you going to take me?”
* * *
We drove for around an hour, the conversation sparse. I tried a couple of times to fill the space between us with words, but each time his response was just one or two words.
How long was he in Iceland for?Not sure.
Was he planning any holidays next year?No.
Did he prefer sweet or salty popcorn?Neither.
The last was a final attempt before I gave up entirely and took to looking out of the window instead.
We stopped in a car park at the coast. The sky had crystallised around us; clear of cloud and sultry dark. I shivered as we got out of the car, then caught the blanket Liam tossed at me, wrapping it round my shoulders and following him to an old wooden bench, the pathway lit by the torch on his phone.
“Are you planning on us freezing to death?”
“Sit down and wait.” His words were softly said.
When I sat down he shifted up to me, making us side by side, sharing warmth, sharing space. He didn’t flinch when I put my head against his shoulder and that was when a glimmer of light against the horizon began.
Yellows flickered, changing to reds and oranges. Blues and violets and indigoes, greens that became yellow again and the whole rainbow, with everything in between. The sky had adorned itself in a myriad of lights and was dancing just for us.
I don’t think I had ever been as spellbound.
“This is why I want a recording studio here.”
Liam was barely audible.
“There’s a peace here that we don’t have at home. And there’s this.”
“We can see this from the hotel, can’t we?”
He nodded, both of us still watching the lights. “But not as clearly. Here’s the best place I’ve found so far. In summer, you can watch the setting of the midnight sun. It’s a place at the top of the world where you can just be.”
