She saw the flood of love for the boy pouring out in his words and pooling in the depths of his eyes. He had made personal sacrifices to look after someone vulnerable who had lost everything he had. It was one of the most wonderful, selfless sacrifices and it only confirmed what an incredible, intricate person Gunnar Eriksson was.
Before she could think herself out of action, she put her hands in his hair and entwined her fingers with it, wanting to feel every strand on her skin. She ached for his lips to touch hers again, longed to feel his body on hers, every single inch. She drew his face to hers, grazed his bottom lip with her teeth.
‘Chloe,’ he rasped, feverishly.
‘How do you say “I want you” in Icelandic?’ she asked him, kissing a path along his jawline.
‘Ég vil þig,’ he told her, drawing her body tight to his.
She repeated it badly. Then: ‘Sorry, I’m still not fluent.’
‘It is OK,krúttio mitt,’ he answered, lifting her up, her legs wrapping around his waist as they stood in the water. ‘We can stick to body language if you want.’
She smiled, arms looping around his neck as she pushed her body onto his. ‘Oh, I definitely want.’
He claimed her mouth then, backing her up against the side of the natural pool. And as Chloe gasped at his strength, demanding even more, their bodies began to move in perfect unison. In this beautiful moment she had never ever felt more alive.
54
Despite the chaotic nature of his life right now, with Magnús’s school issues and Hildur in hospital again, Gunnar had never felt as purely content as he did in this moment. He put another piece of wood on the fire he had built beside the thermal pool from whatever they could gather and then his gaze found Chloe, bundled up in towels and his coat as well as hers sitting on a luxury blanket from the luxury minibus. What they had shared together he couldn’t even put into words in his own head. It had been sexy, but oh so much more. They had moved with each other with such an intensity, from their touches, to their eye contact sizzling with desire, to the way he had felt like she was giving him not just her body but her soul too. He swallowed. It had never ever been that way for him before.
‘I’m thawing out,’ Chloe said as he went to join her on the blanket. ‘Like a slowly defrosting Christmas turkey.’
He put his arms around her, drawing her close to his body. ‘You are nothing like a Christmas turkey. You are so much more beautiful.’
He kissed the top of her head that was now wearing her hat and his and found her gloved hands, holding them tight.
‘I won’t put this place on the itinerary for Sinclairz Chairs,’ she told him.
‘You think it is not special enough?’ he asked.
‘What? No!’ Chloe exclaimed, wriggling against him. ‘That wasn’t what I meant at all?—’
‘Relax,’ Gunnar said, laughing. ‘I am joking with you.’
‘Well, good,’ Chloe said, settling. ‘Because I meant the exact opposite. It’s too special for Sinclairz Chairs. That and the fact there’s nowhere to get cocktails. Although I have brought in a mobile cocktail-making van for events before. And we could bring a loud band here on one of your buses and actually we could serve a whole banquet right next to the pool – we might need two buses to park here on the turf for all the staff and?—’
In one quick move he tipped her sideways, then released one of his hands from hers and clamped it over her mouth and nose until all he could see was her eyes. What was lying there in those pupils staring back at him. Was she smiling now? Laughing? Something else? He knew she had been kidding with him.
‘I know you do not mean that,’ Gunnar said, his hand still pressed against her face. ‘I see you,krúttio mitt. Ow!’
He let her go and she sat up, grinning.
‘Did you bite me?’ Gunnar asked, eyes wide.
‘Only a little one,’ she told him. ‘Like the one you did on my shoulder. Kat will be asking questions about that if she sees it.’
‘And what will your answer be?’ Gunnar wanted to know.
‘I will tell her that it was an injury.’
‘Oh really,’ Gunnar said, leaning closer to her again.
‘Yes,’ Chloe said. ‘I will say that I went to do research… maybe a wood carving workshop or something that involved sharp tools or… birds of prey and?—’
‘You would rather say you were beaked by a falcon than say you were bitten by me? I am offended.’ He folded his arms across his chest.
‘Oh, Gunnar, no, I didn’t mean it.’ She rose up on her knees and put her arms around his neck, hugging. ‘I know I said I know Icelandic to my boss but I’m really not a compulsive liar.’
