He felt secure enough with Lotta now that the thought of revealing himself on such a personal level didn’t fill him with dread like it had before. Not that he’d often suggested it before, but other women had invited themselves. And once they saw his place, there really were dollar signs in their eyes.
His apartment was in a block right next to the Edvard Munch Museum, and Mats lived on the seventh floor. He had a balcony that overlooked the Skagerrak Strait, and in the summer, the south-facing open-plan living room made the most of the daylight with its floor-to-ceiling windows.
He was keen to see Lotta’s reaction. After living here for the past seven years, he’d grown used to the difference between people who were impressed by it for its own sake and those who were impressed by how much it was worth. He knew Lotta was not the latter, which is why she was here.
‘Oh my god, Mats. This is so swanky! Look at the view! It’s almost as good as last night.’
It wasn’t nearly as good, but it was a wonderful view for a city apartment. She walked over to the doors that led out onto the balcony. ‘Can I go outside?’
‘Sure. I’ll bring the coffee out. Grab a couple of blankets from the basket,’ he said, pointing to a huge basket that was probably supposed to be for firewood but was full of blankets and cushions.
He made the coffee and took it outside, handing a mug to Lotta in exchange for a blanket.
‘You won’t miss this when you leave?’
‘No, I don’t think so. It feels like it belongs to someone else, and it will soon. I’ve been looking into listing it with an agent.’
‘Are you leaving your job now as well?’
‘No, it’s tough to decide when the best time for that is. I was going to do it all at once, but now that the building’s started, I need my salary. And if I leave Oslo now, I’d be living with my sister for too long, which wouldn’t be good for either of us. I could rent somewhere in the city for a while until it feels like the right time to leave.’
‘So will you live on the island?’
‘That’s the plan.’
‘Do you think it’ll be hard going from living in a capital city to living in the middle of nowhere? I mean, what happens if you run out of food and the weather’s too bad to take a boat and go shopping?’ She was looking at him wide-eyed as if this was something he hadn’t thought of before. ‘What if you have an accident? How would you get help?’
‘In Norway, it’s common for people to live in remote places. In the winter, even if you lived as close as a couple of miles from a town, you might not be able to get out of your house when theweather’s bad. It’s no worse when it’s further than that. People are used to it.’
‘But an island.’
He laughed. ‘Well, it’s too late now. Is it a deal-breaker for you?’
She got up from her seat and, bringing her blanket, snuggled onto Mats’ lap, wrapping her blanket around them both. ‘I don’t think there are any deal-breakers,’ she said, kissing him.
‘You’d come to live on the island? Even if we might run out of food?’
‘Maybe one day.’
When he’d decided to pursue the hotel project, love had been the very last thing on his mind. How he would navigate a relationship with someone once he was on the island hadn’t been a consideration. Single and jaded from his attempts at dating, who cared? Now he cared. And to hear that the idea of living on the island wasn’t making her turn and run warmed his heart, so he wasn’t about to list the practicalities for her because they extended well beyond the couple of things she’d already thought of. Because whatever they both said, he was aware they were in the first flush of lust, love, whatever this might be, and it was easy to say things you never would in the cold light of day.
They kissed for what felt like hours and yet still wasn’t for long enough, and Mats had the feeling they were both ready for something else. ‘Would you like to stay?’ he said softly, brushing her cheek with his thumb.
She nodded. ‘Yes.’
He stood up, pulling her to him and she automatically gripped around his waist with her legs. ‘Mats…’
’Don’t let go,’ he said, reaching with one hand to open the door. Her arms tightened around his neck, her cheek pressed to his as he carried her into his bedroom and dropped her gently onto the bed.
Her hair spread out in waves, the contrast against the dark grey bed linen stark. He threw the blankets on the floor and lay down next to her. ‘You’re beautiful,’ he said, feeling that the words weren’t enough to convey the depth of his feeling.
She pushed her hand underneath his jumper and pulled his shirt from his jeans. Her hand was against his waist, then his chest and he felt as if he’d never been touched before, such was the intensity of her fingers against his skin. He wanted her to feel like this.
He undid the top button at the neck of her dress, keeping his eyes on hers the whole time. It was like there was electricity arcing between them, and they’d barely even begun. Mats felt as if he’d suddenly discovered a whole extra dimension to life that he hadn’t known existed. He continued undoing her buttons until her dress was open to the waist. Then he parted the two sides, feeling almost reverent about seeing her body for the first time. He ran a finger down her breastbone to where her bra crossed and then slipped it into the space between the cup of her bra and her breast. She closed her eyes, and a small moan escaped her lips. Mats took a deep breath, feeling that moan directly affect what was already happening in his jeans.
As if she were reading his mind, Lotta reached for his belt, unbuckled it, then undid the top button of his jeans and lowered the zip carefully, allowing his erection some freedom. He pushed his jeans down around his thighs, unwilling to spend anymore time away from exploring Lotta’s body than the few seconds that took.
Sitting up, Lotta shrugged her dress from her shoulders, freeing her arms and then in one swift motion, pushed Mats’ jumper and shirt up over his head. He finished the job himself, discarding his clothes on the floor before pressing himself against her and running one hand down the smooth skin of her back while the other went back to her breast.
