11

IRIS HAD SPENT the whole of the walk back to the jeep, and the time it took for them to change out of the drysuits wondering what had come over her. She'd kissed Siggi. And far from the instant regret she'd been expecting to feel, all that was there was a surge of emotion towards him.

Why was she fighting this? Okay, so it wasn't practical when she was leaving in a week or so, but she'd never wanted to kiss anyone as badly as she'd wanted to kiss Siggi when she'd climbed out of the water. It wasn't something she could ignore any more, and she'd concluded that trying to suppress the feelings she had for Siggi was going to make her just as miserable in the long run as she might be if she fell for him and then had to leave him behind. At least this way, she'd have some lovely memories to take with her.

‘So you have changed your mind,' Siggi said softly once they'd tried the kiss again. More than tried it again. More like leant into it for a good while.

Not wanting to ruin the moment, but feeling the need to clarify, Iris said, ‘I'll still have to leave next week.'

He nodded, amused. ‘I am not sure a kiss is a declaration of anything except that you wanted to kiss me.'

‘There might be more to it,' she said with a shy smile. ‘You know, no one has ever done stuff like this for me before. This, and the volcano the other day. You know what makes me tick. And it's quite… hot.' She had a feeling that telling Siggi she thought he was hot would go straight to his head.

‘You think I'm hot?' He had exactly the look Iris had predicted. He was pleased. And preening.

‘Is that what I said?'

‘It could also translate to be sexy.'

‘Okay,' she said with a laugh. ‘But I think what I mean is that your thoughtfulness is making you…hot. Sexy. Whatever.' She felt her cheeks flush.

‘You are sexy when you are flustered.'

‘Oh, shush.' She pulled him in for another kiss, full of joy that he'd said she was sexy. No one had ever told her she was sexy. His stubble was grazing her chin in the most delicious way, and all she could imagine was how it might feel if he kissed her in places other than her lips.

‘So we are doing this? More than friends now?' he murmured, in a brief pause between kisses.

She nodded. ‘I'm not used to doing this kind of thing.'

He looked bashful and said nothing, leading Iris to assume that wasn't the case for him, but she already knew that because of Embla from the hotel. Bríet had said she was always angry with Siggi, but she was probably hurt.

Iris knew that even if she hadn't as much control over her emotions as she'd like, she had to control something. ‘But I know enough to realise that it isn't something that can carry on after I leave. It won't work for either of us.'

‘I understand, Iris. And for the next however many days you are here, you are mine and I am yours.'

That sounded so good. Any thoughts of what would happen after she left, that she might be broken-hearted by then if she fell too hard for him, vanished. Siggi consumed all her thoughts. Here, now, and turning her on like she'd never imagined possible.

They drove back to Reykjavik, calling in at the unit again to clean and drop off the equipment they'd used. All the time they were in the jeep, on the straight roads, at least, Siggi had his hand on Iris's thigh, with hers on top. They kept stealing glances at each other, but Iris loved watching him when he wasn't looking at her. The way his hair grazed the collar of his fleece, the back of his hands, tanned and capable as he drove the car. And the creases in the corner of his eyes that made it look like he was smiling all the time.

‘You don't think this is a bad idea?' She hated herself for asking. For second-guessing herself, but she needed reassurance.

‘Of course not,' he said. ‘I think we are two people who like each other and why should we not enjoy that while we can? Life is too short to deny ourselves things that we want.'

‘That's true. Do you think we can be friends afterwards?' Iris doubted it would be possible. Self-preservation would probably mean it wouldn't be a good idea.

‘Do you?'

Perhaps that response meant that Siggi was thinking along the same lines.

‘I want to, but it might be hard.'

‘You are not friends with any of your old boyfriends?'

‘No. And I don't have that many old boyfriends.'

‘That cannot be true.'

‘Don't humour me,' she said, not interested in being flattered.

‘I'm not.' He looked surprised that she thought he was joking. ‘You are very smart and beautiful. Is it work that gets in the way of having a boyfriend?'

‘The very few men I've been out with are never interested in what I do. Not even a little bit. And the one time I did find someone I liked who was in a similar field, it didn't end well.'

‘Because?'

‘Because I got drunk and accidentally kissed someone else. By mistake. He couldn't get over it, so we split up.' She didn't add that she had thought he was the love of her life and it had left her heartbroken.

‘That is sad.'

She shrugged. ‘It was sad for quite a long time, but if he couldn't trust me, it wasn't going to go anywhere after that.'

‘And why could he not trust you if it was a mistake?'

‘The person I kissed was someone I worked with. He's my boss now, unfortunately. And my ex-boyfriend couldn't handle me seeing Jay every day.'

‘Could you have moved jobs?'

‘Not really. The place I work for is one of the few labs in the UK where I can get paid and be researching at the same time. It could have been the end of my career before it had even started if I'd left back then.'

‘How long ago was it?'

‘About ten years ago.'

‘And you have not had a boyfriend since? No one serious?'

‘Is that weird?'

‘It is sad, Iris.' He didn't say it unkindly, but it brought tears to her eyes because he sounded sad about it himself.

‘Well, don't be thinking that you're some kind of miracle man who has brought my heart back to life,' she said, trying to lighten the mood, but looking out of the window next to her while she blinked the tears away.

‘And don't you think that I kiss every woman I take to the Silfra fissure,' he said with a smile. ‘That was the first time for me.'

As they drove into the city, nearing the hotel, Iris asked, ‘What shall we do now?'

‘If you are asking what I would like to do, I would like to take you out to dinner, finally.'

She smiled. ‘I'd love that. Can I have an hour to get ready?'

‘Sure. I will meet you back here.'

‘Thank you.'

He stopped the jeep outside the hotel and left the engine running while they kissed again, then reluctantly, Iris climbed out and waved goodbye as he drove away. She went into the foyer and was greeted with a filthy look from Embla. She might have felt worse, but Embla had been throwing dirty looks the very first time she'd set eyes on Iris, so the fact that she was with Siggi now should make no difference.

After she'd showered, Iris surveyed her clothes and wished she had something more exciting to choose from. She wouldn't want to wear a dress, but a pair of boots that weren't practical hiking boots might be nice, or a top in a more interesting shade than grey or navy blue. In the end, she settled on her newest jeans, skinny fit with a high waist, a black t-shirt where the hem just skimmed the waistband of her jeans and a relatively new dark green hoodie that was made of a light knit fabric which made it smarter than her only other options of a sweatshirt or fleece. There wasn't much she could do about the boot situation, but she felt certain that Siggi probably didn't go for smart clothes either, so it would probably be okay. She put some extra make-up on; eyeliner and some liquid eyeshadow that her sister-in-law, Bec, had given her, her usual mascara and then a slick of plummy-brown lipstick, another gift from Bec.

She scrunch-dried her hair and pulled some hair-oil through the ends, hoping it would stop the frizz, then looked at herself in the mirror. She looked okay. Hopefully, different from the other times Siggi had seen her because now things between them were different and she wanted to make an impression.

‘Where are we going?' she asked when she skipped down the hotel steps to meet him.

He put an arm around her shoulders as if he'd done it a hundred times before, and pulled her into his side. ‘You look beautiful,' he said, twisting to kiss her.

‘Thanks. So do you.'

He laughed. ‘Thank you. I am thinking a bar that has good food?'

‘That sounds perfect.' She was relieved that he wasn't interested in showing off by choosing somewhere fancy where they might end up feeling uncomfortable.

She loved walking along the street wrapped in each other's arms. Her arm was around his waist, feeling like they were the perfect fit for each other, even with their bulky coats on.

They walked further than Iris had ventured before, to the part of the city that lay beyond the Harpa, to the west. The buildings there were more architectural in style and there were fewer of the small, colourful-clad houses. They stopped at a place called Slippbarinn .

‘Is this okay?' Siggi asked, his eyebrows raised.

‘Definitely. I could eat a burger and fries,' Iris said, having scanned the menu that was on the wall outside.

Siggi opened the door and held it for Iris to go in first. He waved at the guy behind the bar, who waved back, and they chose a table near the back, where the lighting was intimate and there were more empty tables, so it'd be quieter for chatting.

‘You know that guy?' Iris asked, nodding to the barman, after Siggi had come back to the table with two pints of beer, having ordered the food.

‘That is the hazard of living in the town you grew up in,' he said, setting the beers down and wiping his hands on his jeans.

‘I think that's nice, that you're still friends with people you grew up with.'

‘Is it like that for you?'

Iris shook her head. ‘No, my parents moved away from the village where I grew up. They wanted to live in a town once they retired, so they didn't have to drive everywhere. I'm still in touch with my best friend from school, though. We catch up when I'm in the UK.'

‘Have you always travelled a lot for work?'

She tipped her head from side-to-side. ‘Only for the past couple of years. The first few years after my Master's degree, I worked in the lab all the time, monitoring seismic activity all around the world. Data came in from places like the IMO and we'd analyse it, especially for countries who don't have the resources themselves.'

Siggi was still looking interested, which surprised Iris. Perhaps it shouldn't have done; she'd be pretty interested in anything he had to say after what had happened today.

‘Then I started getting interested in the way things were being monitored. The equipment, how it worked, what we wanted to know, and how good it was at delivering that. I started travelling because I was installing portable devices in places that were starting to see more activity on their standard monitoring equipment. It sometimes makes a difference. And now I'm researching how looking at different frequencies with a modified seismometer might help with predictions.'

‘Wow, that's impressive. You are an expert in your field.'

‘I'm getting there.'

‘It must be an amazing feeling to have a job that really makes a difference to people.'

‘It feels disjointed. It's not like we're responsible for deciding to evacuate or anything. We just pass on the information to the people that make the decisions.'

‘It is still impressive,' he insisted.

‘Thank you.' It felt wonderful to be here with Siggi. The way he was looking at her with a hint of what she could only describe as adoration in his eyes was out of this world. And she was sure he was seeing the same thing mirrored in her own eyes.

‘I did not expect this to happen today,' he said, smiling, his eyes crinkling at the corners.

‘Neither did I. I was trying quite hard not to fancy you.'

Siggi laughed. ‘Maybe I am irresistible?'

‘Apparently,' Iris said drily. ‘Or it was the euphoria that overcame me after snorkelling between actual tectonic plates.'

‘I don't think so. I have been there a million times and it has never happened before,' he said, taking Iris's fingers and intertwining his own.

She had to stop herself from gasping out loud at the intensity of feelings his touch released within her. She felt lightheaded, and it wasn't the beer. It was intoxicating.

‘What happens after dinner?' She knew exactly what she wanted to happen after dinner, but she didn't want to assume that Siggi would want to take that step this quickly. Normally, she wouldn't herself. But time was short. She wanted Siggi. She wanted as much of him as she could get before she had to leave. And she already knew that even if they spent every second of that time together, it wouldn't be enough.

‘What happens next is up to you,' he said.

‘I'd quite like to do some more kissing. Somewhere more comfortable.' Saying it out loud made her feel shy. Telling someone what she wanted like this was not something she'd ever done before. But she was so sure that this was what she wanted. It was pointless dancing around it or pretending to be coy.

‘I'd like that too.'