12

WHAT HAD HAPPENED after dinner was that they ended up back at Siggi's flat. He'd been keen to go to the hotel instead, insisting that his flat wasn't that comfortable, but Iris had insisted for two reasons; she was curious to see where he lived, and she didn't want to risk running into Embla in the hotel. She might have been unfriendly to Iris on every single occasion they'd met, but Iris didn't want to rub her nose in the fact she was with Siggi.

‘Are you sure?' he said, pausing by the street that led to Iris's hotel.

‘Yes. I want to see where you live,' she said, kissing him in encouragement.

‘Okay,' he said, with a resigned roll of his eyes.

The walk to Siggi's was another five minutes. They strolled through the town, enjoying the newfound feeling of being together, their arms wrapped around each other again, lost in their own world.

‘Here we are,' Siggi said, stopping outside a grey building that had none of the charm of the pretty little houses in the centre of the town. He unlocked the door and held it open for her. ‘I am on the third floor. There is no lift.'

‘That's okay. Race you!'

Iris ran up the stairs, trying not to squeal as she felt Siggi right behind her.

‘Hey, come back,' he called, laughing as she overshot, going up an extra flight after losing count of how many flights she'd run up.

They fell inside his flat and Siggi closed the door amid the kissing that had suddenly become more urgent. Barely parting as they both pulled off their coats, they made their way over to the sofa, the flat in darkness save for the light from the road outside.

‘Are you sure?' This time, he was asking a different question, but Iris had never been more sure of anything in her life.

She nodded and looked at him with intent in her eyes while she pulled off his top layer.

‘Okay then,' he said, with a half-smile that made her shiver in anticipation.

He teased his fingers underneath her various layers until he met her skin. His touch made Iris feel as if no one had ever touched her before, and no one had. Not like this. She nuzzled into his neck, breathing him in while his fingers travelled underneath her clothes from her waistband, up the sides of her ribcage, teasing her with the gentlest of caresses. She wanted to pull all of her clothes off and be naked with him, as close to him as she could get, but she was also loving the anticipation of what was to come. And this had been a long time coming.

When she thought she could stand it no more, he ran his hands up her sides, encouraging her to raise her arms, and he lifted her layers off all in one go, leaving her in her jeans and bra.

‘Oh, Iris,' he said breathlessly, standing back to appreciate her.

She stepped towards him, determined to reciprocate the level of teasing she'd endured. She pulled his remaining top off, revealing a tattoo that encircled the top of one arm and another that reached from the top of his shoulder and disappeared onto his back. ‘I love this,' she said, running her finger around the tattoo on his arm.

‘It's a Maori design.'

‘It's sexy.' She never thought she'd say anything like that out loud to someone, but it was almost as if she couldn't help it. She needed him to know that's what she thought.

‘You're sexy as hell, Iris.' He grabbed her thighs and lifted her up, forcing her to wrap her legs around his waist. Then he carried her into his bedroom and laid her gently on the bed.

Iris woke to the smell of fresh coffee. The bedroom was dark, but the light coming from the living room and kitchen wasn't the cosy glow she'd expected. She'd not taken much notice last night. They'd been desperate to fall into bed together, so there hadn't been time for a tour.

She reached onto the floor and grabbed the first thing that came to hand, which was thankfully her thermal leggings. There was a sweatshirt neatly folded on the chair, so she grabbed that, loving that it smelled of Siggi. Before she left the bedroom, she ran her fingers through her curls in an attempt at taming them, but it was fruitless, so she swept the front of her hair away from her face, tucked it behind her ears, and followed the smell of the coffee.

‘Morning,' she said, walking over to where Siggi was warming a pan of milk on the stove. He was wearing loose jogging bottoms and a tight black t-shirt that showed off the tattoo on his arm. She snuggled into his side and wrapped her arms around his waist. He put one arm around her and kissed her on the top of her head.

‘Good morning, beautiful.'

She squeezed her eyes shut and grinned with the sheer joy of everything. It felt so right and she was thankful for her heart overriding her ridiculously logical head, giving her this chance of happiness, even if it was only for a few days. She would never regret it.

‘That coffee smells amazing,' she said.

‘There are fresh pastries on the table.'

‘You've already been out?' she asked, sitting at the table and beginning to devour a cinnamon bun.

He nodded and smiled at her.

As she munched, she looked around at his flat. It was so sparse, it looked as if no one lived there.

‘You don't have much stuff,' she said.

‘I don't need much stuff. I did warn you, it is not very nice.'

She tipped her head to acknowledge that she remembered.

‘It isn't that it's not nice, it doesn't feel like you, that's all.'

‘What would it need to feel like me?' He came and sat down, placing the cups of coffee on the table between them. He looked amused.

‘I thought you'd have photos everywhere of the places you've been, lots of souvenirs, that kind of thing. I imagined there would be a surfboard propped up in the corner of the lounge and that you'd have Mexican cushions and Indian throws. Things like that.'

‘You think I surf in Iceland?'

‘I don't know!' she said, laughing at how surprised he sounded.

‘I do,' he said, grinning. ‘But it is not as good as surfing in Hawaii. There is nothing like the warmth of the sun on your face.'

‘Isn't it too cold here?'

‘It is, but you know that saying, there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing choices? That goes for surfing too. You need a thermal wetsuit and you cannot stay in too long. And it is best to avoid any beaches that are throwing ice balls onto the beach.'

‘Does that really happen?

‘Yes. In the deepest parts of winter, and I do not feel like surfing then. In fact, I am usually surfing somewhere else in the winter.'

‘What are you doing today?'

‘What are you doing?'

Iris bit her lip and smiled. ‘I have nothing pressing to do.'

‘I have nothing to do except press myself on you until around six tonight.'

'That is so cheesy,' she said, grinning anyway.

‘You can stay for a while, then?'

‘Yes.' Iris slid out of her seat and onto Siggi's lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck. ‘And what are you doing later?'

‘I am taking a Northern Lights tour.'

‘Really?'

‘Want me to see if you can come?'

‘Oh my god, I'd love to come. Do you think that would be alright?'

‘I will see if there is a space, and we will rely on the forecast to know whether the aurora are likely tonight, because if not, it will be cancelled.'

‘And then what will we do?'

‘Perhaps I could show you?'

Iris buried her head in Siggi's shoulder. ‘This is so perfect,' she whispered.

He pulled back, put his hands either side of her face, caressing her cheeks with his thumbs. ‘It is. For now.'

Iris didn't think too hard about that. It was a little warning that this was temporary, but she already knew that. She wasn't expecting a happily ever after and she knew Siggi wasn't either. They both knew where they stood and living in the here and now was what this was about. So she wrapped herself around Siggi and allowed him to carry her back to the bedroom.

‘Hey.' Siggi was sitting on the bed next to her, gently waking her.

‘What time is it?'

‘It is time for you to go and get ready for the trip, if you still want to come?'

Iris sat up, wide awake. ‘Yes! There's room?'

‘Yes,' he said, kissing her. ‘And there is a good forecast.'

‘All the stars have aligned.' She threw the cover off and began gathering her clothes. ‘Shall I meet you at the office?'

‘If that is okay?'

‘Of course it is. Do I need to bring anything special?'

‘Just wear all the layers you can. It will be cold while we are hunting.'

‘I'm looking forward to seeing you do your thing.'

He caught her wrist. ‘I am looking forward to sharing the aurora with you.' He kissed her deeply, and she responded knowing that they would have to restrain themselves for the next however many hours.

Considering how long they spent saying goodbye to each other, which was ridiculous given that they would be together again in no time, Iris still had enough time to get herself ready. She packed some extra layers into her backpack rather than wear them on the way, since it probably wouldn't be cold in whatever vehicle they were going in. She had half an hour to spare before she needed to meet Siggi, so she opened her laptop to catch up on some emails.

There were a couple from Bjarkey with the results of some data they'd run, and an email from Jay asking her to call him. She frowned. Why wouldn't he have called her if he wanted to speak to her?

She pulled her phone out of her coat pocket, finding the battery was dead. Only then did she realise that she hadn't even pulled it out of her pocket since she'd left the hotel yesterday evening to meet Siggi. Almost a whole day since she'd checked it. That was unheard of, but it made her smile because the reason that had happened was so delicious to think about.

She put the phone on to charge, hoping that it would have time to charge enough that she'd be able to take some photos if they were lucky enough to see the Northern Lights. Actually, she'd given hardly any thought to the fact that she might see the phenomenon for the first time in her life. She'd been more excited about going on the tour with Siggi. She had a feeling that she was going to find it as sexy as anything watching him doing his job.

While her phone was plugged in and once it had enough charge to boot up, she found she had eight missed calls from Jay. She hadn't checked in with him since she'd been to the IMO for the first time. He'd had to arrange the first meeting for her, but Iris couldn't think of any reason he'd need to speak to her so urgently now. Torn between ignoring him, which was the easy option, and calling now to get it out of the way, Iris decided on the latter. At least then, whatever it was would be out of the way and she'd be able to enjoy her evening.

‘Jay?'

‘Iris. Christ, where have you been?'

She was pleased he was so irritated. The number of times it had been the other way around, well, she'd lost count. ‘I had a day off.'

‘Right.' He sounded like he was going to dispute that she was allowed a day off, but thought better of it. ‘I've been expecting a report from you.'

‘I haven't finished the first phase of testing yet.'

‘I assumed you would have sent something over once you'd met with the contact at the IMO.'

‘We're still looking at my data in conjunction with theirs. The activity is starting to increase, so the next few days could give me something more solid to report on. I don't think we should rush.'

He exhaled in impatience. ‘Iris, we're not sending you here, there and everywhere for you to swan around taking days off.'

‘I didn't have a single day off in Hawaii. I was on site every day and writing the results up on the weekends. I flew straight to Reykjavik with no break, worked the first three days and have had two days off since. I don't think you could call that swanning around.'

Jay was silent for a moment, presumably trying to think of a comeback. ‘I'll expect the report by the end of the week. You're due back next week, right?'

‘Right.' She might be due back next week, but it was looking less likely that the activity in Hraunvik was going to increase enough by then to give her what she'd come for. ‘I'll have the report across as soon as I have something meaningful pulled together.' That was all she was willing to promise. And leaving Reykjavik wasn't on her radar. Especially now.

‘Okay. I'll expect it as soon as.'

‘Okay.'

‘Thanks, Iris. Bye.'

She ended the call and resisted the urge to throw her phone against the wall. Why did he have to micromanage her? His boss's boss had agreed that Iris could work in the field, testing her theory until she had enough data to prove that it worked in real-life situations. Hawaii hadn't been the hotbed of activity they'd hoped for, but Iceland was still looking very hopeful. And whatever Jay thought, there was no way she was heading back to the UK before the seismic activity at Hraunvik came to a head.

Before she left, she checked her seismometer readings. It was still sending the data, and there was slightly more regular activity still, but nothing more to get excited about. Yet.

Iris gathered her things, unplugged her phone at the very last moment, and headed out to the Iceland Adventures office. There were six people waiting outside already, all bundled up against the cold. One man had a camera and tripod and a large bag of what Iris assumed was more camera equipment.

‘Hi,' she said, feeling shy, but wanting to make an effort.

Everyone murmured hello back and smiled.

Another couple came and joined the group. ‘Is this the right place for the Northern Lights trip?'

‘Yes,' Iris said. And right then, a minibus pulled up next to them and Siggi jumped out.

‘Welcome, everybody! Let's go aurora hunting!'