Bart showered quickly, so fast that I’d barely gotten a grip on the steps outlined on the recipe before he was back. He smiled when he walked into the kitchen, rolling up the sleeves of his long-sleeved shirt to expose his forearms.
Momentarily entranced by the way his muscles moved under his skin as he did, I vaguely heard him say something but completely missed what it was. When I realized he was waiting for a response, my gaze snapped back up to his amused green eyes.
“Huh?” It popped out of me before I could stop it, and he chuckled.
“I asked if you were ready to get started? I’m honestly not sure how this is going to turn out, but I’m excited to try.”
“Oh, uh. Sure. Yes. I’m ready.” My cheeks grew hot, so I hid my face behind my hair, pretending to study the recipe some more. “At least we know we can whip up those pancakes in a flash if this doesn’t work out for us.”
He nodded, but I could see he’d already switched gears in his head. Gaze turned to the deck beyond our room, he started gathering cutlery, crockery, and placemats, then looked back at me. “While you get a grip on where to get started, I’ll go set the table out there. Then we can cook together.”
After I agreed, he took off and lit the propane fire once more, setting the small square table nearby. Once he got back, I’d already gotten started and the dish went surprisingly fast.
It was also surprisingly good. I said as much after I’d taken my first few bites, and Bart grinned after swallowing another bite of his own.
“Yeah, I’m glad we did this,” he said, leaning back and sighing happily as he patted his stomach while marveling at the view. “Then again, I don’t think anything will taste bad when you’re eating it here. It sure is beautiful, huh? And so fucking peaceful.”
I lifted my eyes away from my plate to drink in the hills covered in snow and the low-hanging clouds dotting the otherwise blue sky. “It’s gorgeous. I can imagine writing easily a hundred songs about it and still not capturing the natural beauty, and we haven’t even seen the Northern Lights yet.”
“We’re supposed to be able to see them tonight.” He inclined his head toward the hot tub. “According to the reviews, those are the best seats in the house to watch them from. What do you say?”
“I say yes. Absolutely.” I had another bite of my food, chewing slowly as I tried to fight back the uncertainty and excitement about watching something that was supposed to be as incredible as the Northern Lights from a hot tub with Bart beside me.
Nothing was going to keep me from having the experience, though. Deciding to deal with whatever the emotional fallout would be when it happened, I glanced back at him. Those green eyes were filled with wonder as they surveyed the landscape, and I smiled, genuinely happy that he seemed so mesmerized with the first place he’d chosen to visit for his bucket-list trip.
“What’s on our agenda for today?” I asked when he tucked back into his breakfast. “You mentioned something about a black-sand beach not too far away from here?”
“Yep,” he said once he’d swallowed. “It’s called Reynisfjara. I signed us up with the tour company, and that’s the first place they’re taking us.”
“It sounds amazing. I read about it when I was looking up things to do in Iceland before we came. If the pictures are anything to go by, the crisp blue of the Atlantic set against the black pebbles is really something to behold. There’s a stark, wild beauty about it that’s just indescribable.”
He chuckled. “I read the same thing. Supposedly, it’s one of the country’s most photographic locations. I can’t wait to see it, and speaking of which, we should probably get ready to go. I think our ride is going to be here soon.”
My eyes widened, and I shoveled in the last of my breakfast, not wanting to waste even a minute of our time here by making the tour company wait for us. Bart laughed but did the same thing I had, finishing his breakfast and coffee in record time.
We spent a couple hours walking around on the beach once we arrived, having rushed out of our room as soon as the guide messaged Bart to let him know they were there. It had definitely been worth kicking our butts into a higher gear to get here on time, though.
The cliffs and sea stacks surrounding the beach gave it that wild, desolate feel I’d read about, and despite the fact that there were a few other tourists around, it wasn’t crowded. Bart offered me his arm as we walked around with the sand and rocks crunching beneath our boots, and I took it, soaking in the warmth of him by my side in the freezing breeze coming off the ocean.
We admired every nook and cranny together, with our white-haired, excitable yet knowledgeable tour guide leading our little charge. Dolf had apparently been doing this for years, but he was so passionate it was like sharing in his first time experiencing this, too.
“Oh, look,” he breathed as we rounded a corner, pulling up short and flicking a hand toward an outcropping of rocks with some greenery growing on it. “A puffin! Most of them have left for the year. You’re very lucky to see this little one.”
At first, I didn’t see anything, but on closer inspection, I finally saw the famed white and black bird and gasped. “Oh, wow. That’s the cutest thing I’ve seen in a long time.”
Bart squeezed my arm between his elbow and his side, glancing down to smile at me. “That’s only because you haven’t seen yourself shortly after you wake up.”
I rolled my eyes. “You were still fast asleep shortly after I woke up this morning. Although you were pretty cute yourself with your mouth hanging open and your body all twisted up like a pretzel on the couch.”
He laughed. “Fair enough. It has been a while since I’ve seen you shortly after you woke up, but the memories remain.”
Dolf frowned, obviously trying to figure out our relationship but being too polite to ask.I feel your pain, buddy. It’s a complicated one to try to figure out.
Even so, our trip to the black-sand beach was an amazingly fun experience, and when it was time to leave, I was eager to see what else Bart had planned for us. While our current relationship was a tough one to explain, we still had a good time together, and in the end, I supposed that was all that really mattered.
CHAPTER13
BART