Right then Ingrid the flight attendant notified us that we were ready to disembark and that our bags were currently being loaded into the car Erik had requested.
Erik helped me up and then held open the denim jacket and scarf I’d brought on the plane. I pushed one arm and then the other through the sleeves and lifted my hair up and out, letting it fall down my back. Both of his hands rested on my shoulders, but before I could leave, he tugged me until my back leaned against his chest. He dipped his chin against the crook of my neck and inhaled deeply.
“You smell divine, Savannah. Like wild berries sprinkled in sugar.” He breathed against my neck. “It’s been driving me mad the entire flight.” He groaned low in his throat.
Feminine pride flooded my chest and gave me a sudden burst of confidence to turn within his embrace and place my hands to his narrow hips. I lifted my chin and looked up at him through my lashes. It was a coy maneuver to be certain, but for some reason, I wanted to be bold. To take a chance on this man the way he’d taken a chance on me.
I licked my lips and watched as his golden eyes lit with interest.
“So, what are you going to do about it?” I taunted the hulking, beautiful beast of a man before me.
He raised his hands and tunneled them into the back of my hair where he cradled my skull. Then he bent lower, his face only a scant inch from my own.
“Are you teasing me, elskede?”
I grinned wide. I couldn’t help it. I wanted to seem sexy and sure of myself, but this man broke me down to the very woman I was.
Raw. Uncertain. Nervous. Excited. Vulnerable.
All of those things mixed into one. A woman standing before a ridiculously gorgeous Viking god and wanting him to find her beautiful. Special.
“What does elskede mean?” I whispered, feeling his breath against my lips as he exhaled.
“It means beloved,” he murmured.
I gasped, and before I could question it further, his lips pressed to mine.
Searching. Taking. Gorging.
Only it wasn’t him who was doing the taking. Oh no. It was me. It’s as if he struck a match within me and set me on fire.
I burned for his kiss.
In mere seconds, I was clinging to his broad shoulders, practically climbing the man like a tree to get closer to him. He did not disappoint. Pulling me tight within his arms, protecting me from any and all outside sources as he kissed me deeply. One hand tangled in my hair, the other wrapped around my waist, holding me tight.
I moaned against his tongue, my own flicking along his and sighing at the undiluted pleasure that filled the air around us. We were in a pleasure bubble. A safe haven where I could run my hand through his silky hair. Cup his bearded jaw and appreciate the soft strands tickling my palm. His lips were plump, succulent, and moved with mine so perfectly it felt like two people kissing after years of learning what the other liked, not the touch of new partners feeling one another out.
The sound of the plane door unlatching and a swift breeze of air teasing the skin of my forearms broke me from the kiss of a lifetime. I fumbled and backed away from Erik, bringing my hand to my mouth, shocked at how out of it I was from a single kiss.
His kiss.
Not Jarod’s.
I closed my eyes and turned around, taking a few deep breaths to get myself back in order. I heard Erik shift around behind me, and once I felt a bit more put-together mentally and emotionally, I turned back around and faced him.
He was grinning like a loon, not playing it cool at all. Showing me up front how very much he’d enjoyed our kiss.
Without a word, he took my hand and led me off the plane, down the steps, and placed me in the passenger seat of a dark sea-green Audi e-tron SUV.
I ran my hands down the leather as he ambled smoothly into the insanely cool car. “Is this fully electric?”
He grinned. “Ja. I like the idea of going green as much as I like making it.” He winked.
“It’s really neat.” I reached out and skated my fingers across the sleek dash.
“We’ll get you one. You can have any color you like.” He put the car in gear and shot out, following the signs off the tarmac to the exit.
“No, no, no, it’s fine. I don’t need anything. I mean, well, I don’t need anything right now. Maybe I can just borrow yours if you have to work or whatever. I’m sure there’s something you’ll want me doing with my time when you have to do whatever it is you do,” I prattled on like a ninny.
He grinned and chuckled. “Stop being so nervous. We have plenty of time to figure everything out. Most importantly being, once the wedding is planned and settled, we’ll need to get you set up with the university. Find out how to best continue your education. If that means moving to the States, that’s what we’ll do.”
I was stunned stupid. Literally mute.
“Um, I figured, I’d have to wait to go back to school.” I swallowed down the nerves as he’d suggested.
He shook his head. “Nonsense. There is no reason for you not to continue your studies. It’s important to secure the education needed to continue your trade.”
Huh. I didn’t know how to take what he was saying. Then again, there wasn’t a precedent for what one did when they signed on for The Marriage Auction. Maybe this was normal. It sure as heck didn’t seem as though he had a plan for our marriage. Earlier he’d said we’d figure it out together, and for the first time, I genuinely believed that was his intention.
“Where are we going?” I changed the subject, not wanting to get too excited about the possibility that I’d get to continue my education even though I’d committed to a three-year marriage contract.
“I’m taking you to a park. One of Oslo’s greatest secret gardens. I thought it might be nice to stretch your legs and get outside, see some of the beauty Norway has to offer, prior to taking you to my home. How does that sound?”
I beamed with happiness. “Sounds amazing. Just what I need. Fresh air and nature. Being outside is something I’m very used to living on a farm.”
“I’ll bet. Though I think you’ll be surprised at what you’re about to see,” he stated cryptically .
Feeling a lot more settled after the flight and that intense kiss, I leaned back and watched the city of Oslo roll by, taking in every incredible sight that I could.
“Why are they naked?” I stood in front of an incredible, green-tinted bronze statue of a naked man who had not one, not two, but four babies flying around him. The babies were in the air as if they were being kicked, tossed, and even falling from the sky.