Page 69 of A Light So Blinding
“Take all the time you need. While you’re thinking, I will show you what a true troll husband is like. I will show you what it could be if you chose to stay.” He took a deep breath, his chest rising like a barrel in front of her. “May I do that?”
“I don’t see why not.”
A voice in her head screamed that, yes, she did. She already liked the man. He’d proven to be honorable and trustworthy, and if she wasn’t careful, he was going to make this very difficult to leave.
Again that thumb, so distracting as he seemed to memorize the feeling of her cheek. She tilted her head back a bit more, unable to deny him when he was standing there like that.
Astrid’s hands found his chest, warm and solid and comforting. “Bjorn... I...”
He groaned, the sound deep and rumbling in his chest as he lunged for her. This time he didn’t ask to kiss her, nor did he wait. He just took what he wanted, and she was swept along for the ride.
Massive hands spanned her waist, tugging her harder against his chest. He nipped at her lower lip, drawing it into his mouth and teasing her with his tongue. The shape of his mouth was different from hers, but it didn’t make her feel odd to be kissing him. In fact, all it felt was right. Her entire body seemed to heat up at his touch.
Bjorn’s hand smoothed up her ribs. She could feel him measuring the span of them, so small compared to him, and then up farther, farther, just until his thumb brushed the underside of her breast. How was it that even that little touch made her entire world light up with desire?
A small moan escaped her, and she almost froze. It was inappropriate for her to make that sound, and yet it seemed onlyto encourage him. He pressed against her harder, his mouth doing things to her lips that she hadn’t even thought possible while his hand moved up again until his thumb brushed against her stiff nipple.
And then suddenly he cursed and lurched away from her.
“What—”
But then Astrid realized his hand was pressed between his legs and he wore the most pained expression she’d ever seen on his face. He hadn’t even looked like that when there had been an arrow sticking out of him.
“Oh no,” she muttered, reaching for him. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Just... don’t even look at me.”
“Bjorn, that seems dramatic.”
“You’re so pretty,” he groaned, before slapping his hands over his eyes. “Go away, please. You are not helping by being here.”
“I could get you something cold?”
“Astrid. The fact that you are breathing near me right now is making this worse. Please.”
She bit her lip to not laugh and backed away through the wheat. "All right. I'm leaving."
"Why is that not helping?" he seemed to mutter to himself.
She shouldn't find that quite so funny as she headed back to the village. But she did.
Twenty-Six
Astrid
As much as Astrid felt the pressure to get to her sister, she also felt a strange need to stay here and linger. It was so beautiful in the grotto. Almost impossibly easy to convince herself that Bjorn was right—her sister must’ve been fine. If the trolls in Trollveggen were the same as the ones here, then they were almost certainly kinder than her initial thoughts of them.
After their moment in the field, she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about kissing him, lingering on those warm lips and feeling those strong hands moving over her body. She hadn’t thought she would ever be interested in him like that.
But maybe that was a lie as well. She’d thought about it the very first time she’d seen him strung up on the ceiling like he was a feast for whoever wanted to claim him.
He’d slept on his mother’s couch since he’d returned home, something Ylva was clearly displeased with. Astrid didn’t want the woman to think less of her, but she also wasn’t going to rush this relationship with Bjorn. They were still learning eachother. Sleeping in the same bed would likely lead to them doing something neither of them wished to rush.
She had the idea of getting Ylva a gift this morning, though. There were markets in the grotto where artisans sold their wares every morning. She wasn’t entirely without wealth. Astrid had carried her necklaces and jewels from the pearl gown this whole time in a small pouch that she wore underneath a woolen gown Bjorn’s mother had given her.
Now, she was going to put those pearls to good use.
The market was a pretty place to be, where the grotto opened up onto this street that wasn’t a street. The houses on either side glowed in the morning light, so green they didn’t look real. Cobblestones beneath her feet were already warming as she walked barefoot through the street that had more stalls lined up on either side than she would have guessed.
