Kirsty stared out at the fjord. Its sheer beauty took her breath away. The water were relatively still this morning, not the choppy waves of the storms. But it was the way that the majestic peaks of rock rose almost straight out of the blue water and how green vegetation, mostly grasses and low shrubs, hung stubbornly to the sides of those rocks, except for the places where the ascent was so steep that nothing could hang on. There was such a rustic beauty to this place, even as what Petrine warned her would be a harsh winter closed in fast.
Already it was practically dark all day long, only a couple of hours daylight in the middle of the afternoon. But it was the Northern lights that she had heard about all her life that fascinated her most. A couple of times these past few days when she could not sleep all alone in that monstrosity of a bed, she had snuck out and just sat on this pier and watched them dance like the gods and goddesses across the dark night sky. She was certain she had never seen anything as beautiful and could not imagine anything that could compete with their magnificence.
Kirsty was still a bit awed with all the changes in her life in less than two weeks. She had gone from being virtually alone in a city of eight million people to being part of a family, odd though they could be in some ways. Petrine was everything that she had always wished her own mother could be.
And working one-on-one with her step-daughter, Monica, was fulfilling in a way that her work with dozens of autistic children for an hour once a week or less, just never could be. Watching the almost daily progress in the little girl was rewarding in a way she had never imagined. She had not realized it until coming here, but the truth was that she had begun to burn-out on even the career, which was the highlight of her old life.
Of course, her 'marriage' to three über hot fishermen was beyond anything she had ever dared imagine. Better even than the embarrassingly spicy erotica by her favorite author Raquel Graffen. She chuckled, 'damned if the woman only knew.' Hell, Bjorn alone with his stunning good looks that belonged on the cover of one of Graffen's books was more than a girl like her could ever hope for.
Kirsty knew she was not ugly, but with her flaming red hair, freckles that covered way too much of her zaftig body. She could buy that some men might find her full breasts and round hips appealing but it was her tummy that never seemed to get any flatter or tighter, no matter how many hours she spent on the treadmill at the gym or how many crunches she did, that bothered her most. At best, she was...average.
But none of them were...especially Bjorn. She knew that men were not supposed to be called beautiful but he was. With his longish blond hair that begged her to touch it, those entrancing green eyes, the body that looked like he spent hours in the gym simply from his work and that smile that could light any room...and hid the darkness of Loki himself.
If that was not enough, he was even more intelligent than he was good looking. Whether it was philosophy, ancient mythology or the science, the man was one of the best read people she had ever met...let alone for a 'simple fisherman' as he said. As a lover he was more than any woman could ask for, passionate and yet tender, gentle and so damned sweet it stopped her heart sometimes.
If that was not enough, Mikael was a devastating combination of caring single dad to Monika and 'bad boy.' He might not be as classically handsome as his 'baby brother' with his darker hair and thick beard that she suspected hid a face as handsome as Bjorn's. No, Mikael was more like this land...rustic beauty that reached something deep inside of her.
Especially those grey eyes that could transform into molten silver with the heat of passion. She smiled as her fingers automatically rose to trace the spot just over her left breast that bore his silvery white mark. Knife play was not something that she would have thought she would find so intensely erotic...but she did...just as much as she loved Bjorn's floggers or Sven's ropes.
Honestly, this place, these people, her new life were almost perfect. Almost...
Except for him. Sven. He reminded her of the peak she saw in the distance. It rose taller than any of the others around it. Standing as it did at the fork of the waters, just as he did between tradition and modernity, trying to fight the tide and navigate his family safely through the rough waters. Its white grey face reminded her of the man too. Though he was barely forty his hair was already thickly laced with the same silver as his mother's. His blue eyes could reflect the same icy cold of the waters he had fished for longer than she had been alive.
Sometimes her heart broke for the man, who had never been a little boy, who felt as if he must bear the whole weight of his family upon too narrow shoulders. Her Atlas. She sighed as she reminded herself...that was his choice too. She had tried so hard to reach out to him, to comfort and care for him as she did Bjorn and even Mikael. It seemed though that all Sven knew was taking. Taking what he wanted, when he wanted, and tossing it aside when he did not.
Her hand went to her lower abdomen. She knew that she should be happy, glad that she was not pregnant. Not yet anyway. Not this soon. Not with so much still unsettled especially between her and Sven. Of course, she knew that was going to be a major disappointment to him. His need to breed her like a prize heifer at a county fete still bothered her, hurt her deeply.
It was not that she did not want a baby. She did. Almost desperately. When her six year relationship ended a few months ago, she had been more upset about all the time she had wasted on the wrong man than the fact that he had succumbed to his family's pressure to an arrange marriage with a second cousin from India. Of course, when they had announced his new wife was pregnant. Kirsty chuckled at the memory...well, that was how she had ended up in this mess.
Was it a mess though? Really? She and Bjorn had almost immediately bonded, despite her initial reserve around her sexy Thor. Though things had been a bit rougher with Mikael, she could never resist his sexy daddy side any more than she could the bad boy in her bed. She had no doubt that they both loved her too. Hell, she had even gained an instant family with Mikael's daughter and a mother-in-law that was more mother than in-law. She loved the quiet, peaceful beauty of the Holding after a lifetime of the discomforting noise, hustle and fast pace of London.
No, honestly only two things still bothered her. Sven's attitude towards their relationship. And the unconventionality of it all. She had not even been able to broach that sensitive issue with the one person she considered a genuine friend, the cranial osteopath Roz from work. And Roz was as open about her own kinks as anyone she had ever met. Just that when they messaged, she was never quite certain how to explain...three husbands.
And after a disastrous first experience, she had not dared go into town with Olaf and Petrine, though they offered every time they went. The idea of knowing stares and whispered foreign words that while she might not know the exact meaning, she knew exactly what they were saying behind her back was a bit too daunting to the woman that has spent a live time trying to live up to everyone's expectations...being the good girl.
Her nipples hardened within her bra at those words. That had nothing to do with trying for over a quarter of century to please her parents, especially her career-driven mother. No, these past few months as she went deeper and deeper into her own submissive nature through her saucy e-books, those words had taken on new meaning. And when one of the guys said them to her in those sexy Dom voices, she got so incredibly wet. So wet...and horny.
She laughed and the sound echoed off the water and cliffs. Until she had agreed to meet her on-line friend for a 'simple coffee' while his boat was docked in Tilbury, Kirsty had been practically a virgin. She was in university before she lost her virginity to a boyfriend that she had been seeing for months. That had quickly faded though.
Then sex had just never played much of a role in her six year relationship with Raj. At first she had thought it sweet and old-fashioned that they had been dating for several months before they became intimate. If the sex was nothing spectacular and infrequent, well, there were more important things she told herself...like shared goals and values. But that too had been nothing more than an excuse for not rocking the boat with a man that even her picky mother approved of.
It was for certain that Nancy Dickens would not approve of her current situation. Three husbands aside, the fact that Nordic fishermen did not met her mother's rather narrow list of acceptable occupations for her future son-in-law...sons-in-laws. Not even Bjorn's brilliant conversation and thoughtful insights would impress her mother. Then again Kirsty should be accustomed by now to being a disappointment.
So why should any of that matter? What her mother thought? What a town full of people that she did not even know said? Wasn't what mattered the fact that she cared for them...and they cared for her?
And the smoking hot sex did not hurt either. Hell, she had come more in the past two weeks than she had her whole lifetime up until then. Not that sex was everything, but great sex sure beat occasional bad sex any day. Just that after all you can eat buffet of it with three hot husbands, this starvation diet was wearing thin after less than a week.
She was just about to get up and head back to the house when she noticed it. A boat turning up the fork in the fjord that led to the Holding. Boats were common enough around here. She saw hundreds every day. They were as common a means of transportation as cars...maybe more so. But not boats this size. There were not many of those. But Ægir's Captive was one of them. She held her breath hopefully as the ship drew closer. All the ships around here were the same plain black and white so that would be no help. She could only wait until it was close enough to read its name.
Patience had never been one of her biggest virtues, but she had no choice this time. Until she saw that familiar name. She was not certain what to do. Should she run back to the house, call Petrine and Monika? She realized that some part of her selfishly wanted a few moments alone with them. Things had been so incredibly tense before they left. Bjorn was jealous of her growing feelings for Mikael.
And well Sven was...Sven. Since he called the shots as the captain he was the one that decided they simply had to make the sudden and unscheduled trip. Had the past few days helped? She would hate to think that they had killed one another. She laughed again as she remembered Bjorn's suggestion that he and Mikael would tie Sven up and throw him in the hold with the fish if they had to. Had they? A part of her almost hoped they had...she would love to see the great and mighty Atlas brought low and lying with the fish.
She smiled as the boat turned towards the pier on which she stood. She saw Bjorn's larger form working ropes and readying to tie it off. Then she was relieved to see Mikael waving from her at the back of the boat...if she were married to three fishermen maybe she needed to start learning the language...was that the stern or the bow? Of course if both Bjorn and Mikael were on deck then that meant that Sven was at the helm as usual. So much for seeing him surrounded by dead fish. Oh well, maybe that was a good sign. She would know soon enough as her guys threw the ropes toward the pier and Bjorn leapt off the boat and began tying it off.
