“Ha—who do you think you’re fooling? You always wear those jeans when you’re planning to take someone home,” Maryam said.
Nora went into the bathroom, painted her lips dark red, and swept her hair up into a high ponytail. Then she changed her mind and lether hair hang loose over her shoulders. She sprayed on the most sensual perfume she owned.
Then she and her friends set out. The bar was buzzing when they arrived. Nora looked around, trying not to appear too eager—though in her mind, she felt like a celebrity-baker-seeking missile.
And there he was. Standing at the bar. He had already seen her, and when she met his eyes, he smiled, held her gaze for a long time. The world around her seemed to tremble, then suddenly began to spin. Just from the way he looked at her. If she didn’t know better, she’d think that what she saw there was genuine feeling. It couldn’t be, though, right? It was just an extension of the flirtation they’d begun for the cameras. But if that were the case, what did her reaction mean? She decided these thoughts were way too complicated for her wine-befuddled brain, so she simply walked straight up to him.
She gave him a quick hug, and he held her for a fraction of a second too long. Then he greeted her friends, ordered a bottle of champagne, and made sure everyone had a glass.
Standing right next to him, Nora was hyperaware of his smell, the smell that had enveloped her whole body that night. Her legs trembled, just because of his proximity, and she realized she had been fooling herself. Of course she intended to spend the night with him, shehad tohave sex with him again. Tonight.
The girls made for the dance floor, and Henrik followed. As they started to dance, Nora found it hard to tear her eyes away from his tall figure, those broad shoulders. The thick hair that sometimes flopped forward, only for him to push it back again. And that irresistible beard. She reached out and stroked it just to feel its roughness against her fingertips. A shudder passed through her entire body, and he grabbed her wrist, drew her close, danced with his hips touching hers.
An old Ace of Base track was playing, which made her smile. When he sang every single word while swaying in time to the music, she couldn’t help laughing. He pulled her even closer, as close as it waspossible to be. She wound her arms around his neck. Felt his breath on her face.Oh God.
When the song ended, Nora let go of Henrik and danced for a while with her friends.
Elnaz appeared with a tray of shot glasses containing a luminous green concoction and passed the tray around. Everyone knocked them back, and Henrik drew Nora close once more.
“Where were we?” he murmured in her ear, and his deep voice vibrated through her very bones.
Nora looked around; the girls had gone back to the bar with Elnaz. She met Henrik’s gaze, let herself get lost in those dark-brown eyes. They were dancing close together again, his hands in her hair. Her silk blouse was no barrier to the heat emanating through his cotton shirt. He was so close, but though they didn’t kiss, the heat whirled around Nora’s body like a hurricane. She wanted him. So she leaned forward and kissed him. Her tongue slowly played with his, and he responded by kissing her hard. They carried on kissing. When a new song came on, they were no longer dancing, just swaying to the music while they made out. Making out was so underrated!
“Get a room!” Elnaz’s voice brought them back to reality, and when Nora looked around she could see that everyone was staring at them. She turned back to Henrik, eyes wide with horror, but he simply smiled, and then they both burst out laughing.
They were still laughing as they collected their jackets and left the club. Out in the street the cold struck them, along with a swirling wind coming off the sea.
“That might have been a step too far,” Henrik said. “After all I’m almost forty, not sixteen.” He looked at her. “But I couldn’t help it.”
She gazed at him. “Almost forty ... I’m so glad there’s someone out on the town tonight who’s older than me.”
He punched her lightly on the shoulder, then put his arm around her.
They walked in the dry winter cold to his hotel, and they had barely gotten through the door of his room when they ripped off each other’s clothes and tumbled onto the bed.
33
1945
The week in the cottage had been fantastic, and Nils had no desire to return home to reality. But on Sunday afternoon they packed the car and set off.
When they reached the village, he stopped outside Tuula’s house. He helped them unload their things and gave Tuula a long kiss when the children weren’t looking. She had crept into his room every night, where they had made love before she tiptoed back to her own room.
Nils drove home feeling very pleased with himself. He unpacked the car, then jumped on his bike and cycled to his parents’ house for Sunday dinner.
Stig, Marianne, and the children were already in the garden sipping drinks when he arrived. His father barely glanced at him as he made his way through the apple trees, but the children came rushing over and threw their arms around him. When dinner was ready, his father took him aside before they went in. “Could I have a word with you?”
Nils nodded, and his father led him into the trees so that they wouldn’t be disturbed. He stopped and swirled his sherry glass in his fingers. “The council reviewed our application and rejected it.”
“I’m very sorry to hear that,” Nils replied honestly.
“They didn’t actually say as much, but I suspect it’s because they don’t like this ...” Father waved his hand in the air, trying to find theright word. “This ... relationship of yours. They said they found the whole thing very odd, and they weren’t sure they could rely on me, given my family’s connections.”
“Connections? We’re not talking about something dangerous here—she’s an ordinary woman, a decent woman, not a criminal!”
“They weren’t my words. Plus Karlsson is on the council, and he canceled our contract last week.”
Karlsson ran a general store outside the village, and they’d been supplying him with bread for years. Nils’s father was looking at him as if he expected him to say something. Apologize, perhaps? But Nils had no intention of pacifying his father. Instead he gazed toward the river in the distance. It was a beautiful evening, and a number of people were out strolling. They looked happy and carefree—exactly how he had felt in the cottage with Tuula.
