Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
Traveling from the western United States to Norway was no fucking joke. Cal hadn’t been looking forward to it before he’d boarded the plane in Jackson Hole, and he wasn’t any more of a fan after disembarking in Trondheim. It had taken about three thousand years—and about three thousand dollars—but he’d managed to get himself from point A to point B with a layover in Denver and a second one in Munich, and he’d managed to book himself on the same flight back as Austin. Their flight home had three layovers, because of course it did, but Cal was trying not to think about that yet.
This whole trip would be worth it, though, just to see the surprise on Austin’s face when Cal showed up on his doorstep.
His flight had left Jackson Hole at two in the afternoon and he’d landed in Trondheim at five in the evening the following day. Frankly, he had no idea what time his body was on. He just knew he was more tired than he’d ever been in his life—and that was saying something considering he’d pulled some long-ass days on the ranch. Why was traveling so exhausting? All he’d done was sit on planes for hours and navigate busy airports.
He was lucky that English was widely spoken in Norway, so he didn’t have any trouble communicating with his taxi driver. The airport was about thirty minutes outside of Trondheim, but Cal didn’t mind, because the views were spectacular, especially where the freeway hugged the coast. The water was a sharp blue, and spits of land jutted into it like fingers.
“Is that a lake?” he asked the driver.
“Trondheim Fjord. You can take a sightseeing boat tour from Trondheim.”
Cal added it to his mental to-do list of things to see while he was here.
It was the only thing on his to-do list, but in his defense, he hadn’t had much time to research the area before boarding his flight.
His exhaustion eased slightly as they approached the city. Trondheim was charming as hell. Greener than he’d expected with lots of parks, trees, and rolling hills. The houses were brightly colored and quaint, and for the first time, Cal felt a stirring of excitement at touring a foreign city.
He hadn’t traveled much in his life, mostly because everything he could ever need or want was in Windsor. He’d been to Canada a few times for ranch business, and he’d gone to Manhattan on his senior year class trip in high school—thanks to the MacIsaacs, since neither of his parents had been willing to help him pay for it. And he’d gone on a few stateside camping trips with Austin when Austin got photography commissions.
Europe, though. This was a whole new horse to ride, and it was clear just by driving through the city that he was very far away from Wyoming—geographically, culturally, and every other -ly.
The kicker? Already he could see Austin living here.
Austin was Windsor, Wyoming, through and through from his dusty boots to his dusty cowboy hat. But he was also worldly. He’d been to more places than Cal could remember, sometimes for a few days, sometimes for a few weeks, and he always came home bursting with stories. Usually about how amazing the skies were wherever he’d just been; sometimes about the people he’d met and things he’d gotten to do and see.
Cal could see Austin here, having a pastry and a coffee at that café, enjoying his lunch on a bench in that park, taking a walk along that section of the fjord.
Falling in love with a sexy Norwegian who’d sweep him off his feet.
Fuck that last one.
In fact, the idea alone made him see so much green that when the taxi driver dropped him off at Austin’s accommodations, he was ready to grab Austin and lay claim to him once and for all.
But, because Cal’s luck had never been the four-leaf clover kind, there was no answer when he knocked. Blowing out a half laugh, he dropped onto the top step of the porch.
The neighborhood he found himself in was fancy. It was hilly, the type where the streets parallel to this one were down the hill or up the hill. The homes were all massive three-story structures the likes of which weren’t seen anywhere in Windsor, not even on the ranch.
Austin was staying in the mother-in-law cottage on the property of Hedda’s parents. The house itself was as big as the rest of them. And the cottage?
It was the size of Cal’s house back home. Way cuter too. White siding, deep green shutters, a very sharply peaked gray roof, and a covered porch complete with a white iron table and a pair of matching chairs.
Rising, Cal jogged down the porch steps to stretch his legs and texted Austin.
Cal
I sent you a present.
Austin
To Norway??
Cal
Yup. Tracking says it was just delivered.
Austin
Oooh. What is it? Can I guess?
Also, I would’ve been happy to receive this present when I got back home. You didn’t have to ship it.
Cal
It was time sensitive.
Austin
Is it cake?
Cal snorted a laugh and dropped into a lunge.
Austin
Is it Twizzlers? I swear, if it’s Twizzlers, I’m bashing you over the head with them when I get home.
Another laugh rumbled out of him as he texted back.
Cal
Guess you’ll have to open it and see.
Austin
Of course it got delivered five minutes after I decided to head out for an early dinner.
Ah, fuck. Cal had missed him by minutes. He sent another message.
Cal
Where’d you go?
When Austin gave him the name of the place, Cal looked it up on his phone and found that it was in the neighborhood, easily walkable. So he tucked his suitcase behind a potted planter on the porch and started walking.
* * *
Austin wouldn’t normally choose a pizza joint when he was abroad—he could get pizza back home—but the restaurant had been highly recommended by Hedda’s parents. Austin was still jet-lagged after only two days in Europe; he wanted a quick dinner and then a bed. He had another four days in Trondheim—plenty of time to try the local cuisine.
His weekend with Ben had been much needed. They’d talked, strolled through Regent’s Park, cooked together, and just hung out. Ben had even taken him to the pub he worked at, and they’d shared lunch on the patio before they’d been forced inside when it had started to rain. It had been nice to spend time together. Frankly, two days weren’t enough, and Austin was already trying to figure out when he could take his next longer trip to London.
Trying to convince Ben to schedule a visit home was impossible.
He didn’t have the money.
He had to work.
He was attending festivals with friends.
Austin’s rebuttals of “I’ll pay for it,” “Take a week off,” and “Schedule your trip around them,” hadn’t made much headway.
His flight from London this afternoon had been an easy two and a half hours non-stop. He’d only been in Trondheim for three hours, but already he could see the appeal of the city. Wasn’t sure if he could see himself living here, though he was looking forward to playing tourist once he’d had enough sleep. He’d invited Hedda to join him for dinner just to have some company—even though he knew she’d try to sell him on the job again—but one of her kids was stopping in for a visit tonight.
The pizza place was in a brick building along the Nidelva, a river that started twenty or so miles away and emptied into the fjord. He’d opted to sit on the patio, which while covered, nevertheless provided plenty of natural light. The tables were rustic, yet the chairs were plush. The restaurant even gave out blankets for those evenings that turned chilly.
Hedda had warned him that summers in Trondheim weren’t the same as summers in Windsor. Norway was way, way, way farther north—apparently, average temperatures in July were similar to average temperatures in May in Windsor. Austin could get on board with that.
His server arrived with his beer, and he nodded his thanks before his gaze strayed to a group of friends sitting at a nearby table, chatting in what Austin assumed was Norwegian. One of them said something that had the other three laughing, and suddenly, Austin missed home with an acuteness that left him breathless. He missed brunch with his parents and working his stall at the market with Marco, and inviting himself to the ranch to bug Cal and keep Whitney on her toes and ass-crack-of-dawn walks with Cal on Fridays.
If he moved here, he’d have none of that. No support network, no family, no one to laugh with over pizza and beer after a long day.
Those were the reasons why he always returned home after a photography trip. Traveling was great, but after a while, he wanted his home. His people.
Would he last two semesters here without some kind of network in place?
Hedda didn’t count. She was one person, and although they were friends, their friendship skewed toward mentor/mentee. Austin wouldn’t call her to chat or to invite her for a night out or a casual stroll through town on a Saturday afternoon.
The one bright side to moving here—aside from the teaching gig that would give him the experience he needed to teach back home—would be the proximity to Ben. He couldn’t lie, even to himself—that was one of the biggest selling points.
But he wouldn’t have a lot of opportunities to visit home. Two weeks at Christmas and a week at Easter.
Ten months without Cal, aside from two short visits, maybe more if Cal could get the time away to come see him.
“Mind if I join you?”
Dragging his gaze away from the table of friends, Austin looked up... and up... and up, past well-worn jeans and a checkered shirt, and met a pair of gray eyes so warm Austin was convinced he was seeing things.
“ Cal ?” The cowboy hat was missing, which was strange as hell. Austin blinked hard and shook his head. “How...? When...?” His brain had stalled at the sight of those eyes and he didn’t know which way was up or down. “How...?”
Cal’s smile widened and he held his arms out. “Surprise?”
Austin rose, grabbed the front of his shirt, and kissed him.
Cal’s grunt was more of a laugh, and the kiss was more of a clacking of teeth. In Austin’s enthusiasm, he lost all finesse, but Cal didn’t seem to mind as he gave another laugh and pulled him in closer.
It was a good thing, as awareness of his surroundings returned, that Austin had researched the LGBTQ laws in Norway. Had he not learned that it was one of Europe’s most LGBTQ-friendly countries, he would’ve thought twice about kissing his guy in public.
Truthfully, he felt safer kissing Cal here than he did in certain parts of his own home state.
Austin had so many questions, but he couldn’t release Cal’s mouth long enough to ask them.
It wasn’t until a friendly wolf whistle broke through his shock-infused brain that he stepped back with a quiet chuckle. He followed the sound of the whistle to the table he’d been looking at earlier and found all four friends toasting him and Cal with their drinks.
Austin snorted a laugh. Cal followed his gaze and gave them a jaunty salute.
Turning back to Cal, Austin said, “How...?”
Cal kissed the tip of his nose, sending Austin’s stomach fluttering. “I know you have other words in your vocabulary.”
“Oh, fuck you.” Austin shoved him gently, then tugged him down to sit next to him at the table. “Seriously... how are you here? I thought you couldn’t get the time off.”
“Turns out I could,” Cal said. He rested his forearms on the table, and Austin held one of his hands in both of his, unable to let him go. “Las and I are in a holding pattern on his project until the material arrives next week to build his cells, and as I’ve been reminded, there are plenty of competent staff on the ranch to take over my responsibilities for a week.” His lips twitched. “Las and Whitney practically pushed me onto the plane.”
“What about your mom? Isn’t she still recovering from her injuries?”
Cal’s smile fell off his face. “I prepped a week’s worth of meals for her so she wouldn’t have to stand on her feet for long periods of time, and I did some housework before I left. Didn’t have time for the yard work, but the ranch’s landscaper has a son who’s looking to make a few extra bucks lawn mowing and weed pulling this summer, so I hired him to look after things this week.”
“Your mom must’ve loved that,” Austin said, squeezing his hand.
Cal grimaced. “About as much as you’d expect.”
Austin could only imagine the stink Barbara would’ve put up when she’d learned that not only had Cal hired someone to take care of her yard, but that he was also traveling out of the country and wouldn’t be at her beck and call.
“I’m sorry she gave you a hard time.” Austin squished Cal’s cheeks between his palms and planted a bruising kiss on his lips. “But I’m so goddamn glad you’re here. Want to get out of here and?—”
“Here you go.” His server placed a piping hot pizza loaded with cheese, meat, and veggies onto the table, and Austin’s grumbling stomach warred with his desire to take Cal to his cottage and devour him.
Cal made the decision for him with a little groan. “Damn, that looks good.”
“Can I get you anything to drink?” the server asked.
“Whatever he’s having,” Cal replied, tipping his head at Austin. Once she’d left to fill his beer order, Cal broke into the pizza without hesitation, pulling out a slice first for Austin, then for himself. “So? How was your weekend with Ben?”
“Good,” Austin said around his mouthful of what was possibly the best pizza he’d ever had outside of Italy. Hats off to Hedda’s parents for the recommendation. “Really good. He’s seemed a little down lately, but... I think he’s actually okay. He gets along with his roommates, he’s got a good group of friends, and he likes his jobs. The second job gives him a little wiggle room, so he’s not quite as strapped for cash as he was.”
“Yet you slipped a few hundred pounds in his pocket anyway, didn’t you?”
“For emergencies,” Austin grumbled, shrugging one shoulder in defensiveness. “I can trust him to use it for things he actually needs and not on video games or something.”
Cal brushed a thumb over Austin’s wrist, and goosebumps erupted along his arm. “No stealing him away to bring him back home, then?”
“Nah. Not yet anyway. Now, please tell me exactly what Las and Whitney said to get you to come here, because I’m still not convinced I’m not hallucinating your presence.”
Chuckling, Cal did so, and they chatted through their meal, feet tangled under the table.
God, Cal was here . In Nor-freaking-way. It was like seeing a manatee in Wyoming or a giraffe on an iceberg. An animal out of its natural habitat. He looked good, though, if tired from the flight. Even better? He looked happy. Like he was excited to be here and hadn’t just caved to pressure out of some sense of duty. He was talking about taking a boat tour on the fjord when Austin decided he’d had quite enough of sitting here being polite. He waved to their server to get her attention.
“I hope you brought provisions,” Austin muttered to Cal as the server approached. “Because I’m ravishing you as soon as we get back.”
Cal choked on his beer.
Austin swallowed a smug grin, and when the server neared, said, “Can we box the rest up and get the bill?”
“I’ll get you a box, but your meal’s already paid for.”
“Oh?” Frowning, Austin paused, wallet half out of his pocket. “By who?”
The server gestured toward the table of friends he’d been watching earlier. “The gentleman in the green sweater.”
“But... why?”
“You’d have to ask him,” she said with a shrug. “I’ll be right back with your box.”
“Is that a thing Norwegians do?” Cal asked once they’d packed up what remained of the pizza. “Pay for a stranger’s meal?”
“Beats me. Let’s ask him.”
The four friends had finished their meal ages ago and were nursing their drinks lazily, seemingly in no hurry to leave. With Cal at his side, Austin approached, pizza box in one hand and held out the other. “Hi. Thanks for covering our dinner.”
“My pleasure.” The man’s voice was gruffly accented, and he stood as he shook Austin’s hand. He was about his and Cal’s height with sandy blond hair, a matching beard, and shoulders as wide as Cal’s. “Professor Rolf Haugen. It seems we may be colleagues soon, Mr. MacIsaac.”
Austin didn’t know what expression was on his face, but Rolf chuckled. “I recognize you from your photo online. My wife is a big fan. Has many of your prints.”
“Oh.” Austin let out a laugh. Not a stalker, then. Phew. “You work with Hedda?”
“I teach post-production techniques for film. I’ll show you my classroom tomorrow when you come for a tour of the school.”
“I’d love that. Thank you.”
“Let me introduce you.” Rolf extended an arm toward his table. “Nina and Fredrik work in admissions, and Birgit is a former student.”
“Nice to meet you all. This is my partner, Cal.” Another round of nice to meet you went around. “Thanks again for our dinner. Maybe Cal and I can take you and your wife out before we leave to repay the kindness.”
“I won’t say no to picking the brain of someone with your talents, and I’m sure my wife would love to meet her favorite photographer,” Rolf said, his dark eyes gleaming. “Welcome to Norway. I look forward to working together.”
Austin didn’t have the heart to tell him that his future as a professor here was still up in the air, just said his goodbyes, twined his fingers with Cal’s, and left.
Cal slung an arm around Austin’s shoulders as they walked back to Austin’s cottage, encouraging each other to “Check out that bird. Take a picture and send it to your dad. He can look it up for us on his app.” And “Check out that neighborhood. Looks cute. We should come back tomorrow.”
Austin had left his camera at the cottage, but he wished now that he’d brought it along to dinner so he could take pictures of Cal and record for posterity the time that his man had surprised him by showing up in Norway unannounced.
“Why did you decide to come?” Austin asked. Once Cal had retrieved his suitcase from behind a planter, Austin unlocked the cottage door and swung it open, then waved for Cal to enter first. “I get that you were given permission, but you could’ve stayed home.”
Eyes darkening, Cal reached for him. “Because you invited me.” Against Austin’s mouth, Cal whispered, “Because I wanted to. Because in case you hadn’t noticed, I like spending time with you.”
Austin had to kiss him for that, long and hard and with significantly more finesse than he’d shown at the restaurant. Cal grunted, and Austin savored the sound. Savored how it seemed to come from deep in Cal’s belly, and how its gruffness sent all of Austin’s senses into overdrive.
He still couldn’t believe he got to do this, kiss and touch Cal whenever he felt like it. It was unreal but also the most real thing in Austin’s life.
As Cal told him to wait a second and dug through his suitcase for the provisions Austin had teased him about, Austin’s thoughts, full of yes and now and finally , also settled on home .
Because that was what it felt like when Cal kissed him again and when they stumbled, laughing, into the bedroom. It was something clicking into place as they undressed between hurried kisses and fell onto the bed.
Home. Home had always been where Cal was.
Austin kissed up his chest, laving and nipping before finding Cal’s mouth again. His heart beat a mile a minute, hard enough to pound out of his chest. Cal’s legs locked at the ankles at the base of his spine, and fuck, if there wasn’t anything hotter than that.
Cal tore his mouth away and muttered a low, “You’ll have to go slow.” He handed Austin the lube. “This is my first time with a guy.”
Austin was about to joke about bursting his anal cherry, but the vulnerability in Cal’s eyes stopped him, and he gave Cal a gentle smile instead. “I’m going to take such good care of you. Such good care.”
A few minutes later, when he had Cal moaning and swearing as he finished prepping him, Austin figured he’d kept his promise. The moaning and swearing became a stuttered plea when Austin entered him oh-so goddamn slowly, and the sight of Cal spread out underneath him, flushed, panting, hard cock leaking...
Austin took a mental snapshot and added it to his Cal album.
“Fuck.” Austin sucked in a breath through his teeth. “Fuck, Cal, Jesus. Tell me when I can move.”
“Yeah,” Cal rumbled. He fisted himself and tugged, adding another snapshot to the Cal album. “Yeah, fuck me.”
Jesus. Christ.
Austin took it slow at first, easing Cal into it so he didn’t hurt him. The tightness of Cal around him, the sight of all that naked skin and those hard muscles, the pained pleasure on Cal’s face...
Austin picked up speed without even meaning to, tempted more than he’d ever been in his life to go to town and take what he wanted. But he slowed instead, conscious that this was Cal’s first time.
Not just Cal’s first time with him, but Cal’s first time with a guy, which was all sorts of amazing and scary and wonderful.
“No,” Cal said roughly when Austin slowed his thrusts. “Faster. Faster, Aus. Yes. Yes, just like that.”
Head thrown back, chest heaving, Cal tugged his erection almost desperately, and when he finally came, ejaculating all over himself, Austin followed soon after, sated and happy and sweaty.
And home.