15. Chapter Fifteen

According to the terminal's sign announcing arrivals, Matty's plane had landed a few minutes ago. I waited by the baggage carousel for him to appear, pacing while I waited. There was a camera crew with me, filming my pacing. We'd seen each other only a couple of weeks prior, but my stomach was in knots anyway. I wasn't sure how the distance and the days would change where we left off.

After a half hour or so of waiting, a crowd streamed from the upper floors down into the baggage claim area and once again, my stomach gave an anxious little flutter. I spotted him on the escalator, backpack slung over his shoulder, laptop bag in hand, gaze darting around, presumably looking for me.

I lifted my arm and waved frantically in his direction. "Matty!"

Finally, he spotted me, relief visible on his face as he smiled in my direction, the tension in the set of his shoulders relaxing. He made his way through the throngs of people and when he got to me, he stopped, shifting from one foot to the other, the look on his face suddenly shy. He cast his gaze at the ground and then looked back at me through his long lashes.

"Hei."

I gave him a soft smile. "Hi." I hesitated for a second before throwing my arms around his neck and squeezing him close to me.

Matty staggered backward a step from the force of my hug before wrapping his arms around my body and hugging me tightly, laptop bag crashing against my body as he held me.

"I missed you," I said, my voice soft and low into the shell of his ear.

Matty groaned softly, the rumble sending a shock wave through my chest and heat through my veins. "I missed you," he echoed.

"Cut!" We both looked around, surprised. I'd forgotten the cameras existed for a moment. The producer grinned and gave us a thumbs-up. "Great job."

We discussed the shots they'd gotten briefly before the crew left us behind, and I breathed a sigh of relief at being free of the cameras and observers.

A klaxon alarm sounded right as the crew walked away, announcing the arrival of the checked luggage. We stumbled a couple of steps away from the carousel before parting. I reluctantly let go of his neck and he bumped my shoulder with his.

"Was the flight okay?"

"It was fine. The first one was short, but the second wasn't. It seemed quite long."

"You must be tired."

Matty nodded. "But I'm glad to see you."

"Are you saying it was worth it?" I leaned against his side playfully.

He chuckled a little and tipped his chin at a big suitcase coming around. "I can't imagine describing it as anything else." He grinned at me before stepping forward to grab the bag. "One more, the same size."

"You brought a lot of clothes," I said, shaking my head and smiling fondly.

Matty shrugged and snatched his second suitcase from the carousel. "What can I say? I'm a little bit high maintenance, I suppose." Another grin and a wink. "Now, where to?"

I grabbed the suitcases—both of them, because Matty had his backpack and laptop bag—and rolled them along until we got to the car. It was a short drive back to my place and then there we were—home. Our home. "Well, here it is," I said, gesturing to the small rancher I lived in. I found myself suddenly and inexplicably nervous that he would think it was too small or something.

"It's great," he said, climbing out of the car. "So much space."

"It's a rental. Maybe we can buy one together after the wedding." I grinned and helped him haul his bags inside. Once we were in, his suitcases taking up a big portion of the little living room, I encouraged him to look around. "My house is your house. If we're going to live together for at least two years, you should get comfortable."

He made his way through the rancher, peeking into each room and nodding, occasionally saying something in Norwegian as he went. He did the same when he peered into my bedroom and then backed out, entering the guest room next. Matty placed his backpack on the bed and sat down heavily, yawning. "I think I'll take a nap."

"Here?"

"I assumed this was my room," he said, furrowing his brow.

"Oh, I…" I bit my lower lip. "I thought you might sleep in my room. With me."

He yawned again. "I wouldn't want to be in your way while I'm acclimating to the time zone and everything. But once I'm adjusted, I'd like that very much."

"In that case, I'll leave you to nap."

"Wait," he said as I turned to go. I stopped and turned back to face Matty. He came to me and pressed a gentle kiss to my lips. "That's all."

My insides melted a little and I smiled, softening. "Have a good nap," I murmured, a smile on my face.

"Takk." He rubbed his face sleepily as I closed the door behind me.

The days passed smoothly as we learned to navigate life as a soon-to-be married couple. I spent my mornings working at the music school, where I offered private lessons, and my afternoons were busy with my own music—writing, rehearsing, working out lyrics or tricky parts of a song. When I was home, Matty was practically always with me, unless he was napping or working. The magazine that he'd gotten on with had asked him to write a long editorial about moving to the US, so we did a little sightseeing in Port Grandlin whenever possible.

One morning, just after I'd returned from my lessons, I took a seat at the dining room table to eat a sandwich Matty had made for me while I'd been out.

"Jared?"

"Yeah?" I said through a mouthful of ham and tomato and buttered bread.

"When will I meet your friends?"

I swallowed hard and frowned at him. "You want to meet my friends?"

"Ja, of course. Don't you want me to meet them?"

"I mean, yeah, definitely. It's just… they can be a lot. I didn't know if you wanted to take all that on so soon."

"You met my friends the first night in Norway."

"Good point. Well, I have kickball tonight. You want to come?"

"I'd love that."

The idea of him watching me play ball made my stomach flutter and heat creep up my neck, so I just cleared my throat and nodded.

That evening, we found ourselves at the kickball field, Matty seated in the bleachers watching intently, whispering to Travis, who'd generously offered to walk him through any of our plays that might have escaped him.

The guys were welcoming and friendly—even Parker didn't say anything inappropriate, at least not to Matty's face.

"Jesus Christ, Norway," he said, leaning close when I took my seat.

"What are you even talking about, Park?"

"If I'd known they looked like that, I would have come overseas with you."

I rolled my eyes. "What about Travis?"

Parker shrugged. "I can bring home a third."

"Don't be stupid." I elbowed him hard enough that he nearly fell off the bench, both of us laughing. Levi shot us a look from the pitcher's mound that clearly said Shut up as he pitched the ball to Cam. Archer neatly caught it and tossed it back to Levi, which meant it was Parker's turn to kick. He got up and headed into position, shooting me a look with raised eyebrows before he made it to the kicker's box.

Once practice wrapped up, I stole Matty away from Travis, putting my arm around him and pulling him against my side.

He pulled away instantly, laughing. "Get away. You're sweaty."

I rolled my eyes fondly and shrugged. "Get used to it. That's the life of a kickball spouse." I planted a kiss on his cheek and took a few steps toward the car. "If you don't hurry, I'm going to keep the air conditioning off in the car, too."

"You wouldn't!"

"Find out."

He chased me and when we reached the car, we both collapsed against it, laughing. Matty shook his head. "You are exactly the picture of a disgusting American."

I shrugged again. "You love me." I opened my car door and started to slide inside but caught sight of Matty before I did. His cheeks were flaming red and his lower lip was trapped between his teeth. Had I said something that upset him? I mentally replayed the last few moments but all I could think of was… oh. The comment about love. Maybe his feelings were deeper for me than he was ready to confess—mine for him certainly were. I knocked on the roof, which seemed to snap him out of it. His gaze darted to me. "Get in before I start calling you Matthias."

He gasped in fake outrage. "You would never."

I leveled a look at him, grinning, one eyebrow raised. "Try me." With that, I backed out of the parking spot and headed to the bar, joy coursing through my veins.