24. Chapter Twenty-Four

As I waited outside the event hall for my cue, I took a deep, slow breath and used the moment to reflect on the past few months. It had been such a whirlwind, but I barely remembered what life was like before I'd agreed to marry Jared. What had initially been a relatively painless way to help me get a visa and boost Jared's career had turned into so much more. We'd gone from the best of friends—platonically in love with each other—to life partners and soon to be spouses. I was so in love with him that my chest ached.

Mamma stood next to me and hooked her arm in mine. "Ready?" When I nodded, Theo opened the door and we stepped inside. Travis had taken advantage of his head ranger status and snagged us a reservation for the event hall in his park, and the way he and the guys had decorated it literally took my breath away. I inhaled sharply, taking in the abundance of twinkling fairy lights and the soft fabric draped from the ceilings, looping over the exposed beams. It was beautiful, like a fairy-tale wedding. I'd been a part of the planning, but seeing it in real life was so different. It was just stunning.

I hadn't seen Jared that day, and the sight of him standing at the end of the makeshift aisle in a crisp black tux made my heart leap. The smile that appeared on his face was bright and wide, matching my own. As I escorted Mamma up the aisle, she squeezed my arm and whispered to me in Norwegian.

"Du er fantastisk, gutten min. Jeg elsker deg."

"I love you too, Mamma," I murmured, returning the soft squeeze of her hand. "Thank you."

Once we'd reached Jared and the groomsmen, I pressed a kiss to her cheek and Mamma took her seat so I could take my place. Behind me stood Cam, Bennett, Theo, and of course my brother Kasper. Behind Jared stood Parker, Levi, Asher, and Ethan. The entire kickball team had rushed to our assistance when we'd started planning in earnest. In addition to Travis's help with the venue, Oliver had—to everyone's surprise—volunteered to have his restaurant cater the event, and Dex had used his pull to get us an amazing honeymoon suite in downtown Port Grandlin. Soren, Levi's husband, had offered to coordinate the decorations, and he'd done an amazing job. To make things interesting, Nate, Theo's husband, had gotten ordained so he could officiate. Of course, the rest of the guys were joining us as groomsmen. They'd jumped at the opportunity. I'd never had so much family surrounding me in my life.

I faced Jared and he took my hands in his without hesitation. They were soft and warm, his touch firm and reassuring, as Nate began the ceremony.

After he greeted the guests, and said a few words about marriage, he turned to Jared and asked him to read out his vows. Unfortunately for me, that meant that Jared released my hands and pulled out the paper his vows were written on. The second we released each other, I ached to reach for him again.

He held the paper with shaking hands and began to read. "Matty," Jared started, his voice thick with emotion. "I've known you for fifteen years. You're my best friend. We've already seen each other through thick and thin, through highs and lows. We've stayed awake talking from dusk until dawn on more than one occasion. You've been by my side through it all. And today I get to call you my husband. I couldn't be happier. I've known you for fifteen years, and I think I've loved you just as long. I just didn't know it then. I'm sorry it took me a while to figure it out, but I'm glad I did. Elsker deg."

He folded up the paper he'd been reading from and tucked it in his pocket as I blinked away the tears that were threatening to fall. When Nate looked to me, my stomach did a flip. I pulled out my own vows, took a deep breath, and began to read.

"Jared, the moment I saw you at the Oslo airport a few months ago, I knew without a doubt that we'd made the right choices. Not just one right choice, all the right choices, all the way back to my exchange student days. Staying close after I left, even through university and beyond. Through my impossible travel schedule and your hectic life. We never missed a call. But the day I saw you in that airport, any doubt I might have had just lifted away. In that moment, I couldn't have been more sure that marrying you was what I was meant to do. I'm so glad we get the opportunity to spend the rest of our lives together. I love you."

I slipped the paper back into my own pocket and took his hands once again. Nate walked us through the exchanging of rings—simple titanium bands—and then he grinned widely at us. "I now pronounce you married. You may kiss."

Without hesitation, Jared stepped forward, put his hand on the back of my neck, and pulled me close. He pressed a gentle, relatively chaste kiss to my mouth as our friends and family stood and cheered.

Because we'd been married in the literal same location as our reception, we immediately transitioned to dancing, Jared taking the lead once again and spinning us to the dance floor. We held each other close as the song he'd chosen played over the speakers and we swayed to the music.

"Hey," he murmured.

I lifted my head from his shoulder to look at him. "Yeah?"

"We did it."

A soft smile on my face, I nodded. "That we did."

After our first dance concluded, I danced with Mamma and then with Ingrid, while Jared did the same with Debra and Grace. I was perfectly content to twirl them around the dance floor for as long as they wished, but Jared eventually tapped me on the shoulder and told me we needed to eat and cut the cake.

Once those tasks were done, we circulated the room, saying hello to everyone—mostly Jared's American friends and family, as my family took up much less space, and my friends couldn't fly to the States for the wedding. When we made it to the two large tables that housed the kickball team, raucous cheers erupted from the group.

"You should've had this shindig at Jock Strap," Parker said immediately. Travis elbowed him in the side hard, and Parker grunted. "What? I'm just saying."

"You're always just saying something stupid." Levi shook his head and rolled his eyes.

Cam cleared his throat. "Your vows were beautiful. Really good job, both of you." The rest of the table offered a chorus of agreement.

Jared chatted with them a little more, but I let my mind wander, getting distracted by Archer and Ethan. They were seated next to each other in a way that seemed cozier than just friends would. Maybe you're imagining things, I told myself. I looked away when Ethan subtly slid his hand on Archer's thigh under the table. I couldn't keep the smirk off my face. There was something going on between the two of them, clearly. They hadn't spoken up about it though, and it wasn't my place to say anything.

"…right, husband?"

Jared's words snapped my attention back to him. I blinked and tried to focus. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"I said, we couldn't possibly go on our honeymoon anytime soon because the season tournament is coming up. Right?"

A chuckle escaped me. I hadn't planned on a honeymoon at all, but even if I had, I certainly wouldn't schedule it during kickball season. "Of course not. I'm not a monster."

"Exactly." Jared nodded. "Satisfied, Levi?"

Levi put down his glass. "Of course I am. I can't have one of my star players—"

"One of your only players," Theo interjected.

"Whatever. I can't have you abandoning us now that you're hitched. It's not the way this kickball family works."

"Believe me, I know. I wouldn't do that, and neither would Matty. Now, gentlemen, if you'll excuse me, I think I want to pack it in. I need to get to know my husband a little better, if you know what I mean."

The responses at the tables ranged from gagging to eye rolling to Parker's declaration of "nice!"

With that, Jared whisked me away from their tables.

"Where are we going? Back to the hotel so early?"

"We don't have to go to the hotel to do what I was thinking," he murmured, pressing a quick kiss to my ear.

"Stop it," I said, playfully shoving him away. "I am absolutely not disappearing to the bathroom to blow you or something. Not with my family here. And yours. Can you imagine Kasper or your dad walking into the bathroom while we're in a stall fucking? Not sexy."

"In that case, I guess we do need to get to the hotel. I don't think I can wait much longer to claim you as my own."

"You already did that, in front of a ton of witnesses."

He shrugged. "This is different. More bodily fluids involved."

"You're disgusting," I said, but my laugh betrayed how not-bothered I was by his comments. "In that case, I guess you're right. We'd better get to the hotel."

He smiled brightly at me, his eyes shining with lust. "Best idea you've ever had… husband."