Page 66 of Road to a Cowboy

“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...

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