Mr. Americana and the London Boy 08

Author's Note: The final chapter! Thank you so much for all the love you guys have shown this story! I hope this last chapter is enjoyable for you and acts as a pretty little bow on this story for these two!

***Eric's Point of View***

"Tell me what you want." Matt asks me. I don't respond. I'm counting the cameras outside. Seven, eight, nine. "Love?" He asks again. I snap back to it. We're in a bakery near his office on a rainy Spring Friday afternoon.

"Um. A blueberry muffin, please. And tea."

We pick up our order and find a table in the back. "What is on your mind, Eric?"

I've been feeling more and more claustrophobic with the press these last few months, but I'm trying not to bring those thoughts up with Matt, it's not his burden. "Just thinking." I shrug off, smiling.

"About what?" He grabs my hand. I resist the instinct to pull back, because I don't actually want to.

"I was just counting all the cameras, they seem to be multiplying daily now."

He smiles softly. "Would you like me to go have a chat with them?" He offers.

"No, thank you, though. We both know that might just backfire."

"Is there anything I can do for you, love?"

"No." I feel myself getting overly emotional. "I'm just sorry I can't give you the peace you deserve sometimes." I say softly, holding it together just enough to not strain my voice.

"Eric, my love, I promise you do." He replies softly.

"It just, it feels like a lot right now." I sigh. "Not you, just life."

"Then let's go somewhere, make it not... a lot."

"We can't just go somewhere, we both have a lot of work next week."

"I think I know a place we can relax for the weekend..." His eyes light up. "Let me just make a quick call."

"Alright."

He gets up and whispers on the phone for a minute. "Okay, let's go. We're getting out of the city for the weekend." He extends his hand eagerly.

"Where are we going?" I ask, taking it.

"If I wanted you to know, I would have let you listen to me on the phone." He teases.

He's already easing my mind.

An hour later, we are on the road. Another two, we are pulling through the gates of a magnificent countryside manor, something that looks like it belongs in Pride and Prejudice. There's a gorgeous greenhouse the size of our old apartment to one side and what looks like a massive garden to the other.

As we park in the driveway, I see two people walk through the front door. It's Larry and Margie, they're adorably waving at us. My heart absolutely melts. "Matty..." I look at him.

"C'mon, let's go say hi."

Greeting them, Margie gives me the biggest, tightest hug. It's as warm and inviting as this place. "We are so happy you've finally come to visit!" She beams.

"We are so happy to be here!" I say. "Your home is beautiful!"

"Come in, we'll give you lads a quick tour before dinner." Larry offers.

"I'm sorry about the late notice, thank you both for having us." Matt says.

"Nonsense, no notice is necessary for you two."=

"This is such a lovely surprise, Matt didn't tell me where we were headed."

"He told us you both could do with a relaxing weekend of solitude, we are happy to provide that. Now, if you're willing, we'd love to have you join us for dinner tonight. Tomorrow, we will be at our granddaughter's garden party, so you'll have the whole place to yourselves. There's plenty in the kitchen, you can use whatever you want or get takeaway, whatever you want."

"We would love to join you for dinner, thank you." I reply.

We enjoy a lovely meal in their back garden, the evening breeze making for a slightly chilly atmosphere. Not long after the temperature drops, Matty takes off his jacket and wraps it around my shoulders. "Thank you." I whisper. He nods and smiles. He looks so adorable in the candle light, I find my eyes falling back to him constantly throughout dinner.

After a long, wonderful chat, we help clean up. Margie and Larry wish us a good night and retire for the evening, inviting us to stay up and enjoy the garden some more.

"What do you say, love? Shall we go sit by that fire pit for a bit?"

"That would be nice, I spotted a blanket on the couch."

"Of course you did." He kisses my temple. Outside again, we snuggle up on the same couch under the big blanket. "Look at the stars tonight, they're so bright." He looks up.

"Or are we just out of the city?" I reason.

"Both, love."

"I rarely see stars as bright as this, I guess." I reason. I admire the sky while he points at certain ones, reciting the names of the ones he knows.

"There's only two I see pretty consistently, though."

"Do you know their names?"

"I don't think they have names." He answers.

"Can you point them out?" I ask, looking at him.

"Yeah..." He points his finger up at the sky, then brings it back down to point at my right eye, then my left. "There they are."

I roll my eyes and blush. "Such a flirt."

"Maybe, but you know you love it." He wraps his arm around my shoulders, pulling me in close to him. I rest my head against his.

"I do." I wrap my arm around his, holding it tight. "The fresh air feels so nice."

"It does, doesn't it?" London is great, but we can't always get this there."

"No." I agree.

"We should go in before we get too comfortable and fall asleep." He suggests.

"Too late, I'm already very comfortably snuggled up with you." I say softly.

"I'm glad, but let's at least go up and snuggle there. Then we can fall asleep in a cozy bed."

"Mmm, alright."

I wake up in the most luxuriously comfortable bed. Standing with his back to me, butt naked, Matty is grabbing something out of his bag. "What a view..." I say casually.

"I know, isn't this place so pretty?" He turns to look out the french doors that lead to a balcony. We're on the third floor, in a room that looks to be from the 19th century. Our balcony overlooks the expansive gardens on one side of the property. "Good morning, love."

"Good morning, naked man." I reply. "I meant you, by the way."

He cracks a smile and turns towards me. "I should've known." He kneels on the bed and crawls on top of me. I wrap my arms around him as he kisses my neck.

"How did you sleep?"

"One of the best sleeps I've ever had. We should buy this bed off of Larry and Margie." He kisses the other side of my neck.

"I was gonna say the same thing." I laugh. He pulls back and looks at me.

"How is it possible you look younger than the day I met you?" The back of his index finger grazes my cheek.

"Because you keep me young." I tell him. He kisses me on the lips. My entire nervous system relaxes into his kiss. My hands run through his hair, I keep his face down on mine to kiss him back.

"How about a hike after breakfast?" He suggests. "Larry mentioned a wine hike they often go on."

"You and wine, what a great day."

He smiles. "I'm gonna hop in the shower real quick, breakfast is in twenty. There's coffee on the desk for you."

"Thank you." I watch him back off of me and head to the en suite bathroom. I take a few minutes to enjoy my coffee on the balcony, the sounds of nature providing a priceless serenity.

After breakfast, Larry and Margie leave for their granddaughter's while we begin our hike. We use the walking paths to cross through farmland, enjoying the serene atmosphere and the farm animals, mostly sheep, chickens, and horses. We make our way from one village pub to the next, stopping for lunch at one. It is so nice to be spending quality time with Matty, it feels like time is passing us by too quickly to get to enjoy one another enough.

We get back around four in the afternoon. After cleaning up, we spend a bit of time enjoying the gardens, finding a bench and settling in for a bit of reading. An hour and a half pass by in blissful silence.

"I'm getting hungry, what about you?" He asks, setting his book down.

"Yeah, I am too."

"How about I whip us up something, maybe some good pasta?"

"Oh, I would love some pasta tonight!"

"I'm gonna head to the local shop to get some bits, do you want to tag along? I don't think it's right to use any of their food."

"Yeah, I agree. I would love to go with you."

Walking through the store, I'm reminded of that night we made it official after those horrible few months without him.

"Do you remember that first night we went shopping together?" I ask.

"How could I ever forget?" He kisses the top of my head. "You stole that first rekindled kiss."

"Only a peck on your cute little cheek!" I laugh.

"I can forgive, but I can't forget." He says. "You were also extremely adorable in the shop that night, sorry you've had to rough it ever since." He jests.

I lean in and whisper. "I don't mind, you know I like it rough."

"Bloody freak!" He wraps his arm around my shoulders and pulls me in close next to him as we walk down the empty aisle.

"Oh, we should get something for Larry and Margie." I say.

"We should, any ideas?"

"I think Margie would appreciate a photo of your bare butt." I tease.

"Ha. Ha." He deadpans.

"What about a bouquet of flowers? If they don't have any here, we can order them when we get back."

"Perfect."

Back at the house, we start cooking dinner together. Once everything is chopped and ready to go in the pan (which we've both agreed is best left in Matty's hands), I offer to set the table.

"No need, love."

"Why? Are we gonna eat on the floor?"

"It's already done. We're eating somewhere special tonight."

"Where?" I smile, not surprised he has something else up his sleeve.

"Outside, in the greenhouse." He answers.

"The greenhouse?"

"Didn't you see it?" He chuckles, pointing in its general direction. I nod. "Larry recommended eating out there, so I set it up this morning before you woke up. There is also a screen and a projector, so we can watch a movie afterwards."

"That sounds awesome!" I squeeze Matty's free hand. "Thank you." I let out a deep breath. "For this whole weekend, for taking such good care of me all the time, for everything." I say. "I'm so grateful I get to be with you. This has been exactly what I needed, thank you. It... it was just getting too much..."

"I'm always here, Eric. Always." He kisses my forehead.

"All I want is to live life next to you." I step forward and rest my head on his chest, hugging him tight.

"Same here, love." He holds me and caresses my head.

Outside, we make our way to the greenhouse, plates in hand. The entire glass room is lit up in beautiful fairy lights. A rustic, wooden table sits in the middle of the open area on one side of the large space. Three candlesticks sit atop a white linen runner. We set our plates down, Matt pulls out my chair and helps me in. Then he lights a match and lights the candles.

"This is beautiful."

"I'm glad you think so." He grabs his glass and raises it to me. "Cheers."

"Cheers." I clink his glass, locking my eyes on his. "This smells amazing."

"Apparently we make a good team." He smirks, taking a bite of the pasta.

"I can't wait to marry you." I say.

"I can't either." He smiles. "We should set a date."

"I'm free tomorrow." I tease.

He leans in. "That's not soon enough."

"Well, I'm not sure we can find a minister for tonight."

"We don't need one."

"I'm pretty sure that's an integral part of a marriage ceremony."

"How about this..." He leans back, his face going into that serious thinking mode he gets when he's working or thinking very seriously about something. "How about we pick a date this winter, after your movie is wrapped up. And we'll have an intimate ceremony at home with only the people we really care about."

"That sounds perfect."

"But..."

"But, what?" I grin.

"I wish I could marry you today." He looks at me with his soft, blue eyes and I'm a goner.

I stand up and step towards him, leaning down and planting a soft kiss on his pretty lips. "So do I. But think of it this way: we only have a few more months of being engaged and decades of marriage, so let's cherish this short era of our lives." My thumbs caress his cheeks as I hold his face in my hands. He is looking up at me with his usual look of absolute adoration.

"I love you, my dearest fiancé."

"I love you, my dearest future husband." He lifts himself up to kiss me.

As we clean up dinner, Margie and Larry return. We ask if they'd like to join us for the movie screening, but they decline and retire to bed, citing the grandkids exhausted them. After we enjoy the movie, we also retire for the night.

"I had a lovely day, thank you." I kiss Matty goodnight.

"So did I."

After a delicious breakfast that Matty made for all four of us, and an enjoyable morning chat, we say our goodbyes and thank them profusely before we make our way home.

***

With a week before the wedding, we have made a considerable amount of progress on the house. Especially since I got home late last night, after spending the last few months busy in L.A. filming. All of the rooms on the two entertaining floors are finished with redecorating, as is most of the garden.

There's one flower bed that needs a lot of attention. Basically, it needs a complete redesign. I suggested we get a gardener in here, but Matty insisted we do it ourselves. So far, the rest of the garden looks good, so I can't complain. I guess I don't really mind, I do love seeing him do work around the house. Especially in those gray sweats, the ones he currently has on, and no shirt. I will say, I love how handy he is. At the apartment, no house projects needed to get done, so I never saw this side of him. But here, there's dozens of projects and he loves to tackle them all on his own, and boy do I love to watch him do it. And he has a real green thumb, something he never mentioned before. We decide to do it early in the morning, as there are reports of a big wind and rain storm coming in this afternoon that might last through the weekend.

After we take everything out of the bed, I help bring over the bags of soil and new plants - a few colors of hydrangeas. The more we work, the more he sweats. His entire back is glistening under the hot summer sun. He has no idea how hard he makes it for me to focus.

One bush down, three to go. "Want some water before we continue?" I ask.

"Yes, please."

I run inside and grab our water bottles, filling them with extra cold water. I watch his chest rise and fall as he takes a few big gulps. Then, because simply sweating wasn't enough, he pours more than half of the remaining water over his head, letting it cover his face and fall down over his chest. I feel like I'm in a movie, watching him shake his head to rid himself of the remaining water droplets. "That feels so good, thanks, love."

"Yup." I answer. Any more words would simply give me away. We return to work, planting the next two bushes. Working on the fourth, we notice dark clouds move over us. It starts to rain.

We hurry up, finishing planting the final bush. Now we just need to add the final two bags of top soil. As we open the first one, it starts to rain.

"I'll finish, love, go in and stay dry."

"You jump, I jump, Jack." I proclaim.

It feels as with every passing second, the rain picks up. Soon, it's a solid downpour. We do our best to spread the soil evenly over the bed. The more we work, the muddier it gets.

I lean over the wall to get to the corner behind one bush."Alright, that should be good!" Matt shouts over the rain. He runs to the garbage bins and deposits all of the empty bags and trash from the plants. Then he makes his way back over to me, just as I'm finishing this bit. "Let's go, love!" The sky unleashes even more rain over our heads.

As I push myself back up over the wall, my hand slips on what was previously dirt and I fall forward into the bed, now a hybrid of dirt and mud.

"Love!" Matt pulls me up. "Are you good?" He asks, wiping the mud from my face.

"I'm fine." I laugh. "Let's go."

"Hold on." He pulls me away from the flower bed, then intentionally lays chest down in the mud.

"Matty!" I grab his arm. "What the heck are you doing? Are you nuts?!"

He stands back up, the entire top half of his body covered in mud. His pecs and abs still look phenomenal, of course. "You jump, I jump." He gives me his adorable, slightly naughty grin. My concern for his sanity wipes away and a massive smile spreads over my mud-covered face.

"You're so stupid." I shake my head, stepping forward and planting a big kiss on his lips. His arms naturally slide their way around my lower waist, holding onto me tightly. He kisses me back.

"Couldn't let you be dirty without me."

"So thoughtful." I giggle. He kisses me again. "At least you look really good covered in mud."

"Do I?" He grins. "Glad I took off my t-shirt."

"So was I. Quite the view I had all afternoon."

"Cheeky, cheeky." His smile manages to brighten up his face even when it's covered in mud.

"Why are you so cute?"

"I ask myself the same about you." He pulls me in for a hug. "This rain feels quite nice, actually."

"It does. And we might want to stay out here to wash off the mud."

"Might take a bit, how should we pass the time?" He asks.

I pull back and spread my arms out. "Just dance and enjoy it!" I step back towards the center of the yard and spin around. Shortly after, he's joining me.

"You're mental!" He shouts as we spin around. He grabs my waist and pulls me in, lifting me up and spinning us around a few times. I hear his laugh ring out through the rain. I don't think I'll ever love anything more than his laugh. He carefully lowers me. "We really should get inside, don't want to get sick this week, even if it's a lot of fun."

"Guess not." I respond. He kisses me on the top of my rain-soaked head.

"Let's take our trainers and socks off here." He points at the small patio by the door.

"I think the washing machine is empty, we can pop our clothes in there before we shower."

He pauses taking off his shoes, popping his head up immediately. "Together?"

"I mean, that's what I was thinking... it's been a while, what? Two or three months."

"96 days. Since before your last film." He responds casually.

"You kept track?" I can't help but grin.

"Of course, I've been waiting for your return, it's no fun having to shave myself."

"Ah, so you missed your little houseboy." I jest.

We take our shoes and socks off. He stands up, hovering over me. "If that's how you want to refer to yourself, then yes."

"I see."

"But you should already know..." He steps closer to me, his chest hair practically tickling me. "I've missed you for so many more reasons than just that. I missed seeing you wet, naked, and touching me."

"Well, I'm already wet... two more items to check off."

"This isn't the exact kind of wetness I was referring to..." He smirks.

"Take me upstairs then... so we can correct it and check all three things off your list." I breathe.

"I never said the most important thing I missed."

"Oh? What was it?"

"You." He leans in and kisses me on the lips, before I even have time to react to his sweet remark. He whisks me up in his arms, his right hand holding me under my butt, his left closes the door.

He carries me upstairs while I kiss his neck. Finally in the bathroom, we strip out of our soaked clothes and throw them in the wash. We make our way into the hot shower. After a few minutes of cleaning up all the mud, I decide it's time for his shave. I sit him down and straddle his lap, there really is nothing I love more than feeling him between my legs, my face inches from his.

Before I begin, I gently caress his stubbly cheek. My thumb runs over the outline of his lower lip. He parts his lips, making it clear he wants my thumb between them. I bring it up slowly, his lips press a soft, wet kiss to the pad of my thumb. It's sweet and gentle and tender. His eyes look up into mine, my breathing quickens as he places a second kiss, just as soft, on the top of my thumb. It takes no time at all for his lips to pull me in, parting enough to wrap around my thumb. He consumes it just as softly as the kiss, sucking harder as he returns it back. His eyes stay on mine, watching the expression on my face as he teases me.