Yes, lots of people play that way. You set up the server locally, set the network to port forwarding the port you are using to the server's address, then give the remote player the external address of your network. Others on these forums have described it better than I can.
"Damn the torpedoes! Four bells, Captain Drayton!"
(Likely actual words of Admiral David Farragut, USN, at the battle of Mobile Bay. Four bells was the signal for the engine room to make full steam ahead).