I wished I could see her face.

She sat after a moment, watching the ocean, and I stood at the helm of my ship with the wind rushing past me, feeling like everything was right. As if everything was exactly what it should be, where it should be. And when she looked back over her shoulder at me, I knew it was true.

Maggie

Hours later, I felt wind whipped and sun worn and absolutely amazing. I’d never experienced anything quite like it.

Cooper Moore — nautical badass. Who knew.

I sat next to him in the cockpit and watched him, talked to him, laughed with him. I sat on the bow of the ship where the wind was the strongest, feeling free, full of hope. For a little while, I sat in his lap, steering the boat under his direction as he told me what we were looking for — the fullness of the sails, the direction of the wind against them. And the rest of the time, I watched him navigate his ship, the attention to every small detail as deliberate as it was second nature.

By the time we reached Shinnecock Bay, I wasn’t ready for the ride to end. I took comfort in that we’d do it all again in the morning, and after watching him handle his ship all day, I was ready to have him to myself, with no distractions.

He pulled into a slip in a marina in the north of the bay that he’d reserved, and he called for his car service before showing me how to close up the boat. We grabbed our things, and I felt so unbelievably good as we walked out of the marina and slipped into the backseat of the car waiting for us. I was tucked into his side, watching out the window as we rose up the coast, past a few subdivisions until the driver turned down a long driveway.

You wouldn’t have known it was there if you weren’t looking for it — the unimposing entry with a gate just past what you could see from the road. The driver pulled up to the box where Cooper punched in a code, and once the gate opened, we drove over the hill.

My mouth dropped open when I saw the Hampton house at the bottom.

It was a beachy Cape Cod with dark wooden slats and white trim, a massive home, but somehow it didn’t feel pretentious at all. It looked homey, sitting there on the beach without another house in sight, the ocean stretched out forever beyond. Like a safe haven, secluded from everything.

It was a bubble I had a feeling I may never want to leave.

The driver pulled around the circular driveway, and we climbed out. Cooper picked up our bags, smiling at me over his shoulder as he unlocked the door. And when he pushed it open, I stepped inside, holding my breath.

The quiet house looked like it came straight out of a design magazine. Everything was crisp and clean, modern and simple, as unassuming as the exterior of the house in whites and grays and dark wood. The furniture looked comfortable and simple, and my eyes followed the exposed beams across the ceiling.

I’d never seen anything so perfect.

“I can’t even believe this is real.” I was still looking around in awe as he stepped up behind me and took off his sunglasses.

“Welcome to the Hampton house.” He kissed my hair, close enough that his chest was against my back.

“Why would you ever leave this place?”

I felt him shrug. “This is where we come to get away from life. Everything else is in New York. It’s only a matter of time before it drags you back.”

I shook my head, looking out the wall of windows at the ocean. “Nope. Never leaving.”

He laughed and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “Fine by me.” He pressed a kiss to my temple and grabbed my hand. “Come on, let me show you around.”

We walked through the house — through the living room, the massive library and media room, the gourmet kitchen — then down the hallway where the bedrooms were. The master bedroom was more than half the width of the house with a bathroom that was bigger than my bedroom in Manhattan. I gaped at the giant soaker tub.

“I’m getting in that at some point.”

He chuckled and set our bags down. “Still want to sleep on the boat?”

“Absolutely not.”

Cooper walked up behind me and slipped his hands around my waist. I leaned back into him, feeling his solid body behind me, and he rested his chin on the top of my head. I caught sight of our reflection in the bathroom mirror and couldn’t tear my eyes away.

We looked carefree and full of life, windblown and young and alive. And in that moment, everything shifted, moving forward in a jolt without having moved at all.

He looked down at me, and I looked up at him, and when he kissed me, I knew nothing would ever be what it was before.

STAY

Cooper

I ADJUSTED MY TIE IN the mirror over the dresser, smiling at my reflection that evening.

Maggie. All day, all night, in my dreams and in my arms.

I looked at the man in the mirror, barely recognizing who I saw looking back. I was me, the same me I’d always been — same nose, same eyes — but somehow, everything had changed.

The feeling of certainty, of rightness, overwhelmed me again. I was high off of it, off of her. Off the perfect day and her lips and her laugh.

I realized that the man I saw in the mirror looked different because I was hers.

It was a feeling I could get used to.

Purpose.

Maggie stepped out of the bathroom but stopped in the threshold, hanging on to the doorframe as she lifted her foot to adjust her heel. Her dress was simple and black, the neck scooped low, her black suede heels dainty and sexy all at once. She stood and looked up at me with eyes bright and blue, scanning my body.

When she made her way over to me, she laid her hands on my chest, slipping her fingers under my lapels. “I can’t handle you in this suit.”

My hands trailed down her waist to her hips. “I can’t handle you in this dress.”

She smiled and kissed me gently.

“We’ll never leave, Mags.”

“There’s food here, right?”

“I’m not letting my ‘no rules night with Maggie’ go to waste. I’m going to feed you, take you on a real date like I can’t in New York.”

She chuckled. “West would approve.”

My smile slipped, and I cupped her cheek. “Would he?”

She didn’t answer, only sighed.

“I have to believe that if we were honest with him—”

But she shook her head, her eyes on my lips. “Not tonight. Okay? Today … today’s been one of the most perfect days of my life. I don’t want to think about what happens tomorrow or what happened before. I just want right now. Can you give that to me?” Her eyes met mine.

My throat was tight — I couldn’t speak. So I nodded.

“Thank you. Now, let’s go eat shellfish until we can’t move.”

I laughed, though the tension never left me as I grabbed her hand and took her down to the garage. She shook her head, hand on her hip when I turned on the light.

“A Porsche? That’s so predictable.”

I shrugged and walked over to the black Boxster. “It’s my beach car.”

She followed, the beat of her heels against the concrete echoing in the room. “I don’t think I’ve ever actually ridden in a Porsche before.”

I smiled. “Well, allow me to introduce you.” I opened the door for her, and she slipped in, looking around, wide eyed.

“Swanky, Coop.”

I chuckled and closed her door, walking around to climb into the driver’s seat. She perked up when I started the engine.

“Oh, that sound.”