The relief on his face was perfectly clear. “Always.”

I smiled at him. “So, what will we do now? Spend all weekend in your apartment?”

He shrugged, smiling slyly. “Or we could drive to the Hamptons in the morning, spend the weekend there instead.”

I felt myself light up, unable to hide my excitement. “Oh, that sounds amazing. We’ll come back Sunday, then? I go back to work Monday morning.”

“Me too.”

My brow quirked. “What?”

He smirked. “Work on Monday. I have to.”

I blinked at him. “I heard you, but what?”

“I talked to my dad about a job and he gave me one. I started last week as a financial analyst at Moore & Co.” He took a sip of his scotch like it was no big deal.

But I just gaped at him. “Cooper, that’s … I mean … I don’t know what to say. Whatever convinced you to do that?”

“You,” he answered.

I was breathless. “But why?”

He set his drink down and faced me, his face open and earnest. “I’ve never felt like I’ve wanted more out of life than what I was living. Not until I met you.” He looked down at his hand as he played with my fingers. “I want to give you everything. I want to prove that I can be serious about life. About you.”

“I know you’re serious, Cooper,” I said softly.

“But this is a way I can show you. I found my purpose, and it’s you.”

I slipped my arms around his neck and pulled until my chin hooked over his shoulder, eyes closed, overcome. “I believe you can do anything.”

His shoulders rose and fell as he sighed, and he shifted to kiss my shoulder.

“I mean, you convinced me to date you for a full week before I even realized it.”

He laughed, the sound reverberating through my chest. I pulled back to look at him, laid a hand on his cheek.

“I’m proud of you, Cooper, and I’m honored.”

He smiled and slipped a hand in my hair. “I’m glad, Maggie, and I love you.”

I laid a kiss on his smiling lips. “I love you.”

“Good.”

I sat back in my chair, feeling giddy.

“Are you going to tell anyone you’re back?”

I reached for my wine. “I’ll text them later before they see us on Perez Hilton.”

He chuckled and took a sip of his scotch. “I’ve barely seen anyone since you’ve been gone. Just West, Tricky, and Astrid. I just … I wasn’t sure what to do with myself, at first. Knowing I had to wait, not knowing if I’d ever hear from you. It was maddening.”

I swallowed my wine and shook my head. “I’m so sorry I put you through that. It wasn’t fair.”

But he only said, “There are no rules to this. You did what you felt you needed to do, and I can’t fault you for that. I just missed you. I worried about you.”

“I wasn’t much better off, if it’s any comfort.”

“I wish neither of us had been unhappy. But we had to get through that to get to where we are. Worth it.”

I shook my head, smiling. “Who are you?”

He smirked with an eyebrow up. “Your dream guy, all grown up.”

I laughed. “Modest.”

He picked up his drink again. “I don’t know that I would have figured it all out without you leaving. So as much as it hurt, as much as I hated it, I’m glad for it. Because now you’re all mine.”

“It’s true. I think I’ve always been yours.”

His smile could have lit the whole ballroom. “Trust me, Mags — I knew.”

BREATHE

Maggie

IT WAS INSANE TO BE in the room with that many people who I ‘knew’ but who didn’t know me from Adam. But I survived the rest of the night by holding on to Cooper’s arm and smiling my way through the whirlwind, through the questions and the cameras. Through the dinner that cost more than a year’s worth of Manhattan rent and blew my mind. Through the afterparty’s performances and raucous dance party.

But Cooper didn’t leave my side, the beautiful man in the most gorgeous suit I’d ever seen. His smile filled my heart. The look in his eyes told me that everything was exactly as it should be.

We were on the dance floor as a slow song played, swaying to the music, my small hand clutched in his against his chest, my head tucked under his chin. I felt the circle close, from the first night to this one, from an ending that was a beginning to the moment we were in. But this time, we danced without fear or pain. There was no uncertainty. Nothing left unsaid.

There was only love.

He stopped moving, and I looked up at him. His blue eyes burned, and his voice was tight when he whispered, “Come with me, Maggie.”

I couldn’t breathe, only nodded. I would follow him anywhere.

He towed me through the crowd, down the steps of the Met with camera flashes strobing from the paparazzi just beyond the velvet rope. They called his name, asked who I was, shouted questions as we stopped at the curb where Bobby waited for us.

Cooper gave me his hand as I slipped inside, and he climbed in after me. The moment the door closed behind him, we came together, our lips finding each other in the most perfect symmetry.

I was breathless when he broke away, trailing the tip of his nose against the bridge of mine. “All night, I’ve wanted you. All my life, I’ll want you.”

I had no words, though I needed none. When I kissed him, it was like I’d finally come up for air after holding my breath for too long, so long that it hurt. But now I could breathe again.

I don’t know how long it was before the car came to a stop. We barely separated — somehow our hands, our arms, some part of us was touching as we climbed out of the car and thanked Bobby, who looked happy and proud and pleased. We blew inside, across the big gold compass and into the elevator where he pressed me against the wall and kissed me again.

He could kiss me forever and ever and ever.

And then the doors opened, and we were in his apartment, and then, his room. It was almost dark, silent, and we stood in each others arms, still and reverent.

His fingers grazed my jaw and stopped at my chin. He tilted my face to his, watching me for a long moment, his eyes roaming my face before bringing his lips to mine. They were strong, moving slowly, charged with emotion. With every motion, I leaned into him, matching him, breathing him until every breath was ours.

When he broke away, I almost fell into him. He caught me with a smile.

I kicked off my shoes as I ran my hands under his jacket and pushed it over his shoulders. He shrugged it off and tossed it to a chair in the corner as I reached for his tie, slipping it out of the knot, out of his collar, with his hand resting on my forearm and my heart pounding in my chest. My eyes were on my fingers as I unbuttoned his shirt, tugged it out of his pants, touched his hot skin. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me into him, bending to bury his face in my neck and kiss a trail up to my ear.

“Turn around,” he whispered.

I did as I was told, doing my best to remember to breathe as I waited for his touch. A shock shot down my body when his fingers grazed the back of my neck and skimmed down my bare spine. A shudder rolled through me, and when he reached the zipper, he didn’t hesitate, just pulled it slowly until it stopped.

“Maggie…” The word was a plea.

I looked back over my shoulder to see the emotion in every plane of his face. He stepped into me, pressed his lips to my shoulder, slipped his hands in the back of my open dress, around my naked hips, to my stomach, lower as he palmed me. I arched my back, sighing as I pressed myself into him and slipped the dress off my shoulders. It slid down my body and to the ground in a heap, but he didn’t stop.