Bad Habits Box Set

by Staci Hart

  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.”

  27

  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.

  He ran his fingers up the length of me as his other hand roamed my stomach and up to my breast. His lips found my neck, his skin on fire against mine. I stepped out of my dress and moved toward the bed, and he followed until I reached the end and bent, propping myself on my forearms.

  His hands trailed down my ribs, my waist, my hips, and he knelt between my legs, fingers squeezing tight as he buried his face in me, his tongue hot as he licked up the line. I gasped, rising up on my tiptoes from the shock, and he followed, unrelenting. I dropped to
the bed, my cheek against the covers, barely able to keep myself standing as he ravaged me with my pulse racing, fingers twisted in the sheets.

  I reached behind me, slipped my fingers into his hair and squeezed, gasping when he pressed harder, deeper into me. But it wasn’t enough.

  I tightened my grip in his hair, pulled his head back and called his name. He let me go, stripping off his shirt when he stood, then his pants as I lay panting. And then I felt his touch, his fingers on the backs of my thighs. He cupped them and urged me to climb onto the bed.

  “I want to see your face, your eyes,” he said, his voice rough as he guided me to roll over, my breath shallow as I stretched out on my back as he asked. He climbed up my body until he was hovering over me. My legs hooked around his thighs, feet tucked in the curve of his calf as he brought his hips lower and grabbed his length. He guided his tip to rest against me, and a moan passed my lips, my hips shifting to try to force him in, body aching for him.

  He gripped my hip to still me, flexed slowly, and we both watched him disappear inside of me.

  I sighed, and his eyes found mine as he pulled out and rocked into me, rolling his hips. Then again. And again, and again, strong and smooth, claiming and promising. He was everywhere — the weight of him against me, his hands in my hair, his lips against mine, his voice breathing my name, telling me he loved me, telling me he needed me.

  And I needed him. I would always need him.

  My heart beat faster, my breath shallow until I let my body go. Let my past go. Gave my heart to him as I gave him the rest of me, his name on my lips as I flexed around him fast at first, then slower until I could finally breathe again.

  When I opened my eyes, they found his.

  “I love you,” I whispered, and his eyes fluttered closed, his body rolling in a wave, every breath deeper than the one before until he slammed into me, neck taut, a cry passing his lips as he came.

  He rested his forehead against mine, hips still flexing slowly as he pulsed inside of me. I laid a hand on his chest, feeling the solid thump of his heart as he strung delicate kisses on my neck, my cheeks, my lips. And then he filled me to the hilt and propped himself up to look at me. His beautiful face was soft, and I took a long moment to memorize the shadows of his cheekbones, the swell of his lips, the cut of his jaw, the love in his eyes.

  “I’m sorry I hurt you.” They were words I couldn’t say enough.

  He touched my cheek. “I know how you can make it up to me.”

  “How?”

  “Don’t ever leave.”

  I smiled and kissed him, wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him into me. And when I broke away, I pressed my lips into his ear. “I’ll stay as long as you’ll have me.”

  And he whispered back, “Forever.”

  Cooper

  I woke before her that morning, my eyes blinking open slowly, unsure whether or not I was dreaming.

  I was wrapped around Maggie, my arm around her back and hand in her hair, our legs tangled together. But I didn’t move, not for a long time, just listened to her slow breathing, feeling her chest rise and fall against mine as I thought about everything that had happened, everything that had brought us here.

  She was mine, and I’d never let her go again.

  And then my thoughts jumped forward. I daydreamed about everything to come. Listed all of the things I wanted to show her. Pictured her standing in front of the Taj Mahal. Smiling at me from across a cafe table in Paris. Holding my hand on the streets of Istanbul.

  I wanted to show her all of the things I’d seen, to experience it all with her. Through her.

  I wanted to hold her hand for the rest of my life.

  She stirred against me, untucked her arms and wrapped one around my ribs, slipping the other between my neck and the pillow. I squirmed, trying not to laugh when she buried her nose in my neck.

  She chuckled and squeezed me. “Are you ticklish?”

  “No.”

  She shifted her nose, and a laugh shot out of me.

  I backed away so I could see her. “Maybe a little.” I smoothed her hair and cupped the back of her head, kissing her forehead.

  She sighed, opening her eyes sleepily when I propped my head on my hand.“I could sleep for days, I think.”

  “It’s been a long couple of weeks.”

  “It’s been a long year,” she added, “but I feel … I don’t know how to explain it. New. Like I walked outside and closed the door behind me, and now I’m looking out at the whole world.”

  I smiled. “I missed you.”

  “So much. I thought about you all day, every day.”

  I wrapped my arms around her. “We should get out of bed.”

  She groaned.

  “Hamptons.”

  That stopped her. “Just promise me we can lie in bed all day tomorrow, and I’m good.”

  “I promise.”

  “All right, then.” She pecked me on the lips and rolled away from me. I watched as the sheets fell away and she stepped into the beam of light from the window, illuminating her curly hair like a halo. I could barely breathe, and she looked back to catch me staring.

  She smiled.

  That smile was something I’d work for every day, forever.

  Within an hour, we were showered and fed. Astrid had her suitcase sent over, and I’d packed some of her things in my duffle bag while she finished eating and straightened up the kitchen.

  I smiled at her as I walked back into the kitchen. “Bobby’s downstairs.”

  She wiped her hands on a towel. “Oh, good. Let me just grab my suitcase.”

  “I already packed some stuff for you. Just grabbed the rest of your toiletries.”

  She made a face. “What if you forgot something? Let me go check.” She walked past, but I grabbed her wrist, planting a kiss on her lips when she rebounded back into me.

  I looked down at her, smiling, willing her with my words. “Trust me, Maggie.”

  Her eyes went wide, open as they did sometimes, and she whispered, “I do, Cooper.”

  “Good. Now, come on. Let’s not keep Bobby waiting.”

  She chuckled. “All right. But you’d better have packed underwear.”

  I winked and dragged her toward the door.

  Her smile fell. “Oh, God. You didn’t, did you.”

  “Guess we’ll see.”

  We made our way downstairs and out the back where Bobby leaned on my black convertible Jaguar.

  She stopped dead. “Where the hell did you get that?”

  I raised an eyebrow, smiling. “Uh, a Jaguar dealership?”

  “Obviously, but holy shit. I thought we were taking the Mercedes.”

  “You thought I just had one car?” I asked, amused.

  “Two. The Porsche.”

  I hooked an arm around her neck and kissed her temple, whispering, “That’s my beach car. This is my real car.”

  She laughed as I dragged her to the car and opened the door, closing it once she was tucked in, climbing in next to her like a dream. And I had to be dreaming, I thought as she smiled over at me.

  I started the car, put on my sunglasses, and pulled away. Only in my dreams would I ever imagine that such a girl could love me just as much as I loved her.

  Cooper

  Maggie’s hand was wrapped around mine, nestled in her lap as we drove up the coast. We were in the last hour of the trip, the scenic stretch before we reached the Hamptons, and I glanced over at her, her hair flying, the Jaguar rumbling around us, top down, radio bumping. Her bare feet were on the dashboard, and she leaned back in the seat, face tilted toward the ocean, elbow propped on the door, chin in her hand.

  I could have watched her for hours.

  We wound around the coast, past the bay and the small neighborhoods, until we came to the driveway and pulled through the gate. The Hampton house was just as we’d left it — quiet and beautiful. The waves still crashed against the shore, the seagrass still waved in the breeze. Maggie still looked lik
e she belonged there. But I was a different man.

  We changed into swimsuits and walked the long, wooden path to the ocean. I chased her through the surf. I kissed her salty lips. I lay with her on the shore for hours in the sun, watching the clouds, watching her. Breathing and being.

  We had every intention of driving into town to eat. But the moment we walked into the house, I turned around to find her standing still in the doorway, skin a shade darker against her white bikini and golden hair. The way she looked at me made me feel like a fool and a god. I could never be enough for her, but I could be her everything. And all I could do when she looked at me that way was to kiss her. Because words weren’t enough. They’d never be enough.

  I took her in my arms and to my bed. I lay in her arms for hours and listened to her voice, to the sound of the ocean past the windows. We ate sandwiches in bed at eleven, and then I turned out the lights and took her in the moonlight. I gave myself to her completely. And when I fell asleep with her against my chest, I knew I’d never want another girl. I’d never love another girl. Not as long as I lived.

  Maggie

  I woke up that morning before the sun rose, watching Cooper sleep in the near dark. His lips were parted, chest rising and falling slowly, dark lashes against his cheeks. My eyes traced the line of his profile, resisting the urge to touch him, not wanting to ruin the perfection. He looked like a boy, a happy, peaceful boy.

  He was the most gorgeous thing I’d ever seen, and he made me feel like Cinderella, it was true. He’d been to the ball. Met all the girls. And in the end, he chose me. He chose me even when I hurt him, even when I didn’t believe he was sincere. He chose me even when I said I didn’t want him, when I changed my mind and pushed him away. He waited, because he loved me. And I loved him.

  I climbed out of bed gently and found our bag. It was too dark and quiet to dig too much, so I grabbed the first thing I found, pulling on his tailored shirt as I walked through the kitchen. The coffee pot and supplies were easy to find, and once I’d started it, I walked out onto the back patio to watch the sun rise.