Chaser by Staci Hart
“I know what you mean. Like the bar is so high, the scale so tipped. The things I love about you are the measure for everyone else. I’ll look at a woman and think, I bet her laugh isn’t as pretty as Maggie’s, or her hair is so dark, not like Maggie’s in the sunshine. No one can compare to you. There are just too many things that I cherish.”
I met his eyes and smiled, my heart so full. “Why are you so perfect?”
He laughed. “You know I’m far from perfect.”
I squeezed his fingers. “Well, you’re perfect for me.”
Cooper reached for my cheek with his free hand. “I’ve never seen anything so beautiful as you are tonight.”
I leaned into his hand, cheeks flushed. “Only because Astrid was my fairy godmother and had her makeup artist spray paint my face.”
“No, you’re always beautiful, even with your face naked, nothing to hide your freckles.” He brushed the apple of my cheek with his thumb. “Where did you get this dress?”
“Astrid. It was the dress she was supposed to wear. She apparently knows one of Galliano’s tailors personally, and he was waiting at her place to alter the dress for me. I didn’t think it was possible, but he just snapped his fingers and said, ‘Honey, give me one hour.’”
He smiled crookedly. “Fairy godmother Astrid, huh?”
“She gave me her invitation to the Gala, texted Bobby to pick me up. She got me the dress and the chariot and got me to the ball. She helped me get my prince. So, yes. As far as I’m concerned, Astrid will forever be my fairy godmother.”
He laughed and pressed a sweet kiss on my lips.
A flash popped, and we both looked toward it, Cooper with narrowed eyes, mine full of shock, I was sure.
The photographer smiled. “Sorry. I’m with Getty. Didn’t mean to disturb you.” He nodded and made his way down the table, snapping photos.
“I thought paparazzi weren’t allowed in here?” I asked.
“They aren’t. He’s with the press.” Cooper was watching me — I felt his uncertainty when he finally spoke. “Everyone has seen you tonight. With me. People are going to wonder who you are, which means things might get crazy.” He squeezed my hand. “I’ve lived in the public eye for years. I’m used to it. And I can protect you from a lot of it, but there will be times when it’ll be overwhelming. The talk will die down after some time has passed, but in the meantime, it’s going to be a lot. They’re going to seek you out, ask you questions. Speculate. You might be in gossip magazines, and they’re rarely kind.” He searched my face. “I need to know if you’re sure you want to do this.”
As freaked out as I was by the thought, I smiled. “There’s nothing that could keep me from you. This is part of your life, so now it’s part of mine. You’ll just have to hold my hand.”
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 symme
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
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.