Epilogue
epilogue
SIX MONTHS LATER
The second Sam ducks through the airplane exit to see Cooper waiting on the tarmac with his arms crossed and a too-eager expression hiding in the shadows beneath his ball cap, she knows exactly what he’s planning.
“Absolutely not.”
“Hear me out.”
“No.”
“Cuj—”
“What could the two of you possibly be arguing about already?” Nina calls out from over Sam’s shoulder. “And can you give me five minutes to get a camera set up before you keep going?”
Sam rolls her eyes, smiling when she catches Cooper in the same act. She spent the past week with Emily in Los Angeles opening their first pop-up shop, assembling a new manufacturing team, and hiring a social media manager plus two new assistants to keep up with the rapidly growing success of Emily Ann Designs, which has taken off like a rocket since the season aired, and seems to be headed straight for the moon if her projections are correct—and her projections are always correct. She’d hoped to get some time alone with Cooper before they officially started filming their new show, but that was before her mom showed up unannounced outside of Emily and Jake’s door with three lattes, a binder, and enough bridal magazines to restock a library. The woman is an unstoppable force. Luckily, that hurricane is completely focused on Emily. With her sister’s wedding set for the summer, their mother is, for the moment, choosing to respect Sam and Cooper’s plans for a long engagement. But it’s only a matter of time.
She shivers.
At the bottom of the stairs, Cooper arches a brow. Sam just shakes her head. When she reaches the final step, he takes her by the hand and gently pulls so she falls into his chest. Instead of going in for a kiss, as she expects, he hauls her up against him with his arm securely around her waist and drags his lips across her cheek to her ear.
“Twenty minutes,” he murmurs.
Sam leans back. He stares at her with a pointedly arched brow and holds her closer—close enough she can tell exactly what’s on his mind. Not that it hasn’t been obvious by the smoldering way he’s been mentally undressing her since the moment she stepped off the plane.
“Twenty minutes?”
A dimple digs wickedly into his cheek. “Twenty minutes.”
It’s a compelling argument, especially when a tired voice asks from behind, “What the hell is in twenty minutes?”
Sam glances at Nina, then past her to the stream of producers, cameramen, and assistants waiting to disembark, all headed to the same place as her and Cooper. Her mom’s surprise arrival in Los Angeles meant she pushed back her flight to the last possible moment and flew in with the crew. Sure, it was fun getting the extra time with her sister and her mom, but the change in plans left her with no time to be alone with her fiancé before the horde descended. Unless…
Sam turns back to Cooper and groans.
He knows he has her.
Dammit.
“Fine,” she says, then jabs him in the center of his chest. “But you can’t keep winning arguments like this either.”
“Why not?” He twists his baseball cap backward with a wild grin. The fucker is taunting her. He knows how sexy he looks. “It works.”
Before she can say anything back, he throws her over his shoulder and starts running.
“Where are you going?” Nina calls. “Stop! Wait!”
Sandals flap on pavement, but it’s no use. Cooper has a foot on her and he knows where he’s going. After about ten seconds, the pursuit stops.
“Don’t just stand there, you idiot,” Nina snaps instead. “Get a camera. Follow them. Now!” Then she shouts, “You assholes are going to be the death of me!”
Sam looks up from her perch and calls, “I thought Satan was immortal?”
Nina flips her an exasperated middle finger.
The sight is almost worth what’s about to come next.
Almost.
Cooper turns the corner and there it is—her personal death trap, otherwise known as the official Kelley & Dunne helicopter.
I can’t believe I’m willingly stepping foot in this thing again.
But the promise of an hour alone with Cooper before the film crew arrives is too good to pass up. He slides her into the passenger seat and tightens all the buckles before hopping into the pilot’s chair. They’re airborne before the film crew has time to set up. Even from this distance, Sam can tell Nina is muttering expletives as she lifts her phone to take a video while the cameraman fumbles over an open travel case. Sam wiggles her fingers in goodbye as they bank left, leaving the airport behind.
Cooper threads their hands together. “Home?”
Strange how that single word has the power to calm the nervous pounding of her heart. She turns to meet Cooper’s eyes and squeezes his palm tight. “Home.”
Finally , Sam silently adds, staring out at the rolling plains with fresh eyes. As part of the contract she signed with Nina, she had to delay her move to Nebraska until filming began so every single moment could be captured on-screen for the new show. Oh, she’s visited. But it’s different, flying over these grassy hills, taking in the expansive blue sky, studying that unmarred horizon with the knowledge that this gorgeous, untainted, untamed view is going to be her new normal.
Saying goodbye to New York was surprisingly easy. Sure, she’ll miss the restaurants, and the nightlife, and the never-ending surprises that come with living in an ever-changing place like Manhattan, where every day carries the chance of discovering something new. But after seven years of leaving her apartment every morning with no sure sense of where the hours would lead her, she quite likes the idea of knowing that every night for the foreseeable future will end in the same perfect way—next to Cooper.
No, the only thing she’ll really miss about New York is Winnie. They spent half an hour crying and hugging in their empty apartment after the moving trucks were gone, then got greasy dollar slices from the pizza place down the street before heading to the airport for the same flight to LA…but that’s another story.
“Oh, I forgot to mention my dad wants us over for dinner tonight,” Cooper says as the main house comes into view.
Sam gasps. “Does that mean he’s forgiven me?”
“ Forgiven may be a strong word…”
She snorts and drops her head back. Needless to say, Frank Kelley was not exactly thrilled to learn his ranch was about to become the epicenter of an entirely new television show. He was even less enthused when the trailers arrived and he realized it meant an entire production team would be moving in for at least eight weeks. According to Cooper, he spent a solid month muttering about it underneath his breath, but—and this is a big but —he didn’t say no, especially if it meant his son would be here too. And apparently, when the first check hit those bank accounts, all signs of mumbling stopped. Turned out money was just as good a motivator as Sam predicted. While the payout for the new show wasn’t much, becoming a public figure has been a different story. Cooper’s already signed two six-figure sponsorship deals, one with a hat company and one with a jeans company, and he’s in talks with some literary agents about a possible coffee-table book pending the success of the upcoming season. The old man is still having trouble wrapping his head around the idea of publicists, and brand ambassadorships, and the fact that his son now openly carries that Canon EOS 5DS with him everywhere he goes, but Sam is confident he’ll come around—just as he came around on her. It took three dinners at the main house, and more afternoons on horseback than she cares to admit, but eventually, even Frank Kelley couldn’t resist her charms.
“Did you tell him the news?” she asks.
“News?” Cooper frowns.
Sam can’t hide her rueful grin. “The Best Kiss nomination?”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” He scrubs a hand over his face. “I thought that was a joke. You can’t be serious.”
“Nina wants us in LA for the award show in May.”
“Dear god. I’m never going to live this one down.”
Sam snorts. Turned out that little conversation they shared while Ty was being announced as the new lead wasn’t exactly as private as they thought. Nina had a camera on them the whole time, capturing a rather racy backstage makeout session the network decided to surprise them with the following morning during their customary appearance on Wake Up, America! The woman is clearly an evil genius, because the hot mic moment went absolutely viral. It was the most watched clip from Wake Up, America! for the entire year, and it’s been in every single teaser promo for the new show. The network already made an offer to extend their contract for another season, and they’ve been nominated for “Best Kiss” at the KTV Movie Awards this spring. Eventually, they both agree, they’ll step away from the limelight. But for now, they’ll keep riding that wave as long as it’s working for them. Sam’s never been one to turn down a good deal.
And one benefit to living in the middle of nowhere, she thinks as they touch down in the front yard, is that aside from the film crew probably speeding toward them far faster than local traffic laws allow, the media can’t touch them here. It’s up to them how much they want to post online, how much they want to be seen, how much exactly they want to share. The lines between public and private are drawn, and right now, as Cooper takes her by the hand and leads her inside, the distinction couldn’t be clearer.
“There’s something I want to show you,” he says.
“If that’s a come-on”—she smirks—“I think you could do better.”
“No.” He snorts and scrubs a hand over his face, muttering, “Fucking menace.”
“What do— Ooh! What’s that?” She pulls him through the kitchen door, lured by the sight of something new and shiny on the countertop. “Cooper Kelley, is that what I think it is?”
“What do you think it is?”
“I hope you know I have no idea how to use it.”
“Well, I do.” He shrugs. “I told you I’d make you a latte.”
Warmth bursts across her chest, sending tingles down her arms. He’s so nonchalant, so matter of fact, as if buying her an espresso machine and learning how to use it just so he can become her own personal barista for the rest of his life is no big deal. And maybe it isn’t to him. But to her, it’s everything—tangible acts of love that tell her so much more than words ever could. Promises don’t mean anything if they’re hollow, but Cooper fills them. Every day, in big ways and in small ones, he fills them until her heart is left overflowing.
Sam notices another new item on the counter. A grin pulls at her lips as she reads the title of the cookbook. “ The Art of Dim Sum ?”
“I’m expanding my horizons.”
“ Ramen for Beginners ?”
“That shit was actually delicious.”
“You didn’t—”
Cooper lunges to stop her but Sam gets to the fridge first and hauls it open. Inside there are five plates filled with dumplings, shumai, and even bao buns. Behind them sit two containers of noodles. That warm feeling cranks up about a hundred notches, the burning almost painful if not for the fact that it’s pure happiness pulsing beneath her skin.
“You made all this?”
“I have no idea if it’s edible.”
That’s the last straw. She simply melts. “Cooper—”
“Save it, Cuj.” He closes the fridge and takes her by the hand again. “They’ll be here in about fifty minutes, and there’s something I want to show you.”
“Are you sure that’s not a come-on?” she asks as she stumbles after him, still curious what other new surprises she might find in the kitchen. “Like, positive? Because, I gotta say, the second time around it sounds even more like one.”
“Maybe your mind is just in the gutter.”
“With you? It absolutely always is.”
“Well, take a whiff of the fresh air for a moment, will you? This is important.”
She stops pulling against him, sobered by the earnest lilt to his voice as they stop outside the first-floor guest bedroom. The last time she peeked in here, it was full to the brim with old camera equipment, prints in various stages of processing, half-broken frames, and about a million other photography-related things Cooper took from his dad’s house after his mom passed away.
“You know how I converted that old barn into a studio?” He grips the doorknob and waits for her to nod before he spins it. “I took all the old stuff that was in here over there, and replaced it with this.”
It takes her a moment to fully process what she’s seeing—the empty bookshelves lining the walls, the desk floating in the center of the room, the comfortable couch tucked in an alcove with a reading light perched above each arm. Everything is pristine and white, just waiting for her to supply some personality.
Sam gasps.
“The couch is a pullout,” Cooper says, his energy nervous. “So your sister and Winnie and your parents will always have a place to stay. There are hidden filing cabinets over there, and I got some electric run through the floor so you won’t have to deal with loose cables. I thought about putting a few books up, but I figured you’d want to fill it with your own stuff now that you can finally unpack. If you don’t like the desk, we can always get another one. I just wanted something here for you, so you—”
“Shut up.” Sam puts a finger over his lips. “I can’t believe—” She pauses to swallow, getting too choked up to speak. “I can’t believe you did this. It’s perfect. It’s everything I ever dreamed.”
She turns to take it all in again, pulling a deep, shaky breath through her lips to calm the raw emotions surging up her throat. Water pools in the corners of her eyes. The sting only intensifies when she looks past the desk to a huge picture window with a view of the front yard, just as she imagined, as if he’d dived inside her mind just to bring this specific dream to life. He wraps his arms around her and pulls her back against his solid chest, holding her close as he nestles his chin in the nape of her neck.
“I know how much you sacrificed to come here. I know how hard this was for you. So I wanted you to have a little corner of this ranch that was entirely your own.”
“Now that’s where you’re wrong, cowboy.” Sam spins in his arms, sliding her hands to the back of his neck to play with his hair. “Moving here? Loving you? Choosing us? It’s the easiest thing I’ve ever done. Getting out of my own damn way was a bit of a struggle, I’ll admit. But we’re here. We made it to tomorrow. And guess what? We still have half an hour to spare.”
Sparks dance across his eyes. “Half an hour, huh?”
She starts back, but he’s already two steps ahead as he grips her around the thighs and lifts. In no time at all, she’s perched on the edge of her new desk, his shirt is off, and she’s working his belt free. Cooper peppers kisses along the side of her neck as he makes quick work of the buttons down the front of her dress. With a victorious snarl, he pulls the cotton up and over her head. She hooks her ankles behind his hips and holds him closer, that delicious pressure mounting. When his lips return to her naked flesh, she drops her head back with a gasp.
“Be honest,” she stammers as he tugs at the edge of her lace bra with his teeth. “Did you pick out my desk knowing it was the perfect height for this, or is it a happy coincidence?”
“I’m disappointed you even have to ask.”
“So you’re saying I was led here under false pretenses?”
“No.” He pulls the cup all the way down, exposing her breast. “I’m saying when it comes to you, I don’t do anything by accident.”
“Oh. Is that so?” She grins victoriously as she fists his hair, thinking back to that first day in the Maldives and their argument in the bungalow about who was responsible for the fiasco of a proposal and the consequent makeout that started it all. “I knew you kissed me on purpose. Admit it.”
He drags his nose up the side of her throat to stop at her ear. “You’re goddamn right I did.”
She yelps as he flings her onto her back, then erupts into a fit of giggles, her happiness too much to contain. Because he’s right. Nothing about them has ever been fake or forced or fortuitous. They made every decision that brought them here, and here is exactly where she wants to be—mindfully, miraculously, and maddeningly in love with her cowboy.