by Cari Quinn
“You would think.”
Together they stood, and he escorted her to the buffet table, hand on her elbow, like the gentleman she bet he really wasn’t. Especially not in bed.
They loaded their plates and returned to their table.
He eyed her heaping plate of food, equal to his. “Are you really going to eat all that?”
She nodded as she dug in. Being horny always made her hungry when she couldn’t satisfy the horny—not that she’d tell him that.
“Where do you put it all?” He stared at her plate in amazement then slid his gaze up and down her slender body.
“I’m active.”
“Obviously.”
“So, Izzy.” Cedric grinned at her as he sat down opposite Cooper. “What are you doing dating this clown?”
“She’s not—”
“I like projects, and he’s a project. Besides, he has a soft side.”
Cooper’s teammates at the table elbowed each other and laughed at his expense. Cooper frowned and shot her a warning glare, but she’d never been the type of girl to be silenced by a single glance, despite the dangerous glint in his eyes.
“He does. Really. He writes love songs.” Izzy stroked his stubbled cheek, and he sucked in a breath.
“No fucking way? This guy?” The teammate sitting next to Cooper slapped him on the back, causing him to choke on his food.
Cooper swallowed and rose to defend himself and his manhood. “I don’t—”
“They’re beautiful. He’s very poetic, says my eyes are like diamonds in the sky and my hair is like chocolate silk.” Izzy gazed adoringly at Cooper. He didn’t return the favor.
Matt, a guy she recognized as one of the best defensemen in the league, snorted so loud he could be heard several tables away. “Never knew you had it in you, buddy,” he said in this adorable French Canadian accent.
“She’s making that up.” Cooper looked ready to commit a mass murder and leave no witnesses.
“He’s shy about his talents.” Izzy patted his arm in a loving gesture and got another deadly glare in response. She was having a helluva good time, even if it was at his expense. “He’s such a romantic soul, always leaving me little cards everywhere declaring his love for me. He calls me his little chicken coop. I think it’s so cute.”
The guys were laughing so hard they were wiping their eyes.
Izzy was just getting warmed up. If he wanted her to stop, he’d have to dance with her. He buried his dark head in his food, shoveling it in so fast she got the distinct impression he wished he was cramming her mouth full of food to shut her up.
“What do you call him?” Matt wiped his mouth with his sleeve; obviously manners weren’t his forte.
“Super Cooper or Supe because his ego isn’t the only thing that’s super-sized.” She smiled sweetly at all of them, playing the naïve, innocent thing to the hilt.
Another round of hilarity ensued while Cooper’s face turned redder than her cherry bomb lipstick. Finally, as if accepting his fate, he buried his face in his hands and groaned.
She leaned over and whispered in his ear, bringing on another round of hoots from the cheap seats. “You want me to stop then dance with me.”
“Not a chance in hell.” He lifted his head, his blue eyes burning right through her, and it wasn’t just from anger. In fact, that heat zinged right down to her crotch and wet her panties.
“I won’t stop until you do.”
He studied her for a moment, as if assessing the conviction behind her words. “I don’t know you.” He turned to his buddies. “Hear me out, guys. I don’t know this woman. She latched on to me to crash this party.”
“Oh, Coop, don’t be an ass.” Cedric grinned. “You’re just pissed ’cause she’s got your dick on a leash and you fucking don’t want to admit it.”
Several heads around the table nodded in unison. Cedric turned to Izzy. “We love you, honey, even if he’s too much of a dick to admit to his weakness.”
“Oh fuck.” Cooper slammed his fist on the table, drawing another set of head-turning around the room. He jumped to his feet and stalked across the ballroom and out the double doors. Izzy gave the boys a “so sorry” look and ran after him as fast as her heels would carry her, off to do damage control.
Maybe she’d pushed him too far. She desperately needed the man to dance with her. Just a dance or two. Once he hit the dance floor, all his buddies would follow, and the party would be on its way, as would her new business, the very business way too far in debt after her sisters and she purchased clothes and accessories in keeping with their image.
Cooper’s broad back disappeared into the men’s room, the door slamming in her face. She stood outside, wringing her hands. And they said women took forever in the bathroom? This guy must be reading an entire newspaper in there or something.
Or jacking off. Her brain did a deviant detour to a little fantasy in which she walked in, found him jerking on an impressively large dick and said, “Here, let me help you with that.” She had to admit, the man was hot, really hot, and she wanted some of that action in the worst, unprofessional way. She wasn’t opposed to recreational sex, but she’d been too busy to indulge, what with getting her fledgling business off the ground, along with her day job as a barista.
Only there was that pact with her sisters, a tiny little roadblock on a highway already riddled with potholes. When they started this business, Rule Number One pertained to never sleeping with the party guests, no matter how delectable.
Cooper wasn’t just delectable, he was the definition of sexy. And desperate times often called for bending or obliterating rules. Oh, yeah, she was trying every which way to justify an action which had no justification.
Or did it?
This night would be a disaster if she didn’t find a way to rescue it and fast. Despite her efforts, the stubborn man held strong. Too strong. Izzy racked her brain for a different plan, instead that plan kept involving naked skin, sweaty bodies, and a lot of groaning, panting, and sweating.
Holy crap.
Izzy fanned herself and stared at her watch. Bolstering her courage, she pushed the door open and went inside, not certain what she’d find or even what she wanted to find.
Cooper glanced up from washing his hands, shock crossing his handsome features momentarily, followed by a slow, predatory smile. She liked him as a predator, didn’t even mind being the prey because that particular role would have its perks and then some.
“Well, honey, this takes party crashing to a whole new level.” He propped his fine ass on the counter, crossed a pair of strong arms over his equally impressive chest, and grinned a sexy, lopsided smile that pushed her off balance, but her years of pretending everything was fine when it wasn’t came into play.
She smiled right back, refusing to let him see her sweat. “You have to dance with me.”
“I don’t have to do anything.” His sensuous lips turned down and his square jaw set in that stubborn line she’d come to realize meant she wasn’t getting her way tonight or in the next decade or two.
Unless she called in the big guns.
Izzy’s breath caught in her throat as she put her hands on his belt buckle. She’d never done anything like this before. Never solicited a guest at a party. Never been this bold. But caution escaped her as the full power of his lustful gaze slammed into her. Party be damned, she wanted this man and that insane wanting trumped every other argument her practical side produced.
“Dance with me,” she spoke again, this time her voice sounded husky and low.
A muscle ticked in his jaw. “It’ll cost you.”
Of that she had no doubt, but right now, she was willing to pay the price.
* * *
Cooper had to have her. Hell, he’d gone almost three months without a woman, a virtual record for him, and his dick throbbed harder than it had that night in the VIP room of a New York City nightclub while three stunning and very naked women had their way with him and his dick.
Only this was Izzy. Not three nameless, faceless women, and for reasons he couldn’t fathom, she did it for him more than a VIP room full of horny, uninhibited women.
Izzy’s full lower lip fell in a full-blown sexy pout. He held his breath, waiting to see what those fingers would do with his belt buckle. She parted her red lips and moistened them with her tongue. He stared at her mouth, forgetting how to breathe. With a sultry smile and deft fingers, she undid his belt and unbuttoned the top button on his dress pants. He sucked in a breath, afraid to move one muscle and destroy the moment.
She was about to go down on him in the men’s room of a chartered tourist boat, and he wouldn’t miss this experience for all the Cups in the world.
With a sly smile, Izzy slid down the zipper. It was her turn to suck in a breath when his penis sprang free in all ten plus inches of hard male glory. She glanced up at him with one arched brow. “Commando?”
“Always prepared. That’s me. Why deal with unnecessary clothing when you can cut right to the meat of the matter.” He found himself grinning. Underwear was overrated and got in the way. He hadn’t exactly planned on finding a woman tonight and taking her home, but it’d been a possibility he hadn’t discounted.
She ran a fingernail over the tip of his penis. He gripped the counter, unable to stand without support. A tortured groan was wrenched from deep in his gut. Hell, he’d been with more women than he could count over the years, from debutantes to anything-goes groupies, but not one had shaken him to the core like this woman with just one scrape of her fingernail across the sensitive tip.
“Fuck me with your mouth, honey.” He put his hands on her shoulders with gentle pressure. “Do you deep throat?”
“As big as you are? I’ll give it my best.” She started to kneel when the door slammed open.
It was Cedric.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Coop. Get a room, would ya?”
Izzy shot to her feet and ran from the bathroom in a flash of sexy dress and long legs, her deadly heels tapping out a desperate beat on the tile floor. Zipping his pants, Cooper pushed his friend out of the way and sprinted after her. He caught her halfway down the hall and pulled her against him.
She stared up at him in shame, her chest heaving. “I just about gave you a blow job in a public bathroom.”
“Yeah, I know.” He couldn’t stop the grin from spreading. Music spilled out of the party deck doors, pulsing, sexy music. He wasn’t going to let her get away this easily. Not when his entire body needed her as much as it needed oxygen.
He grabbed her hand and pulled her along, trying several doors until he found one that wasn’t locked. The ladies’ room. Somehow that seemed fitting. He pulled her inside and locked the door this time.
Perfect.
Picking her up, he ignored her protests and carried her to the makeup counter. She licked her lips again and swallowed, her eyes locked with his. He kissed her, gently at first until the fire built to an explosion inside him, then he ravaged her mouth like the starving man he was. She wrapped those long legs around his waist and gave as good as she got, not the least bit intimidated by his size and power like some women were.
Her courage and passion drove him fucking nuts.
Cooper pushed her down on the counter and lowered the straps on her dress, revealing the most perfect set of tits he’d seen in a long time, not huge, but not small, just right. Leaning forward, he ran his tongue around one nipple. God, she tasted as good as she smelled, all honey and sweetness with a bit of wicked thrown in. She shuddered underneath him, burying her fingers in his hair.
He drew her nipple into his mouth, sucking hard then holding it between his teeth and tugging slightly. She whimpered, her hips rising off the table.
“You like that?” For reasons he couldn’t fathom, her answer was important to him.
Izzy nodded, her luminous eyes full of wonder and desire.
“Some women think I’m too rough.”
When she didn’t respond, he took that as a good thing and bent down to repeat the process on the other nipple, this time testing her by biting a little harder. She gripped the table with her hands and tossed her head from side to side. He flicked her nipple with his tongue several times as she writhed underneath him.
“Like that?”
“Fuck yes.”
Pushing down her dress, he trailed little kisses to her navel, pausing to nip here and there, marking her with his teeth.
He knelt between her legs, pushing aside her G-string. Even in the dim light, he could see her glistening juices. He parted her folds and slipped his tongue inside, pushing as high up as possible. She dug her spiked heels into his back.
He followed his tongue with a finger. Damn, but she was tight. Just like he liked his women, and relatively hard to find among the women he hung with. He slid another finger inside her and pumped, while his tongue worked its magic on her clit.
She arched her back and pressed her crotch into his face, giving him the green light to take her to heaven, and he planned to do just that. With an enthusiasm he’d been lacking lately when it came to sex, Cooper gave her everything he had until she was shaking and screaming his name.
Finally she collapsed, boneless and silent, except for her panting. He watched the rise and fall of her chest and had to smile. Satisfaction surged through him, despite the fact that he hadn’t gotten any yet. He loved pleasing a lady, almost as much as he loved a lady pleasing him. The way he saw it, his turn was next.
Oh, yeah, it was going to be a good night.
Finally Izzy’s eyes focused on his face. She blinked several times, cleared her throat, and wiped the sweat from her forehead. Glancing around the room, as if to get her bearings and compose herself, she eventually brought her gaze back to him.
“Now you have to dance with me.”
“That wasn’t part of the deal.” It was a token statement of resistance. How did a man turn down an order like that?
“We had a deal.” She slid off the counter and straightened her clothing.
Pounding on the door brought them both back to reality. She smiled at him. “I’ll wait in a stall for a decent amount of time. You leave first.”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely.”
“I’m not done with you.” Cooper gave her a quick kiss, waited for her to hide in the stall, then opened the door. A shocked Lauren Schneider stood on the other side. He smiled at her as if he always walked out of the women’s bathroom.
“Oh, sorry. I guess I went in the wrong bathroom. No wonder it didn’t have urinals.” He saluted her and sauntered off.
She stared after him, her soft laughter following him.
He wasn’t fooling anyone, least of all himself.
Isabelle would be his completely by the time the night was over, and he’d savor every moment of it.
Now to find a more romantic, private place than a bathroom, one with a lock on the door. He didn’t think he could wait until they got off the boat.
Chapter Four
Body Checking
She didn’t know if it was too much wine or Cooper’s hot gaze melting her inhibitions or a combination of both, but this man had just driven Izzy to the brink of infinite pleasure and pushed her over the edge. She’d never in her life experienced an orgasm so totally awesome in its power as it swept through every cell in her body and laid waste to all of her past sexual experiences. There wasn’t a man on Earth who could equal what this man had just done to her.
And that was only the appetizer. She couldn’t wait to see what he did for the main course. Greedy bitch that she was, she wanted more, and she wanted it badly. But she had a job to do, and there was that pesky pact between sisters—no sleeping with the guests. None. Zero. Zilch. And big sister never broke the rules, though she’d stretched them to their breaking point tonight. They had to get off the boat first so he wouldn’t be a guest anymore. Then it’d be okay. Their pact didn’t extend off the party premises. Or at least, she’d
just amended that particular rule.
Izzy walked out of the stall she’d been hiding in, ignoring Lauren’s knowing smirk, and acting as if fooling around in the bathroom was something she did every day.
She stood in front of the sink and checked her makeup, washed her hands and straightened her clothes. All the while Lauren watched.
“Your boyfriend is a stubborn man,” Lauren noted.
“That he is.” It would seem Lauren didn’t know about Party Crashers, which didn’t surprise Izzy. After all, for them to be effective, everyone should think they were real party crashers.
“Perhaps, you can convince him to enjoy the party a little. He’s not doing anyone any favors, including himself, by refusing to cooperate. That is if you really know him.”
“Of course, I know him.” Izzy put just the right amount of indignant haughtiness in her voice.
Lauren didn’t look convinced. “I saw the commotion when you tried to board the boat.”
“Just a little misunderstanding.”
“I wonder. I really wonder.” Lauren looked her up and down as if assessing her. Turning she left the room.
Izzy smoothed back her hair, hoping she didn’t look like she’d done what she’d just done. Lauren was on to her, and that was the number one party crasher rule: don’t ever let the guests discover that you weren’t invited.
Faking a cool, confident smile, Izzy ventured back into the main room. Bethany was on her in a second.
“What the hell happened to you?”
“Building good will with the team captain.” She could never lie to Bethany. Her sister saw right through Izzy’s every lie. Either Bethany was damn perceptive or Izzy was a damn poor liar.
Bethany’s perfectly shaped eyebrows disappeared under her bangs. “Are you melting his icy heart any?”
“Let’s say there’s been plenty of heat.”
“Tread lightly. This isn’t what we’re about. And you have a tendency to fall in love first and ask questions later.” Bethany, on the other hand, did not have that problem. Her heart never seemed to get involved with her dalliances.
“I know, but sometimes a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do for the greater good.”
