“Whatever.” Cedric rose to his feet, gave Cooper a mock salute, and hurried out of the room to meet up with his hotties.
Izzy was working a party tonight, and Riley had stayed at his buddy’s again. He’d barely grunted at Cooper, who’d missed another one of Riley’s games yesterday—even though he felt like a total ass for doing it. He didn’t want his nephew to start depending on him. Giving the kid false hope would hurt him more in the long run.
He realized such thinking made him a selfish jerk in most people’s eyes, but Cooper tried to tell himself it was for Riley’s own good. Cooper cringed a bit, as guilt washed over him. His sister had depended on him to do the right thing, to rescue her, but he hadn’t. She’d been ill-equipped to handle that childhood summer in Seattle, too, the one that had changed everything for all of them.
Izzy hadn’t said anything about him missing Riley’s game, but her icy glare had said it all. Regardless, he’d thawed her pretty quickly once they hit the mattress.
Cooper smiled at the visual in his head.
Standing, he glanced at his phone, hoping for a text from Izzy. Nothing. Must be one hot party. His insides ground together at a vision of Izzy chatting up some fifty-something CEO, and the guy sliding his hand down her butt in a possessive manner.
Now that pissed Cooper the fuck off.
He sighed and combed his wet hair with his fingers. If he couldn’t get beyond this insane jealousy toward every man who looked at her and all those in his imagination, they’d never last the season. He had serious trust issues when it came to women and for good reason. He just didn’t know how the hell to deal with his problems, but he was trying. That should count for something.
Izzy wouldn’t tell him where the party was, and he could imagine why. She didn’t want a repeat of a couple months ago. Cooper didn’t either because he doubted she’d give him another shot. He’d play it cool and loose, like it didn’t matter to him what she did as long as she spent quality time in his bed every night.
Only she was starting to matter. Just a tiny bit. And she couldn’t, but she did. He couldn’t control what grew inside him every time he thought of her or spent time with her any more than he could control the physical chemistry between them.
Izzy hated depending on anyone, and he hated not being the go-to guy, the guy a woman would depend on. Add the fact that he’d be gone as soon as the season ended. No reason to start anything serious when they’d be living on opposite sides of the country.
He couldn’t make his permanent home in Seattle, and he couldn’t explain why to her. He wasn’t certain he understood it all himself, but what happened to him as a child in Seattle exposed a weakness he’d forever keep hidden.
His phone chimed and interrupted his almost journey down a bad memory lane.
How was the game?
He grinned like an idiot at his phone. Fucking awesome. I had a hat trick. Know what that is?
You scored three goals? Congrats!!! I’ll have something special for you tonight.
Cooper’s grin spread to his ears. Promise?
Have I let you down yet?
No, I’m up the second I think of you.
Naughty boy.
Naughtier girl.
I thought you liked me naughty.
Oh, yeah, he loved her naughty, naked, and willing. In a few days he’d be on a week-long road trip, and he was missing her already.
Chapter 13—Trick Play
Izzy couldn’t stop smiling when she saw Cooper’s tall, muscular frame silhouetted in the light of the open doorway. Next to him sat Joker, tail swishing, as if he’d kept tabs on how late she was.
And it was late—really, really late. She should be dog tired, and she had been until she laid eyes on him in all his alpha-male glory.
Relief relaxed his face when he saw her, and a grin softened the hard lines of his cheeks and jaw. He’d been worried about her. Even a few weeks ago, she’d have felt smothered by such concern, because worry led to control and control led to loss of independence.
Yeah, she had issues but didn’t everyone?
Despite her paranoia about depending on anyone in her life, she’d been unofficially living with Cooper since Betheni and she moved out of the apartment four days ago. Sure, she’d moved her clothes and personal items to the small studio at Brad’s, but she hadn’t spent one night there. In the meantime, little by little she hung clothes in Cooper’s closet, stacked shoes on the floor, and put underwear in a dresser drawer next to his socks. If he noticed, he didn’t say anything. Nor did he mention her makeup scattered on the bathroom counter.
Taking his front porch steps two at a time, she barreled into his arms. He easily held her, barely moving a fraction as she threw her arms around his neck and kissed the hell out of him. He kissed the hell out of her right back.
Finally she pulled free and leaned away from him. “Where’s Riley?” she whispered.
“Staying the night with a friend. Besides, even if he was here, a freight train rumbling through his bedroom wouldn’t wake him.” He kissed the tip of her nose and ran a finger across her thoroughly kissed lips.
“Do you think he knows about us?” Izzy looked up into his blue eyes; his expression turned guarded like it did whenever she approached the subject of Riley.
Shrugging one shoulder as if it didn’t matter to him, he grabbed her hand and led her into the kitchen.
“Wine?” he asked, not waiting for an answer but pouring her favorite Washington chardonnay into a wine glass. He twisted the top off a beer and sat next to her on a barstool.
“Cooper?” She couldn’t drop the subject. She had to do this for Riley.
“Yeah?” he answered warily, instantly suspicious as well he should be. If she had to be his conscience where Riley was concerned, then so be it.
“What would it hurt you to attend one of Riley’s games? Your mere presence would mean the world to him.”
Cooper grunted, his face etched in stone, his eyes dark with repressed anger and irritation. Izzy didn’t care. She pushed on. “Riley looks up to you, and you treat him like he’s a burden.”
Cooper’s dark brows drew a hard, uncompromising line.
“Cooper,” she prodded, refusing to let him blow her off about Riley this time.
“What?”
“Why are you being such a shit about this? Riley needs you. You’re all he has.”
Cooper looked right through her. “I’m not that guy. Don’t make the mistake of thinking I am. Once I locate his mother or my parents return, whichever comes first, he’ll be gone. I see no reason to give him false hope of this being a permanent arrangement.”
Izzy crossed her arms over her chest and glowered at him. “Of course, he’s no different than me; we’re only temporary in your life.”
“Do you want to be more?” His gaze met hers, and something flickered in his eyes, gone as quickly as it came. Regret? Fear? Hope? Denial? She couldn’t put a finger on it.
“No, I’m not saying that. You know we’d kill each other eventually. We’re not compatible.”
“Except in the bedroom,” he pointed out as he slid off his barstool and moved to her, pulling her legs apart so he could step between them. Her short little cocktail dress rode up higher on her hips, displaying a generous amount of thigh and ass, which wasn’t lost on Cooper judging by how his pupils dilated, and he ground his erection against her crotch.
Damn, but he was hot. She wanted to be mad at him for Riley’s sake but her wayward body refused to comply. When it came to Cooper, her body overruled her good sense and her self-preservation. Cooper always melted her frostiest resolve.
He slipped his hands under her skirt and cupped her bare ass, pulling her against him. He ran his tongue along her throat, and she leaned her head back. He nipped and kissed her neck until he found her mouth again and almost made her come solely with his talented tongue.
Izzy moaned and clung to his broad shoulders, such a weak-willed woman when it came to this man. S
he didn’t have the strength to resist him, and the bastard knew it.
“I like the g-string,” he whispered against her mouth.
“I’d like your cock inside me,” Izzy shot back.
He stared deep into her brown-gold eyes. “I can accommodate that.”
She protested when he backed away until she realized he was shucking his clothes with the same breakneck speed he displayed on the ice. Seconds later, a naked Cooper except for a condom resumed his spot between her legs. He hooked a finger in the scrap of lace covering her pussy, and pushed the head of his penis inside her, stretching her, filling her. Izzy dug her fingernails into his shoulders and wrapped her legs around his waist.
“Take me. Take me and have your way with me, big boy.”
“As you wish,” he answered, his generous mouth quirking up at the corner. His lips came down on hers, as demanding as his cock which now pounded into her with increasing intensity. She clenched around, as if she could hold him inside her forever. Not a bad thought, though not the least bit practical.
Cooper thrust three more times before burying himself inside her and holding himself there. The tension in his body betrayed the iron will it took him not to let go. Instead he slid his hand between their legs, finding her clit, and pressed against it with his finger, coaxing her to come first. It didn’t take much. She clenched her eyes shut. Seconds later stars exploded behind her eyelids. Her body defied gravity and catapulted her above the clouds.
Cooper’s climax followed. His body shuddered, and he hugged her tightly to him. Izzy buried her face in his sweaty shoulder and relished the bone-melting aftermath of one of the best orgasms ever. But then Cooper always gave the most awesome orgasms.
She’d never know how he did it, but Cooper managed to carry her to the couch and deposit her on it. He plopped next to her, tucking her under his arm. His cheek rested against hers. She heard his contented sigh as they sat in comfortable silence.
Several minutes passed before he cleared his throat.
“Izzy?”
“Hmmm.” She nuzzled his stubbled cheek and rested her hand on his strong thigh.
“I wanted to come to your party tonight in the worst way,” he confessed, sounding as contrite as a small child who’d broken Mom’s best vase.
“But you didn’t know where it was.”
“That wasn’t what stopped me. I could’ve found you.”
She believed that. He’d done it before. “Then what stopped you?” She turned slightly to look into his eyes, his expression earnest, even concerned.
“Don’t give me that look. I’m working on it, but I have trust issues.”
“I’ve noticed.” She studied him, wanting to know what made Cooper Black the man he was. Someone had broken his heart and betrayed his trust, and she needed to know the facts. “Tell me why. Who hurt you so much you mistrust the people in your life? Was it a woman?”
“Maybe.” His dark eyes shone with amusement, which was odd. “Are you the woman in my life now, Izzy?”
‘You tell me.” She shrugged. She didn’t honestly know what she was other than his friend, his babysitter, his part-time conscience, and definitely his lover.
“You don’t see anyone else sharing my bed, do you?” He almost grinned. He’d try to turn this into something else so he could avoid the real question. She’d been around him long enough to know Cooper approached most problems head-on and full-steam, except personal relationships. Those he avoided like most people avoided liver and onions.
“Who was she, Cooper?” she prodded, not letting him off that easy.
He stared at her, his mouth in a tense, stubborn line. He removed his arm from around her shoulders and buried his head in his hands. Izzy waited him out.
Finally he looked up. “My uncle, my sister, and then my former fiancée, and several women before her.”
“Tell me about them, Cooper. I want to know.”
She shouldn’t want to know, shouldn’t care that much because this thing between them couldn’t go much further without entering the real relationship stage.
Yet, it didn’t matter what was wise. Izzy couldn’t repress this driving need to know everything about this man and what made him the man he was.
So she waited and hoped he’d answer.
* * * *
Cooper couldn’t talk about this stuff when he was naked. He wasn’t sure why, other than it made him too easily distracted by sex or too naked and exposed. He pulled on his boxers and sat back down, handing Izzy his big sweatshirt so she could cover up that delectable little dress. She seemed to understand and pulled it on, except she looked even sexier in his shirt which left everything to his imagination. He liked that almost as much as he liked her naked or in that mouth-watering little black dress she wore tonight.
He caught Izzy’s hand and held it, staring down at their entwined hands, as if he’d find the answers to his questions there. He never talked about his sister, Julie, or Carrie, the former love of his life. And he sure as hell never talked about his uncle.
He could easily distract Izzy with his kisses and more, but he didn’t want to do that. He wanted to tell her, wanted to share a portion of the ache inside of him that wouldn’t go away. Maybe sharing his pain with someone else would lessen it. Maybe it didn’t matter if it did or not, he wanted Izzy to understand him, to understand the struggles he’d been through with his sister and the women in his life.
Pushing his hair off his forehead with his free hand, he started talking, and once he started, he couldn’t stop as his words transported him back to one of the most painful periods of his life. “I guess my sister came first. Julie was beautiful. Four years older than me. Straight-A student. Star athlete. She loved me and our younger brother, Dan. She protected us, watched over us.” Only the one time she’d needed her brothers, they hadn’t been there for her. It was his secret shame. He’d played a part in making her what she was today.
He paused, inhaled a deep, calming breath, and closed his eyes for a moment. Izzy squeezed his hand, giving him strength. When he opened his eyes, she was smiling at him, a warm, encouraging smile, a smile that said she supported him no matter what.
Cooper took another breath and continued as he held tight to Izzy’s warm hand. He couldn’t tell her about that Seattle summer, couldn’t stand to see the censure in her eyes so he skipped that part of the story. “Julie met this guy when she was fifteen. He was bad news, but nothing anyone did could stop her from seeing him. Dad eventually kicked her out a year later. He didn’t want her influencing her two younger brothers, but he was too late. Her behavior did influence us. I need absolute control over my life and any people in my life so I can make sure they’re going to do the right thing. My brother, he did the opposite. He married a woman who controls his every move.”
“I can understand the need to feel in control of your life.”
She didn’t know the half of it because the worst thing of all he kept to himself. Cooper shot Izzy a look that said no kidding, before continuing. “Julie’s drug addiction tore my family apart. My parents did everything they could, spent tons of money on therapists. My mom suffers from Crohn’s disease, and the stress of dealing with Julie caused it to flare up multiple times, putting her in the hospital more than once. The last time she almost died from complications after surgery, which scared the shit out of my dad. He put his foot down and gave Julie an ultimatum, get clean or get out. She didn’t. He cut her off, refused to give her money. He banned her from family gatherings unless she was one-hundred-percent clean. Dad decided it was her or us, and he couldn’t have her dragging the rest of the family down with her any longer.”
“Addiction is a tough thing for families to handle. Cooper, I’m so sorry you dealt with that.”
Usually sympathy irritated him, but from her it filled some of the empty places inside him. He could’ve left it at that, but he didn’t, he kept talking. “I was Riley’s age the last time I saw her, and Julie was about eighteen. She came to m
y parents’ house, all freaked out on meth, threatened us with a gun. She waved it in our faces and shot into the walls. A neighbor heard the gunshots and called the police. It took a SWAT team to free us from her craziness. They hauled her off to jail. The entire family took out restraining orders against her. Other than a few drunken phone calls begging for money over the years, that was the last we heard of her directly, though she kept in minimal contact with an aunt.” Cooper buried his face in his hands and took slow, deep breaths. Izzy rubbed his back and leaned into his body.
“Cooper. I’m so sorry.”
“I should’ve done something to save her.” He removed his hands from his face, but he didn’t meet her gaze. She put her hand under his chin and lifted his face to hers. Guilt she wouldn’t understand choked him. He’d done this to his sister. He’d kept his mouth shut when she’d needed him the most. He should’ve said something about what happened all those years ago in Seattle. Julie changed that summer of her fourteenth year, and nothing was the same after that.
“Cooper, you can’t blame yourself, but you can help Riley.” Izzy leaned forward and brushed her lips across his, a sweet gentle kiss that said more than all the rough passionate kisses from earlier. It warmed him from the inside out, gave him hope that maybe, just maybe, a normal life might be in the cards for him.
“I knew that was coming,” he muttered. He did blame himself for his sister. He’d kept Julie’s secret all these years. How many others suffered because he’d been a coward?
“Cooper. Put your misplaced guilt to good use. Be a father figure to Riley.” She pulled away from him, glaring down at him.
Cooper snorted at such a ludicrous idea. Him? A father figure? Now that was laughable. Only Izzy wasn’t laughing. She’d pulled her hand from his and leapt to her feet, glaring down at him.
“It’s not funny,” she said, hands on her hips, eyes blazing. He loved that about her, how she could go all sweet and loving one minute then be ready to rip him a new one the next minute. It was sexy as hell and turned him on big time.
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