Cooper shut the door behind the last of his guests, except for Izzy, who volunteered to help clean up. Riley ran upstairs to call his teammates and brag about meeting the great Tanner Wolfe. Cooper wanted to gag. The guy was no role model for an impressionable teenager. His reputation as a partier and womanizer wasn’t even the half of it. His big mouth and outrageous behavior completed the overall picture of a jerk.
Cooper already had a negative opinion of the guy before he ever laid eyes on him based on Tanner’s hockey-playing brother, Isaac. Yeah, the three Wolfe brothers, dubbed by the press as the Wolfe Pack, all played professional sports. One hockey, one baseball, one football. Each one as arrogant and obnoxious as the others.
With a sigh that the torture had ended for another night, Cooper turned back toward the kitchen. Izzy bustled around, putting dishes in the dishwasher and wiping the counter.
Cooper paused to watch her zipping around like a mini tornado in his kitchen. Instead of wreaking havoc though, she transformed the chaos into neat, tidy order. Cooper liked things orderly, and he liked Izzy in his kitchen. Hell, he just plain liked her.
It’d been a weird night for him. He couldn’t stand Tanner Wolfe. To watch the asshole flirt with Izzy all night was just about more than he could stomach. Yet, the ultimate betrayal came from his nephew who clearly worshipped the jerk. Now that hurt. Not that Tanner’s obvious interest in Izzy didn’t hurt, too, because it did, but Izzy didn’t return the man’s interest, which gave Cooper some satisfaction. Maybe he really could trust her. Maybe she wasn’t like all those other women.
He missed her, and he wanted her back. He wasn’t sure whether the gaping hole in his heart could get any bigger. He missed the way she smiled at him and lit up his day. He missed how her eyes sparkled as she sang along to “Hotel California,” her favorite classic rock song. Hell, he even missed the frown on her face when he wore faded jeans for a night out on the town. Oh, yeah, he was a sap, and he fucking missed her.
Izzy finally glanced up and saw him standing there. Her expression softened, and he knew he must be wearing his heart on his sleeve.
Dropping the towel on the counter, she moved toward him. He stood his ground, waiting for her, his entire body buzzing with anticipation.
She stopped a foot from him and gazed into his eyes. God, he loved her brown eyes with those little gold flecks in them. He could lose himself in those eyes all day long.
“Are you okay?” Izzy brought up her hand and stroked his rough cheek.
“Yeah.” As long as she kept touching him like that, he’d be more than okay. Cooper swallowed and fisted his hands to stop himself from pulling her into his arms. He breathed in her sweet perfume. Like spring flowers on a sunny day, her scent surrounded him, enveloped him, wrapped him in a warm cocoon of contentment.
“He does look up to you, Coop,” she said, mistaking his distress as being upset over Riley, which might be partially true, but Izzy was a big piece of that puzzle, too. She rested her hands on his shoulders, and he resisted trembling at her touch. Only a weak man did that, and she’d witnessed too many vulnerable moments lately when it came to him.
“He has a funny way of showing it,” he said tersely, even as his brain fogged up. He fought to clear it, not sure he was capable of that feat.
“Cooper, give him time. He’s struggling. Tanner is a safe choice.”
“And I’m not?”
“No, because you matter. In the greater scheme of things, Tanner doesn’t. Not to Riley.”
“You think?” Cooper didn’t understand her logic, not really. From where he was standing, Riley hero-worshipped Tanner and considered Cooper the latest incarnation of the devil. Cooper didn’t know what the hell to do about it or even if he should.
“I know.” She stroked his cheek, her eyes bright with emotion that drew him in while terrifying the shit out of him.
“I miss you.” Unable to resist any longer, he leaned into her, his hands on her shoulders, while he searched her face for any sign that she missed him just as much.
She looked away for a moment, then looked back. “I miss you, too, but we’re not a good match.”
His heart sank just a little. “We never made it past third base, so how do you know that?”
Izzy rolled her eyes and backed away from him, putting physical and emotional space between them. “I’m talking about more than sex. You’re the jealous, controlling type, and I’m the free-spirit, I’ll-do-what-I-want type. Not exactly a good combination.”
“I could change. Give me another chance.” He was begging, he heard it in his voice. “I want you back.” There he’d said it, laid it out there, opened himself up for her to either put a bandage on his partially healed wounds or rip them wide open.
Uncertainty wrinkled her cute little nose and gave him hope. He moved in, knowing her body had the hots for him. Even though she’d managed to hold back from doing the deed when they’d been dating, in a few more dates he’d have gotten her naked and in his bed.
She shook her head, her dark hair falling across her shoulders. He wanted to bury his face in those silky strands and inhale the scent of her.
“Izzy—” He took another step toward her, but she sidestepped and put the counter between them.
“No, Coop. No.” She held up her hands to ward him off—as if she could stop him.
“Give me another chance.” He circled the counter and cornered her in the kitchen.
She sucked her lower lip into her mouth, a sure sign she was considering her options. In his playbook, that was a helluva lot better than an outright refusal. She gazed up at him, her eyes bright with a challenge. “Show me.”