She rubbed her eyes in an attempt to clear that image from her mind.
Cooper promised he’d change if she gave him a chance. Deep down in her heart, she doubted a jealous, possessive, controlling man could ever change into a trusting and laid-back guy. She knew he’d try, really try, and while he was trying why not run the man through his paces? She’d never held off on having sex with a man who attracted her. Why was Cooper any different? It sure as hell wasn’t because they wouldn’t be damn good in bed together. In fact, she’d bet her party-crashing business that they’d dance the night away in the sheets.
Her reasons for not sleeping with him seemed ridiculous now. Especially since she’d resigned herself to only having a right-now relationship with the sexy hockey star. He’d leave Seattle at the end of the season with a fat new contract elsewhere, and she’d never leave. She loved Seattle. He hated everything about it. The trees and mountains made him claustrophobic, so he’d told her. He hated the rain. Hell, he probably thought it was too green.
A woman couldn’t reason with a pig-headed man like that, so why try? Why not use him for what his body had to offer and have fun doing it? She wouldn’t get any complaints from Cooper about that. Sure, she’d probably fall for him over the next few months, but she’d survive. If she was good at one thing, it was surviving. She’d been doing it for years.
He’d move on, and she’d move on. No harm, no foul, at least not permanently. Izzy had been in love before, and she’d fallen out of love just as quickly. Cooper wouldn’t be any different. Sure, it’d hurt, but what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
Izzy wasn’t a romantic like her sister Emma, who believed everyone had one forever love. What a load of crap. She wasn’t a party girl like middle child Betheni, though she did love her men. And she didn’t avoid men altogether like Emma’s twin, Avery, who preferred the company of horses.
The crowd around Izzy roared. Cooper had scored a goal, and she’d missed it, she’d been so deep into her own world. Belatedly, Izzy leapt to her feet and cheered as she watched the replay on the big screen. Cooper skated by, tapping the glass with his stick first in front of Riley then in front of her. He grinned. She grinned back. So did Riley.
She stayed in the present for the remainder of the game, which the Sockeyes won by one goal. Afterward, Riley begged Izzy to wait with him outside the locker room.
Cooper was the last one to come out. He stopped and looked around, all sexy with his hair still wet from his shower, and dressed in his street clothes. When he saw them, a slow grin spread across his face and made her want to spread her legs for him. Right here. Right now. How crazy was that?
Oh, God. This had to stop.
Cooper fought his way past several reporters until he finally got to them. He fist bumped Riley and picked Izzy up and spun her around, kissing her soundly. When he finally put her down, he draped his arm around her shoulders.
“Told you so,” Riley whispered in her ear.
“Let’s get out of here and grab a pizza. A bunch of the guys and their families are heading to that place down the block.” Cooper didn’t wait for an answer but pulled her along with him as he cleared a path through the crowds and turned down a hall leading to the team’s private parking area.
He opened the passenger door for Izzy when her phone rang. She backed up a step and gave him an apologetic smile. “I need answer this. It’s Betheni.”
Cooper nodded, his impatience clear, while Riley said nothing and waited nearby.
“Izzy, you have to come home. Fawn and Rock are here, and they’re insisting on borrowing some money. I don’t what to do. The only money we have saved is for the power bill and our tuition.” Rock and Fawn Maxwell were their parents. None of the sisters called them Mom and Dad because they’d never fulfilled the role of parents. Part of a washed up rock band, To the Max, they chased every impossible opportunity, convinced they’d hit it big again with a zealousness they’d never shown toward parenting.
“God, fucking dammit,” Izzy muttered under her breath. She’d give anything for normal parents who supported their kids instead of the opposite.
Both Cooper and Riley stared at her, and she realized she’d spoken out loud. With a disgusted sigh, she said, “Sorry, something’s come up at home. I can’t join you for pizza after all.” Or that soak in the tub she’d been fantasizing about all night.
“Anything I could help with?” Cooper offered with a boyish eagerness.
“Yeah, me, too,” Riley added, not to be outdone by his uncle. He shot Cooper a glare as if to say she’s my girl, hands off.
Izzy would’ve found them both amusing and sweet if it wasn’t for her panic that Fawn and Rock would manipulate and guilt her sisters into handing over all their cash before she could get home to stop them. Without further explanation, because Izzy didn’t get outsiders involved in her screwed-up family dynamics, she pecked both Cooper and Riley on the cheeks, ran back down the hallway, and out of the arena, sprinting across the parking lot to her car.
Traffic clogged every street and alley, forcing Izzy to wait impatiently for her turn. She tapped her fingers on the steering wheel, muttered obscenities under her breath, and constantly glanced at the small dash clock.
The usual ten-minute drive home turned into a thirty-minute drive. Finally she screeched to a halt in front of their apartment and took the stairs two at a time.
She threw the door open and three shocked pairs of eyes glanced up at her from where they sat at the small dining table.
“No—” she almost wailed.
Betheni as the second-oldest, even though she was the most irresponsible, spoke first. “They took all our cash. I tried to tell them no but they were insistent.”