Izzy swallowed, as images of a partially clothed Cooper with his incomparable abs, broad shoulders, and powerful thighs crowded out worries over confronting her parents.
“I’ll bet you’re wet for me right now.” If she hadn’t already been—which she was—the sound of his deep, husky voice would’ve done the deed. She squirmed as her panties graduated from wet to plain drenched.
“I am, big boy.” Izzy lowered her voice to a sultry, seductive tone she reserved to get her point across when she wanted to get dirty and naked with a guy.
Cooper picked up on it right away. “I’ve been waiting for this ever since we met at the party.”
“So have I,” Izzy said breathlessly. “Turn here. It’s the bar on the right. To the Max plays here on Tuesday nights and weekends.”
Cooper nodded and raised an eyebrow as he took in the somewhat sleazy bar in a not-so-great neighborhood. She might not admit it, but she was grateful for his support. The Overtime happened to be one of her parents’ hangouts. They often played there in exchange for drinks and dinner.
Izzy removed her hand from his, closed her eyes, and tried to pull herself together, no easy task considering the proximity of Mr. Sex on Skates, soon to be sex on his back because she planned to have him every way she could, including a few ways she hadn’t tried yet.
Cooper stared at her but kept his thoughts to himself.
Izzy took a deep breath and opened the car door. Cooper immediately got out, rushed to her side, and fell into step with her. She paused in the doorway, taking stock of the situation.
Fawn and Rock stood at the bar, talking with the bartender, while the other three members of their band set up the sound system and drank beer. None of them seemed to be in a hurry to do much of anything.
Steve, the bartender and a long-time friend of her parents, waved her over. Walking ramrod straight, Izzy avoided eye contact with her parents and slid onto a barstool a few feet from where they were standing.
Her father, Rock, grinned at her. “Hey, honey, we bought the bar a round. What would you like?” Rock loved to be the big man, portraying himself as a guy with deep pockets. He was still a handsome man, tall and lean, with long, thick black hair tied in a ponytail and handsome face lined with the ravages of age and drug abuse.
Cooper stiffened beside her, his hands on her shoulders in a show of support she found comforting.
“You bought the bar a round?” Izzy spoke through gritted teeth. Close to sixty patrons sat at tables throughout the large bar.
“Sure did.” Rock seemed oblivious as usual. Fawn glanced at her, looking her up and down. Her mother’s eyes settled on Cooper and widened. Izzy always knew her parents practiced an open marriage. It worked for them. It didn’t work so well for Izzy, especially years ago when Izzy had caught her mom sleeping with her high school boyfriend. It hadn’t been a good moment in their mother-daughter relationship, and things had gone downhill from there.
Her parents embraced that rock-star party mentality even though their star had long fizzled out and burned up in the atmosphere of drinking, drugs, and a once-lavish lifestyle. She’d seen enough of their tumultuous relationship over the years to swear off marriage and committed relationships, especially if said relationship gave her partner any power over her.
She glanced at Cooper, who was taking it all in. His keen gaze dissected the situation the same way he evaluated the opposing team as he raced down the ice with the puck.
Izzy leaned back against him, drawing courage from his quiet strength. Izzy drew in a long breath and let if out slowly. Bracing herself for the debacle to come, she jumped in with both feet.
“You bought the bar a round?” she repeated.
Her father winked at her. “Sure did. What would you like?”
“I’d like the money back you manipulated my sisters into giving to you.”
Rock’s smile slipped a bit, and his gaze flicked to Fawn, who wore the pants in the family.
Fawn feigned deafness, which she often did when her oldest daughter said stuff she didn’t want to hear. Instead she focused her full attention on Cooper. His hands tightened on Izzy’s shoulders.
“And who are you?” Fawn purred. Izzy’s mother had done some modeling back in the day, along with partially nude shots for magazine covers and one very famous skin shot that graced their second album cover. No longer a young, super sexy bombshell, her hard-partying lifestyle had taken its toll, but Fawn still turned heads and attracted mostly older men.
“I’m Cooper Black.” Cooper’s chest vibrated against her back as he spoke with steely, don’t-mess-with-me-or-her tone laced with just enough attitude to say he meant business.
“Ah, you’re that sexy hockey player.” Izzy could almost hear her mother’s wheels turning.
“Cooper’s not interested.” Izzy kept a tight lid on her control. She needed that money and angering her mother wouldn’t help her get it. She turned in the barstool and wrapped her arm around Cooper’s waist. He grinned down at her and draped an arm across her shoulders, his pose deceptively casual and blatantly possessive.
Fawn continued her leisurely appraisal of Cooper, not seeming to care that her daughter watched her every move.
“The money, Fawn,” Izzy repeated.
Fawn waved her off, completely unconcerned. “You’ll get it back once our gamble pays off. Don’t be so hung up on money, Izz. Just enjoy life.”
“I want the money now, and I’m not leaving until I get it.” Izzy’s control stretched to the point of breaking. She wanted to yell at her mother, shake some sense into her, force her to act like a parent for once, instead of a badly-behaving teenager.
Fawn frowned, and her hackles raised. “I don’t have it. It’s gone.”
“Gone? Already? How could it possibly be gone?” Izzy’s voice rose to a high-pitched squeak. Heads turned in the room to watch the altercation like bystanders staring at a crime scene.