Where did Izzy fit in his life? He wanted her. She wanted him. She’d never leave Seattle, and she wasn’t the type of forever woman he was looking for. She didn’t have the qualities his mother had, content to be in the background and concede control to his father. Izzy was so not a background person, and she needed to be in control as much as he did.
Despite the stupidity of it all, he wanted a temporary relationship with her, not just sex but also friendship because right now he could use a friend. He felt alone, separated from his team and disliked by his nephew—not that he blamed the kid. Regardless, he’d keep his distance, not wanting the kid to get attached to him and expect Cooper to be there for him. Cooper wasn’t that guy, and Riley needed to understand that.
Cooper’s life was hockey. He didn’t have room for any other number ones in his life, not Riley, not Izzy.
Maybe it sucked in some ways, but it was what it was.
He’d given his heart and soul to women too many times and been screwed. This Cooper was more mature, savvier, better at protecting his heart. This Cooper didn’t fall hard and fast for the wrong woman. He’d be damned if Izzy and Riley would suck him into a situation where he put himself out there only to have his heart chopped up in little pieces and fed to the circling sharks.
Nope, not him. He was smarter than that.
So why was he fighting so hard to get Izzy back?
Chapter 11—Off the Ice
Izzy stopped pacing long enough to check the clock on the dining room wall. It was past two AM on Wednesday morning. The team plane should’ve landed by now. Cooper would be walking through that door within the hour.
And then all hell would break loose.
She’d already paced a path around the dining room table, the kitchen island, and the big deck. At least she was getting some exercise. Izzy took her responsibilities seriously, all the more so when she was being paid good money to perform the task. At first she’d thought Cooper had overpaid her to find a “nanny” for Riley, but now that she’d been searching for an acceptable replacement for her aunt, she wasn’t so sure. Most nannies didn’t want to deal with a teenager or work around Cooper’s crazy schedule. Cooper would not be happy.
Izzy paced some more until she saw headlights from Cooper’s SUV coming up the driveway. A few minutes later she heard the door to the garage open and close.
She waited in the split-level’s retro foyer, wringing her hands and rehearsing one final time what she’d say.
Cooper opened the door connecting the garage to the rest of the house. He stopped in his tracks, his duffle swung over one broad shoulder, and that errant lock of dark hair brushing his eyebrow. He wore his travelling suit of black pants with a knife-blade crease and a black blazer. A light green dress shirt unbuttoned a couple buttons teased her with a view of that sprinkling of chest hair.
Maybe they could just hop in bed and forget about reality for a while.
“Izzy?” A slow, sexy smile crossed his face. Obviously, he thought he was going to get some tonight. The bad news she was about to deliver would wipe that smile right off his handsome face and most likely ruin any chance of an encore performance between the sheets.
“Cooper. I—uh—we have something to discuss.” It was best to get it over with now. Her carefully rehearsed speech retreated to the dark recesses of her mind and stayed there.
“Oh, yeah?” He grinned, misinterpreting her statement. “You want the real thing instead of phone sex?”
They’d had phone sex the last couple nights, and she did want the real thing. But first she needed to explain the “nanny” problem.
He shrugged his bag off his shoulder and let it drop with dull thud on the floor, followed by his jacket. With a confident smirk, he stalked her like a predator stalking its prey. She froze, a deer in his headlights so wanting to be his prey because the rewards would be oh-so awesome, but first her bad news.
He stopped six inches from her. Even though their bodies didn’t touch, heat radiated off him in waves, warming her body and wetting her panties. God, he was so gorgeous and so very male.
“I have it on good authority that in-person sex far surpasses virtual sex.” He didn’t touch her, just captured her gaze with his and wouldn’t let it go. His blue eyes darkened with promises of a carnal night of pleasure.
“I don’t know who that good authority is, but I love him.” She ran her tongue over her bottom lip, and he groaned.
“Dick. Dick is my authority.” He grinned at her, while his eyes smoldered.
“Ah, yes, I adore your friend Dick.”
“He’s led me astray a few times, but not on this occasion,” he chuckled.
“Dicks do that.” Izzy laughed, loving how his eyes lit up when he was teasing her. For just one night she could lose herself deep in those eyes and forget the rest of the world.
“Where’s Riley?” Cooper asked almost as an afterthought.
“He’s spending the night with his football coach’s son. They’ve become good friends.”
His grin grew wider, and she didn’t have to read his mind to know what he was thinking. “It’s just you and me.” He cocked his head in the direction of the stairs.
“And Dick,” she reminded him with a pointed look at the bulge in his pants.
“I love threesomes when Dick is the third party.”
“Dick’s always a party.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned into him, deciding the nanny thing could wait. Oh, yeah, could it wait. “You’re a goofball.”
“So are you.”
“Takes one—”
“—to know one,” he finished for her.
The fondness in his eyes scared her while warming her insides as much as the lust, but lust she could handle just fine. All the emotional crap that came with caring about someone, trusting them, depending on them to do the right thing—that crap was what scared her. In Izzy’s world, the people who should care the most were the ones who hurt you the most, except for her sisters. Sure, they had their moments, but they’d take a bullet for her—even Avery despite her current unhappiness with Izzy.