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. She 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.