He stared deep into her brown-gold eyes. “I can accommodate that.”
She protested when he backed away until she realized he was shucking his clothes with the same breakneck speed he displayed on the ice. Seconds later, a naked Cooper except for a condom resumed his spot between her legs. He hooked a finger in the scrap of lace covering her pussy, and pushed the head of his penis inside her, stretching her, filling her. Izzy dug her fingernails into his shoulders and wrapped her legs around his waist.
“Take me. Take me and have your way with me, big boy.”
“As you wish,” he answered, his generous mouth quirking up at the corner. His lips came down on hers, as demanding as his cock which now pounded into her with increasing intensity. She clenched around, as if she could hold him inside her forever. Not a bad thought, though not the least bit practical.
Cooper thrust three more times before burying himself inside her and holding himself there. The tension in his body betrayed the iron will it took him not to let go. Instead he slid his hand between their legs, finding her clit, and pressed against it with his finger, coaxing her to come first. It didn’t take much. She clenched her eyes shut. Seconds later stars exploded behind her eyelids. Her body defied gravity and catapulted her above the clouds.
Cooper’s climax followed. His body shuddered, and he hugged her tightly to him. Izzy buried her face in his sweaty shoulder and relished the bone-melting aftermath of one of the best orgasms ever. But then Cooper always gave the most awesome orgasms.
She’d never know how he did it, but Cooper managed to carry her to the couch and deposit her on it. He plopped next to her, tucking her under his arm. His cheek rested against hers. She heard his contented sigh as they sat in comfortable silence.
Several minutes passed before he cleared his throat.
“Izzy?”
“Hmmm.” She nuzzled his stubbled cheek and rested her hand on his strong thigh.
“I wanted to come to your party tonight in the worst way,” he confessed, sounding as contrite as a small child who’d broken Mom’s best vase.
“But you didn’t know where it was.”
“That wasn’t what stopped me. I could’ve found you.”
She believed that. He’d done it before. “Then what stopped you?” She turned slightly to look into his eyes, his expression earnest, even concerned.
“Don’t give me that look. I’m working on it, but I have trust issues.”
“I’ve noticed.” She studied him, wanting to know what made Cooper Black the man he was. Someone had broken his heart and betrayed his trust, and she needed to know the facts. “Tell me why. Who hurt you so much you mistrust the people in your life? Was it a woman?”
“Maybe.” His dark eyes shone with amusement, which was odd. “Are you the woman in my life now, Izzy?”
‘You tell me.” She shrugged. She didn’t honestly know what she was other than his friend, his babysitter, his part-time conscience, and definitely his lover.
“You don’t see anyone else sharing my bed, do you?” He almost grinned. He’d try to turn this into something else so he could avoid the real question. She’d been around him long enough to know Cooper approached most problems head-on and full-steam, except personal relationships. Those he avoided like most people avoided liver and onions.
“Who was she, Cooper?” she prodded, not letting him off that easy.
He stared at her, his mouth in a tense, stubborn line. He removed his arm from around her shoulders and buried his head in his hands. Izzy waited him out.
Finally he looked up. “My uncle, my sister, and then my former fiancée, and several women before her.”
“Tell me about them, Cooper. I want to know.”
She shouldn’t want to know, shouldn’t care that much because this thing between them couldn’t go much further without entering the real relationship stage.
Yet, it didn’t matter what was wise. Izzy couldn’t repress this driving need to know everything about this man and what made him the man he was.
So she waited and hoped he’d answer.
Cooper couldn’t talk about this stuff when he was naked. He wasn’t sure why, other than it made him too easily distracted by sex or too naked and exposed. He pulled on his boxers and sat back down, handing Izzy his big sweatshirt so she could cover up that delectable little dress. She seemed to understand and pulled it on, except she looked even sexier in his shirt which left everything to his imagination. He liked that almost as much as he liked her naked or in that mouth-watering little black dress she wore tonight.
He caught Izzy’s hand and held it, staring down at their entwined hands, as if he’d find the answers to his questions there. He never talked about his sister, Julie, or Carrie, the former love of his life. And he sure as hell never talked about his uncle.
He could easily distract Izzy with his kisses and more, but he didn’t want to do that. He wanted to tell her, wanted to share a portion of the ache inside of him that wouldn’t go away. Maybe sharing his pain with someone else would lessen it. Maybe it didn’t matter if it did or not, he wanted Izzy to understand him, to understand the struggles he’d been through with his sister and the women in his life.
Pushing his hair off his forehead with his free hand, he started talking, and once he started, he couldn’t stop as his words transported him back to one of the most painful periods of his life. “I guess my sister came first. Julie was beautiful. Four years older than me. Straight-A student. Star athlete. She loved me and our younger brother, Dan. She protected us, watched over us.” Only the one time she’d needed her brothers, they hadn’t been there for her. It was his secret shame. He’d played a part in making her what she was today.