“Back at you, buddy.”
Hal turned his back on Isaac and lay down on the bed. They were a pair, all right, hating the world and everyone in it.
Only Isaac didn’t hate Avery—far from it.
Chapter 5—Playing with Fire
Once in a rare moment, Avery had rides like this one.
Avery held the reins in her hands as if they were thin threads of silk to be handled with the utmost care. Riot’s raw power rose under her seat, as she rode him around the arena in an almost trancelike state.
She was in the zone, and it’d never happened before with Riot, and rarely happened with other horses. She was so attuned to her horse, she thought where she wanted to go, and he would go there as if reading her mind. She imagined what she wanted him to do, and he’d do it. All the while, she never lost sight of that delicate thread connecting them, so easily broken with a minor lapse in concentration or a moment of tension. Pure relaxation turned a pure athletic performance into an art form.
Time stood still. Nothing existed but her and Riot, only they weren’t two separate beings, they were of one mind, one body, one soul. Riot moved willingly underneath her, giving her all she asked for with a rare display of enthusiasm.
She noticed Sam and Hans, the German dressage master who coached Sam, leaning on the arena gate watching them, and wondered how long they’d been there. Avery sat up straighter and applied a slight tension to the reins, slowing Riot to a walk. Her first temptation had been to ride Riot until their surreal bond dissipated, but she’d ridden him long enough, and she didn’t want to take advantage of his unusual generosity. Nothing equaled moments like this—except maybe sex with a dangerously hot man named Isaac.
“That was freaking awesome.” Sam’s huge smile said it all. Hans, in his typical German manner, said nothing, his face expressionless.
Avery halted Riot near the gate. He stood quietly, his sides heaving from the exertion. “Did it look as good as it felt?”
“Absolutely. What the hell happened? How did you manage to get that out of him? I’ve never seen you ride like that. You were relaxed, focused, gentle.”
“Thank you.” Avery swallowed back a lump in her throat, almost in tears. “It was indescribable. I mean there are no words.”
“I know,” Sam answered, still grinning. “The first time I felt that with Gabby, I knew we had a special bond. Now the key is to duplicate it. Be greedy. Want it every time. Find a way to get there.”
“But when I try too hard, he sulks and won’t cooperate.”
Hans cleared his throat, and both women turned to wait for whatever words of wisdom he chose to impart. He’d trained the best of the best, including gold medalists and trainers of gold medalists. Semi-retired, Hans worked out of the barn once a month for a week. Last year, he’d married one of his wealthier students, and the other three weeks they vacationed wherever their whims took them.
Avery waited for the day she became one of the chosen few. To date she’d filled in for other riders when they weren’t able to ride. Hans preached absolute patience and kindness with the horses, but his students were often the object of his ridicule and verbal abuse. He didn’t cut his two-legged students any slack.
“Iz gut,” he grunted. The highest compliment Avery had ever received from him. He turned to Sam. “Why iz she not part of my regular schedule?”
Both Sam and Avery knew why. Hans clearly stated a few months ago she wasn’t ready for him yet and should continue her instruction with Sam and ride as many different horses as she could.
“Your lesson schedule is full,” Sam pointed out, as Hans didn’t like to teach more than six hours a day.
“You vill squeeze her in.” On that note, he strode away, shouting to one of his students that he was ready for lunch, as if she were his personal minion. The poor woman ran after him, like a puppy hoping for a pat on the head.
“Are you ready for his abuse one week a month?” Sam winked at her.
“Yes,” Avery answered. Riding with Hans was the chance of a lifetime, even if the man happened to be an arrogant ass; he’d earned that arrogance.
“It’s not cheap,” Sam hedged, knowing Avery didn’t have an endless supply of money.
“I’ll get the money somewhere.”
Sam hesitated, as if she wanted to say something more. “Okay, I’ll fit you in next time he’s here.” Sam trotted off after Hans, most likely to do the king’s bidding herself.
Avery dismounted, unsaddled Riot, and threw a cooler blanket over him. She led him outside to walk him, still in awe over her ride and the invitation to train with one of the best in the country.
Sadly, her euphoria was short-lived when she started to come down from her high and began to consider the financial ramifications. Hans charged more per lesson than she made in a week, and she needed enough for five to six lessons a month.
She was so screwed.
Not willing to let monetary problems ruin the great buzz she’d gotten from an incredible ride, Avery pushed it aside and forced herself to concentrate on the good stuff. She glanced out into the grassy field where Tiffani held her horse’s lead rope as he grazed. It was a rare January day in Seattle. The sun shone brightly and temperatures hovered in the mid- to upper fifties. Her gaze strayed to Isaac’s house, as if drawn by a powerful magnet. As it had been since she’d laid eyes on the man only a few days earlier, her mind drifted to a pair of ice-blue eyes framed in a ruggedly handsome face with a sinfully hot body.
Last night she’d done an almost stranger on the couch in the lounge of the horse barn. Less than twelve hours later her life had changed in ways she couldn’t have predicted, and Isaac had been the catalyst.
Bella had been right.
Yet, still she wondered what’d possessed her to make such a bold move. Okay, well, maybe that set of piercing ice-blue eyes, a hot, so-male body, and an irresistible instant chemistry, and don’t forget the bad-boy vibe he had in spades. What woman could resist a bad boy? Regardless, she was secretly ashamed of herself and embarrassed. She didn’t do one-night stands. She had her pride, and her body was worth more than just a casual encounter. At least in most cases.
Who the hell was she kidding? She do it again with him given half the chance.
Not only had she had an incredible ride on Riot, but her horses were going better than ever, and even her twin remarked on how relaxed and laid back she seemed.
In fact, Riot had been stupendous, acting as if he honestly loved life and his rider. She’d do anything to capture that magic again because it had been pure magic.
Her face fell.
Yet Isaac had made it clear he didn’t do repeats. One and done, he’d said, but she couldn’t get him out of her mind. This was exactly why stranger sex didn’t work so well for her. She wasn’t a stranger sex kind of girl. Despite how well her horses were going, thoughts of Isaac distracted her from her personal goals—her riding career and her teaching. Only this afternoon, she’d been teaching a young student when midsentence she’d flashed back to planting kisses on a strong, clenched jaw as the owner of that jaw buried his thick, hard erection deep inside her, while she lay on the lounge couch. Finally the student rode into the center of the arena and stopped, staring at Avery as if she’d lost her mind.
She had. To a man who didn’t do repeats. At least not with her.
She’d only slept with a handful of men in her life, minus those few months of craziness after she’d found her long-time boyfriend in bed with another guy. He’d admitted to her he was gay, and he’d perpetuated the lie that was his life to make his family happy. After that she’d slept with a handful of guys just to prove she was desirable. But she’d known them and most were long-time friends.
If only Isaac hadn’t been so hot, so hard, so intense. He’d given her sex like no man before him and taken her to heights she’d never imagined possible. The only other times she’d experienced such highs were on the back of a horse, and that had nothing to do with an orgasm, and everything to do with bo
nding with another creature until they were one. She and Isaac had been one for a brief moment.
“Hey, how’s Tiff doing?” Sam nudged her shoulder.
Avery startled and blinked at Sam several times, trying to process what she was talking about.
Sam frowned at her. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, of course. Why?”
“Nothing. You seem different today. And that ride—” Sam studied her for a moment then turned her attention back to the slight blonde girl standing with her back to them out in the field.
Avery ignored the compliment. “I wish there was something we could do for her,” She said as she followed Sam’s gaze.
“It’s going to take time. I know her parents have her in counselling. I just wish she’d get back in the saddle. Riding a good horse can cure pretty much anything that ails a person, and Dex is one of the best young rider horses in the nation.”
Avery nodded her agreement, but they both knew Tiffani couldn’t be pushed. Her reasons for not riding had nothing to do with a fear of horses and everything to do with an all-consuming fear of her own mortality. She barely spoke and hadn’t ridden since that fateful day a week before Thanksgiving, and her haunted brown eyes were enough to melt the hardest heart.
“I appreciate your keeping an eye on her, making her your special project,” Sam added. Avery had taken Tiffani under her wing and assigned her tasks to do around the barn, such as grooming horses, cooling them out, anything to keep her busy. It wasn’t much, but maybe it was the little things that truly mattered when all was said and done.
Sam glanced over her shoulder as a car pulled into the driveway. She winked at Avery. “See you later; Carson’s here.”
An impeccably dressed, tall blond man exited the Mercedes sedan, a conservative car for a conservative man. Dressed for the office, he wore his usual suit and tie. His hard face relaxed into a smile when Sam ran toward him and threw herself in his arms. Avery turned away, partially amused and a little bit jealous. Would she ever have what Sam and Carson had? Or what Izzy and Cooper had?
At the top of her list of requirements for a relationship-caliber partner was a man who loved horses, but finding such a man who wasn’t an arrogant dick or gay or both proved pretty much impossible. Avery had seen too many relationships destroyed by a jealous husband who didn’t understand how important horses were to someone like her. Her family was a great case in point. They still didn’t get it, and they never would.
Avery headed back to the barn. She had plenty of work to do. Besides her everyday duties, one of the barn cleaners called in sick, and the rest of the staff was pitching in to clean the stalls. She was filling a wheelbarrow with manure and trying not to think about a pair of ice-blue eyes and a sexy smile when her oldest sister peeked in the stall. Izzy wrinkled her nose at the smell. Avery rolled her eyes. Izzy could be such a prima donna.
“What brings you to the country?” Avery asked, forcing her voice to remain neutral. She hated this friction between the two of them, but Izzy had started it, and Avery wouldn’t give in, not this time. She didn’t want to go to med school, and Izzy would have to get over it.
“Just returning some things I borrowed from Emma. That’s all.”
“She’s at work, but you can leave them in the apartment. The door’s unlocked.”
“Have you met your surly neighbor yet?” Izzy asked, glancing at the ranch house on the far edge of the field.
“Uh, why?” she asked innocently. Something in Izzy’s tone kept Avery from admitting she knew Isaac. Her oldest sister could be a pain and way over-protective. Their relationship was on shaky enough ground. The last thing Avery needed was a lecture from Izzy on safe sex.
If Izzy read the guilt on her face, she didn’t show it. “The Sockeyes got him on a trade last week to replace an injured defenseman.”
“Sockeyes?” Avery’s breath caught in her throat. Oh, crap, no, he couldn’t be a teammate of Cooper’s.
“Yes.” Izzy studied her closely. “You sure you haven’t met him? Good looking guy, talented player, but all attitude.”
That pretty much summed him up. “No, haven’t had the pleasure.”
“Well, stay away from him. He’s bad news. Been involved in all kinds of scandals. Rumor has it this is his last chance in the NHL. Despite how talented he is, no one else wants to take a chance on him. He’s disruptive and selfish. Cooper says Isaac rips the soul right out of a team.”
“Cooper doesn’t like him?” Avery gnawed on a fingernail, an annoying nervous habit she couldn’t curb.
“Not one damn bit, but so far Isaac is keeping his nose clean and staying out of trouble. He’s not exactly personable but like Cooper says, they didn’t hire him to be Miss Congeniality. And you know Coach. He thinks he’s a regular miracle worker.”
“Well, I’ll be sure to stay away from him,” Avery assured her sister, as she concentrated on shoveling shit.
“I doubt you’ll have to worry about him. I can’t imagine him going near a horse barn. He’s a city boy.”
“I’m sure you’re right.”
Izzy gave her another look, as if trying to figure out what Avery was hiding. Finally she shrugged and headed toward the apartment. “See you later,” she called over her shoulder.
“Later.”
Avery emptied the wheelbarrow onto the manure pile and started on the next stall, fretting about what kind of mess she’d gotten herself into this time.
* * * *
Isaac laced up his skates, emotionally distanced from the lively banter around him. The guys avoided his space as if crime scene tape was draped around his locker. Many of them glanced his way, while others pointedly ignored him, especially Tom Glanden, his former best friend and current biggest enemy. Isaac kept his head down and pretended they didn’t exist. Opening his mouth always got him in trouble.
He couldn’t help but notice almost every one of these idiots had a tattoo of a blue and green fish standing on its tail with the Space Needle hooked in its mouth. Most of the tats were on their biceps, and when the guys flexed, the fish bloated like a beached whale. Those that didn’t have room for the tattoo on their arms had it elsewhere. One guy even had it on his ass. These guys were nuts. Who tattooed their team mascot on their bodies when they could be traded or sent to the minors any day of the week? The only way you’d ever catch Isaac doing that was if he won the Cup.
Cooper sat down next to him and nudged him with a shoulder. Isaac forced himself not to move away or show any weakness. Instead he held his ground, ignoring the fact that the team captain breeched the crime scene tape and invaded his personal space. He hated being touched, even friendly slaps on the back. The only time he tolerated touching was during sex.
“I hear you’re renting Brad Reynolds’s country house.” Cooper watched him; despite his friendly tone, his eyes were anything but friendly, more like suspicious and distrustful.
“Yeah.”
“My fiancée’s sisters live in the apartment on the horse farm next door. Maybe you’ve met them?”
Isaac shrugged, noncommittally, and grunted something unintelligible. Cooper stared at him, and Isaac stared right back, unblinking.
“They’re twins.”
Again Isaac didn’t respond.
“They’re nice girls. I’m warning you right now to stay away from them, or I’ll hang you by your balls and castrate you with a dull knife.” Cooper’s tone was conversational, but his warning wasn’t.
“Duly noted.” Isaac shrugged and went back to lacing his skates. Cooper sat there for a moment longer then returned to his own locker.
Crap. He’d screwed Cooper Black’s soon-to-be sister-in-law, and now he was screwed. As soon as Black found out, Isaac would either be sent out of town or his lifeless body would be dumped in the woods somewhere, never to be found again, and he deserved it. His last chance to play pro hockey shot down because he couldn’t keep his dick in his pants. He was an absolute idiot.
Maybe he could convince
Avery it would be in their best interests not to tell anyone. It was probably already too late. Women loved to talk, and didn’t twins share everything?
Isaac put his head down and pretended to be studying his blades.
“Hey, he means well. It’s all about the team to him.” Blake Daniels sat down on the bench next to Isaac’s since their lockers were adjacent to each other. Blake didn’t talk much either, and Isaac appreciated that. He sensed a kindred spirt in the quiet man, who’d been with as many NHL teams this year as Isaac had, but for very different reasons. Blake was at the end of his career while Isaac was still in his athletic prime.
Blake had joined the team yesterday after another injury left an immediate need for an experienced defenseman. Isaac glanced over at the man as he took off his shirt and hung it in his locker. On his arm was a tattoo of a broken heart surrounded by several names. Isaac frowned, as he remembered something about a plane crash that wiped out Daniels’s entire family a few years ago. Rumors said the guy had never recovered, and his game had suffered, but how did a guy recover from something like that? Isaac hadn’t recovered, and he hadn’t lost his entire family, not like that, even though essentially they were dead to him.
Blake caught him staring and held out a hand. Isaac shook it. “I guess we’re the new guys.”
“Yeah.” Isaac didn’t encourage conversation. He didn’t need friends. He didn’t need anyone. Besides he was a crappy friend so for their sakes he kept his distance. Blake seemed like a good guy. He didn’t deserve to be associated with a guy like Isaac.
Isaac looked up as Coach moved to the center of the room and gave a pre-game speech quite unlike any Isaac had ever heard before. The guy actually told them to go out there and have fun, play their hearts out, and leave it all on the ice. You’d think they were playing for the Cup. Coach Gorst treated every game like a championship game, and his players ate it up. It was weird and juvenile, but Isaac kept his cynical thoughts to himself.
Being an ass wouldn’t earn him any points with the coach or the team. He’d proven that time and time again.
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