“We were dressed,” Izzy shot back, trying to muster up indignance over something she had very well planned to do if she hadn’t been interrupted.
Bethany walked over to the dessert tray and made a show of clearing her throat. “I see you were in here for a little dessert.” She popped a chocolate-covered strawberry in her mouth.
Izzy joined her and picked up the small bite-sized cheesecake. “That’s right. Just dessert.”
“Us, too.”
“What the hell were we both thinking?”
Bethany looked longingly at the door. “He’s really hot, sexy, and a great dancer.”
“So’s Cooper.” Cooper attracted her to the point that she’d been willing to ruin her new business, destroy her reputation, and decimate her sisters’ respect. No man was worth that.
Or was he? Obviously in the heat of the moment, she’d thought he was, and so had Bethany. Yet, she expected this behavior from the family wild child. No one expected it from the practical older sister.
“You’re really hot for him, aren’t you?” Bethany asked.
Izzy snorted and licked some chocolate off her fingers. To think she could’ve been licking chocolate out of Cooper’s belly button or off his—
“Isabella!” Bethany snapped her fingers in front of Izzy’s face.
Izzy jumped with a guilty start. “Sorry, he is hot, so frigging hot, I almost gave up everything we’ve worked for just to screw his brains out one time.”
“Me, too.” Bethany tried to look solemn, but she didn’t do solemn well. In fact, her lips twitched until she gave into a full-blown bad girl grin. “Go after him. Even good girls need to be bad once in a while.”
“I can’t. Not here.”
“Then go home with him. I’m sure you’d be invited.”
“I don’t do one-night stands.”
“By the look in his eyes, it wouldn’t be just one night. The man was completely smitten.”
“You think?”
“I know. Trust me.” Bethany turned on the lights, dug a compact out of her purse, and refreshed her makeup. “Let’s go back out and join the world.”
Izzy grabbed her sister’s makeup kit and did her own emergency makeover, but no amount of makeup covered up lips swollen from Cooper’s kisses, eyes shiny with desire, and hair so messy it looked like she did it that way on purpose.
Composing herself, she walked into the hallway and ran headfirst into Ethan Parker. He put his hands on her shoulders and set her back on her feet. “Isabella, I’ve been looking for you.”
“Oh, I, uh, my sister and I were discussing strategy.”
Ethan grinned. “As far as I’m concerned, you’ve done more than enough. You’re off the clock. Enjoy the party. It’s a rousing success and wouldn’t have been without you and your sisters. The guys are dancing up a storm, talking to the coaches, making plans. You’ve broken the ice, literally, and I can’t pay you enough for what you’ve managed to accomplish.”
“Well, thank you.” It was nothing that couldn’t be solved without having the team captain’s tongue down her throat, hands on her ass, and lips in places they shouldn’t be.
“I don’t know how you did it. The way those boys were scowling at the beginning of the night, I didn’t think anyone would get through to them.”
“Thank you, Mr. Parker.” Izzy smiled her most gracious smile.
“It was our pleasure,” Bethany added in total innocence.
“Call me Ethan. Great job. You’ll be getting a bonus for this, and I’ll be recommending you to all of our friends.” He grinned as Lauren came up beside him. “Stop by the team office next week, and I’ll have a check waiting at the front desk.”
“I will, and thank you, Ethan.”
Ethan grinned at his fiancée and headed outside to the deck.
“We did it.”
“We sure did.” Izzy should have felt on top of her world, and she did to a point, but there was still the little problem of Cooper and wanting to see him again.
“Let’s get back to the party.” Izzy almost broke into a jog, but something solid stopped her progress as she rounded the corner.
Cooper’s sold chest filled her line of vision. She lifted her face upward. Judging by the thin, angry line of his lips and his hard jaw, he’d heard every word of her conversation with Ethan.
And he wasn’t happy.
* * * *
Cooper had made up his mind. He wasn’t going to let this woman get away. Sure, he wanted to sleep with her, but it was more than that. Something he hadn’t felt in a long time, and he wanted to explore that heady feeling of being with a woman who intrigued him beyond the bedroom.
So he’d gone in search of Izzy to do the right thing and ask her out like a proper guy would do for a classy lady. Surely, the bathroom incidents were aberrations. They’d never happened to her before, but it was this intense chemistry between them—the same crazy feelings he felt—that drove her to do something she would never normally do.
At least that was what he’d wanted to believe.
Until he’d overheard her talking to Ethan Parker.
Humiliated and feeling like all kinds of fool, he rounded the corner with both guns blazing. She’d used him and used him quite nicely. He’d let down his guard for one night, believed in a woman for the first time in years, and this was what happened.
Her eyes opened wide as she spotted him in all his indignant fury.
“Are you going to be okay?” Her sister gave her a pat on the arm.
Izzy gave Bethany a curt nod to dismiss her. “I’m fine. Cooper and I need to talk.”
Without another word, Bethany scurried away, glancing over her shoulder one last time before she disappeared back into the party.
“How much did you hear?”
“All of it.” Cooper ground his teeth together, expecting his jaw to shatter any moment or at least for his many implants to be ground to dust.
“I can explain.” She moved toward him, but he held his hands up to keep that mesmerizing body out of his personal space.
“You were paid to do me.” Beneath the anger, he sounded pathetic and betrayed, even to his own ears.
“That would make me a prostitute, wouldn't it?” Now her annoyance matched his. She propped her hands on her hips, stood straighter, and pulled her shoulders back, inadvertently drawing attention to those nice breasts of hers, the same ones he’d been enjoying several minutes earlier.
His mouth went dry, and he licked his lips. “Uh, that's not what I'm saying.” No, he didn’t believe she screwed for money. Not deep down inside. Maybe his instincts hadn’t always been the best when it came to women, but something rang true in her words and her previous actions. Her out-of-control attraction couldn’t have been an act, any more than it had been with him.
“Then what are you saying?”
He didn’t know what he was saying, had no clue what he was accusing her of. His anger turned to confusion.
“Ethan paid us to make sure this party was successful.”
“And to be successful, you had to have me on board.”
She nodded, her own anger fizzling out. She clasped her hands together in front of her and wrung them. “That’s true, but I never planned on it going as far as it did. I just wanted to get you to dance, have a good time. It was never supposed to be sexual.”
“And I’m supposed to believe you didn’t plan on using every means you had.”
“Believe what you want. That’s not what we’re about.” She stared at her feet, obviously embarrassed. “It got out of hand. Something about you just made me forget every rule we had.”
“I’m supposed to believe that?” Cooper ran his hand through his hair, frustrated and confused. “I don’t know what to believe.”
Izzy sighed, looking as sad as the beagle he’d had as a child with those big brown eyes that could melt the hardest heart. Only Izzy wasn’t his trusted, loyal childhood friend. She was a woman with a job to do, and that job had inv
olved using him to reach her goal. Whether it included actual physical acts with him or not, he didn’t know. His heart didn’t want to believe it did, even though his head screamed “sucker.”
Cooper shook his head. “Know what? I was looking for you to ask you out on a date like a gentleman asks out a lady. That’s what an idiot I am.”
“Cooper, I—I’m sorry.” Her face crumpled, she looked ready to cry, and it took every ounce of determination he’d honed over years of scrabbling and fighting in the toughest of sports not to give in to those beautiful brown eyes.
“I’m not. I’m ashamed of you. I thought we had something, and you took advantage of my stupidity. Goodbye, Izzy.” He turned and walked away, grateful the boat was docking, and he could get the hell off the damn thing before he lost his resolve and caved to his baser needs.
He could get that from any number of women, but he’d thought Izzy could give him more, thought she’d stave off the loneliness of a single man, give him a reason to like this new place that’d been forced upon him.
Now he’d get none of the above.
Chapter 6—Delayed Penalty
Izzy held it together until she’d dropped off her sisters and shut the door to her little apartment. When she snapped the deadbolt shut, something snapped inside her.
She threw herself down on the ratty living room couch and cried her eyes out, not caring that her makeup ran or if her expensive dress wrinkled beyond repair. Her tears gushed like a broken water main. Her sobs drowned out the sounds from the freeway next to her apartment. Her heart cracked wider with each second that passed.
She should be thrilled. Ecstatic. On top of the world.
Her company had just pleased a very wealthy client and was on the verge of something big. Really big.
Right now, none of that mattered. It would tomorrow or the next day when the shock of all these crazy feelings wore off and eased the humiliation of being branded a prostitute.
Had she done everything she’d done just for the money? Because if she had, then she deserved that title. God, she’d been a fool over a man who didn’t care one damn bit about her. He’d used her just like she’d used him.
Only it hadn’t really been like that. Not for her. She’d felt something more, a seed of something that could’ve blossomed and grown into a beautiful flower, but instead of nurturing it with mutual trust and affection, she’d fed it with lies and behaved irresponsibly.
Cooper was right about her. She should be ashamed of herself. She had taken advantage of their initial attraction, even though she never planned on it going as far as it had, never dreamed she’d lose her mind looking into those deep blue eyes, and shed her scruples as quickly as she shed her clothes for him.
Shame on her.
He’d wanted to ask her out on a real date, show her the respect she didn’t deserve after her inexcusable and unprofessional behavior.
She’d been an idiot on so many levels.
Sitting up, Izzy wiped her face with tissues, blew out several deep breaths, and blinked the tears away. This was stupid. She barely knew the man. He was gorgeous, ripped, and a great dancer. So what? She called forth her practical side, that side which poo-pooed such bullshit as falling hard for a guy she’d only known three hours.
She’d learn from this mistake. Never again would she enter into any kind of a physical relationship with a party guest, not that it’d been a problem before, but it would not be again.
Her mind flashed back to those laughing blue eyes blazing with desire during their bathroom trysts, sympathetic with concern over her childhood story, and brimming with irritation because she’d latched on to him as a pretend boyfriend.
She sighed. It was over. The party was a success. They’d be making good money along with a bonus.
That’s all that should matter.
Only it wasn’t.
She missed him. She shouldn’t, but she did.
* * * *
Cooper opened his eyes to find Joker sitting on his chest staring him straight in the eyes. His head hurt like hell, courtesy of the half bottle of whiskey he drank when he’d arrived home.
“Hey, buddy. Miss me?” He reached up to pet the scruffy cat.
Joker meowed, most likely bitching about the quality of his life and the crappy servant he’d been forced to tolerate for more years than he could count.
“Yeah, I know. Life’s a bitch.”
Joker rubbed his face across Cooper’s stubble.
“I met a woman last night. I thought she was someone special.”
The cat studied him, as if to say, I know where this is going.
“Yeah, I kinda fell for her. She was gorgeous, great body, great dancer, confident, intelligent.”
Joker’s purring almost drowned out Cooper’s words. Oh, to be a cat and not to have a worry in the world.
“I was going to ask her out until I discovered she’d used me, so I dumped her ass.”
Joker dug his claws into Cooper’s chest, but he didn’t flinch. The pain didn’t come close to matching the pain he felt inside. This was stupid. He didn’t fall for a woman, not like this. Yet he had, and now he didn’t know what the hell to do about it.
“Hey, you’d have done the same thing.”
Joker continued to stare at him as if to say dumb shit.
Yeah, he’d wanted to spend more time with her, explore those unfamiliar feelings she elicited in him. He’d always been a bit of a daredevil, and she’d tempted him to take a chance on a relationship.
Only she’d been paid to do it. How did a guy get past that? And how did a guy get past that hot body, expressive eyes, sassy mouth, and long fucking legs? Obviously, he hadn’t. He’d dreamt about her all night long, doing the things to her he hadn’t gotten a chance to do on the boat, and letting her do the same to him.
He was a fool. A damn fool. She’d used him. That was a fact.
Despite it all, the truth behind her words about the team had sunk in. Nothing he did would move them back to Florida. Did he really want to leave his guys, guys he’d built a rapport with, and start over somewhere else?
The answer was no, he didn’t.
Cooper sat up, knocking the cat off his chest. Casting an annoyed look over his shoulder, Joker stalked off in a huff and disappeared out the bedroom door, probably to extract revenge on the leg of an expensive piece of leather furniture.
* * * *
Cooper walked past Ethan Parker’s sergeant major of an assistant, and swung open the door to Parker’s office. Ethen looked up from his computer, surprise crossing his face.
His admin pushed her way past Cooper. “I’m sorry, Mr. Black. He got past me.”
“It’s okay, Mina. He can stay.”
Mina hesitated and Ethan gave her an encouraging smile. With one last, disgusted look at Cooper, she left the office, shutting the door after her broad butt got through it.
“She’s scary, that one,” Cooper joked, trying to break the ice.
“Mina’s been with me for years. I appreciate all she does.” Ethan sat back, put his feet on the desk, and adopted a casual pose that was anything but casual. “What can I help you with, Coop?”
Cooper studied Ethan for a long moment, Ethan looked right back, his direct gaze never wavering. Cooper couldn’t recall one time that the former team owner ever looked him straight in the eyes.
He took a deep breath and let it out, as if it would cleanse him of all his ill-conceived notions. “I’m here to talk about the team, and what I can do to make this transition smoother.”
“Are you serious?” Ethan’s feet dropped to the floor, and he sat up straight. A slow smile spread across his face.
“Dead serious. I’ve been an ass. I want to start over.”
Ethan nodded slowly but didn’t answer right away. He was letting Cooper squirm, and Cooper had to respect him for that. The guy had some major balls. Finally, just as Cooper was starting to fidget, Ethan nodded slowly. “All right. Let’s brainstorm some ideas. Let me t
ake you to lunch.”
“Sounds good.” Cooper hesitated. “One other thing. Isabella Maxwell. How well do you know her?”
“I don’t. Not really. I learned about her company through a mutual friend.”
“What exactly is her company?”
“They’re called the Party Crashers. They have a website. Look them up. They guarantee they can turn a bad party into a good one. Knowing your attitude and your teammates’ toward this move and me personally, I figured that party could use all the help it could get. She did a great job, and I’ll be the first to admit, I didn’t believe they’d be able to pull it off.”
Yeah, she’d done a great job, especially on Cooper. “That’s it? They’re paid to crash parties?”
“Yeah. That’s it. Did you think there was more?”
“Uh, no. Not at all.” Cooper stared over Ethan’s head out the window, his brain a confused mash of conflicting thoughts.
“Seems like you two hit it off that night.” Ethan stood and grabbed his coat, shrugging into it as he headed for the door, and Cooper followed. “Any chance you’ll see Izzy again?”
“I don’t know.”
“She seems like a good woman.”
“Yeah, she does,” Cooper said, and he meant it.
Chapter 7—Power Play
When the bell tinkled over the coffee shop door, Izzy looked up and did a double take. A tall, fit man walked in, a hoodie pulled down low over his face.
His body looked a lot like Cooper’s. But lately, she’d been seeing Cooper in every man who walked in that door, as if he’d come looking for her. It’d been a week, and she needed to get over him, but instead she’d taken to Googling his name, staring at pictures, and reading everything she could get her hands on about him, such as all the charity work he’d done in Florida, how he always took time to talk to fans, how he played the game with all-in passion.
A woman had to admire a man like that.
She’d developed a bit of a fan crush on him, become a puck bunny before she’d ever seen her first professional game in person. Nothing unusual with that. Right?
Seduced by the Game Page 19