Melting Ice (21 page)

Cooper’s rigid jaw said it all, and Isaac feared he’d lost the battle already.

“Does Avery want to date you?” Izzy asked. “She’s never been shown much interest in anything but horses in the past.”

Isaac managed a half smile. “The horses do come first, but I think she’d squeeze in a night or two for me.”

Izzy nodded slowly as if digesting what he’d said. She looked at Cooper. “It is Avery’s life, Coop.”

“This from you?” Cooper looked astonished.

“Hard to believe.” She smiled back at him, squeezing his arm, her eyes full of love for the hard-headed man. Coop stared deep into her eyes, his face going all soft and gentle. If Isaac hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he’d have never believed it.

Shaking off his nausea toward their devotion to each other, Isaac turned to Coop. “What can I do to make you more comfortable, Coop? Whatever it is, I’ll do it”

Cooper thought long and hard then he sat back in his chair. “I’m spearheading a program for kids at risk. I want you to work with me on it.”

“And Avery, too,” Izzy added.

Isaac bit his lip. He didn’t do charity work, never had, swore he never would, but times were changing, and Avery was worth it. “Okay, deal,” Isaac said quickly before Cooper changed his mind.

Cooper sat up straighter, shot Izzy a look, and blinked a few times. “That’s it? You don’t want to know more about what you’re getting into?”

“Nope.”

“Even with Avery?” Izzy joked.

“Nope,” Isaac said, almost smiling. He knew exactly what he was getting into with Avery. Isaac drank the last of his coffee, shook Cooper’s hand, and nodded in Izzy’s direction. “Thank you. You won’t be sorry.”

Izzy laughed. “Trust me, you may not be thanking me a month from now. You don’t know Avery like I do. We’ll be keeping an eye on both of you. If you hurt so much as a hair on my sister’s head, we’ll come after you.”

Isaac nodded. He believed her. He wasn’t sure who was scarier, Izzy or Coop.

“One more thing. Your brother’s involved in the charity, too,” Cooper said.

Isaac stiffened, and his heart dropped to his toes.

“Can you handle it?” Cooper challenged.

“Yeah, yeah, I can handle it,” Isaac shot back. Cooper’s gaze pinned him, and Isaac didn’t flinch.

“Good. I’ll see you at our house Wednesday night at seven. Don’t be late.”

Isaac nodded tensely and hustled from the café before they came up with any more brilliant ideas.

His brother? And him? Working on a charity together?

Isaac had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.

He wasn’t sure he could pull this one off, but he had to—for Avery.

* * * *

After his morning chat, Isaac walked to the barn with Hal, who bitched the whole time about the humiliation of being put on a leash. He found Avery in the arena and hung back, watching her work with Riot. The two of them were poetry in motion, and the last thing he wanted to do was interrupt whatever they had going on.

Eventually, she spotted him leaning against the gate, Hal sitting at his feet, still grumbling.

Avery slowed her horse to a walk and stopped in front of him. “Hi.” She ducked her head, almost as if she were shy, which she certainly wasn’t.

“Hi,” he said back, certain he had a sappy smile on his face. Damn, but he was glad to see her, especially now that he could ask her out. Well, Coop hadn’t exactly given his permission, but he hadn’t said no either so Isaac took that as a yes.

His new normal. And hers.

He walked up to her horse and stroked its silky neck. Riot turned his head to nuzzle Isaac’s pockets for treats.

“You’re spoiling the horses. They expect treats from you every time they see you.”

“And that’s a bad thing?”

Avery laughed. Obviously the thought of big, bad, I-don’t-care-about-anyone-but-myself Isaac Wolfe bribing horses with treats somehow struck her as funny. Hell, it struck him as funny.

He gazed up at her. Struck by the urge to know everything about her. What did she experience when she rode these big animals? What did it feel like to have all that controlled power underneath you, a living, breathing animal who trusted you with its safety and care? She’d watched him play hockey and seemed to love the game, so she had some understanding about what drove him, an understanding he didn’t have about her and the horses.

“What?” She studied him, as if attempting to read what might be going on in that head of his.

“Do you—do you think I could sit on him? I’ve never sat on a horse before.” He held his breath, waiting for her answer. It was that important to him. She was that important.

“You really want to sit on him?”

“Yeah,” he nodded.

Avery grinned and swung out of the saddle. “Certainly. As long as you follow my instructions to the letter.”

“I promise.” He crossed his heart, grinning like the village idiot who’d been handed the keys to the castle.

She led him over to the mounting block and gave him instructions on how to mount Riot. Isaac listened as intently as if she were coaching him for the final game in the Stanley Cup. He swung into the saddle easily, like the professional athlete he was and sat perched on the horse staring down at her, unable to stop his huge, gleeful grin. “Wow, it’s a long ways up here.”

“He’s a big horse. Hold on here to the pommel or onto the mane. Don’t hang on the reins.”

“It won’t hurt him if I hold his mane?”

“No, not like it would to pull on a human’s hair. Now sit up straight, keep your shoulders centered over your hips, don’t grip with your thighs, that’ll pop you right out of the saddle. Keep your heels down, stirrups on the balls of your feet. Look where you want to go.”

He did everything she told him, all the time unable to control his wide grin.

“I’m going to lead you around. Just relax, let your hips move with the horse. Don’t tense up. Just feel the horse underneath you.”

“Okay,” he said in awe of the controlled power at his disposal, how it felt, how incredible it all was. And that moment clued him into her passion for these animals.

She led him around the arena a few times, watching him closely. He was concentrating too hard, which tensed his body.

“Relax,” she whispered, rubbing his thigh.

He blew out a breath as he stared down at her. “That,” he said, pointedly focusing on her hand, “is not going to relax me one damn bit.”

Avery jerked her hand away.

What was she thinking with all the sexual tension slamming between them like a twenty-car pileup on I-5 during rush hour? If he didn’t know better, he’d guess she’d been toying with him, trying to get a rise out of him, and she’d certainly managed to do that.

“Maybe if you sat in the saddle with me, I could get a better feel for the proper movement of my hips,” he teased.

“Not on your life, buster.” She shook her head, but he saw the amused sparkle in her blue eyes.

“Pony rides are over.” Avery led him up to the mounting block, and he dismounted relatively easily. At least, he didn’t fall on his ass.

“Thank you,” he said, brushing her hair from her face.

“You’re welcome.”

“That was awesome. I can see why you enjoy it so much.” He planted a gentle kiss on her forehead.

“We’ll do it again.” Avery’s lips parted of their own accord, inviting him to kiss her. He so wanted to feel her lips on his. It’d been too long.

Way too long.

“Yeah, yeah, we will.” He couldn’t take his eyes off her lips, full, inviting, and when she sucked her lower lip between her teeth, he lost it. Isaac crushed her to him, his mouth roughly invading hers. She clung to him, letting him have his way, inviting him to pillage and plunder like a marauding invader from another country. She leaned into him, burying her fingers in his hair, and kissing him back just as roughly. He groaned, and she whimpered in response.

“Get a room!”

Isaac and Avery sprung apart, red-faced and guilty. Emma stood a few feet away with Hal, both looking disgusted and annoyed, but then Hal always looked like that. Beyond Emma, Tiff leaned on the arena railing, and she was actually smiling.

Avery ran a hand through her hair and sighed. Isaac just grinned, knowing he was way too pleased with himself and not the least bit contrite. He saluted Emma, who stuck her tongue out at him. Isaac threw back his head and laughed.

Snatching the reins, Avery hurried out of the arena. Isaac followed, hot on her heels. Behind them Emma’s laughter rang through the now-empty arena, along with what sounded like Tiff’s.

* * * *

Avery put Riot in the crossties, while Isaac hung out nearby, watching her and not saying much. She watched as he walked over to Onyx’s stall and dug in his pockets. Nyx had been better lately, slowly gaining trust of humans again. When the big horse heard the rustle of Isaac’s hand in his pocket, he turned around and watched Isaac warily. He didn’t exactly go to the front of the stall or poke his nose through the bars, but he watched Isaac with interest. So did Avery.

Isaac held the chocolate mint through the bars of the stall and waited. Avery held her breath, expecting Nyx to behave true to character and charge Isaac. She hoped he didn’t lose his fingers. But cautiously with painful slowness, the big horse crept toward Isaac. Finally he snatched the mint from Isaac’s flattened fingers, whirled around, and stood in his corner munching on the mint.

“How long have you been doing that?”

“Doing what?” Isaac turned and asked innocently. Somehow innocence just didn’t look right on him.

“Befriending Onyx.”

“Oh, that. For a month or so, I guess. He reminds me of myself.”

“How so?” Isaac compared himself to a horse? This she had to hear.

“Yeah, suffering his pain in silence, pretending he doesn’t need anyone but himself, and attacking those who try to get close to him.”

Avery nodded, unable to respond. She glanced over her shoulder to catch Tiff hovering nearby, another damaged soul in her world of damaged souls. She smiled at the girl, knowing her crush on Isaac was harmless and a sign the girl was starting to care about life again.

“Hi, Tiff,” Avery said.

Tiff nodded and glanced shyly at Isaac.

He grinned at her. “Hi, there.”

She smiled at him. “Hi,” she said.

“Tiff, do you mind grooming Riot and turning him out?”

“Okay.” Tiff glanced one more time at Isaac, picked up a brush, and went to work.

Avery grabbed Isaac by the arm and ushered him from the barn. “Thank you.”

His brows furrowed in confusion. “I didn’t do anything.” He held out his hands, palms up, looking so adorably clueless.

“But you did. You were nice to her, not judgmental, and you tolerate her crush on you with good nature. You’re a nice guy, whether you want to admit it or not.”

Isaac snorted. “Seriously? Me? A nice guy?”

“Yeah, you. A very nice guy.” In fact, so nice, she’d been slowly falling for the man behind the mask, not just the pro athlete with bad boy rep.

“Well, then,” he grinned. “Would you go out with this nice guy on a normal date, just two people who have a mutual attraction trying to see where it’ll lead?” His blue eyes held her gaze, not letting go.

“A real date?” Her pulse kicked up a couple notches at the real fantasy of dating Isaac.

“Yeah.” He kicked at a rock in the driveway, almost as if he were nervous.

“What about Coop? And Izzy?” Avery tried to get a handle on what was happening here, but she needed more info from him.

“I talked to them.”

“And they’re okay with this? With us?” Avery could hardly believe it.

“Not exactly, but they didn’t say no. Actually your sister reminded Coop it was your life.”

“Izzy did that?” Avery had to sit down. She sank onto the bench in the March sunlight, and Isaac sat next to her, their thighs touching.

“She did. There’s a catch. We have to work on their charity with them.”

“Oh, okay. That’s their way of keeping an eye on us, you know?”

“Trust me, I do know,” Isaac said with a wry smile. “And the first meeting is Wednesday night.”

“Okay.” As if Avery didn’t have enough on her plate, but she’d do this for Isaac. Hell, she’d do just about anything for Isaac.

He caught her chin in his palm and tipped her face upward, that sexy half-smile on his handsome face. “About dinner tonight, I’ll pick you up about seven. Wear something nice.”

“What? You don’t like my horse perfume and dirty breeches?” She pretended to be shocked, and he chuckled, planting a warm kiss on the tip of her nose.

“I like them just fine, but the other patrons may not.” He bent down and ran his tongue along the seam of her lips then stood. “See you soon.”

She watched him walk off with that cocky walk of his. He paused to say a couple words to Tiff, who smiled at him like he was a god, before he strode down the road. Avery blew out a breath and brought a finger up to her lips, still feeling him there.

“What was he doing on Riot?” Emma asked, appearing out of nowhere, as she had an annoying habit of doing.

“He wants to learn how to ride.”

“Well, from what I saw, it wasn’t the horse he wanted to ride.” Emma giggled.

“Emma, really. I’m shocked you’d talk like that.”

Her sister shrugged. “I’m not as sweet as everyone thinks I am.” She cast a naughty smile in her sister’s direction that looked more like Bella than sweet Emma. “What’s going on with you guys?”

“He asked me out on an official date.” Avery couldn’t contain her excitement. A real date. Isaac and her. The guy of her dreams. Stuff like this never happened to her. Only it had. Just now. And she’d savor every moment of it for however long it lasted.

“I thought you guys weren’t going out because of his precarious position with the team?” Emma sat in the spot Isaac had recently vacated.

“He talked to Cooper and Izzy.” Avery craned her neck for a last glimpse of Isaac before he disappeared around the turn in the road, but he was gone.

“They’re okay with it?” Emma frowned in disbelief.

“They didn’t tell him no,” Avery shot back, suddenly irritated by her sister’s meddling. This really was her life.