Seduced by the Game (20 page)

“This isn’t a joke. I
don’t know this woman,” Cooper ground out the words, his foul mood fouler.

The rent-a-cop, identified
as Carl by his name badge, stepped forward. “Mr. Black, I’ll have her removed.
I can see she’s harassing you.”

“Carl, I told you, he’s my
boyfriend. He’s just a little upset at me for having my way with him and his
credit card. Check your list again, I’m sure my name’s on it. Isabella.”

“No need to check the
list.” Cedric held out his arm. “Come on, Isabella, I’ll escort you inside if
this asshole won’t.”

Grumpier than ever, Cooper
followed Cedric and Isabella into the ballroom. The woman winked over her
shoulder at him as she sauntered into the room as if she owned it, a huge purse
clutched in her delicate hand and walking with the grace of an athlete on
impossibly high heels. Once inside, she extricated herself from Ced’s hold.

“Thanks so much, Cedric.”
She gave him a peck on the cheek, which really annoyed the hell out of Cooper.

“It was my pleasure,
Isabella.” Cedric dialed up the charm.

“You can call me Izzy.
That’s what Coop calls me.”

“I don’t call you
anything.” Cooper stiffened as she advanced on him, not sure what she’d come up
with next. By the twinkle in her dark brown eyes, she wasn’t done with him yet.
She put her hands on his collar and gazed up into his eyes like a loving
girlfriend.

Loving?
What the fuck? Feeling a
bit claustrophobic, he backed up a step, running into a support post behind
him. Her gentle laugh reminded him of the songs of the little birds he fed
every day on his front porch. He loved listening to those birds in the morning.
Her, not so much. And no way in hell would he be listening to her voice in the
morning or any time.

She pressed that sweet
body against his in that intimate way lovers had. “I see people I know. I must
say hi. You don’t mind, do you, darling?” She kissed his cheek.

“Not one damn bit,” Cooper
growled, catching Cedric holding his stomach out of the corner of his eye. The
jerk would be rolling on the floor laughing any minute.

Isabella strolled away, as
if she was out for a walk in the park. Cooper swallowed as he stared at that
nice rounded ass of hers and briefly wondered what it’d feel like in his hands.
She nodded at a few people as if she knew them, and joined a group of men
several feet inside the doorway, charming them immediately. Their hearty
laughter bounced off the walls of the otherwise quiet room as she told some
entertaining story, which must have involved a high heel, a little dog, and a
motorcycle judging by how she expressed everything dramatically with her hands.

Despite his best
intentions, Cooper was mesmerized, then he reminded himself of his intentions
not to have a good time just to prove his point. He didn’t know this woman,
even though she did attract him on the most basic of levels. But then she’d
attract any man as she was drop-dead gorgeous. He’d had any number of gorgeous
women on his arm in the past so she shouldn’t be anything special.

Tell that to his dick. It
considered her damn special right about now, most likely because he’d boycotted
everything Seattle since he’d arrived a month ago, including its coffee and its
women.

“Your girlfriend is one
hot number, Coop. You’d better keep an eye on her or one of these fuckheads
will be moving in on your territory. Including me.”

“Fuck you. You set me up.”

“And it was damn funny.”

In another place and time,
Cooper would be angling for a piece of that nice ass, but not tonight, not
while the new ownership and coaching staff was watching. Cooper Black couldn’t
be bought, even if they did buy his team.

That coaching staff, led
by a young first-year head coach, mingled with the crowd, shaking hands and
selling the team since the team currently refused to sell itself. Cooper glared
at every coach and staff person stupid enough to attempt to engage him in
conversation, and his teammates followed suit, loyal to the last man. So far.

He stiffened and prepared
for battle as the man he called the asshole—Ethan Parker—walked toward him, as
comfortable in an expensive suit as Cooper was on the ice. Cooper tugged on his
collar and loosened his bowtie. He hated wearing a damn tux, wasn’t even sure
why he’d put it on at the last minute when he’d planned on wearing a
Gainesville Giants hoodie. Blame it on his parents. They’d drummed duty and
loyalty into his head since day one. His father, a real life Army hero, and
Cooper’s personal hero, made sure his son did what was expected of him. In
Cooper’s mind, he was expected to attend this party dressed correctly, and that
was as far as duty took him. Fuck the rest of it. His loyalty remained in
Gainesville with the fans who’d earned it.

He glared at Parker,
hoping to intimidate the guy, but even his best
you’re-going-to-get-the-shit-kicked-out-of-you glare didn’t dissuade the man.

“Cooper.” Ethan nodded and
then smiled at Cedric. “Cedric. So good to see you, gentlemen. Beautiful
Seattle night, isn’t it?”

“If you like drizzle and
gray,” Cooper snorted. The weather was pretty much par for the course, and it
was fucking July already.

Cedric, being a loyal
friend for once, shrugged and stared at the shoreline.

“Seattle is ready for a
hockey team. Did you realize we have the largest adult hockey program in the
country?”

Cooper grunted.

“And you’ll be natural
rivals for the Canucks up north.”

Cooper yawned.

Ethan leaned forward, his
eyes narrowing to glittering slits. “Listen, Black, if you think your crappy
attitude is going to move you back to Florida, you might be right. Only the
team won’t be going with you. I’m willing to be patient, but only for so long.
This team is here to stay, whether you fucking like it or not.”

Cooper stared straight
through Ethan, forcing his face into stone, but he could feel a muscle jerking
in his jaw. Satisfied that he’d made his point, Ethan strolled away as if
enjoying himself.

“He’s right, you know,”
Cedric said from next to him.

Cooper whipped his head
around. “Right? About what?”

“He can trade your ass any
day to a team with no hope of winning, now or for the next decade.”

“Maybe I want to be
traded.”

“No, you don’t. Not when
we came so close.” Cedric sighed, as if he was weary of all this but was too
loyal to say so. “Don’t look now, but here comes your girlfriend.”

“Just what I need. And
quit calling her that. I don’t even know the woman.”

Isabella took a detour to
the DJ, spoke to him, and continued across the dance floor. She paused, her
gaze directly on Cooper. A slow smile crossed her face, and she raised her
eyebrows, glancing pointedly at the dance floor, then at him. He frowned so
hard his teeth hurt. He was not dancing with her or anyone else tonight.

She graced him with a sexy
little smile, one of those come-and-get-me-big-boy smiles. He looked away.
Despite the fact that his dick skated into the rink, he was staying on the
bench. His little head had never been very smart anyway, especially when it
came to women.

The music started, some
pulsing, sexy, upbeat dance tune, and Izzy’s hips swayed with a seductive,
hypnotic rhythm while she kept her eyes on him. Pretty soon a few other women
joined her, dancing together as women often did. A set of twins, blond-haired
versions of Isabella, gyrated on the dance floor. The uncanny resemblance set
off his warning bells.

His teammates leaned
forward in their chairs, especially the young guys, probably imagining every
guy’s most perverse fantasies involving twins. Another equally gorgeous woman
with auburn hair joined them, twirling, laughing, having a great time, as if
they were the only ones at the party. She, too, could be a sister to the other
three. Another weird coincidence? Not a chance. Cooper didn’t believe in
coincidences.

Regardless, he dismissed
his suspicions. So they looked like cloned versions of Isabella. So what? He
had bigger problems. He glanced at his guys and sensed a mutiny in the making.
Even Cedric’s tongue was hanging out. Cooper jabbed him with an elbow and got
an “umph” along with a couple “fuck you”s.

One of the twins danced
over and grabbed Mike Gibson’s hand. The horny rookie just about fell out of
his chair.

“Let’s dance.” The cute
blonde never quit moving those hips, not once. Cooper shot Gib a look of pure
homicide, and the rookie caught it. With reluctance, he shook his hand from the
woman’s and pulled away. She frowned at Cooper, then gave him a charming smile;
he just glared back. The blonde flounced off in search of another sucker.

Cooper turned toward the
rookie. “We all stand together. Remember?”

Gibson shrugged. “The
women in Seattle are hot, and this isn’t such a bad place. We might as well
make the best of it.”

Cooper stared him down,
and Gibson looked away first. The kid might be formidable on skates, but he was
no match for a seasoned veteran like Cooper, on or off the ice.

“There’s no disloyalty in
dancing with pretty ladies.” Drew Delacorte, a second-year guy from Toronto,
bravely jumped in the conversation.

“Do I have to spell it out
to you? To all of you? Stay away from the groupies.”

“You came in with one of
them.” Delacorte pointed out in a second rare display of defiance.

“She latched on to me at
the door. Ced escorted her in as joke.” Why the fuck did he feel the need to
explain himself?

“He’s playing hard to get.
Isabella’s his girlfriend.” Cedric grinned and took a long pull on his beer.

Cooper heaved a sigh,
knowing Cedric would keep this up until the night ended, especially if Cooper
made a big deal about it. Unsuccessfully hiding his smile, Drew drank his beer
in silence, his eyes on the hot women dancing several feet away. Cooper could
feel his hold over the team slipping with each beat of the music. Loyalty was a
lost art, but not for Coop, which was exactly why the new ownership would not
get his cooperation. Instead they’d understand the full extent of his
displeasure. So what if they cut him or traded him?

Cooper leaned back in the
hard chair, crossed his arms over his chest, and glared at Cedric. Cedric just
grinned his trademark shit-eating grin. Nothing got to Cedric. Everything
rolled off his back as he went on with his life, doing everything his way.

“They have to be sisters.”
Cedric’s eyes followed the redhead as the song ended, and she strutted off the
dance floor, short skirt swaying to the movement of her hips. “I’d like to find
out if that one is a true redhead. Only one way to find out.” His slow smile
said it all. Ced had picked his woman for the night, and he usually got what he
wanted.

The song ended and
Isabella danced all the way across the floor to his side.

“Fucking groupies,” Cooper
muttered, pissed that they were wearing down his teammates’ resolve.

“Lighten up, man.” Cedric
chuckled and nodded toward the banquet table. “Besides, they aren't groupies.
Take a closer look.”

Cooper narrowed his eyes,
but he wasn't seeing what Ced saw. “Yeah?”

“See the big bags those
twins are carrying? Watch them cram food in those bags when they think no one's
watching.”

Cooper nodded as it dawned
on him. “They're party crashers.”

“Damn right.”

“They aren’t here for the
hockey players, they’re here for the food.” One more reason to hate Seattle.
They didn’t even have hockey groupies, just a bunch of hot women more
interested in grabbing food than horny, athletic men.

“And the entertainment,”
Cedric added. “It’s better than popcorn and a movie any day.”

Cooper’s annoyance gave
way as a plan formed in his mind. A slow smile spread across Coop's face, the
first one since this nightmare began what seemed like a lifetime ago. “I wonder
how Parker would react if he found out these starving college students or
whatever have crashed his perfect little party with his Seattle A-lister
attendees, and he’s none the wiser?”

“Pretty damn hilarious,
isn't it?” Cedric continued to stare at the redhead.

“Yeah, here I thought they
were enemies, and they're allies of a sort.”

Cedric nodded. “Even if
management suspects she’s a party crasher, they won’t kick her out on the
off-chance she really is with you.”

“Maybe I can have some fun
with them. Make this party crash in style.” Cooper’s smile spread farther.

“Coop, you scare the shit
out of me when you smile like that. It means someone’s going to die or get
their body slammed against the boards.”

“No dying, no slamming. At
least not physically.” Cooper rubbed the stubble on his chin. His gaze was
drawn to Ethan Parker, who’d walked across the room and was trying to engage a
couple players in conversation. They weren’t warming up to the idea. Ethan
glanced in Cooper’s direction, and their gazes clashed with the intensity of
two warriors squaring up on a battlefield. Ethan’s eyes narrowed. He’d deal
with Cooper later, Cooper was certain of that. Fine, bring it on.