“I am Cooper. Who are your brothers?” She’d totally lost me.
She dropped the empty box into the trash can. “My last name is Durand. My brothers are already volunteers and financial backers for Last Hope. They weren’t exactly happy when I dug until I found out the truth. They treat me like I’m still a child sometimes.”
Victoria?
Victoria Durand?
Oh, hell no. It wasn’t possible that I was this attracted to…
“Don’t tell me that you’re Torie Durand,” I said flatly.
She nodded. “I am. I guess my brothers talk about me to you guys, too.”
I saw any opportunity I might have had to get this intriguing woman into my bed swirling down the drain.
“Yeah. They talk about you all the time.” I cleared my throat. I wasn’t an idiot. I really needed to escape from this situation in a hurry. “Look, I’d better get downstairs and calibrate some equipment. It was nice meeting you, Torie. Maybe I’ll see you around.” I turned and headed for the stairs.
“Nice meeting you, too, Cooper,” she called loud enough for me to hear her.
I groaned once I was down the stairs.
The first woman I’d been attracted to in a long time had to be Torie Durand?
Her brothers didn’t just talk about her; they adored their little sister.
If I so much as touched Torie, the Durand brothers would cut off my balls and shove them down my throat until I choked on them.
We were all friends, and I wasn’t actually afraid of them, even though I knew how protective they were of Torie. But I respected the way they felt about their little sister since I felt the same way about Riley.
Since I wasn’t looking for a relationship, there was no way I was going to mess with the little sister of the guys I called my friends.
Like it or not, Torie Durand was and always would be completely off-limits.
As I got to work, I tried not to think about why that bothered me way more than it should.
Harlow
Two Months Later…
“Happy Valentine’s Day, love,” I said to Jax with a smile as I handed him a piece of the ice cream cake I’d picked up for him earlier in the day.
He already given me the best Valentine’s Day I’d ever had.
Jax had taken me out for dinner at an amazing restaurant downtown. After we’d arrived back home, we’d exchanged gifts before we’d taken the dogs to the beach for a late-night walk.
I’d pulled out the surprise ice cream cake just a few minutes ago.
He took the large bowl from my hands, and watched as I sat two small paper plates on the floor.
“Now all three of us are spoiled rotten,” Jax said happily as he watched Molly and Tango devour the tiny pieces of cake I’d given them, minus the chocolate part.
“You all deserve it,” I told him as I sank down next to him on the couch.
“You’re not having any?” Jax asked.
I picked up his spoon, took a bite, and then handed the utensil back to him. “I’m still full from dinner, but it’s really good.”
He leaned forward, kissed me, and licked a tiny smudge of chocolate from the corner of my lips. “Delicious,” he agreed in a husky, suggestive tone that sent every single one of my female hormones into attention mode.
That was Jax’s I-want-to-fuck-you-right-now voice, and God, how that sexy baritone got me thinking about getting him naked in a matter of seconds.
And he used it really, really often, much to my delight.
I wasn’t about to complain that Jax’s desire for me only seemed to get more intense as time went by.
Our love grew deeper, and our bond became stronger every single day.
Did we occasionally have disagreements?
Of course we did, but even those squabbles taught us things about each other.
Jax had learned just how highhanded he could be until I pushed back.
And I’d learned what things I could let slide because I loved him, and I knew everything he said and did was out of concern for my wellbeing.
Neither of us fought dirty or mean, and those fights never lasted for very long. We simply respected each other way too much for that to happen. Plus, since the makeup sex was over-the-top amazing, we were usually eager to get to a resolution.
Jax made it a point to find new experiences for both of us to do together as often as possible, but for the most part, we were just happy to…be together.