“Harlow!” Jax roared as he found his own release. He held my body tight, breaking the fall, just like he always did. “Baby,” he said gruffly after we were both spent.
I released the death grip I had on his neck slightly, and laid my head on his shoulder as my heart continued to gallop, and I struggled to catch my breath.
We stayed just like that, tangled together, while Jax buried his face in my hair and rocked our bodies like we were slow dancing to music no one else could hear.
Our hearts knew the notes well, though, and that was all that really mattered.
Cooper
It was late by the time I approached the door of Last Hope Headquarters, but I wasn’t tired. Since I wasn’t a man who required a great deal of sleep, I figured I might as well get some equipment calibrated.
Urgent situations could occur for Last Hope without any advanced warning, so it paid to always be ready.
After Jax had left Hudson’s home in Del Mar, I’d stayed for a while to talk to Taylor about her plans to start her doctorate degree.
I liked Taylor.
I liked Harlow, too.
But that didn’t mean I could even begin to understand why both of my brothers had completely lost their minds once they’d met those two women.
My two older brothers were brilliant men. How in the hell had well over thirty years of exemplary reasoning ability suddenly left their brains when it came to Taylor and Harlow?
I’d always been perfectly capable of seeing the same woman once or twice a week for months at a time without letting that relationship interfere with any of my regular thought processes.
I gave that woman my attention when we were together, but when we weren’t, I didn’t obsess over that female all the time.
Honestly, to do something like that would lower my productivity and my brain’s problem-solving ability. Not to mention the fact that it was also unhealthy to be that fanatical over another person’s happiness.
A person was either happy, or they weren’t.
I wasn’t egotistical enough to believe that I could make a difference in how a woman felt, one way or the other.
The last thing I wanted to do was to put myself into an irrational state by attempting to do something that wasn’t even an achievable objective.
Maybe I had tried to make a woman happier in her relationship with me in the past, but I’d learned from those mistakes.
I shook my head as I placed my finger on the scanner, and let myself into the building. Hudson and Jax were so far gone that I doubted they were ever going to figure out that trying to make a woman happy was a fruitless endeavor. But since they both seemed perfectly content to keep trying, I’d have to eventually figure out a way to get used to their irrational behavior.
As soon as I entered the headquarters, I knew something wasn’t right.
It wasn’t just because the lights were already on, because it was possible that Marshall could have forgotten to turn them off when he’d departed earlier.
At first, it was just gut instinct, until I heard someone moving around on the second floor.
Who in the hell would be on the second floor at this time of night?
Marshall’s office was there, but his car wasn’t, and I knew he’d never be working this late unless we had an urgent case.
He would have called if anything had come up.
I reached behind my back and pulled my small Glock from the holster as I moved quietly up the stairs.
Granted, I didn’t know for sure if it was an intruder, but as my mind had searched for the possible identity of whoever was upstairs, I’d come up empty. There were very few people who had clearance to get into the building, and I knew where all of them were this evening.
No vehicle in the parking lot, either.
So it was very likely that someone had broken in.
I stood, with my back against the wall, right outside the small office that seemed to be the source of all of the sounds I’d been hearing from downstairs.
Desk drawers opened and closed like someone was looking for…something.
Since nobody was talking, and I wasn’t hearing enough commotion to indicate that there was more than one person inside, I moved quickly.
“Don’t move,” I growled as I positioned myself at the entrance to the door, and rapidly scanned for my target with my weapon.
The person in front of my gun sight was definitely nothing like I’d expected.
One, I’d never anticipated locking onto a chest that had breasts.
Two, she didn’t look the least bit frightened or intimidated.
Three, the last thing I’d predicted was that I’d get censured by said intruder.
“Oh, for God’s sake, put that ridiculous gun away,” she said, sounding annoyed. “You’ll hurt someone with that thing.”
I lowered the Glock slowly. “Who in the hell are you, and why are you here?”
Once the gun was down, I looked the female over, and knew almost immediately that I’d never seen her before.
I never forgot a face, and the woman was so striking that I wasn’t sure anyone could possibly forget meeting her.
Not that she appeared to try to draw attention to herself.
She was dressed in a pair of jeans, a baggy university sweatshirt, and a pair of sneakers that did nothing to add to her petite height.
Judging by the wispy bangs on her forehead, her hair was light brown. The remainder of those locks were secured in a thick braid that fell between her shoulder blades.
It’s those damn eyes.
Her eyes were a true, rare amber color that seemed to light up her entire face. They weren’t a hazel that just resembled the honey colored shade. Whoever this female was, she had eyes with a little melanin and whole lot of lipochrome that made her irises golden. The uniform hue was extremely rare, and almost made her eyes appear to glow.
She let out a sigh as she went back to organizing some equipment on her desk. “I don’t know why you’d assume I was here for nefarious purposes. The security in this building is nearly unbreachable, which is why I knew you weren’t here unauthorized. I heard the door downstairs, and I knew no one could possibly get through that iron fortress without the right fingerprint. My name is Victoria. Marshall just gave me building access earlier today. I couldn’t sleep, so I thought I’d come set up the office he gave me.”
“There was no vehicle in the parking lot,” I said cautiously.
She shrugged. “I parked out front.”
“You’re really a member of Last Hope?” I put my Glock away as I stared at her in surprise. “How in the hell is that possible?”