She sent me a withering glare as she answered, “I’m not sure why you’d be surprised. I’m not the first female volunteer. I do contract work with the FBI as a linguist. When I started to investigate whether the things I’d heard about Last Hope were real or just rumor, I eventually found Marshall. By that time, I already knew the rumors were true. I offered my services, and he accepted.”
I couldn’t say that it wouldn’t be helpful to have a language analyzer and translator available on occasion. However, we did rescues in a lot of different countries. “What language?” I asked.
She sounded as American as I did, so it was hard to judge.
“You mean what languages?” Her question was actually a correction. “I speak and write seven different languages fluently, and there are several others that I comprehend well enough to translate verbally. I know the language in every country Last Hope has been to so far, so I think I can be of some help to this organization in the future.”
She blinked, and fixed her gaze on me.
There wasn’t a single indication that she was bragging or gloating.
In fact, she’d sounded like she was just throwing that information out there to let me know she belonged in this office.
“You even speak Lanian?” I questioned.
Victoria started to rattle off statement after statement in a language I didn’t comprehend, but I had to assume it was Lanian.
I held up a hand with a smirk. “Okay. Okay. I got it. So, you’re a language expert. I wasn’t doubting you. I was just…asking.”
I was also impressed and fascinated by someone who could communicate in so many different languages since it wasn’t a skill I had myself.
Not only was this woman strikingly pretty, but obviously highly intelligent as well.
Maybe it was the combination of the two that made Victoria so…compelling.
I couldn’t remember the last time my dick had gotten hard just from listening to a woman speak a foreign language.
Probably because it had never happened before.
I’m sure it’s just because I haven’t gotten laid for over a year.
Nope. I kind of doubted that was the case. I’d seen plenty of attractive females since I’d sworn off dating altogether, and I hadn’t had a single problem controlling my dick.
Victoria shrugged. “Learning different languages has always come naturally to me. I was that teenager who always wanted to be a cheerleader, but ended up as the president of the honor society who graduated from high school two years early instead. Pretty much the same thing happened in college, too.”
So, she was obviously beyond simply intelligent. I leaned against the doorjamb as I told her, “I get that. I skipped quite a few grades myself. I had a college degree by the time I turned eighteen.”
Now why in hell did I need to share that?
She turned her head and smiled at me for the first time.
And…my dick just got even harder.
Against my better judgment, I started to wonder if Victoria might be interested in a fling. It didn’t have to be a relationship, right?
“I probably could have skipped more,” she explained. “But my parents were worried that I wouldn’t have a normal childhood and adolescence if I got too far ahead of other kids my age. That must have been really hard for you to advance so fast. I always felt like an oddball because I was a little younger than my classmates.”
“I went to private school,” I told her uncomfortably.
“I know,” she said as she started to put away some supplies from a small box on her desk. “Judging by your hair color, I’m assuming you’re Cooper Montgomery. My brothers talk about you, Hudson, and Jax all the time.”
“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.