Echo, Mine (7 page)

“Thanks.” She pulled off her boots. Setting
them between the shrubs lining the pathway, she straightened. “Race
you to the water’s edge—”

“Then you’ll win.”

She walked backwards again, the light breeze
stirring strands of hair into her eyes. “You aren’t afraid of a
little water, are you?” she teased.

He glanced at the sea then back at her.
Deadpanned, “Yeah, I am.”

She laughed as the taut lines of his face
eased. They so rarely experienced this togetherness, this moment of
just them. The beach was empty except for some squawking gulls and
the brilliant moon shining down, enveloping everything with its
silvery light.

Picking up a long piece of driftwood, Echo
wandered over to the damp shoreline. She drew on the sands as icy
cold water flowed back to wet her feet and erase some of her
scribbles. A deep sigh escaped her, and she felt more content than
she had in a long time.

“What are you doing there?”

She looked up.

He’d followed her but stopped a short
distance away from her and the watermarked sand, a tall, dark
silhouette with the moon behind him, the breeze playing with his
unbound hair. He looked like some pagan angel, one who still had
his boots on.

“I wrote the name of my…eternal love.”

She could feel his heated stare.

“I see…then know this, if the waves stand
for anything, that love would have ended pretty quickly.”

She laughed at his possessive tone. “Come
on, get your boots off, roll up your pants, and join me. The
water’s lovely.” When he remained rooted where he was, she poked
the wood into the soft soil. “Don’t make me come and get you.”

He lifted a brow and folded his arms over
his chest, a smirk curve tilting the corners of his mouth.

Was he daring her?

Echo bit back her own smile. God, she loved
this teasing side of him. She hadn't realized just how much she’d
missed it.

Well, then. She sprinted back, jumped him,
and he lost his balance on the soft sand, falling flat on his back
with her on top. She had a feeling he’d let her take him down.
Whatever. As long as she had him right where she wanted. She sat
up, straddling him.

“You cut your hair,” he said, fingering her
long wispy bangs.

She played with a button on his shirt. “Do
you like it?”

“Always. It is the messiest style ever—” She
snorted, he smiled. “But you, my mate, carry it off with flair.”
His tone lowered. “Godsdamn, you’re so beautiful…” His hands
skimmed from her waist down to the expanse of her thighs, touching
her naked skin where her short skirt had ridden up. His gray eyes
drifted up her body to linger on her mouth. “And in my favorite
position, too. Everything I want is close to my mouth, my
hands…”

Her heart knocked hard against her ribs. His
nearness stirred an ache within her only he could ease, but she
pushed it aside for now. She had to talk to him first. “Here on the
beach? Nuh-uh, I don’t think so—”

“Scared?” His smile was pure temptation.

“Hardly.” She sniffed. The fact that he’d
even dare suggest this and hope soared—heck, maybe it was the
strawberries or the stupid haircut after all. “I refuse to have
sand in places where there shouldn’t be any, not when the night’s
still young and we have places to go—”

Aethan grasped her by the neck and pulled
her down to him and kissed her, his tongue tracing the seams of her
lips. Just a touch from him and she lit up like tinder. Her mouth
parted. His tongue slipped inside, stroking and sucking hers. He
was kissing her as if he were starving.

Her heart pounded hard, all thoughts fleeing
her mind. She squirmed, wanting to get closer, wanting to feel his
skin sliding against hers. She kissed him back, just as
desperately.

His hand slid inside her top, beneath her
bra and her breath hitched when he rolled her nipple. A light flow
of his power zipped through her body, amping up her arousal.

She pulled her mouth from his, panting for
breath.

“You were saying?” he murmured, a knowing
gleam lighting his eyes. “Strawberries, hmmm? Soon, I’ll smear
every inch of your skin with melted chocolate…some parts of you
I’ll suck and bite, while other areas I’ll lick and nibble…free of
the chocolate.”

Her mouth dropped open and she simply stared
at him as heat rushed into her face and pooled in a nagging ache
between her thighs.

He knew. Damn sneaky Empyrean!

She gave him a dirty look, struggling to
control her lust. “You're not distracting me that easily,” she said
breathlessly. “If you don’t want to wade in the water with me,
fine, I want to go to Club An—”

His hand slid between her thighs and beneath
her panties. Her breath hitched and she forgot what she wanted to
say as he stroked her heated flesh.

A low whimper broke free. She squeezed her
eyes shut, his finger sinking inside her. His thumb circled her
clit, gently at first then harder, and her entire body went into
meltdown. Her inner muscles squeezed around his finger. He pulled
out and pushed back into her. With his other hand on her bottom, he
tugged her to his face. A startled gasped escaped her as she fell
over him. Before she could right herself, he pushed aside her
panties and put his mouth on her aching clit. And sucked.

Oh, dear
God!
A moan of pure need
tore out from her throat. Echo braced her hands on the sands above
his head, but there was no purchase on the loose surface. She no
longer cared as his mouth worked her with slow licks and hard
pulls. An intense orgasm tightened her lower body, consuming her
mind, her thoughts. It yanked her up and over, and with a keening
cry she fell apart.

For a long moment, she remained where she
was, pulling in desperate gulps of air.

His arms tightened around her, supporting
her. He pressed a kiss to her inner thigh.

Echo opened her eyes. The sounds of crashing
waves and screeching birds filled her ears above her own tumultuous
heartbeat as reality flowed back.

She’d forgotten they were out in the open,
but she didn't care. He’d touched her—loved her as if he couldn’t
get enough of her. Breathing hard, she straightened and met his
lazy smile. He seemed in no hurry to leave as he lay there.

“I can't believe you did that
here
.”
She struggled to get her mind in order—

“I will do
that
anywhere I'm able
to.”

She blinked—
wait
. There was something
she had to talk to him about. She tried to recall what the heck it
was. He ran his fingers lightly up her thighs again. A low, shaky
laugh escaped her, and she scooted down his body, bracing her
unsteady hands on his chest.

The man was an ace at distracting her.

Crap, of course. The club—Jon—
darn
it
. Echo pulled her scattered thoughts together and said what
she’d tried to earlier, “Aethan, I want to go to Anarchy.”

His hands stilled on her thighs. His entire
expression shut down like a light extinguished. Her lover gone.
“No. Choose another club.”

And there it was. No hesitation in his
response. She hadn't believed Týr when he’d told her Aethan avoided
Club Anarchy since that night last fall. So she dove right in,
despite his tight features. “Aethan, please. I want to make things
right.”

He shifted her and sat up, dropping her on
his lap, a dark look on his face. She slid both her hands to his
neck and stroked the rigid line of his jaw with her thumbs. “I know
you're still angry about Jon, but he’s a friend, you know
this—look, I knew Jon long before I met you, don’t you think I
could have dated him if I’d wanted to?”

He stared into the night, then those flat,
gray eyes flickered to hers. “Who told you?”

“I'm not telling you, not until you take
me.”

His mouth thinned at the bribe. A moment
passed, then a few more, as if he were weighing some kind of option
in his mind. Finally, he pushed her to her feet and rose.

She put her hands on her hips. “So, what
will it be? The club or the sea?”

And that cool stare that she knew so well
when he wasn’t happy about doing something came back to her. He
brushed the sand off him, then unfastened and rolled both his
sleeves to his elbow before responding, “What do you think?”

“I'm glad.” Relieved, Echo quickly dusted
herself off and straightened her top, then she hesitated. The
buttons were undone, exposing the curves of her breasts. He must
have done it while deliciously distracting her. Mischief gleamed
alive at the thought of further taunting him, so she buttoned a few
and left the rest alone.

At the pathway, Echo grabbed her boots, and
they headed to the restaurant’s parking lot.

Aethan retrieved a bottle of water from the
Range Rover’s console, unscrewed it and drank some, then handed it
to her. She rinsed off the grit from her feet. He handed her a
t-shirt from the back. She dried off and pulled on her
footwear.

The roar of an engine broke the quiet,
startling her. Moments later, a blue Porsche careened down the road
leading to the restaurant, squealing to a halt mere inches from the
Range Rover.

His expression hardening, Aethan glared at
the car.

Loud guffaws of laughter drifted from the
open car windows. With another screech of rubber and grinding
gears, the driver reversed and parked opposite them.

Aethan turned back to her as she zipped up
her boots. In her peripheral view, Echo was aware of the three men
staggering out of the car. Doors slammed, drunken voices rose as
they jostled about, cussing and shoving each other, then they
glanced across and saw her.

“Hey sexy,” a slurring voice called out.
“Nice pins!”

She ignored them. Aethan stiffened.

She couldn’t even blame this on her
over-excessive pheromones—okay, maybe a little—but the idiots were
drunk and probably had no off-switch. Better they left before the
fools started a fight. She swung around to get into the SUV.

“Yo, doll face.” The voice took on a leering
note. “Why don’tcha ditch the vampire slayer and let us show you a
good time?”

Damn, she spun back. Aethan’s features were
cast in stone. He turned slowly, keeping her behind him.
“Leave.”

As if the word was an invite, they fanned
out. Sensing Aethan’s growing anger, Echo quickly moved to his side
and put her palm on his chest. When it came to her, his cool lasted
just so long, and she could already feel him teetering on the
edge.

“
Vampire slayer?
Good one, bro!”
Another man chortled, slapping his friend on the back.

“Yea, doll, keep him back,” the dumb-head
said. “Don’t wanna mess his pretty face.”

Liquor handing him all kinds of fool
bravery, the idiot staggered closer, unaware of the truly dangerous
predator barely leashed at her side. The damn flea brains had no
idea it was for their own protection she held Aethan back.

“Hey, sweet thing, did you sit on a pile of
sugar?” he crooned. “You sure have a sweet ass. I want a taste of
your—”

Aethan moved—Echo spun around faster, her
irritation spiking, and lashed out her own fist, connecting hard
with the man’s face.
Owww
, she bit back a curse, pain
strumming through her abused hand.

“Fuck!” The drunk stumbled back into his
wary pals, blood streaming from his nose. “What the hell, bitch—we
were just havin’ some fun.”

Aethan grabbed the fool by the neck and
lifted him in the air.

“Go find your fun elsewhere or I’ll break
your fucking neck.” His tone could have cut steel. He flung the
drunk clear across the parking lot, and he landed with a thud on
the hood of his Porsche. The other two scampered off, casting
panicked looks Aethan’s way.

Flexing her aching fingers, Echo climbed
into the SUV. Her hands were never going to get a chance to heal at
the rate she was using—and abusing them. When Aethan made no move
to shut her door, she met his frigid expression with a worried one.
“What’s wrong?”

Without a word, he took both of her hands
and examined the bruises on her knuckles. “Why didn't you tell me
you hurt your hands?”

She shrugged, feeling the tension in him
curling around her like a noose. “It’s nothing—”

“It’s not nothing, you are in pain. That I
won't have.”

She sighed. “Aethan, I am going to get
bruised sometimes. You have to accept that.”

His mouth compressed. He remained silent for
several long seconds, and her own anxious breath caught in her
throat. A rough sigh escaped him. “Don’t push it, Echo. Whatever
abilities you’ve been gifted with may take a little time to show
up. In the meantime…”

He held his palm over her knuckles, and the
silvery-blue light of his healing power coalesced over her wound,
healing the bruises within seconds. She understood it was hard for
him to see her get hurt, especially after he’d had to watch her
die.

The pain eased and she flexed her
fingers.

“By the way, nice right hook.”

Relief chasing away her worry, she laughed
and fastened her seat belt. “Yeah, well, I hate sexist remarks. Now
let’s go to Anarchy.”

Echo rested a hand on the landing rail.
Heavy metal music rocked off the walls, and dizzy, flashing strobe
lights made the dancers appear as if they were on an all-time high.
Most probably were.

“We could go elsewhere. A quiet bar at a
hotel—even the movies,” Aethan said from behind her. His hands
caressed her upper arms, but she knew it was more to keep her
close, without the crowds jostling into her.

“Movies?” She laughed, cutting him a quick
look over her shoulder and met his brooding stare. “You hate
sitting still for so long.” Despite the loud noise, she knew Aethan
could hear every word she said, just as she now could with her new
heightened senses. Looking forward again, she took in the busy
nightclub. It was in the worst part of The Lower East Side, but she
didn't care. Nor was she letting Aethan off the hook. “Besides,
what fun is there in a quiet bar? I like this place.”