Echo, Mine by Georgia Lyn Hunter Page A

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