Page 24 of Echo, the Sniper (Men of PSI #2)

“Don’t believe me? That’s okay, we’ll take it in the tiniest of baby steps, starting with you getting used to the feel of my hands on you.

” Brushing my lips with his, his eyes never left mine as he dipped a hand under my hoodie and T-shirt.

“Just remember that nothing big is going to happen right now, yeah? Nothing scary. We’re in public and we’ve both got layers and layers of clothes on, so you’re safe.

Even more than that, at any point you can tell me to stop if I scare you.

You’re the one in control here, and your commands tell me what I should do and what you’re comfortable with. Okay?”

Good Lord and all the sweet baby angels, I’d never imagined having control over something like this. Like, ever. It was heady, intoxicating, and there was no way I’d stop him now.

At last I remembered how to fill my lungs. “Okay.”

“So brave.” His palm was so hot it felt like a brand as it slid over the indentation of my waist, his fingers lightly caressing along my skin as if he couldn’t get enough of the feel of it. “Damn, woman. Why are you like living silk under my hands? You’re like a miracle hidden in plain sight.”

No one had ever mentioned the softness of my skin before.

Or called me a miracle. Gratitude and something much deeper—a rich river of something I was only beginning to recognize as my own sensuality—wound its way through me.

“You haven’t felt enough of me to judge that, big guy. You’re barely touching anything.”

If I hadn’t been so close to him, I would have missed his shudder. “Careful, now. Words like that make me want to explore every inch of you, and like I said, we’re in public.”

We wouldn’t be if we went back to the hotel room , my brain helpfully supplied, and I clamped my lips shut to keep those words prisoner since I wasn’t sure I was ready mentally for what would happen after.

Physically, sure. My body told me it was more than ready to do anything and everything he could dream up, but it wouldn’t be fair to him if my doubts and hangups had me freezing up midway through.

He deserved to have all of me on the same page—mind and body—and I was smart enough to recognize that I wasn’t there.

Yet.

Nevertheless, I pressed my lips to the strong column of his neck when his hand slid up the subtle ladder of my ribcage, his fingers just brushing the underside of a breast. My breath caught as the sensation zinged through my body like lightning.

My eyes closed so I could enjoy the tactile sensation more deeply, wiggling a bit so that his hand would do something more than a mere incidental brushing.

When he moved up over my bra-covered flesh to cup the weight of my breast in his palm, I opened my mouth against his throat and tasted him with my tongue.

Delicious.

“That’s right, baby girl, do whatever you want to do. Everything you can imagine. None of it is wrong. All of what you’re willing to give me is wanted. Needed .” Another shudder went through him. “You’ll never know how much it’s fucking needed.”

I wanted to ask him what he meant by that, but he brought my mouth up to his and silenced me with a deep, probing kiss while his fingers curled on the bra’s edge.

He pulled the fabric aside while his tongue danced with mine, and I knew he tasted my gasp when his thumb circled a fast-hardening nipple.

Then I moaned into his mouth, just a whisper of sound I couldn’t help because his relentless teasing and gentle pinching of that tight bud had me freaking melting between my thighs.

Those intimate tissues throbbed in a way that was almost painful, and I couldn’t even begin to hold still, the need in me was so great.

I squirmed against him, loving the friction of our bodies pushing together, and for the first time in my life I actually hated the clothes that kept me veiled from the world. From him .

I wanted to feel all of Echo with all of me.

Truly, nothing could have surprised me more.

Sounds of footsteps echoing in the lobby intruded on the world I’d thought was solely ours, and my mouth left Echo’s just as someone loudly cleared their throat.

“Get a room,” the middle-aged woman muttered as she shoved her way past us and out the door.

I blinked, at first shocked, then mortified.

And then... not mortified.

Get a room.

Echo and I had a room no more than twenty minutes away from where we stood.

I wasn’t sure where Echo and I were going with this new angle of our relationship.

I didn’t even know if what we were doing could even be called a relationship, other than that of bodyguard and protectee.

Funny thing, though. I didn’t care. I didn’t want to put a label on it.

A fling with my bodyguard didn’t have to have a logical destination. It could just... be.

That was what I wanted.

For once in my life I just wanted to be .

“Get a room,” Echo murmured, bringing his hand out from under my clothes to rest on my hip as more people streamed toward the door in a clear exodus from the building now that the workday was done. “What do you think about that advice, Rory?”

With the blood pounding in my ears along with the need to just be, I swallowed. “I think...” Life was meant to be fucking lived , not endured . “I think that sounds like the best advice I’ve ever gotten in my life.”