Page 59 of Echo, the Sniper (Men of PSI #2)

“Think about it. I knew you existed, but you didn’t have any idea that I existed.

I needed to change that if I had any hope of us getting to know each other like normal people.

So, like a total fucking creeper, I learned everything I could about you online.

Found out you had a good rep when it came to growing roses, so I memorized everything I could about roses and had hopes of casually bumping into you at some rando nursery somewhere and striking up a conversation about roses, or whatever. ”

Oh my God, why did I think that was so sweet I wanted to cry? Why ? “I hate roses. They were just an excuse I came up with to leave the house without Dane threatening to break my fingers for opening doors.”

Black rage filled his eyes, and when his free hand curled into a fist I knew he was thinking of killing Dane... again. “Note to self—never give Rory roses.”

That unbearable sweetness intensified, clenching my chest. “We didn’t meet at a nursery, though.”

“Yeah, the way we actually met was... unplanned.”

“But you did have a plan, because you were right there when catastrophe hit.”

He nodded reluctantly. “I was taking some personal time, hanging out here in Denver and trying to figure out how to meet you when you almost never left the house. You weren’t a party girl.

You never went on shopping sprees. Since it was the dead of winter, there was no way I was going to bump into you at a fucking nursery to talk about roses.

I sure as hell couldn’t knock on your door and say something like, hi, I fell in love with you right before I shot your husband, wanna go on a date?

” He lifted a restless shoulder, then winced in pain.

“I mean, I might suck when it comes to social skills, but even I knew that wasn’t going to fly. ”

“You don’t suck at social skills, Echo.” The defense was out before I could stop it. But it was true; this man was the most open communicator when it came to raw emotion.

“Yeah? The reason I know my way around the world of porn is because I’ve never had anyone in my life, Rory, and never really wanted one.

Not until I saw you. And even then, I couldn’t figure out how to meet you.

I did put one remote camera on your house, like I told you originally, and thank God I did.

I was the one who alerted the authorities that your house was on fire, and then I hustled my ass over to where you were as fast as I could. The rest is history.”

Yes, our shared history. Made up of lies. “So, you stalked me.”

His jaw clenched. “I’m not even going to apologize for it.”

No, he wouldn’t. “And then... what? You came up with the lie of Dane hiring you as my bodyguard on the drive over?”

Again he winced. “I called a friend of mine. He’s kind of like my polar opposite—total people guy, a forensic psychiatrist and a profiler, to boot.

When I say Luke knows people, he seriously knows people, to the point where he knows what they’re going to do or say before they do.

I knew it was going to be weird if I just randomly showed up at two in the morning, so I straight-up asked him for ideas on how to approach you without looking like a total whacked-out stalker. ”

See? Stalker. But if I was honest, it all sounded so... believable. Like something I would do, because I wasn’t the greatest when it came to social skills, either.

What a pair we made.

“That’s when he asked me if I was going to basically be your bodyguard while we tried to figure out how the fire started, and of course I said yes.

You’d almost died in a goddamn fire while I was too damn stupid to figure out a believable way to approach you, so you bet your ass I was going to protect you with my life from that point on.

So he suggested that was how I should present myself, because it wasn’t really a lie.

I would protect you with my life, because that’s what a man does when he’s discovered precious treasure. ”

Oh... wow .

I stared at him, unable to do anything else, because what he’d said was so insanely beautiful I didn’t have the strength to sling any arrows his way. Not for what appeared to be a spur-of-the-moment lie. I could even understand it. But for the rest...

“So why didn’t you tell me later? You had opportunities, like when I dragged you back to the convention center, or... or when we became lovers. Did you really think I would never find out that you were the sniper that Dane hired?”

“I was hoping you never would, and I sure as hell was never going to tell you,” came the blunt reply.

Even as I reeled back to outrage, I could at least admit he wasn’t lying to me anymore.

“I know what you’re thinking, that that’s a lie of omission, and you’d be right.

But if I ever told you that I was the one who pulled the trigger and gave you screaming nightmares, you’d run from me like I was radioactive. And you did.”

“I ran because you lied to me—”

“The only lie I ever told you was that Dane Grant hired me. I came to you on my own, as did everyone else at PSI who helped me with your case. They’re my chosen family, and every last one of them knows I’m not a player.

I don’t chase women like it’s some kind of game.

I’m a loner, and I thought I’d always be alone.

I was fine with that, because that’s how it is when you’re a loner—you prefer your own company, and that’s cool.

But now...” Muscles jumped in his jaw, and he looked at me as if there was literally nothing else in the world he wanted to see.

“That’s why I’m here now instead of a fucking hospital bed.

I have to give this my best shot, because if I lose you—if I’ve lost you—I won’t just be alone anymore.

I’ll know what it is to be lonely . Without you, I’ll know what it is to be lost.”

Yearning went to war in my chest with the pain of the lies he’d built around me. “Echo, after everything... it’s hard for me to believe that anything between us was real.”

“Give me a chance to convince you that everything between us was real. The most real thing I’ve ever been fucking blessed with in my life.”

The ice walls around my heart crumbled with his every word, but Dane had taught me that whatever crap you’re willing to put up with is the crap that will continue until life is nothing but a misery.

“I just feel like I don’t even know you now. The real you. I thought I did. I thought you were the kind of man I could believe in utterly, because you’d never... ever ... lied to me. Now I know better, and that knowledge changes everything.”

“You do know me. God, Rory, I swear you know me.” His jaw locked while that terrible desperation radiating out of him made it almost impossible to breathe.

“You know me better than anyone in my life, because from the beginning I did everything I could to show you the real me. I wanted to give you the chance to choose me the way I chose you. And you did. You chose me when you said you love me. Unless,” he added, while his eyes darkened in a way that broke my heart all over again, “that was a lie.”

“I’ve never lied to you.” Something he couldn’t say. “You are the only man I’ve ever loved. I love you still, even though my brain is telling me I should run as far away from you as possible and never look back.”

He closed his eyes briefly, from pain or relief I couldn’t tell. “Tell me what I can do to keep your love, baby girl. Tell me what I can do to fix this. I’ll do anything . There’s nothing in this life or the next that I wouldn’t do for you. Please, Rory. Tell me what to do. Please .”

Loving you isn’t a lie.

I wanted you to choose me.

Please, Rory.

Please .

For a suspended moment I sat there, trying to imagine those words coming out of Dane’s mouth, but it was impossible.

Remorse was a human emotion that had simply been beyond him.

But not Echo. Yes, both men had hurt me and shattered my trust, and that was unacceptable.

But Echo owned it. He took responsibility and wanted to do everything possible to fix what he broke.

Dane hadn’t cared.

Echo did.

If only he hadn’t lied in the first place, this would have been so much easier. If we really had met randomly...

“I don’t know if what we’ve been building can be fixed,” I said, choosing my words carefully, and the agony the flashed across his expression nearly killed me. “Since it all started with a lie, I’m not even sure I want to salvage it.”

“Rory, God, please —”

“How do you do?” My heart hammered so hard it made my eyes water as I offered my hand to this imperfect, yet perfect-for-me man who had become my world.

“My name is Aurora, though my friends call me Rory. I’m currently homeless and pretty much alone in the world.

But I have dreams. I want to go back to school and get a degree in business with a focus on nonprofit management, so that I know what I’m doing when I open a women’s shelter specifically for abused women to help them find not only safety, but guide them to a life of self-sufficiency.

I know that can be a dangerous profession, but it’s a passion of mine, so I’m going to do it.

So,” I cleared my throat while my hand hung out there as he stared at me like I’d lost my mind, “now that I’ve told you about myself and we’ve just met all spontaneous and natural-like, I guess I should ask your name as well, yes? ”

As I watched, the stress drained from his face, replaced the sweetest, most brilliant smile I had ever received from him.

“Hi, Rory,” he said softly, and he reached his free hand across the table, palm up.

I slid my hand into his and found that while his fingers were cold—he was still supposed to be in the hospital, so no surprise there—the way his fingers wrapped around mine was all the warmth I needed.

“My name is Ethan Echols, but my friends call me Echo. I like Mexican food for breakfast, I exist on coffee, and above all else I believe in love at first sight.”

The swimming warmth in my eyes finally spilled over as I smiled at him. “So do I.”