Page 61 of Echo, the Sniper (Men of PSI #2)

“Why are you talking to me?” Echo’s flat tone reached my ears, and I paused in sighing over the positively sybaritic master bath with a dual-sided walk-in shower with benches galore, as well as an egg-shaped tub I could swim in. “I’m not the one who’s looking to buy.”

That wasn’t exactly true, since Echo insisted we each pay half of wherever we eventually landed now that we were moving in together.

I knew exactly what his financial status was since he insisted on taking me to his accountant to prove he proudly made his own money and didn’t need mine.

Dane’s cruel words had done as much damage to Echo as they had to me, so I knew this was a touchy subject for him.

Time—and consistently showing how much I believed in him—would heal that wound.

For now, I was happy to go along with whatever Echo needed to do in order to feel comfortable in his new life with me.

With a smile, I headed back toward the loft area I could picture becoming a small office space for us, and leaned against the open doorframe to watch the show.

Again, Oakhead’s mouth did that dumbfounded jaw-drop thing, and I couldn’t help but wonder how many times a day he put his foot in it. “Oh. Well. I assumed you’d just, you know... be here. A lot, because...”

“Because?” I prompted.

Echo was right. This was fun.

Oakhead’s face turned an unpleasant shade of fuchsia. “Tell you what, I’ll just leave you all to explore the, uh, property, and-and I’ll meet you all outside. When, you know, you’re done.” He made a point of handing me the binder before running down the stairs like he was being chased by zombies.

Heh.

“It really is a great location, and wow, right on the canal. Amazing views right outside the sliders, did you notice?” Grinning, I opened the binder, at long last scanning the particulars.

“Three to four bedrooms, three and a half baths, a dedicated laundry space, a full-sized garage on the ground floor. I don’t know, though. Does all that seem too big for us, or—”

A large hand reached out to gently close the binder. Surprised, my gaze bounced up, only to find him watching me intently.

“Buying property is a big step, baby girl.” Plucking the binder from my grasp, he let it fall to the floor and pulled my hips against his. “It means putting down real roots. It means permanence . You realize that, yeah?”

My stomach dropped like a stone. “Are you having second thoughts?”

“Never. Just making sure you’re not having them yourself. You’ve only been here a few months, after all.”

“True.” And while they’d been hectic and sometimes uncertain as I stumbled my way through the newness of relocating, buying my first car, and registering for college, they had also been the happiest months of my life.

“The thing is, I don’t like the apartment I’m living in now.

It’s too far away from you, it smells like stale weed no matter how often I clean it, it’s too far away from you, and it’s almost impossible to get a full night’s sleep when my neighbors are always throwing parties or having wall-banging sex.

Which reminds me, it’s too far away from you.

Why do you think I’ve practically moved in with you these past few weeks? ”

“Because you can’t get enough of me.”

I grinned. “When you’re right, you’re right. But I’m also ready to set down roots with you .”

“So you’re sure?”

“I’m sure.” I nodded once and wound my arms around him. “What about you?”

“Oh hell, yeah. In fact,” he added with a grin, “let me give you my thoughts on this place. It’s definitely not too big for us.

We’re going to need office space—you for your studying, and me for when I’m working from home and in need of a cool backdrop for Zoom meetings.

We’re also going to need a couple guest rooms for when my family come to visit, and they do that at least three or four times a year.

It’ll be so nice to not hear them complain about how they have to share my bed while I sleep on the couch.

I would’ve paid serious cash to put them up in a hotel, but no.

They always insist on staying with me so I don’t waste my money on them.

Their words, not mine, because believe me, it never would’ve been a waste if I could have avoided hearing them go on and on about my sad bachelor pad. ”

I couldn’t help but laugh. I had met Echo’s family via Facetime before we’d left Colorado and he’d had to confess to being injured—aka, shot.

Before their freakout reached Defcon One and they started planning a frantic trip to take care of him, he’d introduced me to the two women who’d raised him.

Picking up on his urgency, I’d quickly assured his aunt Inez and his grandmother Rosalia that I was already taking care of Echo to the best of my ability, and felt privileged to do the job.

Their alarm had instantly morphed into squealing heart eyes and knowing glances, happy tears and promises to get to know me better via Zoom when Echo was feeling better.

Now, not a week went by without having a gabfest with one or both members of Echo’s family, and half the time I was the one who called them.

Inez and Rosalia were wonderful, hilarious women, and they were fully supportive of me being in Echo’s life.

Though Inez and Rosalia didn’t say it, I had the feeling they had feared Echo would grow old alone once they were gone, and that possibility had been a terrible weight for them to bear.

As long as I drew breath that wasn’t going to happen, and I assured them of that whenever the subject came up.

Somehow, despite all the storms that had hit our lives, Echo and I had weathered them all, and we’d come out stronger together for it.

Those storms had left their marks on me, though.

I’d insisted on some sort of therapy when I’d had a panic attack shortly after moving to Chicago, because I had been late for a dinner date due to snarled traffic.

6:31 was still a problem for me, and I didn’t want to be like that.

This was a new chapter I was trying to write, and the last thing I wanted were ghosts from my old life ruining what I was trying to build.

I deserved a fresh start, and so did Echo.

The way Echo worked on proving how he could be relied on was another thing that was so wonderful it brought tears to my eyes.

For one thing, he insisted that no roses would ever be in our lives, though he brought me fresh flowers almost every day.

He also insisted on divvying up chores, when both my father and Dane probably would have gone into some weird man-coma for even thinking about washing a dish.

But Echo had been raised by two strong women, so he saw no problem with pulling his own weight around the house.

He liked cooking alongside me and enjoyed ironing with that military crispness that couldn’t be denied.

He also insisted on doing all the vacuuming, because he didn’t want me lugging a vacuum cleaner up and down the stairs and potentially falling.

Never mind that it was both a lightweight and cordless vacuum.

In his mind it could be dangerous for me, so he was happy to do it himself.

A man who insisted on doing his fair share of household chores? I was totally keeping him.

By the time we’d gone through every nook and cranny of the townhouse, complete with its back garden gate that opened directly onto a neatly paved jogging path along the canal, I knew Echo was sold.

The tranquil canal views, the party deck, the extra room for family, the tree-lined jogging path literally out the back gate, and the easy commute for the both of us—it was perfect. We’d found our home.

Our home.

I loved the sound of that.

“The only reservation I have now,” I drawled as we headed for the front door, “is dealing with that jerk of a realtor who wanted me to check in with mommy or daddy or hubby before being allowed to make a decision.”

“Fucker’s obviously scared of a woman who knows her own power.” He looped an arm around my waist and pulled me up against him when we got to the foyer, his heavy-lidded eyes beginning to smolder. “Unlike me. A powerful woman like you has me thinking all sorts of interesting thoughts.”

“Really?” That one look never failed to get my motor going, and I smoothed a hand down the solid wall of his chest. Mm. Nice . “What sort of interesting thoughts?”

“Like all the places in this house I’m going to fuck you once we move in.

” That upward curve of his mouth did crazy things to my pulse.

Or possibly it was the heated promise in his words that had me all but purring.

“Like on that huge kitchen island that looks like a fucking altar. Or all those benches in the master shower. Or in front of the living room fireplace while snow falls outside. Or out on that awesome party deck under the starlight.”

I gasped at that last one. “Our neighbors across the canal would be able to see us, you know.”

“Oh, I know. We’ll make them jealous.” He kissed me, then gently took my lower lip between his teeth in a way that made me moan. “Want me to deal with the asshole realtor outside?”

“Tempting, but let’s do it together. Just as long as he’s not the realtor we use once I’m done with school and ready to find a place for the women’s shelter.”

Echo smiled into my eyes. “Plenty of time for me to perfect a security plan that’ll keep you safe, as well as all the people you’re going to help.”

My heart turned over. “I love how you protect me. You make me feel so loved.”

“That’s because you are, baby girl.” His arms tightened around me, and his mouth hovered over mine. “Now and forever, you are loved .”

*

T HREE YEARS LATER

Echo