Page 63 of Echo, the Sniper (Men of PSI #2)

“Unlike other speeches today, I promise to make this one short and sweet.” Rory smiled into the mic, looking calm and confident.

Knowing how she had slaved over this speech, I could only hope she felt as she looked.

“I’m simply here to celebrate you —my fellow graduates—and revel in one of the greatest accomplishments of our lives, graduating from this prestigious university.

For most of us, this is the end of a long academic journey, of learning how to adult, and finding out who that adult is going to be.

But if you’ve been lucky enough to have found wonderful people along the way—such as our professors and TAs, counselors and colleagues, as well as fellow students treading the same path as yourself, this transition from student to full-fledged adult won’t be completely hideous.

And if you’re luckier still—like me—and have the love of your life supporting you every step of the way to the point of sharing his own family so that now I love them like my own, the transition into your new life is filled with joy.

Thanks to so many people here in the audience, my new family, and the education I’ve received within these hallowed halls, my horizons are now endless, my possibilities limitless.

As we step from this old life and into our new one, treasure those who helped you get to where you are.

Make them proud, live with all the joy you deserve, and above all, build your world with people who are as extraordinary as you. ”

When she ended her speech, she looked right at me and blew another kiss, and though I was a good twenty yards away, I could easily read her lips: “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” I said aloud, applauding her. No truer words had ever been spoken.

*

Rory

O LD-SCHOOL PINK SANG about getting a party started, a fierce beat fueling the happily chaotic sounds of a party in full swing.

Our neighbors had all been invited to my graduation party so they wouldn’t complain about the noise.

Most had enthusiastically accepted, and for the few party-poopers who’d declined were still pacified with the ironclad promise that everything would wind down by 1:00AM.

With the sun beginning to set, the party was just getting started.

As for me, I was nearing the end... fast.

“Echo. Oh... God, Echo .” My back lay flat on our once-neatly made bed, my legs bent and knees as far apart as they could go to accommodate his broad shoulders.

His large hands cupped my ass cheeks as he feasted on me, and my fingers gripped the soft gray and white down comforter as pleasure fluttered and surged.

This had not been the reason why I left the jubilant graduation party on our always-popping party deck; I’d just dipped into our bedroom to change out my heels for a more comfortable pair of flipflops, and Echo had followed me.

One thing had led to another, and now here I was, naked and spread out on our bed like a willing sacrifice while he indulged in one of his all-time favorite activities.

It was a damn good thing our friends and family were comfortable enough in our home to just sort of get things going without us.

His hungry growl reverberated against me, driving me that much crazier.

He tongued my clit without mercy, and the sensation was so hot I swear I almost had an out-of-body experience.

I knew what my man wanted. What he always wanted.

Me, coming my brains out and screaming like a banshee before he allowed himself to join me in pleasure.

It was like he kept score in his head how many times he could get me off before need overpowered him and he finally joined me.

Poor, poor me.

Not.

“Echo. Baby.” It took every ounce of will I had to make myself scoot farther up the bed and away from that magical mouth of his. “I want you inside me.”

His lush mouth glistened with my slickness as he smiled at me in the falling darkness.

“You mean...” A hand slipped between my legs so his long fingers could slide through my wet channel to my threshold, making my body tense in anticipation.

“Like this?” His fingers pushed in, stroking me, while his thumb landed on my clit to grind down in a way that made me throw my head back and moan. “Is that what you want?”

Now he wanted to have a conversation while I was teetering on the edge of losing it? Typical. “I want... oh, I want...”

“Say what you want, baby girl. You know how much I love hearing that sweet little mouth say dirty things to me.”

God, yes, I knew. Gone was the timid woman he’d met all those years ago who wouldn’t even swear without flinching in apology. My man, who’d coped with his loner lifestyle by becoming a porn connoisseur, loved it when I talked dirty to him, and heaven help me, I loved it too.

“I want your big cock inside me. The feel of you sliding in and out of my pussy... God, please give me your cock and fill me until you’re all I can feel.

” I reached out, my hand sliding down his stomach to curl around his rock-hard length.

“Fuck me with this big, beautiful cock until I come, baby. Fuck me hard .”

“Yeah, baby girl, I want you to come on my cock.” Savage delight filled his eyes as he loomed over me, clearly pleased.

He loomed over me, settling between my thighs where he belonged and thrust boldly, filling me in such a breathtaking way it sparked a frantic rise of pleasure that catapulted me into sheer bliss.

My legs twined around him as I came, my heels digging into his ass to lock him to me, pushing him in so deep I didn’t know where he ended and I began.

His groans merged with mine as he dropped his head, his mouth finding my hard-tipped breast and sucking as he plunged like a madman into me.

I came again, one climax flowing into another, shattering me so utterly I lost all sense of who I was. I just felt —rapture, passion, unending trust and love while in the care of my other half.

I was so lost in my euphoria that I nearly missed his ragged groan of completion that rivaled the cries flowing from me.

It was only when he thrust powerfully one last time before at last growing still that my world crystalized back into awareness.

The song beyond our sanctuary had changed, with Justin Timberlake bragging about bringing sexy back when it had never really left, With a satisfied sigh, I twined all my limbs around my man and held him to me, an all-over body hug I loved doing with him after sex.

He snuggled in, his face finding that hollow between my shoulder and neck, and I could easily imagine us falling asleep just like that, still joined. Still one.

Too bad reality waited right outside our door.

“It’s a good thing the music is so loud out there,” I murmured, stroking a hand down his back.

I loved touching him, feeling his solid weight as it pressed me down into the mattress.

If we could have stayed this way all night I would have been all for it.

“Otherwise we would have scandalized Inez and Rosalia.”

“My aunt would have been scandalized, but not my grandmother. She’s a bawdy old lady.”

“One of the many reasons why I love her.”

“It makes me so happy that you love my family. Our family,” he said softly, kissing my neck. “That speech meant the world to them today. You made Inez cry.”

Aw . “Did I?”

“Yeah.” With a small sigh of regret, he rolled toward the nightstand on his side of the bed, slipping out of me at last. I sighed too, sad for the loss, but interested in the palm-sized box he’d snagged and held up for me to see.

“And now that you’re officially graduated and ready to start that new chapter of life you spoke about in your speech, I wanted to give you. .. this.”

For a glorious moment I thought it might be a ring.

Not just any ring, but the ring. We’d talked about getting married every once in a while—even just a couple months ago—and I’d assured him that once college was behind me, I wanted nothing more than to become Rory Echols.

Gone was the damaged, wounded woman who’d thought she might not ever even want to get married again.

I was healed, and I was ready. But the small box in his hand was too flat to carry any ring. What could be in there?

Curious, I took the box and undid the thin gold ribbon tied around it. “What is this?”

“Open it and find out.”

Shooting him one last baffled glance, I palmed the ribbon and opened the lid. Nestled in a nest of black velvet were a trio of heavy-duty keys—one in gold, one in bronze, one in black. What the hell ? “Is this your way of telling me you’re moving me out?”

“Only if I get to go with you.” Grinning, he pointed to the gold key.

“This one goes to the front door of the shelter after the digitized keyhole plate is triggered by your thumbprint. Bronze and black are the shelter’s other points of entry, all with the same two-step locking system.

Once inside, you’ll still have to punch in a security code to prove you’re supposed to be there.

That code should change every month, and I’ll make damn sure it does. ”

“You finished the shelter’s security.” Understanding took my breath away, and I looked up at him with growing excitement.

That had been Echo’s only condition when I moved ahead with plans to open a women’s shelter—he had to be the one who designed the security for it.

It had cost a king’s ransom, since PSI’s security was second to none, but considering that bill was paid for by my deceased husband’s ill-gotten gains, I didn’t mind the price tag in the least. If anything, I loved the irony of it.

“Does this mean you’re okay with me going forward with this project? ”