Page 73 of The Echo of Forever

He didn’t let me finish the request; his mouth met mine with a hunger that made my knees weak, and had I not been sitting, they might’ve buckled beneath the intensity.

I understood immediately why I’d married this man after only nine months. Something just…clickedinside my mind. Not the memories but the emotions that would come with them.

The kiss felt as if he were weaving a story for me; it was claiming and possessive, like he was trying to pour every moment of our lost time into this single connection. He pushed his fingers into my hair, tilting my head back as his tongue swept against mine, and I moaned into his mouth before I could stop myself.

My body remembered what my mind couldn’t. Every nerve ending came alive, recognizing his touch, his taste, and the way he kissed like he was trying to consume me. I pressed closer, still holding on to his chain, and he groaned low in his throat.

“Fuck,” he breathed against my lips, pulling back just enough to look at me. His eyes were dark with want, and fuck if I didn’t want him, too. “You feel it?”

I feel everything.

The way my heart danced for him, the heat pooling low in my belly, and the desperate need to be closer to him. It was overwhelming, terrifying, and perfect all at once.

“I feel it,” I whispered, trying to catch my breath. “I don’t remember, but I feel something.”

“What do you feel?”

I looked down.

“Like I’ve been starving and didn’t know it.”

He leaned forward until our foreheads touched.

“That’s how it started the first time, too. You told me I made you hungry for things you didn’t know you wanted.”

I closed my eyes, trying to hold onto the feeling coursing through me.

“I want to remember us,” I admitted, the words slipping out before I could stop them.

His thumb brushed across my cheek, and I realized as he pulled back that I was crying without knowing when it started.

“History is repeating itself. Even if you never remember, you’ll still fall in love with me, my forever. It was always in the cards for us to be together.”

This fucking man.

“This is confusing,” I admitted. “I want things I don’t understand.”

“Tell me what you want right now.”

The way he asked really did it for me.

“I want to stay with you tonight,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper. “Not just because my head hurts a little, but because being away from you feels wrong.”

He stood and pulled me up with him, his hands never leaving me.

“Then let’s go. Stay as long as you want.”

I nodded, but something nagged at me. The marriage certificate, the timeline, and all the tiny pieces that didn’t quite fit together yet.

“Echo,” I said, testing his name again on my tongue. It still felt right. “When I left for that job, did I tell you what I was supposed to be doing?”

He frowned and pulled back, the distance a little too much for me.

“Good question, baby. It was the first job you didn’t clue me in on. Makes me think it had something to do with my ma.”

Only my father could give me the answers I needed. As the broker at the time, the contract had to be passed from him to me.

What they said I’d been assigned, versus everything coming out, didn’t add up.