Page 70 of Unlocked Dive

“I’ll let you break the good news to your family,” she says, shaking my hand with a smile. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Jericho.”

Family. My heart leaps in my chest. IwantByrd to be my family. Flush with victory and high on endorphins, anything seems possible. He could come with me to Tilburg. We could get married. I could spend the rest of my life being his Echo and have it all.

Rein it in, idiot.You don’t even know if he wants those things.Smothering my shit-eating grin, I step into the hall.

As soon as I appear, Byrd stops his obvious pacing and turns toward me, shaking out his fisted hands. My dad looks up from his seat on the metal bench, pocketing his phone as I lean against the door with a slow smile. He throws Byrd a quick look I can’t read and gets to his feet.

“Getting along with your future son-in-law?” I blurt. So much for reining it in. Jesus. Byrd comes to an abrupt halt and my dad scowls.

“Very funny,” he says, shifting his narrowed eyes to Byrd.

“Ijustgot divorced,” Byrd chokes out, but his eyes are hot and possessive on mine, and a thrill runs up my spine. Or ratherdownmy spine and straight to my dick.

“First wives don’t count. Right, dad?”

“Echo,” Byrd growls.

“Enough.” My father rolls his eyes, but he’s more amused than angry after Byrd’s obvious shock. To be fair, he’s been dealing with my mouth a lot longer than Byrd has. “Clearly, you weren’t spanked enough as a child.”

“Oh!” I bounce away from the door. “Byrd likes—”

He’s on me in two strides, clapping a hand over my mouth and pinning me against the wall. Never say my man’s not a fast learner.

“How. Did. The. Evaluation. Go?” he grits out, then grimaces when I stick my tongue out and lick his palm. “Someone’sgetting spanked tonight,” he hisses. But he lowers his hand. Cautiously.

“I nailed it.” I grin. “So thatsomeonewon’t be me.”

He throws up his arms and leans against the wall next to me with a groan. In spite of our shenanigans, my dad’s smile is proud—once he’s dragged his eyes from the ceiling.

“I knew you would,” he says. Byrd drops his hand from where it’s covering his face and grips mine, hard.

“I’m ready to celebrate,” I declare, bouncing on my toes again and squeezing back.

“I made reservations at Angler,” my father says, glancing at his Rolex. I cut my eyes to Byrd.

“We kind of have plans.”

Byrd got us VIP tickets to the Cirque show in town, and the gates open at six. Which gives us just enough time at the hotel for me to rock his world before we have to get dressed and head to the tent.

“Go to lunch with your dad,” he says, leaning in to press a kiss to my temple. “I have an errand to run anyway.”

“An errand?”

What errand could be more important than my dick in his ass? He winks at my obvious incredulity. “It’s a surprise.”

His eyes shimmer with illicit promise, and I sway into him, caught.Nope.Not actually helping. As much as the idea of a surprise—especially one that sparksthatlook—intrigues me, I’m all about instant gratification when it comes to Byrd. Call it conditioning after the weeks of torturous teasing he put me through.

“You’re getting me a present? I wanna come.” I’m definitely not whining.

“It’s asurprise,” he repeats, and actually has the audacity to push me gently toward my dad with his fingers on my chest. “I’ll see you back at the hotel after your lunch.”

Fine. He’s gonna pay for that later, though.

30

Echo

“You seem better.”