Free Echo, Mine by Georgia Lyn Hunter

awe.
Echo couldn’t blame them. Aethan was luscious. And his bottom lip
was just so biteable. She wanted a taste of him—
    “Why, exactly, are you're wearing your top
like this?” He fingered her unfastened buttons. “I don’t think I
care for it—”
    She smacked his hand away. “I like it—”
    Someone bumped into him, his mouth
tightened. His arms still caging her protectively, he turned his
head, as did Echo.
    “So sorry—” a curvy brunette with
collagen-plumped lips threw out with a contrite smile. Then her
eyes widened. “Wow, I think it’s my lucky day—or yours. Let me buy
you a drink to make it up to you. I'm Kenya, and this”—she wave a
finger to the other woman who joined her—“is my sister, Tracy.”
    Twins. Of course. Echo narrowed her eyes at
the woman’s blatant come-on to her mate.
    Aethan scarcely gave the two of them a
glance and shifted his attention back to Echo. He studied her face,
a barely there smile tugging at the corners of his lips that she
wanted to wipe clean off his face. He knew she was irritated. Why
the hell didn't he say no ?
    “I'm not interested,” he said, his gaze
holding hers. “I have everything I want right here.”
    Okay, so she wouldn’t really punch him. She
loved his face too much to hurt it. Echo eyed the twins coolly. She
wouldn’t be surprised if they’d deliberately bumped into him.
Though he was ace in shielding his angelic allure, the way
he looked was reason enough.
    Their brows furrowing, the twins slunk off,
appearing bewildered. “Well, if he prefers some lanky skank with
freak-eyes, it’s his loss, not ours,” Kenya muttered.
    Freak eyes … devil’s eyes, the
old, childhood taunt whispered in her mind.
    Aethan straightened, his expression
hardening. She laid a hand on his arm. “Forget them.”
    Those steel grays met hers, deadly in its
intensity. “I won’t allow anyone to say that shit about you.”
    “I'm fine, really.” And she was. He gave her
that stability, the grounding she needed.
    After a tense moment, the stiffness left his
body. “You are precious to me, Echo mine.” He brushed the dimple in
her chin with the back of his knuckles and kissed the tip of her
nose.
    Her heart dropped. He kissed her on the
nose—on her damn freaking nose —not the mouth!
    “Button your top.”
    He was worried about her unfastened blouse?
“Aethan, stop. This is supposed to be our night out, and it was
going well until those two bumped into you!”
    “Yes, it was. But not with every male’s eyes
on your chest,” he muttered. “And I don’t care about them or
their agenda.”
    “Really?” She rolled her eyes at his
possessive tone. “We’ve been together nearly a year. And they were so coming on to you.”
    “No, me’morae , we’ve been together a
bare eight months, and six of those I lived in hell not knowing if
I’d lose you,” he said darkly. “And they can do whatever the
hell they want. I. Wasn’t. Interested .”
    “Next time try harder.”
    “What?” His brow furrowed in confusion.
“What did I do?”
    “ Nothing !” And that was the
whole point. Gritting on her frustration, she slugged back the rest
of her drink, slammed the glass on the counter and stalked off,
pushing her way through the crowd.
    Aethan would never cheat on her. Even now,
confused as he was about why she’d stormed off, through their soul
joining, his immense love surrounded her, filling her with warmth
and tenderness. Once an immortal found their mate and soul joined,
that was it—no other could snare their attention. But he could have
damn well kissed her properly instead of on her bloody nose!
    That was what had her seething, and the fact
that he had no clue as to why she was so mad.
    In this very club, months ago, he’d kissed
her, all raw and needy—it hadn’t mattered that he was angry with
her. Hell, he’d used to take her mouth in those hot, carnal kisses
that simply melted her bones for just smiling at Týr. But now? Nada!
    A