Echo, Mine by Georgia Lyn Hunter

and her mouth dropped open in
shock. “Wait—you bought a boat?”
    “No.” Amusement brightened his gray eyes.
“This yacht is leased. If you like it, then we’ll see about
getting one. But this”—he crossed to the built-in cupboards, pulled
open a drawer, and drew out a soft black cloth pouch with
drawstrings—“is for you.”
    He handed it to her. Her heart in her
throat, she released the ties and pulled out a silver bracelet made
up of intricate swirling patterns. Melded into the center was the
amber stone with the white leaf of a Rean tree that grew only in
Empyrea trapped inside. One that she’d had all through her
childhood, unaware of the significance of it all. He could have
given her anything, but he’d given her this—this stone that tied
them together.
    “It’s beautiful.” She put it on her wrist
then went on her toes to kiss him.
    He lifted a brow. “What about the
other?”
    “There’s more?” Eagerly, she shoved her hand
back into the bag and pulled out a smaller pouch in the familiar
robin’s-egg blue of a high-end store. Opening it, she found a
platinum necklace, Diamonds by the Yards, inside.
    In her entire life, the only people who’d
ever given her anything were Kira and Gran and… Damon. But he’d
walked away. Sadness filled her.
    Aethan took the chain from her, stepped
behind her and fastened it around her neck. As he pressed his lips
to her nape, a shiver skated over her skin and drew her mind away
from her guardian. Blinking her damp eyes, she hurried to a mirror
and stared at the platinum chain that circled her neck with several
diamonds an inch apart.
    “What do you want to do?” Aethan asked, his
image joining hers in the paneled mirror.
    “Swim in the sea,” she said without
hesitation, wheeling around to him. The soft sounds of an engine
droning finally pierced her haze of happiness. Echo glanced around
the luxurious cabin. “Ummm, Aethan, who’s navigating this
vessel?”
    “C’mon, then, he’s waiting to see you before
he leaves.”
    He led her upstairs to the helm, and she
laughed at whom she saw there. “Hedori?”
    “M’lady,” he said with a little smile.
“Happy birthday.”
    “Thank you.”
    He gave her a slight bow before turning to
Aethan. “Everything is in place. I’ll be back at noon tomorrow to
take this beauty—I mean, the yacht back to the marina.”
    Aethan snorted.
    Laughing, Hedori shimmered and
dematerialized.
    Echo turned from staring out the window at
the tranquil seas and faced him again, leaning against the
porthole. “We got here quite fast, so where exactly are we? And
where did you get this floating house?”
    Amusement flickered in his dark eyes. “We’re
several miles from the East Hamptons. This floating house is
usually moored at the Marina there. I was here this morning, I
wanted to make sure everything was in place before I brought
you.”
    “You were? And I thought you had gone
jogging on the beach.”
    Echo hurried down to the sprawling main
center deck. A sumptuous seating area was spread along the sides,
and the far end of the deck held a raised Jacuzzi. She made her way
to the center and looked around, a cool, briny breeze playing with
her bangs.
    Though they were far from the shore, she
could still make out the coastline. The rest was just miles of
gorgeous sapphire-blue sea surrounding them. “Hedori brought the
yacht out here and waited for us?”
    “Yeah.” Aethan pulled off his t-shirt and
tossed it on a cushioned seat. The sun beat down on his tan skin,
making his hard muscles glisten. He toed off his Nikes and undid
the button on his jeans. He pulled out a thong from his pocket and
tied back his hair, revealing the tiny silver hoops in his
earlobes. “It seemed like the best way to organize this. Navigating
yachts is not something I know, but Hedori, on the other hand,
does—he has a sailboat moored at the estate…” He looked her over,
his brow furrowing. “Why are you still dressed? I thought