Page 13 of Echo

His rakish smile made me think he wasn’t just talking about food, but the rumble of my stomach made me focus on breakfast before I tried to talk him into testing out how much the bath helped my sore pussy.

“Any special requests?” I asked.

“After what you fed me yesterday, I’m going with chef's choice.”

I rubbed my palms together with a smile. “Excellent.”

I dug through the fridge and pantry to pull out the ingredients I needed for one of my favorite breakfast dishes, quiche. I rarely bothered to make one since it was a lot of effort for just one person. But Brodie had a hearty appetite—in and out of bed—and I wanted to impress him.

Luckily, I had a homemade butter crust in the freezer from the last time I baked a pie since it was easier to make a big batch and save the extra crusts for later. All I had to do was pop it in the oven for ten minutes while I prepared the quiche base. Since I was feeding Brodie, I went heavy on the meat, adding about double the amount of chopped ham than I would normally use, along with a lot of freshly grated cheddar cheese.

While it was in the oven, I made a pot of coffee and chopped some fresh fruit. Brodie joined me in the kitchen when the timer went off, and I pulled out the pie pan.

“Lasagna and brownies last night and quiche for breakfast?” He wrapped his arms around my waist, pressing his chest against my back as he peered over my shoulder. “You’re gonna spoil me, baby.”

I twisted my neck to grin up at him. “Considering all of the orgasms you gave me, I think the same could be said for you.”

After brushing his lips against my neck, he stepped back and patted his six-pack abs. “If you keep feeding me like this, I’m gonna have to work out more.”

Turning around, I wagged my brows. “I can think of a fun way to burn off calories.”

“Are we exchanging food for orgasms?” he asked with a laugh.

I shrugged. “Hey, a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.”

Cupping my chin, he swiped his thumb across my cheek. “Meant it when I said I’d give you as many orgasms as you want, baby. No paybacks necessary.”

“I mean…I can also think of fun ways to pay you back. Like making you come, too.”

He tugged me close. “I’m gonna have my hands full with you, aren’t I?”

I bit my bottom lip with a giggle. “In more ways than one.”

“Feed your man, baby.”

“Grab a cup of coffee, and I’ll get our plates ready,” I suggested, stepping away from him to grab a knife.

“How do you take yours?” he asked.

I shouldn’t have been surprised that Brodie was making a cup of coffee for me too, without my asking. He’d already shown how considerate he was, but something about the moment's domesticity struck me as so sweet. “A splash of cream and two spoonfuls of sugar, please.”

Brodie plowed through everything I made as we sat together and ate. At my look of surprise, he teased, “What? I burned a fuck of a lot of calories making you come.”

“That you did,” I murmured.

After we finished, he cleaned the kitchen before returning to his surveillance equipment. While he was busy, I got comfy on the couch, using my e-reader to pull up the manuscript for the next book I was going to record. I liked to read through the projects first so I could make notes of any names or words that might trip me up. That way, I could ask for clarification from the author or publisher before heading into the sound booth.

It was the same thing I’d done a hundred times before, in the same spot. But it felt so much better sharing the same space with Brodie even though we weren’t doing anything together.

7

ECHO

“Ithought you said I had a break,” Jeff whined, the irritating sound making me grit my teeth.

“Well, things change, dipshit,” growled the voice on the other end of his phone. “The boss found another mark, and you need to get everything set up for your new identity.”

This was how they ran their schemes. Jeff was given a new name, bank accounts, apartment, car, etc. Everything that made it appear as if he didn’t need money so that the victim would trust him more easily.

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