An Echo in the Mafia (Echo Reid, Reid Family Book #1)

Echo

Echo could just hit him. She wanted to but, the truth was, she always wanted to hit him. 

Loving a man like Luke was the most complicated thing about her, which was saying a lot. Echo knew she was a complicated person. Not to say he wasn't. Luke was a lot more complex and complicated than she was. It hadn't taken her long to figure it out. She'd looked for every possible flaw in him from the moment she met him and despite losing count, despite knowing there were countless reasons to stay away from him, she couldn't. 

He'd insisted and she'd been unable to turn away. At first glance, it might seem kind of creepy. He'd made it a point to be where she was, to make himself unavoidable but the truth was, he didn't have to work as hard as he did. She'd known from the moment she'd heard that gun click at the back of her head that this was not something she was going to ever be able to run away from. Wasn't that weird? That the click of a gun from a stranger, from a man that frightened her with his devilish good looks, set a wheel spinning in her head that had never spun before and that would never stop spinning. What was it about the handsome stranger? 

She'd stood there, drenched, looking terrified, feeling terrified and knowing somehow that she shouldn't be afraid.  Talk about fate. Echo had never believed in fate before Luke either. She wasn't even sure she did now but she did believe in the power of a moment, that one word or one choice could change your entire life. 

Luke represented so much beauty that she admired. He was smooth, elegant, well tailored, and beautiful. His clothes were impeccable, the way he walked and talked and stood was impeccable. He was the very definitely of effortless grace. Watching him was like watching a symphony, so many different parts, so many different sounds came together to form one melodic movement. Even that night in the pool house, she'd felt a sting of regret that she could not be like him. After meeting Luke, she couldn't even look at her own sister without wishing she could do it too. Echo had lived in the shadows for so long, silently admiring things she thought she couldn't have until he said she should have them. 

While to others it sounded like he was telling her what to wear, she knew that in his own way, he was telling her that she could  wear it. He might tell her she should wear her hair down more often, and it was frustrating, feeling like she was being told what to do. But the more she got to know Luke, she more she understood. He was telling her she could wear her hair down. The idea of dressing up or letting her hair hang loose was so foreign to her, so unknown. In her mind, it had always been the type of thing she couldn't do. Of course for someone with as much anxiety as her, it was overwhelming. He was moving to fast, insisting on too much and pushing her out the door before she was ready for the world, but that wasn't his fault. 

How was he supposed to know what she didn't tell him? Echo was such a pushover, her whole life she'd preferred to let people have their way rather than to go through the discomfort of an argument. With Luke, she felt like for the first time it was important to push back and argue. She knew that she needed him to see her, she would not let herself fade into the obscurity she inevitably occupied when she just glumly went along with others.  Being along, hiding away was just not an option because despite her protests, despite saying otherwise, there was no way she was ready to let Luke go. So she let him push her, she let him nudge her in the direction she'd been too afraid to try, and when she felt she had hit her limit, she not so gently nudged back. 

She was surprised at her own bravado. When it came to Luke, she could do and say exactly what she thought, she could tell him he was wrong, she could say no, she could accept what she wouldn't before and she could demand more if she wanted it. He made the wheels in her head click and spin, provoked her in good and bad ways. It was no wonder that despite knowing his life was dangerous, despite knowing he was a criminal, she could not let him go. She could say no but she was the one changing, she was the one letting her hair down, and she was the one showing up when he told her to.