Breaking the Rules (Pushing the Limits 1.50)

I enfold her into me and nuzzle her hair, enjoying the feeling of peace that floods my body whenever she’s this close. Echo squeezes her arms around me, and I wish she’d never let go.

“I love you,” she whispers.

“It’s only a week,” I tell her, but I loathe this separation as much as she does.

Echo looks at me with those pleading green eyes. I twine my fingers into her curls. The first taste of her lips is sweet. The second makes me forget there’s a bus terminal full of people. The third causes me to lift her feet off the ground and deepen our kiss.

“Noah,” she whispers in reprimand as she breaks away. “We’re causing a scene.”

“Not my problem.” But I lower her to the ground anyhow. “Besides, it wasn’t my fault. You’re the one looking at me with take-me-to-bed eyes, and I felt you kissing me back. Once again, you’re the one getting us into trouble.”

Echo grins. “You are so impossible.”

“Damn straight, baby.” I could stay with her in Colorado, but if I go home today, I can watch my brothers play their last baseball game of the year. I’ve never been so happy to hear the word rainout. Plus, if I head back now, Isaiah and I can settle into our new apartment. I’ll also be able to get together what Echo and I need to start school as she’ll miss orientation.

I’m not thrilled with the idea of her driving from Colorado to Louisville on her own, but she’s determined she can do this, and I need to trust her judgment. We weighed the pros and cons over and over again and this...this is what we need to do. I have no doubt it’s the best decision because Echo and me, we’re for keeps.

“Last call,” says the driver.

I cup Echo’s face in my hand. “You keep your cell charged.”

“I will, and you tell Jacob and Tyler I said hi.”

“I love you, Echo.”

A soft smile spreads across her lips, and my damn heart nearly explodes when we kiss one last time.

“I love you,” she whispers.

“One week,” I say.

“One week,” she says back.

As I sling my bag over my shoulder and board the bus, I walk on with a confidence I’ve never had before when it comes to me and Echo.

In my seat, I press my hand to the window, and Echo stretches out her arm to me. Someday me and her, we’ll come back here. Maybe she’ll be an artist. Maybe she won’t. Maybe I’ll be an architect. Maybe I won’t. What I know for sure is that Echo will be by my side, and that our love is forever.

* * * * *

Q & A

How did you decide on Aires’s name, out of all the myths to choose from?

Honestly, Aires was originally named Ares, after the Greek god of war, but I changed it for two reasons. First, I wasn’t convinced that Echo’s mother would have named her son after war, and then my early readers had a hard time pronouncing the name.

I read through the myths again and was captured by the one behind the constellation Aires. It told the story of two siblings who were to be saved by Aires the Ram, but only one of those siblings lived through the rescue attempt. I thought this was a fitting name for Echo’s brother since only one of them is alive at the beginning of Pushing the Limits.

If the takeaway from Pushing the Limits is that there’s always hope, what do you want readers to take away from Breaking the Rules? How are the themes of the two books similar, and how are they different?

The theme of Pushing the Limits is that there is definitely hope. While this theme continues in Breaking the Rules, this time I also tackled the idea of letting the past go.

A lot of us have had something happen in our lives that becomes baggage—chains that weigh us down. If we hold on to those emotions, they can hinder our future. These emotions can impact how we deal with new experiences and relationships, and potentially can color them in a negative light.

In order to find true happiness, Noah must find a way to let go of his guilt, and Echo must face her grief. They also grapple with the question of what forgiveness means.

Through dealing with their emotions and their past baggage, Echo and Noah are free to forge ahead with their future without anything weighing them down.