All Bottled Up (8 page)

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When his lips found hers, the contact was light, tentative. Not at all like this afternoon. His lips were a soft heaven, nipping and tasting as he went. But she wanted more. The contact was too gentle, too proper. Viola was bold, wicked. He’d shown her she could be more than who she thought she was. She snaked a hand up across his chest and around the back of his neck. Needing to be closer, she pulled him down. Opening her lips, she coaxed him in with her tongue. They silently dueled, caressing and tasting each other. She moaned, her body still wanting more from him.

Her fingers found his stomach and began to tease the cord of muscles hiding under his shirt. They flexed under her touch as she ran them up his body and over his chest and shoulders. She finally buried her fingers into his soft dark hair, massaging his skin as she did.

His growl this time was anything but playful. She felt powerful,
was
powerful. She had a genie eating out of the palm of her hand. She pushed her body hard against his, thrilled by the feel of his erection against her stomach.
God, I want this. I want him.

But when he pulled back suddenly, Viola was left standing there, stunned by the missing warmth and contact.

Her voice shook as she asked, “Did I do something wrong?” His crystal blue eyes searched her face for something. His breath came out in short gasps.

“Nothing. You’ve done nothing wrong.”

She couldn’t be sure, but he looked confused. She didn’t like this. A tense seriousness floated between them. She reached up and stroked his goatee.

“Would Bill have liked it?”

His eyes flashed anger. “Bill.” He closed his eyes and took a breath. “Bill would approve of the way you kiss.”

Heart pounding in her chest, she asked the question she really wanted to know. Her mouth was suddenly very dry.

“Did you like it?” she whispered.

When he opened his eyes again to look at her, he wore his confusion again.

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“Does it matter?”

She tried to say yes, but the word didn’t want to come out. Viola nodded instead.

“No one has asked me what I liked before. But I have to say, kissing you right now was… I liked it very much, Viola.”

Mentally, Viola did cartwheels. Why it was so suddenly important to make Jerod happy, she didn’t question. He was happy, and he may even like her a little bit. Maybe more than a little bit.

“I’ve never met a man like you before,” she said and leaned in to begin another kiss.

But this time he pulled back. A range of emotions passed over his face, so many she couldn’t keep up. He took a step back and, in a blink of an eye, he’d changed from his evening outfit back into the genie clothing he’d wore when she’d first met him.

“That’s because I’m not a man.” He paused and gave his head a shake. “I haven’t been for a very long time.”

“Jerod, I’m—”

He pressed a finger against her lips. “Don’t say it. You have nothing to apologize for. You’ve passed your kissing lesson with, what’s the expression?”

“Flying colors?” She hated that she sounded like she would cry.

He didn’t seem to notice. Or he couldn’t acknowledge it because of his own emotional flux.

“Yes, with flying colors. We will continue our lessons tomorrow. And you should begin to consider your second and third wishes soon. You are such a quick study, I’m not sure our lessons will last long.”

With a brief flash of light he was gone. His bottle that she’d set on the coffee table glowed briefly before going dark.

“Jerod?”

Nothing. Viola replayed what had happened, tried to figure out where she went wrong. It had been going so well, until she’d asked him a personal question.

She would never have guessed a genie would have intimacy issues.

Energy was rapidly leaving her body. All of the excitement and chaos of the past day 69

finally caught up with her. Between her adventure getting here and finding a genie, she didn’t think she could take much more.

Her body fell with a muffled thud against the satin sheets. She didn’t even have the energy to get changed into her pajamas. As sleep began to claim her, she was vaguely aware of the room darkening as the candles doused themselves one by one, and the sound of the balcony doors clicking shut. With a sigh, she let sleep claim her.

70

Day two. Was it only the second day? Viola groaned as she rolled over and looked at the clock. Yes, officially day two and, conveniently, it was nearly half over.

“I didn’t think you were ever going to wake up.” Viola sat bolt up in bed. She didn’t look at Jerod directly, but out of the corner of her eye she could see him floating near the back corner of the room.

“How long have you been there?”

“In the room or floating in this corner?”

“Corner.”

“An hour. You showed signs of life around then and I thought I would be here to greet you. But you drifted back to sleep, so I stayed to watch.” That explained the vivid dream of being stalked.

“Don’t you get tired of that?” She groaned and flopped back against her pillow.

“Of what, waiting? I’ve been waiting around in one way or another for the past three thousand years. You get used to it after a while.” That made her roll over to get a better look at him. “Really? I was talking about showing off. I can’t imagine getting used to waiting like that. It must get lonely.” As soon as the words left her she cringed.
Nothing personal, dummy
. She didn’t want a repeat performance of last night. At least he didn’t seem to mind as much this morning.

Maybe he was tired last night.

“Showing off? You think this…” he waved at the gap between where he sat and his legs, “…is showing off?”

She smiled and blew an annoying strand of hair out of her eyes.

“What do you consider showing off?”

She regretted asking the second she saw him smile back.

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“More along the lines of this.”

With a snap of his fingers, Jerod teleported them to the top of a cloud. At least this time she didn’t scream. She was too petrified to move, let alone scream. It felt like her eyes were going to pop out of her head, and her heart explode from the panic of being up so high.

“It’s beautiful?” he asked, sounding uncertain for the first time.

She couldn’t move to answer.

“Viola?”

A large carpet appeared beneath her feet, blocking her view of the ground so far below.

“I’m sorry. I forgot humans have a hard time adjusting to that. Here, sit down.” He wanted her to do
what
? She looked stupidly up at him, his words not quite sinking into her head. It wasn’t until she felt the warmth of one hand on her back and the other wrap around her fingers that her legs trembled and cooperated. She sunk down onto the crimson and gold carpet and tried not to hyperventilate.

Jerod squatted beside her, rubbing her hair as he spoke soothing words in her ear. It was hard to hear him over the pounding of her heart. She leaned hard against his body, needing to feel the contact, his warmth as she held on to him for dear life.

“That’s better. You don’t look so pale anymore,” he said as he patted her hand.

She looked into his eyes.
Damn him, he was calm. How the hell can he be so calm
thirty thousand feet above the ocean!
The world around her started to focus in tight until all she could see was Jerod. His half smile calmed her, knowing he couldn’t look that handsome if they were about to crash to the earth.

“Viola, breathe.”

Breathe? Oh right
. She took a shaky breath in, held it for a second, and slowly let it out. Jerod gave her hand a squeeze.

“Again.”

Slowly, one breath after another, she felt herself get back under control. Her heart hadn’t slowed, but the petrifying fear was starting to recede until her muscles agreed to 72

cooperate once more. Viola tentatively turned her head a little to look out beyond the protective barrier of the magic carpet.

“If you look in the distance, you can see the islands. There’s an active volcano a few miles under the water that looks amazing from here at night. Want to see?” The combination of his gentle touch and calm voice made her body relax. Once she was able to focus on the object Jerod pointed to, she found she could get control of her panic.
God, this is amazing
.

“It’s hard to see it in the day time,” she managed to say through her chattering teeth.

“I can fix that,” he said and winked at her.

With a snap of his fingers, the bright sun was gone and the darkness of the night sky enveloped them. She should have been relieved she couldn’t see the distance to the ocean floor anymore. But the sudden change was as disconcerting as the initial trip.

Instinctively, Viola moved closer to Jerod.

She could see the lights in the dark sky, the volcano burning bright under the ocean.

Lights from the island and the resorts shone from below and competed with the moon for which was brighter.

When she looked over at Jerod, he was grinning like a kid. “To your liking?”

“I…love it. You’re right.”

“About what?”

“This is definitely showing off.” She gave his hand a squeeze.

Another snap of his fingers and they returned to the daylight. Viola had to blink several times to let her eyes adjust.

“Is there anything you can’t do?” She shook her head in amazement.

Jerod sighed. “I can’t make people fall in love—”

“Yes, yes I know.” She managed a weak laugh and lightly slapped his arm.

“It’s good to see you smile again.” He brushed a piece of her hair out of her eyes.

The brief contact shook Viola to her core—she shivered hard, her skin instantly covered in goosebumps. That simple touch was more thrilling and scary than anything else he’d shown her that morning. She looked down and realized she was still in her 73

pajamas.

“Good thing no one can see me up here.”

“Are you ready to head back?”

There was something in his voice that caught her attention. He looked tired. His face had grown pale, and his hand was very cold in hers. If she didn’t know better, she’d swear he’d caught some sort of flu bug.

“Are you okay?”

Jerod straightened his back and frowned at her. “Of course I am.”

“No, you’re not.” She reached up and touched his forehead. “I think you’re the one who’s pale now.”

“I’m fine.”

“Jerod?”

“Maybe a little tired.”

Their little trip needed to end. “Take me home please,” she said and smiled. “Thank you.”

Jerod nodded. He snapped his fingers and Viola found herself standing back in her bedroom. The clock showed she’d been away for fifteen minutes.
Amazing.
It felt like they’d been gone forever. Her legs shook as she took a step, proving to herself she was indeed back on solid ground. Viola frowned as she spun around the room.
Where the hell
is he hiding now?

“Jerod?”

Nothing. She ignored the small frightened voice that was more than a little concerned for Jerod and walked over to his bottle. She tried to look inside, but the damned glass was too dark. The cap on the bottle refused to come off, so that wasn’t any help either. She rubbed her thumb over the surface, trying to clear away the salty film that covered it.

“You can’t get more wishes by rubbing it again.” A weight lifted off her chest at the sound of his voice. “Are you in there?”

“Get dressed. I’ll meet you downstairs after you eat,” his disembodied voice 74

answered.

“What are you doing?” She held the bottle close to her eyes, squinting in an attempt to see inside. “Are you okay?”

“Don’t do that. You look silly.”

“Thanks a lot.” She set his bottle back down on the table with a thud.

“Ouch.”

“Are you going to hide in there all day? I’m hungry.” She was also scared half to death. He should have warned her he could get sick like that. Maybe he hadn’t known it would happen. That wasn’t a pleasant thought at all.

“I need a rest. Go eat. I’ll find you and we can continue our lessons then.” That didn’t sound good. “Are you sure?”

“I’m fine. Go now.”

And then he was gone.

“Jerod?”

Nothing. She kept half an eye on his home, waiting to see if he was going to pop out and shout “surprise”. She really hoped he’d hop out and say something. Nothing.

Viola picked through the pile of clothing in her suitcase, her mind replaying the morning’s events. How did their trip to the clouds tire him out? Was his magic limited?

That didn’t seem possible, but something had happened. Without really looking, she slipped into a tight-fitting red T-shirt and a pair of short black shorts. Not bothering with a brush, she combed her fingers through her hair and slipped on a pair of open-toe sandals.

She’d never once considered the possibility that Jerod could get tired from using his magic. Maybe he could also get hurt? It seemed unlikely, but really, what did she know about genies after all? The urge to find a computer with an Internet connection was great.

Problem was she doubted she could trust any of the information she’d find online.

Her feet felt heavy as she dragged herself down the hall toward the elevator.

Countless possibilities of how a genie could get hurt filed through her mind. Chainsaws, implosion, dragons, aliens. Shit, anything that someone could wish for. Pressing the 75

down button, Viola vowed she’d be very careful with her next two wishes. If a trip to the clouds could do that to him, imagine what kind of damage wishing for world peace could cause.

Before she knew it, Viola was sitting at the table in the resort restaurant. A young woman bounced over to her and plunked a menu in front of her.

“Can I get you a coffee?”

Viola yawned, nodded and ordered the fruit bowl without looking at the crimson and gold menu. The waitress began to leave, but stopped and turned back.

“I’m sorry if this is out of line. But I wanted to say a few of us from the kitchen saw you and your boyfriend heading out last night. I wanted you to know that we all thought you looked gorgeous.”

Viola looked up and gave her a small smile. “Thank you. Last night was magical.” The woman grinned. “With a man like that, I’m thinking most things are magical.”
Oh, you have no idea, lady.
“He’s very special.” The waitress actually giggled as she walked away.

Viola buried her face in her hands and sighed. She’d only had Jerod around for a day and her life was in turmoil. Only one day. That’s it, that’s all, not a minute more. And she still had two wishes to go.

He’d better hurry the hell up and teach me what I need to know about Bill.

A short time later, the still-smiling waitress returned with her coffee and fruit tray.

Viola began to eat a variety of exotic fruit. She barely tasted it as she shoveled it into her mouth. The waitress dutifully took the empty bowl away and refilled her coffee mug.

Viola made small talk, but she was more interested in keeping an eye on the door. Still no Jerod.

Something was wrong.

She checked her watch for the tenth time. He’d been resting for forty-five minutes now. If she stayed here any longer she’d die from caffeine overdose. Or worry. She had to do something.

He’d be fine. He’s a genie and more than able to look after himself. He’d been doing 76

just that for the past three-thousand years. It’s not like there was a whole lot she could do to help anyway.

Her search for something to do led her to the front desk and the suggestion of taking a scooter ride to explore the island. The man at the rental booth drew a map on the back of a flyer and pointed her in the direction of the best view and most interesting attractions. Forty minutes and twenty dollars later, Viola puttered down the road, helmet on her head and a grin on her face. The island was a gorgeous place to behold, each turn revealing another treasure. So when she saw the rundown sign for Topics Haven Resort, Viola couldn’t believe her eyes. This couldn’t be a resort, if you could still call it that.

Not a single tourist she knew would set foot in this place. Curiosity got the better of her and she decided to explore.

Thick bushes that didn’t look native to the island had overgrown the entrance to the resort, blocking a view of the building from the road. It had only been a fluke she’d spotted the place at all. The driveway was cracked, with tufts of triumphant grass growing straight through. Viola hopped off her scooter, but didn’t want to leave it along the roadside. She pushed it carefully over the cracks and through the bushes, feeling very much like the prince in
Sleeping Beauty
, until she made it through to the other side. When she finally laid eyes on the resort, she sighed.

The place was a dump.

The paint peeled on the weathered resort sign, half buried in the bushes, making it look at least fifty years old. The building itself was filled with broken windows and crumbling bricks. The three-story building was only a fraction of the size of the newer resorts, and would never qualify as a Way to Go resort, even with extensive external repairs.

Despite its condition, there were about twelve people all working around the outside of the building. Some looked to be yanking weeds from the garden, while others were trying to board up the broken windows on the bottom level of the building. All of them looked to be locals to the island, except for one. A man in his late twenties or early thirties was helping lift a large beam onto a sawhorse. From the look of it, he was the one 77