Genie Knows Best (26 page)

Kal shifted beneath her, and it was as if something shifted inside her. And she didn’t mean him, though yeah, he did. And he thrust. And he moved. Bearing down on her hips with his fingertips, lifting her up, then burying himself inside her. Samantha didn’t know how he was keeping them afloat since their hands were busy creating pleasure on each other’s bodies, their legs grasping as tremors wracked them, and she didn’t care.

His hands slid to her shoulders. “Sam… Trust me.”

She did. That was the thing; she did trust him. She had no reason not to.

With a gentle nudge, Kal laid her in the water. “Open your eyes, sweetheart. Watch what I do to you.”

Overhead, the soft white tree lights reflected off banana leaves blocking the starlit sky, but that was okay because, with the first stroke of his palm from her collarbone to her hip, Samantha saw her own stars. Flashes of light as if they were attached to every nerve ending she had.

He cupped her and his fingers played in her curls. “You are so beautiful, Sam.”

He made her feel beautiful. Made her feel cherished and desired and wanted. His eyes were that warm, meltiness that was her undoing. She touched his cheek, drew his face to hers, and kissed him. Softly. Stroked the stubble on his cheek.

“I like this,” she whispered when they came up for air—but not too far apart. Their breath mingled as their bodies soon would.

Kal smiled and kissed her shoulder. Then he moved across her skin to just above her breasts, the sexy scruffiness along his jaw firing even more responses from her nerve endings, and Samantha couldn’t hold back a moan.

“That’s it, Sam. Go with it. Let the sensation take you.”

Oh she was.

His fingers delved inside her, his thumb stroking that sensitive part of her, and Samantha widened her legs, the feeling of the water lapping against her swollen flesh as erotic as what he was doing to her. She’d never made love like this. Never in water.

And she’d only ever
made
love
with him.

“Kal, I…”

Kal’s lips found her breast and she lost the ability to speak. All she could do was arch into him and trail her hand down his body to find him beneath the water. His cock jerked when she closed her hand around it.

He panted against her breast. “Careful, Sam. It’s not going to take much.”

She looked down at him, her nipple pebbled beneath his tongue, the chains of her necklaces encircling that one breast, a sight so erotic she almost came just from the sheer imagery. “Tell me about it.”

And he did. He told her everything he was going to do to her. Told her when he was going to spread her wide. When he was going to feather soft, butterfly strokes over her. When he was going to press a little harder. Then a little softer. A little faster. A little slower. He told her when his fingers would go inside her. When they’d withdraw.

The anticipation was incredible, but his actual touch… Samantha was so on fire
she
could have lit up the clearing.

And then he floated her in front of him. How she remained above water, Samantha didn’t know. Didn’t care. All she cared about was where he was going to stop her.

He spread her legs and drew her toward him.

Tremors wracked her body.

“Cold?” His palms closed over her breasts.

Samantha shook her head, her wet curls clinging to her neck. “No,” she managed to croak out between dry lips. It didn’t make sense that she had absolutely no moisture in her mouth, but elsewhere… She was drenched.

Kal lowered his head, groaning when his lips made contact, and Samantha groaned, too.

Then she moaned when his teeth gently stroked the sensitive nub, his chin gently rasping across the rest of her swollen flesh.

She spread her legs wider.

His hands cupped her backside, his thumbs working more magic by spreading her even more for his tongue, and oh God, the sensations…

She arched, she twisted, she pressed toward him, trying to get closer. Trying to stem that rising tide or invite it, she didn’t know which.

Kal stroked her fast, then slow, then almost not at all, and she thought she’d go crazy at the last. “Please, Kal.”

“Please, what? Say it, Sam. I’ve got to hear you say it. Tell me what you wish.”

She wanted; she didn’t wish. A world of difference in meaning—there were those semantics again—but she could barely say, “Lick me, Kal. Make me come,” let alone anything else.

And then she didn’t have to.

He sucked her between his lips, his tongue working her, and Samantha could feel the sensation rise within her. Felt it coiling there, churning, waiting to rush over her.

She grabbed his head and pulled him into her, not having a clue how he was breathing and not worrying about it. He was a genie; he’d figure something out.

He brought her to the edge; she was panting his name. Chanting it, desire wringing it from the depths of her soul. Then he stopped, blowing gently over her instead, and Samantha raised her head. “Kal?”

He smiled a wicked, wicked smile. “Like that?”

Her “yes” was one long hiss, cut off at the end when he tongued her again. And this time he didn’t stop.

No matter how much her body writhed or her legs wanted to close against the overpowering sensations, Kal didn’t stop. He built the tide, working it, feeding it, until finally, with strokes so fast and strong and hard, she shattered against him, her cry rippling through the oasis.

And she didn’t care.

Her body trembled as the waves rolled over her, her fists protesting when she gripped water that slipped away.

Kal slid his hands to hers, never releasing that one point of pleasure, but then he created more when he intertwined their fingers, and, palm to palm, he pulled her toward his mouth again, wringing every last sensation from her, every last pulse of pleasure.

Finally, Samantha’s body went slack, floating on the water’s ripples in the aftermath of what he’d done to her, those ripples perfectly in tune with the ones inside her.

***

The sand was soft beneath her back and didn’t cling to her skin. That was Samantha’s first coherent thought after Kal had taken her to paradise—he’d been right about that.

Her body hadn’t been hers to command afterward, and, thankfully, it hadn’t mattered. Kal floated her to the beach beside the pool and managed to get her onto it while all she felt was the touch of his skin against hers, the rise and fall of his chest, the scent of him and their lovemaking.

And she wanted him all over again.

Kal rested on his elbow beside her and ran his fingertips along her collarbone and down her breast, her nipple pebbling when he brushed over it lightly. Her stomach quivered when his fingers passed over it, her legs falling open when he circled on her hipbone.

When he went lower, she felt herself swell again. Felt the moisture form. “God, what you do to me,” she whispered when his finger found her again.

“What do I do to you, Sam? Tell me.”

His lips followed the same path his finger had taken, and all the while, that diligent finger kept up the teasing. The sweet and utterly divine torture.

“You drive me crazy,” she whispered, feeling her breath catch again. “You make me want to do everything with you. To never stop doing this. To give myself to you again and again, and take everything you have to give, Kal.”

“Go with that, Samantha. Your instincts are right on.”

And then
he
was right on. And in.

And Samantha could only grip the muscles in his backside and hold on as he took on her on a ride better than any magic carpet could.

Samantha woke to the sweet smell of morning glory, a perfect scent to wake up to on a perfect morning after a perfect night.

With the perfect man asleep beside her.

She stretched, smiling at the twinging muscles, the memories flooding her. She picked up the two pendants where they’d fallen beside her ear and brought them to her lips. Kal’s lantern and his gemstone; he was hers now and no one was going to take him from her.

Sunlight winked through the large, overlapping banana tree fronds, catching the flicker of his lashes and the morning shadow of a beard.

She could get used to waking up next to him.

The thought crept in, soft and sweet and full of promise. He felt something for her; whether or not it was what she felt for him, she’d have to find out. But he did feel something; she wasn’t just a one-night stand for him. Or two-night, as the case may be.

No, he was here with her for the long haul. And she was going to make the most of that opportunity. Not only was Kal sexy, but he wanted her. He respected her. He liked her.

And best of all, he was a genie with enough magic that he didn’t need anything from her. She liked that.

As she lay there watching the hummingbirds flit by with their jeweled feathers, Samantha let her imagination take flight with them. Of a future with Kal in it. He’d have to stay, right? He was, after all, her genie, bound by his Code to fulfill her every wish.

He’d fulfilled quite a lot of them last night.

Smiling, Samantha slid away from him and gathered her clothes and the amulet from his pants pocket. The future might look wonderful and full of possibilities, but the present was demanding food. Last night had worked up quite the appetite.

Several of them.

She took one last look at Kal sleeping there, blew him a kiss, then slapped the amulet to her chest and whisked herself off to Paris for croissants.

“So did ye get the lantern, lad? From the looks o’ this place, ye certainly had yer chance.” O’Malley stood on the beach with another leprechaun Samantha had never seen before.

“Jesus J., O’Malley!” Kal shot up to a sitting position on the carpet that hovered a few inches off the ground—sort of an air mattress in the real sense of the word—and yanked the corner of the rug over his nudity. “O’Malley, what are you doing here? And where’s Samantha?”

Samantha didn’t know why the modesty; Kal should be naked for the entire world to enjoy. Which she certainly was.

Samantha ducked behind the hut she and Kal had decided not to use last night. Good thing she was up and dressed before these two decided to show up.
That
would have been embarrassing. But what were they doing here?

O’Malley thumped his shillelagh on the sand. “Me an’ Paddy here, we’re tryin’ t’ get some inside information. Seamus wants t’ win back everra’thin’ he took from us on the last bet, and we want to stick it up his big ol’ porker of a nose. Thinks he knows everra’thin’, he does. So, come on, Kal, give us a hint.”

The other leprechaun, Paddy, piped up, “Ye know, it’s no’ a good thin’ t’ be losin’ yer masters, Kal. Kinda makes it hard t’ keep to The Code and Serve them.”

“Oh, he doesn’t care about that. Isn’t that right, Kal?”

Kal rolled over in all his naked glory—that she’d had her hands and lips and tongue all over last night—and stood. The cuffs at his wrist twinkled in the sunlight.

Gold. They’d changed to gold.

Something to ask him about. Did he get new cuffs with each new master? She hadn’t paid any attention to them last night, nor had she noticed what metal they’d been during the short time Albert had been his master, but then, it’d been dark and she’d had other things on her mind.

She had other things on her mind now.

Sadly, Kal waved his hand and a new pair of pants showed up. Probably for the best; O’Malley and his buddy didn’t show any signs of leaving.

She could always wish them gone…

Samantha fiddled with the lantern chain. He’d said he didn’t want his freedom, that being a genie was an honor. But she should give it to him just in case he changed his mind.

Although she could lose him that way.

Samantha’s heart stuttered for a few seconds. She’d only known him a short time, but it felt like forever. They fit together. Did she really want to risk him taking off?

Do
you
really
want
him
to
stay
because
he
has
no
choice?

Love was a gamble, no matter if the guy was a genie or a prince or a regular Joe. Making him stay with her because of the lantern was no way to build a relationship. Relationships were built on mutual respect and trust, with a big dose of passion thrown in. They had the passion, there was definitely respect, and she had no reason not to trust him.

She took the chain off her head. The one with the eagle, too. As soon as O’Malley and his friend left, she’d give Kal the necklaces. They were his to do with what he wanted and she’d just have to trust that he’d choose to stay with her.

“Yer gonna have to get it from her some time, ye know, if ye want that job ye’ve been hankerin’ after for all these centuries,” said Paddy. “Just come out with it an’ tell her, for gods’ sakes. That way me and O’Malley can stick it t’ ol’ Seamus an’ ye can move on t’ yer job. ’Twas only a means t’ an end, anyhow, this Service thing, right?

“Once she gave ye up to that Albert guy, yer sentence was done, so ye should be able t’ move on, right? I’d think yer Samantha would be pleased t’ hear she could help ya in that. ’Course I’m guessin’ ye might not want t’ tell her, given what ye two have been up to. She might think ye’ve been usin’ her.”

“Well, of course he has, ye nitwit.” O’Malley conked Paddy on the head with the end of his shillelagh. “She was the last master of his sentence. Albert was number one thousand and two. There’s no reason fer Kal t’ be hangin’ around w’ her now. He’s no’ stupid; he’s no’ gonna fall in love with her, for St. Pat’s sake. Ye know genies canna love mortals or they’ll lose their magic an’ immortality. Me, I’d do just what he did. Enjoy the perks, but take the lantern an’ run. Be free as a bird as soon as possible.”

The words were hitting, but not computing. What did O’Malley mean about her being Kal’s last master? About him needing the lantern? About him “enjoying the perks” while waiting for the lantern? About using her?

Samantha dropped the pastry box and ducked behind the hut a little more while her brain made the leaps it needed to to connect all the dots. Kal needed the lantern to be free so he could get the job he wanted.

She
had
the lantern.

Oh God. He’d used her. He’d wanted the lantern and had used whatever means he could to get it—and she’d gone right along with the plan. It wasn’t as if
that
had never happened to her before.

Samantha tried to stem the oncoming hyperventilation.

Was that what all the seduction had been about? Was that all she was to him? All she meant? A means to an end?

Well, duh. What’d you think? The guy
has
been
running
around
the
planet
for
the
last
two
thousand
years
unable
to
get
his
hands
on
that
thing. You think
you’re
a
bigger
prize? Wake up and smell the hookah, baby. You’ve been played by Kal every bit as much as you were by Albert.

The croissant she’d had in Paris lodged in her throat. God, was she that much of a patsy? That much of a doormat? That gullible?

But he’d turned her down when she’d tried to give it to him. Had that been a halfhearted refusal? One he would have caved in and “reluctantly” accepted when she offered it to him again in a gracious,
if-you-insist
protestation designed to keep her suspicions at bay?

And here, she’d been planning to
give
him the lantern; wouldn’t that have been ironic? Just hand it over, free and clear. Then what? He’d fly out of her life on that magic carpet, leaving her high and dry?

Oh, the pun. The stupid, silly, ridiculous pun about being left high and dry in a desert. Duped, then dumped. All under the guise of caring for her and her own delusions of grandeur.

She’d been played. Again.

So much for learning a freaking lesson from past mistakes.

Samantha swiped at the corner of her eyes. She wasn’t going to cry. Not here. Not now. Not in front of those leprechauns and sure as hell not in front of Kal.

“I say ye just grab it and run. What’s she gonna do, follow ye?”

“She has the amulet, O’Malley.” Kal’s first words in his defense were the ones that condemned him. Where was the “I don’t want the lantern. I want Samantha”? Where was the “I don’t care about anything but her”?

She knew where it was: lodged in her stupid fairy-tale-believing mind right next to the one about Albert and happily ever after.

That Oracle hadn’t had a
clue
what he was talking about. She was a fool. A damned fool. And she had no one to blame but herself.

Hot tears stung the backs of her eyes. Samantha blinked and looked away. She’d wanted it so badly. To be valued for who she was—just once—and not for what she could do or give or bring to the table.

She was fooling herself. A fool fooling herself. It was all a sham.

Clueless.
A worse adjective than
useless.

And the sucky thing was that Albert had been absolutely right. The lizard—literally and figuratively—had been right about her. And if
that
didn’t make her feel worse…

How easily she’d given in to Kal. How easily she’d fallen for him. His words. His lies. And all along, he’d only wanted the lantern.

The damned lantern.

Samantha closed her fist around the pendants. If only she’d never found the damned thing, none of this would have happened. She would have celebrated Dad with his memorial service, broken up with Albert in due time, and then gone about finding someone to share her life with in the normal way.

Instead, she’d given her heart and her trust to someone who only wanted to use her. Again.

No
one wanted her for herself. For who she was. Even Kal. He’d made love to her as if she’d meant something to him. As if she could give him something no other woman before her could—

But then, she could, couldn’t she? That damned lantern.

Samantha looked at it. At the gemstone. These… these
things
that were the cause of all her troubles. Albert, Kal, the desert, the talking fox, the dragons, the leprechauns… all of it.

She was done with all of them.

Samantha marched across the clearing. It took Kal about two seconds to see her; the leprechauns about five times that long. But the birds in the reeds saw her first and understood immediately what she was feeling.

The clearing went quiet. So quiet that Samantha thought she could hear her stupid slipper shoes hitting the ground.

“I still say ye should just tell her what’s what. Women. They need a firm hand—”

If Kal hadn’t given Paddy a firm hand across his mouth, Samantha would have.

The smile Kal had on his face disappeared. “Samantha, what are you—”

She thrust the tangled necklaces—that
damned
lantern—into his chest. “You know what’s really ironic, Kal? All you had to do was ask for them and I would have handed them over. Just like that.” She snapped her fingers. “You did all this game-playing for nothing, and I, gullible fool that I am, would have just handed them over as if they were nothing.”

Kal looked at her hands, then her eyes.

“I couldn’t ask you for it, Samantha. It’s against the rules.”

She would not fall for the look she saw in his eyes. Not again. “Fine. Then don’t ask. Here you go. They’re yours. Enjoy your freedom.”

“But Sam—”

When he didn’t move, she thrust them harder. “Take them. I don’t want them. I don’t want
them
, I don’t want
you
, and I just want to get the hell out of here.”

Kal looked at her. Then he looked at the necklaces. Then he looked back at her.

It was there. That gleam in the eye that everyone got when they were getting exactly what they wanted from her. God knew, she’d seen it enough to recognize it.
Samantha
capitulated
, it said. She couldn’t bear it in
his
eyes.

Samantha dropped the necklaces, uncaring where they landed. The damned things could break for all she cared. She knew enough about breaking.

“I’ve got ’em!” O’Malley dove to the ground.

Paddy was right after him. “No, they’re mine! Mine, I tell you! I need a genie.”

They smacked heads and collapsed in a heap.

God, she couldn’t even do this right.

Samantha bent down, yanked the chains out from under the leprechaun mound, separated them, and draped them over Kal’s head. “There.”

“Sam—”

No. She couldn’t listen to him. Didn’t want to hear the platitudes. The excuses. The half-truths.

The lies.

“Just leave me alone, Kal. You have what you want. What you were after. I don’t need this.” She didn’t need
him
.

O’Malley cursed and Paddy grumbled as they stumbled back to their feet, casting malevolent glances her way.

Kal, however, just looked resigned. And maybe a little bit sad.

She wasn’t falling for it. “I just wish I could go back to before we met and forget this ever happened.”

Kal sighed and jerked his hand, with something that looked suspiciously like tears in his eyes. “As you wish, Sam. As you wish.”