“Remember what I said about needing liquor? They lost my other suitcase. I have no real clothes—”

  “Finally, some good news.” But he didn’t look excited and kept glancing over her head as if expecting someone he didn’t want to see.

  “Other than what was in my carry on, I’m SOL. They have no idea where my stuff is. So let’s put sexy aside.”

  Strange, but he looked relieved at the prospects of going inside the crowded family restaurant. There was no place to move. It was the kind of crush of people that made seeing anyone in particular an impossible task. He almost looked like he was hiding from someone. Stupid thought. She pushed it aside and let him lead the way.

  Between her wishes and his winks, they were pushed ahead of the grumbling, waiting, hordes and settled into a booth in the back. She slid in first, but instead of taking the opposite seat, he brushed his thigh against hers and dropped his arm across her shoulders.

  It didn’t feel bad.

  “The whole menu is full of sandwiches. There’s no actual food.”

  “It’s a hotel.”

  “In a huge city and within sight of a major international airport.”

  She wiped grease smears from the peeling laminated menu with the sole napkin on the table. “A prima donna djinn?”

  He threw down a petulant, “No. Some fucking standards, that’s all I’m asking for.”

  “I shiver to think where I stand on that list.”

  “I shiver when I think of you standing before me.”

  “You don’t have to say those things.”

  “It’s the truth. When I imagine you naked in ripped hose and a bra…I swear to you that my dick twitches every single time. I can count the hours I’ve known you and yet I can’t get you out of my head. It’s taking everything I have not to throw you on this table and shove—”

  “Drinks? Appetizer?”

  While Tig grumbled about being sick and tired of helpful people, she ordered for the both of them from the crook of his arm, including a supersized margarita. He amended this to include a brandy for himself.

  “You two are so cute. How long have you been together?”

  “Umm…”

  “Not nearly long enough,” Tig said. “But I intend to change that when we get back home. There are certain things a man just knows.”

  *****

  That pulling sensation crept back, the one that cinched him closer to her. Was she his? Yep. Would he tell her? Nope. His father’s advice would have been to club her over the head and drag her into his lamp, but this was a modern woman with weird sensibilities about self-ownership and shit.

  He’d get her, no question; he just had to let her think she was in control.

  She looked at him over the rim of her glass and winked. Ah, hell…she was in control. His heart ached with it and he sleeved some sweat off his brow.

  What choice did he have?

  Djinns needed mates. You couldn’t spend eons alone. Maybe he hadn’t expected it to happen so early in his life, but there she sat, slurping on that straw like it was her job.

  “Is something on my mouth?”

  He let out a whoosh of air at the thought that produced. “Tell me about yourself. Work? Friends? Boyfriends I need to eviscerate?”

  “Courier, a few and not at the moment.”

  “That’s too bad.”

  “Oh?”

  “I haven’t had a good evisceration in years. So, a courier?”

  “I’m waiting for the broom joke.”

  He held up a palm in mock surrender. The move worked best with two hands, but he rather liked having the other around her. “No jokes from me. It keeps you out of the office and on your own time. I can appreciate that. If you had a guy in town, in a very stately manse just outside the city and on the water, such a career might allow you to swing by…for lunch.”

  “And what do you presume I might be eating?”

  “Can’t say, but I know what I intend to be slurping up.” It was the night he intended to have for himself. And many more, if he played his cards right. That was the one hangup with these mate issues. Djinn fell…couldn’t help it. But mates could, and had, walked away without a second thought.

  He jerked as her hand landed on his. “You have that look again. That’s the thinking-real-hard-one and not the happy one. Look, I know we just met and I get that. I don’t have any expectations. This is a wild and insane thing we’re doing and well, let’s just leave it at that. I promise that as soon as I get my phone fixed, I’m deleting your number.”

  His heart, one that had beat for ages, rushed its way to the wrong side of a billion miles per hour. “What?”

  “I’ll leave it up to you. So, I hope you call, but no pressure. I won’t be that girl slaving after and chasing some man. That ain’t my style.”

  “But when I call, I repeat, when, you’ll answer.”

  Time caught up to its normal speed when she grinned and nodded.

  “Handcuffs,” he asked.

  “Huh?”

  “Leather?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Dripping in jewels? Spanking? Oh, please yes.”

  “Shush! There are children in the next booth over. What are you saying?” She dropped her voice and leaned in until he could feel her mouth moving against his chest. “Handcuffs? Spankings?”

  “Just trying to figure out what your style is. You brought it up.”

  “Oh…ohhhh…well…” She picked up her florescent green drink with two hands and flicked out the mini umbrella. She drew back a little, but only to meet him eye to eye over the rim of it. “Leather’s not my thing.”

  “What about the rest of it?”

  One of her shoulders rose and she dropped her eyelids. “Like I said, leather is not my thing.”

  “We’re leaving.”

  “No, we’re not. Stop it. I’m hungry. Besides, just because I like it, doesn’t mean you get it. You have to work for it.”

  “What do you call all what happened on the plane?”

  “A pre-test. Heads up. I think this is ours.”

  A waitress with crusted and peeling lips dropped their plates of sandwiched grease. “Here.”

  He didn’t touch it. “We ordered appetizers.”

  “Your regular waitress will bring them when they’re ready.”

  “Not sure it’s meant to work that way.”

  “So you don’t want them?”

  Dinah reached over and pulled her plate front and center. “We do. What he means to say is that we understand how busy you are in this crazy weather and how much we appreciate you bringing this out.”

  The woman smiled, which probably wasn’t the best thing for her lips if the dried blood was any indication. “You are the first person to say something like that.” The glare returned for Tig. “You need to keep her around.” She left before he could voice his agreement.

  “I never pegged you for the ‘nice to strangers’ sort. You know, after the freezing and complete disregard for other peoples’ time in the airport.”

  “That was different.”

  “How?”

  “It just was.”

  “Does different mean convenient? Not that I’m judging. I’m quite proud.”

  “You’re not doing yourself any favors. Look, that woman is responsible for who gets what and when. She’s not the one we need to be ticking off right now. There’s a time for honey, a time for—”

  “Handcuffs?”

  Their laughter continued through dinner, dessert and finally a super late appetizer. She kept drinking, but he wouldn’t stop her. Didn’t want to. Even as she burped and hiccupped through her giggles. He couldn’t think of any situation where he’d try to dissuade her from doing whatever she wanted. Her every wish, present, future, unspoken and forever, was his command. He just had to make sure she felt the same way.

  For the moment though, she wasn’t feeling much at all. She was a cute drunk, but a loud one and he walked up his check to get them out of there that much quicker. In her wake were tossed condiment shakers, dropped nachos and a very angry, busted-lipped teenager.

  She was snoring by the time he put the card in their door upstairs. Someone had thrown her bag in the corner, but he didn’t think she’d appreciate him rummaging through it. Instead, he slipped off her shoes, placed her under the blankets and slid in next to her for a long and excruciatingly hard night.

  Chapter Five

  The first thing she did was touch her legs. She hadn’t shaved above her knees in days and things weren’t looking so hot. An immediate slowing of her heart rate accompanied her hands meeting fabric. The tights were still in place.

  He’d been a gentleman and she’d been a lady. Mostly. At least she remained clothed and the twin wooly mammoths, undiscovered. She should try to slide out the bed and take care of her sasquatchian predicament, but a massive, warm arm held her pinioned.

  Its owner had something else heavy and warm too. It bumped against her hip and she had to bite her lip to keep from wiggling against it.

  Lip biting was hard.

  So was he.

  Wiggling was easy.

  So was she. This was a lot more fun that staring at the painting across the room.

  “Mmmm, good morning to you, Dinah.”

  “Sorry, just stretching.”

  “Liar. Feeling okay? No hangover?”

  “I feel fine. Kinda.”

  “Good.” The hand that held her sunk lower until it reached her knee. He hoisted her leg up and over his. The next thing she felt was his hand warm against her exposed flesh. Crotchless tights were going to be a permanent fixture in her life. “I have to make sure that all of yesterday actually happened. Don’t move.”

  His fingers circled her clit, but she knew what that would lead to. Naked time. Hairy, naked times. “Wait. Why don’t you order us some breakfast? I need to hop in the shower.”

  She slunk out of bed fast enough to catch his warmed faced wincing. “That wasn’t an invitation to join you, was it?”

  “No.”

  “Right. Okay. Uh, yeah, I’ll order us something up.”

  The man looked like the last kid picked in dodgeball. Poor creature, but she couldn’t tell him she had a litter on her legs. One day this would be a hilarious story to tell. For now, she had a forest to fall and she hoped there was a complementary ax in the bathroom strong enough to handle the job.

  She washed.

  She exfoliated.

  She scrubbed.

  She giggled.

  There was lots and lots of giggling. This didn’t happen to her. Other girls did this – dirty, naughty, girls. Now she counted herself happily among them. The djinn had her hooked.

  *****

  He’d blown it.

  Silly him to think that shoving body parts up someone meant you were good to hold them during the night. Never mind the holding-back-the-hair-while-she-heaved, bit. He should have left the filled wastebasket in the room as a disgusting reminder.

  He was ashamed at his own pettiness. The woman had a right to not want him. He supposed. Such women existed. Somewhere…

  But damn it, she wasn’t one of them. She’d proven it enough. Dinah was just being stubborn and he had to wait it out. If it meant being her vomit-cleaning lapdog until she came to her senses, so be it. He’d wait.

  What he couldn’t do was lay here and listen to her in that shower…water glistening…wet body…that could kill a man. So he hopped out of bed and threw a shirt on over his pajama bottoms. He’d get her majesty’s food himself, needing the distance between them and stomped out the door.

  Running children and screaming parents forced him to pivot and scoot his way down the hall. The elevator wasn’t much better. Everyone inside screeched out demands to airlines and hotels. Tig hadn’t bothered. One look out the window was enough to know that he wasn’t going anywhere. More than that, he hadn’t wanted to. He had work to do.

  Thankfully, the breakfast line moved faster than he thought it might. After tossing the money on the counter, he grabbed their bag of eggs, toast and OJs and turned, smashing right into a red-faced, arms crossed Karlin.

  The Beast glared at him from heavy lined eyes and clumped eyelashes. Either she wore her makeup heavier than he remembered or the harshness of the morning light was being cruel to them both. In the low cut blouse and heels, she looked cheap and worn, out of place with the families around them. “Karlin.”

  “I waited two hours for you to show up.”

  “Oh?”

  “That’s all you can say?” The woman’s eyes drifted to his neck.

  Tucking the lamp inside his shirt would be too obvious. He left alone and kept talking. “Yes, I know what I did was wrong. Look, we met at the exact moment I’d been terribly humiliated by my…well, you were…are…a beautiful woman and I thought I could forget her for a little bit. You deserve better than that.”

  “I don’t need your pity.”

  “I didn’t offer it. That wasn’t an excuse, just an explanation.”

  Karlin’s hand flew in the air to shut him up. “Not a very good one. All you had to do was let me know. I don’t appreciate being forced to wait around.”

  Tig closed the space between them, his nose inches away from her garlicky breath. “No one forced you to do anything. You threw yourself at me and I dodged. The desperation you’re showing right now makes me more than a little glad I did. It’s off putting.”

  “Get over yourself. I have a line of men back home and a husband who worships the ground I walk on. You were going to be another throw away secret.”

  “Ah! Well, then you’re just disgusting.”

  He hadn’t seen the slap coming. Karlin didn’t even wish she could slap him. She just did it. Points for decisiveness…and technique. He rubbed his jaw and took a step back. “Have a good life. Enjoy your trip to wherever and I wish you many future affairs and years of cuckolding.”

  “Don’t you dare walk away from me.”

  There were too many shocked glares and halted conversations for him not to. He had a real witch upstairs that needed sorting out and he wasn’t going to waste any more time with this one. He let her scream in the brown halls, nodded to the concierge and made his way to the elevators.

  In the room, he found Dinah wrapped in a towel, feet flopping off the edge of the bed. “I need more clothes.”

  “I humbly disagree. Bagels?”

  “Yes, please. And I need to apologize. I saw the mess of towels in the bathroom corner. I’m, uh, not a drinker.”

  “I humbly disagree. Eggs?” He dropped the food on the bed and tried to lift the edge of her towel. She kicked him away, but rose to her knees, opening and quickly closing the cloth for a lightning fast view of perfection. The wild, shameless thing winked at him, snatched up the food and patted the space next to her. He rolled over immediately.

  “I needed this – lots and lots of grease. Thanks. Have you had a chance to check the weather? It looks like we’ll be stuck here awhile.” Her neck swiveled from the window and back to him. She took another bite of food and stared ahead. “How do you feel about that?”

  “Shame we don’t have anything to do all day.”

  “Tragic, ain’t it?”

  He raked his teeth across her shoulder, unable to stop himself. Being close hadn’t been enough. “I’m sure we can think of something.”

  “The whole city can’t have shut down. I thought I might take a ride on the transit system and see stuff. It could be fun.”

  “I un-humbly disagree.”

  “Oh, Tig, c’mon. We’ll explore a new city.”

  He definitely liked hearing the ‘we,’ but she was too new to him and the only thing he cared to explore, he now rested his chin on. He didn’t want to share her with the world. Not yet. He needed time to enjoy her and more importantly, find out what she enjoyed as well. “I’ve been here before. It’s all the same.”

  “I haven’t, Grumpy, and you’re going to take me out. You’re going to show me this city, since you know it so well.”

  “But you don’t have any clothes.”

  “I wish—”

  “No. Don’t do that.”

  “Are you whining now?”

  “Begging.”

  “Charm me, Tig.”

  She’d turned away after saying it and the words hit him like a punch in the throat. Her movements right now looked too close to shame. Did she think he only valued her for one thing? Fuck him, he’d been acting like it. How to tell her, without scaring her, that she was his universe?

  “I was hoping to save some of this charm for Galveston. I’d shine a little better there. Here, I confess, I’m not quite the pro. We’ll go and I’ll try, but only if you promise not to laugh if I get us lost.”

  “Deal.” He had a lot of decisions to make when she extended her hand. He could have pulled her over. He could have kissed it. He could have done any number of sensuous things with it, but he resisted them all. A wink, a nod and curt handshake of agreement was all it took to get her beaming.

  Poor girl had no clue that she’d have that look on her face for the rest of her life. He’d always see her happy. He bounced up and tucked his necklace underneath his shirt. The cool, precious metal a reminder of their new future. Their home. “Hurry up!”

  “I’m not dressed!”

  “I’ll handle it.”

  “But Tig?”

  Her eyebrow shot up at his whistle, but she scooted out on bare feet anyway, with nothing but his arms and a robe around her.

  They were downstairs in minutes and far more appropriately dressed when they got out the elevator than when they got in. Everyone and their mother wished for warmer clothes. He plucked the best wishes among them. For himself, he whipped up an obnoxious, antique fur coat three sizes too big. For her, a mountaineer’s cap, purple mittens and a polka dotted snow bib.

  “I should hate you for this.”

  “You’d look good in anything.” He waved his hands between them. “And you can’t hate me, because these are fantastic. ”

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9