As You Wish (2 page)
Her body was toned and athletic, yet utterly feminine. She was by no means fragile-looking like the fair elf he had just left abruptly in his bed.
He frowned, thinking of Niri and their unfinished conversation. She was special to him, but he did not love her. He regretted causing her any pain. There was no way he would continue their relationship now that he knew her true feelings. So why did he feel more relief than sadness?
He touched Karis’s cheek, caressing the smooth, honey brown skin with his finger.
Niri asked if he would ever love again but he wasn’t looking for love. Pleasure was enough. Experience had taught him the hard way love could not be trusted and it often came with a high price.
He traced the soft full curve of Karis’s bottom lip, admiring her beauty. She was tall by human standards, but she had curves in all the right places—lots of curves, he acknowledged as the flimsy robe fell away to reveal ample breasts under the thin material of her shirt.
Her soft groans pulled his gaze back to her face as she stirred beneath his touch.
Her wide eyes had struck him the most, so green and pure.
She had been drawn to the box containing his vessel because of Nadine’s first wish. He had been waiting for the very moment when he would finally be face to face with—
Karis.
He knew her name, able to read her thoughts the moment he stepped into her realm. She wasn’t what he had expected after speaking with her mother. When Nadine summoned him, he knew she understood his kind and the supernatural world, but Karis did not.
He could sense power radiating from her the moment he had appeared in the room. His gaze swept over the fine bone structure of her face and high cheekbones framed by a few strands of loose hair freed from her ponytail. She appeared genuinely surprised by his appearance and completely unable to handle the surge of energy accompanying his arrival.
Whether Karis accepted it or not, he was bound to her until he had fulfilled her mother’s remaining two wishes and Karis’s three wishes were complete. One required him to help her tap into her abilities. He knew she had power and now he wondered exactly what hidden talents she possessed.
He glanced down at her long legs and bare feet, his body reacting to her intriguing mixture of innocence and burgeoning sexuality.
Nadine’s third wish seemed simple—keep Karis safe. Yet, kneeling before her now, Vander wondered if the biggest threat to the psychic’s daughter might be him.
Incredibly warm fingers stroked her cheek and gently tucked strands of hair behind her ears. Moaning, Karis shifted closer to the soothing caress tracing the outline of her nose and lips. This was the type of dream she could get used to.
“Karis?”
That voice.
Exactly how she’d imagine a sexy lover’s voice to be, warm yet rough—a sensual caress. Her robe slipped open and she shivered as the silk gave way, baring her legs and black panties under her soft T-shirt.
“Karis, wake up.”
She slowly opened her eyes to the commanding voice in her head, her breath catching in her throat as her vision came into focus.
The hot half-naked stranger was still here.
“Don’t scream!” he said, putting his hand over her mouth. “Relax, Karis. I’m not going to hurt you.”
With her lips pressed against the inside of his palm, she inhaled slowly, keeping her gaze fastened on the huge male before her. He smelled of sandalwood and something else she couldn’t define.
In an instant, blind panic took over and she began to struggle in earnest. She tried to pry his hand from her face, but all her efforts were futile.
“Relax.”
His deep voice held a hint of amusement as she gave up fighting to simply stare into the golden depths of his eyes.
The phone was miles away on the kitchen counter, any other weapon also well out of reach. How could she even attempt to defend herself against such a big man?
“I will not harm you.” His soft words interrupted the slew of thoughts jumbling her head. “Promise not to scream again?”
Karis nodded, unsure if she’d keep her promise, yet anxious to get away from the warmth of his touch and the unsettling fissions of awareness spreading through her skin. She sat up as he pulled away from her, aware of his gaze trailing down the length of her scantily clad body.
“Who are you?” she asked, fumbling to pull the edges of her robe together as she folded her arms across her breasts. There was a slight wobble in her voice but nothing to betray the overwhelming sensation of madness enveloping her. She tore her eyes away from his intense stare to the sparkling looped top defying gravity between them. “Do you see that?” she whispered more to herself than the sexy intruder less than a foot away from her.
“My name is Vander.” He reached out and grasped the looped lid suspended in mid-air.
She watched him replace the top on the bottle in stunned silence.
“You aren’t hallucinating, Karis. I’m real. You know that on some level.”
Her body responded to the way he kept saying her name and heat rushed to her cheeks. “How…how is this possible?” She stood, tying the sash on her robe.
“You summoned me when you touched this.” He held out the antique, hand-painted bottle.
“So let me get this straight you came out of that…that bottle?” A hysterical giggle escaped from her throat. “I’ve got myself a real live genie in a bottle?” She shook her head with a derisive laugh.
“I’m a Djinn but your culture often refers to my kind as a genie.”
Karis fell silent. This guy was serious. Was he even human or just some twisted sexual fantasy playing out in her head?
Vander laughed, each hearty chuckle bringing her attention to his rock hard abs. “I am human in this realm but we can talk more about that later and as for the latter part of your question…I can be whatever you need.”
She lifted her eyes to his handsome face as she tried to swallow the lump in her throat. He had to be the sexiest man she had ever seen. His muscled body seemed to be chiselled out of marble. He would make the perfect subject for nude drawings, oil paintings, a bronzed Michelangelo. Her gaze moved down to his full sensual lips, which were curved into a winsome smile.
“Thank you for your compliments.”
She gasped. “You…you can hear what I’m thinking?”
He nodded, moving to sit on one of her barstools.
“Wait a minute, wait a minute. This is crazy. I’m crazy.” She rushed towards him. “You aren’t real!” Her fingers connected with ultra warm skin and she gasped as he grabbed her wrists and held her hands in place above his heartbeat.
Chapter Two
“See. You’ve touched me…I am real, Karis. I am here.” His voice had lowered to a silky whisper and her gaze dropped to his full mouth and perfectly trimmed black goatee.
She had to accept he was a genie or she was experiencing one hell of an hallucination, either way, she was going to play along. “So I’ve got three wishes then?” she asked, trying to pull her hands from his grasp. She breathed an inward sigh of relief when he let her go.
“Three wishes, yes, but we should talk about the details. It doesn’t exactly work like in the movies I’m sure you’ve seen.”
“Okay, so how does it work?” She took another step back from him and stole a glance at the phone only a few feet away.
“Because you have summoned me, I am bound to you until your three wishes are met. The term
wish
implies, as soon as you make a request, I can magically make whatever you’ve asked happen, but that’s not necessarily how it works.” He crossed his arms. “Think of it as three chances or opportunities for me to use my powers to help you achieve what you want. I cannot undo whatever is set into motion once the wish has been asked. I cannot make anyone fall in love with you—”
“And you can’t kill someone for me…right?” Karis asked jokingly, looking at his bulging biceps.
What was this guy’s workout routine?
“Wrong. I can.” He stretched his arm along her countertop and turned his palm upward and a brilliant blue ball of light appeared and hovered over his hand. “I possess the power to take a life. Although, those types of wishes cannot be asked lightly, for there are always severe consequences for the master who chooses such a dark path.”
Karis eye widened as the sphere of blue dissolved. “Master?” she repeated, noticing the huge dark bracelets around his wrists.
Vander nodded. “Until your three wishes are done, you are my master…the keeper of my vessel.” He gestured towards the bottle he had sat on her counter.
“This is crazy,” Karis repeated, rubbing her eyes.
“There are a lot of things you don’t understand yet, but you will,” he promised.
It was as if he knew her and understood she was at the end of her rope, emotionally, financially and apparently mentally.
He exhaled harshly, swallowing up the distance between them before she could blink. She gasped as he gripped her arms and yanked her close to his body.
“You are wasting time second guessing yourself, Karis. I can help you.” His hands were huge, encircling the tiny biceps she had spent many hours in the gym to get.
“If that’s true…then I want you to help me find my mother.” She noticed the golden irises in his eyes darken. “You can help me do that right?”
He released her again with a slight nod. “I can, but there is much you don’t understand.”
She shook her head in frustration. “Can you or can’t you help me find my mother?” The silence stretched between them for a few seconds as she waited for his answer.
“I know your mother and possibly who has her,” he stated flatly.
Karis gasped. “Where…how?” The questions were flying around so fast in her head, she couldn’t think of which one to ask first.
Vander went to her window, pulling the curtain back to let in the lights of the city. “Your mother found my vessel and summoned me. She is a powerful seer but your own power is stronger…I can feel it. It was her wish that I would help you develop your gift. “
“No.” She paced the floor. “This isn’t making any sense.”
He turned away from the window to look at her. “She also told me your unwillingness to believe in the supernatural ever since you were a little girl, but here I am. You must acknowledge your mother’s beliefs for the truths they represent.”
Karis stopped pacing to glare at him. “My mother’s beliefs are what got her into trouble.”
“If you want to help your mother you must believe in your own power and learn how to use it.”
“I don’t know if I can.”
And I’m afraid
. She blinked back tears as the thought raced through her mind. No matter what she tried to do with her life she couldn’t escape her past.
“I’m not going to tell you there is nothing to fear. That would be foolish. But, you
can
do this. You just have to decide once and for all what you believe about yourself and our world.”
“It’s not that simple,” she said, shaking her head. “You’re asking me to change my whole worldview.”
“I know.”
Looking into his eyes, she believed he did. “I don’t even know where to start with all this.”
“Tell me about these dreams involving your mother.”
“They’re more like nightmares.” She wrapped her arms tight across her chest.
Vander nodded. “Your mother has been trying to reach you, the only way she can because you are not in tune with your gift. When you are sleeping, the part of you refusing to believe lies dormant, allowing your subconscious mind to function freely and do what it already knows how to.”
“Wait…wait,” she mumbled, touching her temples. “I can’t deal with all of this right now. You said you would serve me, well, all I want you to do is find my mother. Why can’t I simply wish for you to take me to her?”
“I could fulfil that request if she were somewhere in this realm.”
Her world was spinning. “I…I don’t understand.”
“Your mother is being held in another dimension. To find her we must know exactly where she is. You possess the ability to find her.”
“How?” Karis asked with an incredulous scowl.
One eyebrow lifted as his lips curved into a sexy smile. “First, you must make a formal wish. But, I must warn you, fulfilling your wish will require our joint efforts.”
“What do you mean?” She picked up her coffee, surprised to find it still remarkably warm. Another reminder not much time had passed since her world had been turned upside down again with the appearance of a genie.
Vander watched her take a sip, before speaking. “I can help you, but I cannot make this wish come true alone. I need your help.”
“I don’t have any gifts…I never did.”
“You’re wrong and you know it. You’ve just been blocking what you see around you, hiding from your true self all of this time because of your fear of being different and your desire to blend in with the crowd, but you’ll always stand apart, Karis. You
are
different.”
She stared at him, struck by his accuracy, unnerved by how good it felt to have someone understand. “If I do have this great power, which I can tell you again I don’t…but let’s pretend I do. How would you be able to help me strengthen it?” She watched him walk to her bar counter and select a red apple from the fruit bowl.