Jinni's Wish (Kingdom, #4)

“Paz, in my world, I’m still immortal. This body will never die, never age.”


The ramifications of that statement settled like a lump of coal in her gut.

He pulled his hand out of his pocket, withdrawing two silver necklaces. One with a heart shaped pendant and the other a square. Both bore an amethyst stone at its center, but it gleamed like molten steel and she ooh’d as he dropped them into her hand.

“What is this?”

“The stones of veritas. Truth stones. True love stones.” His hands pushed her hair out of her eyes, forcing her gaze to his. “Those stones contain a piece of our soul, only true soul mates can do so. Your love for me and my love for you rests within those stones.”

She traced the heart with her thumb, shivering at the tingle that raced through her veins from the contact. “Is this mine?”

“Paz Lopez,” his eyes were bright and he was smiling and it took her breath away, “will you walk with me all the days of my life?”

“But I thought you said--”

“That necklace will bind you to me, Paz. You can stay with me forever.”

Tears trembled on her lashes. “Are you sure you’re not just doing this because you want free rent?” She laughed through her tears.

He chuckled. “You drive me mad.”

“Hmm… not a good way to start our lives together.”

He growled and pinned her with a kiss, deep and thoroughly satisfying. She sighed when he pulled away. “Umm… okay. Yup, that will do.”

Rolling his eyes with the biggest, goofiest grin she’d ever seen him wear, he took the necklace from her and unhooked it. Clasping it around her neck, the stone settled against her breast with a quick flash of warm heat. It pulsed through her blood and then blazed a deep jeweled indigo before returning back to just a pretty stone.

Her mouth rounded into an ‘o’ and she gripped the heart in her hand. “Am I?”

He nodded. “Forever, little dove.”

“And ever, and ever, and ever,” she whispered. The moment was so full and ripe with meaning, that she needed to break the tension. “Jinni, I have to know. I always wondered about this.”

Narrowing his eyes, he asked, “What?”

“You were a genie once. If you could have had one wish, what would it have been?”

“That’s easy,” he twirled a length of her hair around his finger, “you.”

“Mush,” she sighed, “I’m mush.”

Jinni glanced at her bedroom alarm clock. “We do have two hours before your brother returns.”

“Hmm…” She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Whatever should we do?”

He glanced at the bed. “I can think of a few things.”

She laughed and then he was kissing her and she was kissing him back and neither one came up for air until the annoying buzz of her penthouse door said her brother and Todd had arrived.

Paz watched him dress and pouted. “I hate to see you cover that magnificent body.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t do it often.”

Happy, body sated, Paz grabbed her clothes off the floor and smiled. She’d found her Todd.

“Dove,” Jinni said, the annoying buzz of her doorbell so easy to ignore when her body felt so good, “would you like to go dancing on the stars tonight?”

Grin splitting her face wide, she nodded. “You still have magic?”

His smile was mysterious and sultry and Paz knew that no matter what, she could never have done better.

Jinni was her everything. Her confidant. Her lover. And if she’d been a genie, she’d have wished for him too.

“I love you,” she whispered and he grabbed her hand, lacing their fingers together.

“Forever,” he whispered, tucking a curl behind her ear.

“Forever,” she kissed his knuckle.

And their forever was filled with light, love, and dancing on the stars…