Genie Knows Best by Judi Fennell Read Free Book Online Page A

“Well that’s handy.”
    Kal stood up and took the glass from her, poofing it into nothingness. “Your wish is my command, Samantha.”
    If only Albert had prescribed to the same train of thought.
    No, not really. Samantha didn’t want someone to be at her beck and call; she just wanted someone who wanted to share his life with her. Equally. Who wanted the same things she did.
    Maybe she ought to wish for Kal to conjure up Mr. Perfect for her—though in that outfit, he was looking pretty perfect himself.
    When something jostled the carpet and he grasped her elbow with a “hold on to me, Samantha,” perfect was exactly the word that came to mind.
    “The wind currents are all over the place when Maille turns up the heat,” said Kal, his breath warm beside her ear.
    The dragon wasn’t the only one turning up the heat.
    So not what she needed to be thinking about thirty feet off the ground.
    She adjusted her stance on the carpet that was shifting like quicksand beneath her feet, and almost kicked the lantern into that aforementioned thin air.
    She looked over the edge of the rug. The leprechauns were still fighting the gnomes, and Wayne was having a tough time with four of the under-the-hat garden variety clinging to his legs, plus another two on his tail, and one with a double-fisted grip on the mane that ran down his back. The gnome was flopping from side to side while Wayne tried to shimmy him off.
    Then a blast of dragon fire collided with the spontaneously combusting phoenix about ten feet off the front right corner of the rug, the heat forcing Samantha back, and, of course, thanks to the skirt at her feet, she tripped.
    Right into Kal’s chest.
    She would like to thank her skirt. And Kal for zapping those ten pounds away. And the dragon for being oh-so-helpful in getting her into the vicinity of Kal’s arms, and Fate for presenting the situation in the first place.
    So much for not thinking about it…
    Samantha fought for her balance. And her dignity. This was a mess—and she could be talking about the fracas going on below the carpet or the humming hormones above it. Or the fact that she was practically half naked beneath this robe.
    “Samantha? Are you okay?” Kal’s breath tickled her temple, causing her to shiver.
    She was more than okay, and that definitely wasn’t a tickle. It—he—felt good. Better than good. He felt so much more more than anyone had before. Plastered against her back, his warmth seeping through the djellaba , making her hotter. Wetter —
    She pulled away. She was thirty feet in the air, for God’s sake, dodging dragon fire. Practically naked from the waist down, and if not for this heat melting her brain, Kal and his magic fingers wouldn’t be sidetracking her. She needed to do something about that.
    She looked back over her shoulder. “Um, Kal? Is it possible… that is, can I get a new outfit? Something a little cooler that fits and covers all the necessary parts?”
    “Sure you can.”
    He smiled and Samantha’s pulse kicked up a few more ticks.
    But his hand didn’t move.
    “Well?”
    “Well what?”
    “Are you going to?”
    “Am I going to what?”
    “Give me a new outfit?”
    “Is that what you wish?”
    Not exactly…
    Her breasts tingled where she’d felt that fleeting touch and she wished he’d do it again.
    Samantha held her breath, half expecting it to happen, but then she realized she hadn’t uttered that wish out loud. Although… what if she did?
    Another blast of hot dragon fire erupted off to the left, and Samantha decided that was what had fried both her brain and her hormones. She couldn’t actually be considering kissing him again, could she? She’d just gotten burned by Albert; did she really want to go down that road again?
    Then again, Albert hadn’t been all that interested in kissing her, or anything else for that matter, which probably should have been her first clue that he was more frog than prince, but with the strain of coping with