Raj’s dark brow furrowed, but he didn’t argue with her. Instead he closed his eyes and clenched his fists at his side as she gave as good as he’d given earlier. It was only when his hand shot out to grab her wrist that she stopped.
"Enough," he groaned, clearly near the edge. It was the first demand he’d ever made of her, and she liked it.
"Do you want me, Raj?" she asked.
"Do you wish me to make love to you?" he replied with another question.
He seemed focused on her pleasure, but Valerie liked knowing he wanted her. It made her feel powerful and desirable. That only enhanced her own experience. "That’s not what I asked. I asked if you wanted me. Answer," she added, knowing it might be the only way to get him to voice his own needs.
"I do," he said and swallowed hard. "Very much."
Valerie eased back across the mattress until she was centered on it. Leaning back on her elbows, she let her legs fall open in invitation. His gaze dropped to her moist, exposed center, and a breath shuddered out of him. "Your wish is granted," she said with grin.
Raj smiled at her words, meeting her eyes as he climbed onto the bed and crawled up the length of her body. He was like liquid heat covering her and chasing off the chill of the wind and rain outside. Propped on his elbows, he looked down at her. The expression on his face was hard for Valerie to read. Especially when he surged forward and thrust into her.
She gasped at the sudden penetration, her body stretching to accommodate his size. He was large, hard, and fever hot as he buried himself inside of her. She curled her legs up to cradle his hips, giving him deeper access as he withdrew and plunged into her again.
Valerie wrapped her arms around his back and clung to him as he moved. "Yes," was all she could whisper against his neck.
With her encouragement, Raj increased the intensity. Each stroke was a little harder, a little deeper, a little faster until both of them lost their scant grip on control. Valerie dug her nails into his arching back as she gasped and cried out. A thin sheen of sweat dampened Raj’s straining muscles as he fought to hold on. He wouldn’t have to wait much longer.
Valerie’s second orgasm burst out of her like a nuclear explosion, ten times more powerful than the first. She screamed and thrashed against him. Her inner muscles spasmed and pulsed around his shaft, coaxing his own release. She was barely cognizant of his low groan, of words in her ear in a language she didn’t recognize, of his back arching and a cry of triumph being shouted to the ceiling. It was like the accompanying music to her own pleasurable song.
Raj threw himself to the side, collapsing facedown on the mattress next to her. They both lay, sweaty and panting, their bodies still pleasurably throbbing. Valerie closed her eyes, suddenly aware again of the pounding of her heart. Eventually the rhythm slowed and became the easy, steady beat she recognized.
The pleasure hadn’t killed her. Which meant she’d get to do that again.
Chapter Five
Raj thought Valerie was asleep. She should be, considering they’d spent the last two days doing little more than making love. They took the occasional break to eat or shower, but then they returned to the bed. Her head was resting on his bare chest, the auburn curls of her hair sprawled across him.
The storm was long gone. They’d weathered the worst of it with little damage, although the same couldn’t be said for the people in town. A lot of boats were damaged, including her friend’s lobster boat. It would be a few more days before anyone came to the island as planned. Not that it mattered anymore. Raj had no intention of leaving this island when Benny arrived with supplies. Or ever. Only the curse could force him into the necklace and away from this place, and that would require Valerie to make a wish.
For the first time in his existence, he had a mistress that wouldn’t ask anything of him. She seemed disinterested in what he could give her aside from his body and his company. And that was fine by him. He enjoyed spending time with her. She was smart and thoughtful and funny. He’d spent the majority of his existence unable to control with whom he spent his time. And even if he’d thought they were nice enough, learning their innermost desires would usually change his opinion. Or they’d make their last wish and he would never see them again.
Valerie was like no other woman he’d ever met, before or after his captivity. For the first time he could even remember, Raj was…happy.
He was considering wrapping a strand of her silky hair around his finger when he heard her quiet voice.
"Tell me about your life," she said. "Before."
He sighed heavily. He should’ve been expecting questions, especially after how close they’d grown over the last few days, but Raj didn’t like to think about his life before he was captured. A lot of it had faded with the millennia. More of it had been deliberately forgotten. "I don’t remember much. It has been many lifetimes since I walked the earth as a free djinn."
"How did you end up in the necklace?"
That much he remembered. Not even time could fade the memory of the moment that changed your life forever. "The djinn were considered the great danger of Arabic culture at that time. Almost like the medieval knights slaying dragons, it was every sorcerer’s quest to trap a djinn. It’s no easy task, but it can be done if you know our weakness. Pure metals are the only things that can hurt us. Silver, gold… I mentioned before that the gold was what kept me inside the necklace, and that’s true. I was lured into a desert cave by a beautiful woman and captured inside a net of pure silver chain. The woman was really a sorcerer using magic to confuse my eyes. Before I knew what had happened, these gold cuffs were strapped to my arms and my spirit was forced inside the stone."
"What does pure metal do to you?"
"The touch of it against my skin burns like a red-hot iron poker."
Valerie pushed herself into a seated position and lifted his arm to inspect it more closely. "Even now? Every second of the day?"
"Not those, at least not anymore. It took a couple hundred years for them to bind to my skin and destroy every last nerve ending. After that they simply bound me from using my powers."
"That’s horrible." She frowned, letting her bare fingertip run along his forearm.
Her touch sent a shiver through his body, an unusual chill followed by a surge of heat. Despite how many times he had made love to Valerie, it wasn’t nearly enough. He was beginning to wonder if it was possible to ever have enough. He would take whatever he could get before he returned to his prison. At least this time he would have the memories of her to occupy his mind.
Raj focused back on their conversation and shrugged off her concern. "It’s not as horrible as being trapped inside the stone. I can only escape it when someone summons me by touching the sapphire. I give them what they want, and as soon as I grant my master’s third wish, it’s back in for me."
"It must be hard," she said, still gently stroking his skin. "To feel like you’re only wanted for what you can give someone."
How many wishes had he granted? Hundreds of thousands. How many masters and mistresses had he served? Too many to count. "You learn to get your pleasure from serving others. I get a certain level of satisfaction from seeing a master pleased. It’s better to give than to receive, they say."
"But does anyone ever give something to you?"
"You did."
Her hazel eyes met his, a hint of confusion in them. "What did I give to you?"
"More than you could ever imagine," Raj said. "You cared for me. Fed me. You make almost no demands of me. You make love to me without being focused solely on your own pleasure. Do you know how long it has been since someone sought to please me?" He shook his head. Too long. "You’ve also allowed me time outside the amulet. I don’t get much of that."
A small smile curled Valerie’s lips. She was pleased that she was able to do something for him, even if it didn’t seem like much to her. "What is it like inside the stone?" she asked.
"It’s pure nothingness — pitch-black and eerily silent. Sinc
e I don’t sleep, I simply exist in oblivion, leaving me alone with my thoughts."
Valerie brushed her hair over her shoulder, exposing the pale flesh of her breasts. He let the back of his hand graze along her ribs and brush the curve of one. Her body was so beautiful. She was beautiful. And thoughtful and kind. He was torn between wanting to grant her every wish and knowing that doing so would send him back into the necklace. He would miss this mistress more than any other. She made him wish that he was a free djinn again. Then he could have use of all his powers to make her happy without strings or limits.
Without losing her at the end.
"What do you think about when you’re in there?"
The thoughts of a man in solitary confinement were not fit for discussion with a lady. He didn’t want her thinking about that. She would never be able to enjoy her wishes knowing where she had sent him to get what she wanted. "Women," he lied with a smile, teasing her pink nipple with his thumb until it tightened. "Freedom. The world and how it has changed while I watched."
Valerie lie back down, snuggling against him. Raj wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tight. He didn’t ever want to let go.
"There has to be a way to free you, right? Certainly there is a way to undo the spell that trapped you in the necklace."
"I’m told there is." He didn’t want to elaborate on the subject, but he could tell Valerie was waiting to hear the rest of his story by the way her head popped up with an expectant look in her wide eyes. "Someone would have to use one of their wishes to free me."
"That seems simple enough. And yet in all this time, with all the wishes you’ve granted, no one has seen fit to set you free?"
Raj couldn’t bear the pained look in her eyes. He turned away, focusing his gaze on the window and the shutters rattling against it. "What would I do with freedom, anyway?" he asked. He honestly didn’t know. It had been so long he wasn’t sure what he would even do with himself. The world had changed so much. There wasn’t a place for something like him anymore.
"Serving man is what I do. It’s who I am."
"It doesn’t have to be."
His sweet, beautiful Valerie. He could already see her planning to use her last wish to free him. He’d seen that look before, but when the time came, it didn’t happen. It wouldn’t happen this time, either. "If given the choice, I think I would rather be human instead. I’ve spent thousands of years serving them. Watching them and how their lives unfold. I think I would want that. To be free. To marry and have children and indulge in human pleasures. To grow old and die the way everything else in nature dies."
"You’d rather die?" she asked.
He turned back to look at her with a smile. "I have lived hundreds of lifetimes. I would be happy to have one more as a free man. Then I would be content to be dust."
"I don’t think dying is all that you hope it will be."
"I could say the same thing about living forever. In time you grow weary of life."
Valerie pulled away, tugging the sheets up to her chest. "I would be happy to grow weary of it." She slipped out of the bed, pulling clothing out of her closet.
Raj wasn’t sure what he’d said, but he had displeased her. "Is there something I can do for you, Mistress?"
"No," she said, pulling a pair of jeans up over her hips. "I’m just hungry. I think I’m going to make us dinner."
"I could do it," he offered. "Anything you want. You just have to ask."
"No," she repeated, and this time he knew better than to argue. He could tell she wanted a chore. Something to busy her mind and give her time away from him, so he would let her have it. "I’ll let you know when the food is ready."
Valerie wasn’t certain why Raj’s words had upset her so much. She could understand what he meant. For him, time was a burden. For her, it was something she would never have enough of. He’d lived thousands of years, and she would be lucky to live thirty. Neither of them were happy with the cards they had been dealt.
Instead she focused on cooking. She already had a pot of boiling, diced potatoes on the stove. She wrapped two boneless chicken breasts in plastic wrap and pounded them into submission with a meat tenderizer. The loud banging against the cutting board made her feel better. At least about some things. Not about Raj.
She dredged the flattened cutlets in flour and egg, laying them gently in a skillet of sizzling-hot oil. The hissing sound made her think of what he’d told her about metal and the cuffs on his wrists. How horrible his life must be. No wonder he would rather it end. His existence was nothing but an endless series of chores, doing things for others and never getting anything for himself. The pain, the loneliness…it was impossible to even imagine.
At first she hadn’t made a wish because she thought he was delusional from days lost at sea. When she realized he was telling her the truth, she’d been too freaked out to even consider making a wish. The one she’d made in the generator shed had been a slip of the tongue. Certainly if she had three wishes for anything in the world, she couldn’t give a damn about the stupid generator on this island. But what was done, was done.
It didn’t matter anyway. She wasn’t going to make any more wishes.
Hearing him talk about how much her kindness had meant to him had nearly broken her heart. She’d done no more for him than she would’ve done for any other man that washed up here. And yet, she’d given him more than anyone else had in his recent memory. He had been floored by her giving spirit, and he didn’t have a clue how much more she wanted to give him. These last few days with Raj had allowed him to breach the fortress she’d built around her heart. She hadn’t intended to let him in, but he’d done it anyway. She wanted to give him all the love she had for as long as she could.
Feeling that way, how could she ask anything of him that he wouldn’t give freely? She couldn’t. Wouldn’t. Not knowing that it would send the man she loved back into the cold, black hell of his prison.
"Something smells great."
Valerie looked up to see Raj dressed and standing at the edge of the kitchen. He kept his distance, probably concerned she was still upset. She couldn’t stay mad at him, especially when he couldn’t possibly know what he’d said to upset her. She hadn’t told him about her condition. It wasn’t a secret, but it wasn’t light, romantic conversation, either. She smiled and gestured for him to sit at the table. "Have you ever had fried chicken and mashed potatoes before?”
He shook his head.
"You’re in for a treat, then."
Valerie finished up the chicken and whipped the drained potatoes with butter and cream. When everything was ready, she brought it to the table. They both sat quietly eating for a few minutes. It had turned out well, and after the last few days, she was starving. She hadn’t cooked a real meal since he took her to bed. They’d only grazed between lovemaking sessions.
"May I ask you something?" Raj asked after thoroughly cleaning his plate.
At least he liked her cooking, although he probably had little to compare to. "Sure. I’ve asked you quite a bit today."
"Why are you out here on this island alone?"
She should’ve known this was coming. "What’s wrong with being out here?"
"Nothing, if that’s what you want. I am just curious as to why a beautiful young woman would choose isolation over love and family."
"Coming to this island was my choice, but I didn’t choose it over love and family. Those are options I was never given. I could die here on this island, or I could die there on the mainland. Either way, my time is too short for anything more than that."
"You’re ill?"
Valerie set down her fork and pushed her plate away. "Yes. I have a heart condition. I’ve developed a large and inoperable aortic aneurysm. Basically, the biggest blood vessel in my body has deformed and has a thinning bulge that grows every day. It was one of the largest ones they’ve seen. At some point it’s going to blow, and I’ll be dead in minutes."
Raj’s dark blue eyes widened, his words se
emingly failing him for a few moments. "That is why you were upset with me. I embrace death, while it chases you. I am sorry I spoke words that caused you pain."
"You didn’t," she said. "There’s no way you could’ve known about it. It just made me sad to think that we each have what the other wants, and in the end, neither of us can be happy."
"There is nothing that can be done for you?"
"No. The doctors recommended that I avoid stress and excitement, so I came out here. Most of the time it’s a quiet, easy place to live." A loud boom of thunder in the distance rattled the windows as though it were calling her a liar. Another small storm was coming through. "The weather, of course, can be an issue."
"But here the doctors are too far away to help you."
"It doesn’t matter, Raj. A doctor isn’t going to be able to save me once it happens, even if I’m standing in a hospital at the time. I will hemorrhage instantly."
Raj looked around her sparsely decorated home. "Would you not rather spend the time you have left with your friends and family, then? Instead of being in this place?"
"I don’t have any family left." The last few years had made it impossible for her to dwell on the losses of her parents. When she was diagnosed, it had been almost a relief they were gone. Her mother wouldn’t have been able to take watching Valerie die. She also wouldn’t have tolerated Valerie waiting on this island for the end. "And as for friends, I decided it would be easier on everyone if I came out here."
"You are existing as though you are already dead and wasting what precious time you have left."
Valerie had fought this fight before, although no one had the nerve to use such a blunt description of what she was doing. She shook her head and dropped her gaze to her plate. "I don’t have to explain this to you. I made what I thought was the best choice for me."
Sexy In A Bottle: A More Than Men Novella Page 5
