Smoke, Fire and Desire

by Melinda Barron

  When his hold on her lessened, she snuggled down into the bed, still dressed as the naughty French maid. Within seconds he was beside her, cuddling her close to him, stroking her sides and kissing her neck and chin.

  “I love you so much, Rhylie.” He claimed her lips then, sliding his tongue over her teeth and into the back of her mouth as she groaned under him. He captured her response, that she loved him, too, then pushed further into her, holding her cheek with the palm of his hand, his thumb playing over her soft flesh.

  When he finally broke he kissed her nose and she felt a blush spread over her cheeks.

  “Thank you.”

  “Thank you, little minx. I knew that, despite the misgivings I could feel, you’d enjoy your spanking. Was it as erotic as you’d thought it would be?”

  “More.” She put her hand on his chest, right above his heart as if checking to make sure he was real. “I’d wondered, when Cassidy told me how much fun it was, if she was telling the truth, or if she was lying.”

  She nibbled on his bottom lip before continuing. “She didn’t do it justice.”

  Deep laughter filled the bed, wrapped as it was in the drapes and she giggled. “You know, when you said you’d looked into the back of my mind, I thought…” Her voice trailed off, too embarrassed to voice what she thought he’d seen.

  The evil grin that spread across his face made her insides quake with desire. “Don’t worry, la mia stella. I saw that fantasy, too.”

  Chapter Eight

  “Where are we, exactly?” Rhylie put her hands up to finger the blindfold over her eyes. They were quickly batted away, and Sandro’s deep voice filled her ears.

  “No peaking. It’s almost time for breakfast.”

  “Breakfast, right.” Of course, breakfast was the first meal of the day. Just because it was past three in the afternoon didn’t mean it wasn’t breakfast, did it? She supposed they could call it brunch, but it was a bit late for that. What about dinfast? Or supunch?

  His soft laughter made her smile. “Maybe one day we’ll find those words in the dictionary.”

  He was leading her now, her hands held tightly in his. She had no fear about where he was taking her. Not anymore. She’d follow this man to the ends of the earth.

  “Not that far,” he said. “Our destination is just around the corner.”

  A cool breeze wafted over her, the scent of the ocean filling her nose. They were no longer in London; that much was obvious. He’d blindfolded her as they’d stood at the foot of the huge tester bed they’d used so well for the past four days, making love almost endlessly. The soreness she felt was incredible, but it didn’t compare to the feelings that had blossomed inside her, making her wonder if she would ever be able to let go of this man.

  He’d told her she’d never have to, so she shouldn’t worry. But deep down inside she did, and was grateful he hadn’t pushed the issue, and had told her to enjoy their vacation.

  And what a vacation, between the lovemaking sessions they’d visited various London landmarks and museums. She’d recited facts for him, and he’d told her about what he knew of the places and people, since he’d lived through the times.

  It was like traveling with a walking encyclopedia, and Rhylie loved every second of it, learning which of her “facts” were true, or exaggerated, and which were utterly false.

  “Watch your step.” He squeezed her hands reassuringly. “We’re going down a few steps, and then I’ll allow you to see.”

  “Very magnanimous of you.” She yelped when his hand came down her ass, laughing and almost missing a step. “How do you do that? Is there really two of you?”

  She bumped into him when he stopped moving. “Would you like there to be?”

  “No.” She leaned down and he met her lips, the kiss soft, almost chaste. “I love my one man, my one djinni.”

  “Good, because he loves you, too, sarcastic comments and all. Come along, la mia stella. I’m famished.” At the bottom step she tumbled a little, and he caught her in his arms, his lips pressed against her forehead.

  “Perfect.” He voice vibrated against her skin, and she moaned softly. He stepped behind her, his hands caressing her sides and moving up to her shoulders, then up to the blindfold on her face. “Are you ready?”

  “More than ready.” She blinked slightly when the light hit her eyes. She hadn’t been wearing the blindfold that long, but the sun still seemed brighter than usual. She blinked, then gasped at the wide ocean spread before them.

  “Where are we?”

  “France. Nice to be exact. The Riveria.”

  Rhylie couldn’t take her eyes off the ocean, the brilliant blue and the gentle way it moved with the wind. “It’s so beautiful.”

  “All the more so because you’re here, with me.” He kissed her neck, then gathered her close, rubbing his cheek against her hair. “I thought a day of leisure, some good food and wine and a nice afternoon on the beach would do us good, don’t you think?”

  “So we’re taking a vacation from our vacation?” She snuggled back into his chest, savoring the feel of his ever-present heat.

  “You’ve worn me out,” he said with a laugh. “You’re insatiable.”

  “My goodness, a djinni who can’t keep up with his charge? How extraordinary.” She grinned, but knew as well as he did that this break was more for her than for him. Her body was sore, deliciously so, but still sore. She’d never had this much sex, and she was feeling the little twitches and tingles that signified she should probably take a rest.

  He led her to a table where two waiters were setting down trays full of pastries and fruit. Steaming mugs of cappuccino were already in place. Sandro held out her chair and she sat down, facing the ocean.

  People frolicked in the sands and a huge smile lit her face. “I’d never thought I’d see this place. But that’s the whole point, isn’t it? Taking me places I’ve never been before.”

  “Exactly.” He nodded at a waiter and Rhylie bent her head toward him.

  “Are they Djinn?”

  “Yes.” He handed her a croissant and picked up one of his own.

  “Why are they working as waiters, then?”

  “Why not? They can interact with the public, find people who might need their aid, help them.”

  She tore off a small chunk of her bread, but didn’t put it in her mouth. “If…since…magic exists, why can’t it cure all the world’s ills? Why is there still disease, and hunger?”

  “Unfortunately, as with everything, supernatural or not, you have to take the good with the bad. It’s the balance of nature, as it were.” He put down his bread and for the first time since she’d met him a look of consternation, maybe it was even anger, came over his face. “Not all djinn are good, Rhylie. Some are evil, wanting to spread hate and disease. We fight against those forces, as much as we try to help humans.”

  “Do I need help, is that what you’re saying?”

  His eyes twinkled, the look turning quickly to lust. Rhylie’s body warmed as he gazed at her, her nipples hardening.

  “With you, I have to admit, my motives are very selfish. For many years I wished for a woman to touch my soul. I knew there was one out there, I just didn’t know where, and when, I would find her. And then you walked into the club, and my wish came true.”

  She nibbled on the end of her finger, glancing at her through her lowered lashes. “I wonder if you sent some sort of signal, and that’s why I choose you. The draw was strong toward you.”

  “Your soul felt it, too.” He pulled her finger from her mouth, transferring it to his own, sucking on it until she gasped.

  “What happens when…” she tried to catch her breath, tried to get her growing desire under control, “…a djinni and human are together, for more than just the thirty days? Or is it possible for that to happen?”

  He licked the tip of her finger, flicking his tongue over it until she moaned softly, pushing away the full plate of food on the table. She wanted him to take her, here
and now, in front of everyone and be damned the consequences.

  “Yes, and no.” He licked each fingertip now, placing a gentle kiss on them all before releasing her hand, much to her dismay.

  “What?” Her body was on fire, again, demanding his attention.

  “The answer to your questions, yes a djinni and human can mate, and no, we can’t make love on the table. Although the idea is wonderful, we’re supposed to be resting, remember?”

  Rhylie blushed furiously, laughing to cover her nerves. She turned her attention to her plate, picking at the fruit before biting off a sliver of bread. “Tell me, Sandro. In all your life, you’ve never loved another woman?”

  “Not the way I feel about you, no. I have had feelings for woman, but we knew from the start that it was not a permanent thing. I helped them to gain confidence, to learn about themselves and point them toward the person who was their destiny.”

  “It’s your job. I’m your job.” She was tearing her croissant apart now, tiny pieces of bread landing on her plate in a small pile.

  “Rhylie, look at me.” She glanced at him, her heart pounding at the smile on his face. “You are not my job. You are my one love. I have a job, yes, but it does not include falling in love. That I do on my own, of my own freewill.”

  She gave him a tentative smile, then swallowed hard, picking up another croissant and giving it the same treatment as the first one.

  “But there are fundamental differences about us. First, I’m human, and you’re an immortal djinni.”

  “Not immortal,” he said. “I will die, it just doesn’t happen in the same time frame as a regular human life. And, once a djinni mates with a human, that human takes on traits of their magical partner.”

  Her eyebrows shot up, and she stopped shredding the bread in her hands. “What?”

  “You heard me, la mia stella. Once we bind ourselves together you will become Djinn.” Her stomach flopped at his words, settled for a few seconds and then flopped again. She tried to think of the right thing to say, but nothing came to mind. It was as if her whole vocabulary had taken flight, leaving her speechless.

  “Are you all right, Rhylie?” He caressed her arm, his look of concern making her feel a little better.

  “I’m not sure,” she said after a few, long seconds. “I never expected to hear you say something like that. What exactly does being a djinni entail?”

  “In my case, I’m a pleasure djinni, and I spread joy.”

  “You have sex with people.” Was that hurt in her voice? Where had it come from? After all, she’d known him for less than a week. It wasn’t her place to be jealous of him doing his job before he met her.”

  “Not always. I admit that many of my duties have involved physical pleasure, but it doesn’t have to be that way. No assignment is ever forced on a djinni. Free will, remember?”

  “Would your mate work with you?”

  “In a perfect world, yes. But, I know that you love your job and want to focus on saving the planet, so to speak, and…”

  She straightened up, pushing her plate into the middle of the table. “If I were magical, could I solve things? You know, stop global warming, keep animals from becoming extinct? Figure out why certain plants are dying and why storms have increased over the past decade? You know, the instances of hurricanes have…”

  He held up his hand and she clamped her mouth shut. “Sorry. I guess the stone didn’t work, hum?”

  “No, it’s not that. I wanted to stop you before you got too excited. Some things are not in our control, and nature is one of them.”

  “But it’s not nature, it’s man. It’s what we’ve done to…” she stopped speaking, then sat back in her chair. “Freewill. We can’t make people change.”

  “Exactly.” His laugh made her smile. “As much as we’d like to, we can’t live people’s lives for them or expect them to follow a path we set for them. Their lives are their choice, and the things they do are, in the end, their choice.”

  She picked up another croissant; her gaze focused on the flower in the middle of the table.

  “Are you going to ruin that one, too?”

  She laughed along with him and shook her head. She knew exactly what he was saying with his little speech. They were, in his words, destined to be soul mates. But in the end, the choice was up to her. He’d already made his. Now he laid things on the line for her. If she stayed with him, as his mate, her life would change, profoundly.

  She would no longer be human. The concept was so surreal that she stared at the untouched bread in her hand, then looked out at the ocean, watching the wonder of nature as it rolled against the sand.

  Rhylie knew he was waiting for her to say something. And she knew, in her heart, that he wasn’t inside her head right now. He was politely sitting, letting her process what he’d just said, letting her think about her decision, and the consequences.

  But she couldn’t make one right now. Not after just learning about how things would change for her. She needed the time to process and digest the information. Time to make her choice.

  Thoughts of helping others ran through her mind, Cassidy being the first. Her friend needed to learn to open herself up to love, and not just to sex. And then, there was Tony and his wife, who had trouble in their marriage for quite some time now, since both of them were hardheaded and unwilling to bend. And then…she snorted out a laugh, then put her hand up to her mouth.

  “Sorry.”

  “Tell me.” He squeezed her hand and she flashed him a smile.

  “I was just thinking about being inside my mother’s head, to learn her real opinion when she says that ‘no, my going nowhere job doesn’t bother her at all.’ I’d finally get to learn what she’s really thinking.”

  Chapter Nine

  “The king’s chamber is toward the top, along with the queen’s,” Rhylie said, taking a step forward, wanting with all her heart to reach out and touch the stone structure before her.

  “This one I wasn’t here for,” Sandro said. “You’ll have to enlighten me.”

  “The great pyramid took almost twenty years to build, or so they think. The time estimate varies depending on the book you read. For almost four thousand years it was unsurpassed as the tallest man-made building in the world.”

  Emotion clogged her throat as she stared at the structure. “It’s absolutely incredible, when you think about it. No cars or engines or forklifts to help them build it. All they had were pulleys and manpower, and a knowledge that goes far deeper than we’ll probably ever be able to find out. Of course, they were a very intelligent people, and had great engineers and astronomers who helped to line things up and plan things right. And, despite popular belief, most of the labor was done by peasants culled from the villages and paid for their work. That’s who built the pyramid.”

  “That and aliens.” Rhylie glanced at the twenty-something American man standing next to her. She tried not to laugh as he nodded solemnly and repeated. “Aliens built the pyramids.”

  “Right.” She glanced at Sandro, who shrugged. Then she moved into his arms, putting her lips on his ear. “Tell me there are no aliens.”

  Sandro gave her a “well, maybe” look and her mouth dropped open. “I don’t know if they worked on the pyramids, though. As I said, the construction of this magnificent feat was before my time.”

  She stared at him, dumbfounded, then shook her head. “You’re changing everything I’ve ever held to be true about the world.”

  “Good. Learning new things is wonderful, if you ask me.”

  “I’ve always said that, but when it’s things that make your jaw drop, it takes some getting used to.” Rhylie glanced back at the pyramid, trying not to wonder about aliens mixing with ancient Egyptians and pulling huge stone tablets from the quarry to the pyramid for placement.

  The man next to her was spouting off what he termed to be evidence of the aliens building the pyramids as a gateway to their planets. He was discussing stars and the placement o
f the stone structure as Rhylie tried to tune him out and concentrate on what was in front of her.

  This was something she’d never thought to see, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, an ancient structure that had withstood the blistering heat and winds of an unforgiving desert for more almost five thousand years. How was it that this still stood, yet the polar ice caps were melting?

  “Don’t trouble yourself with questions that will never be answered,” Sandro said softly. “Instead, submit to the fantasy that brought you here. Let’s climb it and see the view from the top.”

  “We can’t.” Longing for the days of yesteryear filled her heart. If they’d been in Victorian times, she’d be on the pyramid in a second, finding purchase in the rocks to be the first one in her party to make it to the top. But, years of people doing just that had damaged the magnificent structure, and climbing it had been forbidden for some time now.

  She explained that to Sandro, who just smiled. “When you’re with a magical djinni who can see that no harm comes to the pyramid, and that no one will know we’re doing it and try to follow us, then there is no harm, is there?”

  Rhylie tried to think of a reasonable way to refute what he’d said but there wasn’t one. Just as she hadn’t come to a reasonable answer to the question, she knew he would pose to her when her thirty-day vacation was up. Would she stay with him, or go? Her heart wanted her to stay, never letting go of the man who thrilled her, in body and soul. But, her mind wondered about that, wondered if she’d be doing the right thing. Of course, you never really knew, did you?

  One of the things she loved about Sandro the most, though, was that he didn’t try to influence her one way or another. He didn’t spend hours telling her how she would be able to use her djinni powers for good, and help make the world a better place.