Her Wish--A Playboy Genie Romance

by Sophie H. Morgan

  “Josh.” Jax was out of his chair and by the twenty-year-old in an instant.

  His assistant groaned, a hand across his eyes. “Kill me now and save me the embarrassment.”

  Jax relaxed. Josh was one of the few he gave a damn about. He didn’t want the kid’s own clumsiness to be the death of him—not when Jax’s contract forbade him the kind of magic that’d be any good in a life-or-death situation.

  “You’re going to have a hell of a bruise.” He arched his eyebrows as he stood and helped Josh up.

  “One to add to my collection.” Josh winced as he spoke. “No.” He waved Jax off. “Don’t bother. Maybe if I suffer the pain, it’ll teach my center of gravity to shift the right way.”

  “Whatever that means.”

  “I’m going to fax these over.” Josh waved the papers in his hand as his other traced his jaw gingerly. “Remember, you’ve got some kids from a local school coming in at eleven.”

  Jax conjured a bag of ice and handed it over. “Go ice that jaw.”

  “Will do.”

  Luka, rumpled as ever, passed Josh on the way in. Dark stubble peppered his jaw as he frowned after the kid. “He tell you you look ugly or something?”

  “You kidding? More than his jaw would be bruised.” His reply was easy, but every bone, muscle, sinew in his body had tensed as soon as his Handler had entered the room. He’d known Luka would search him out with questions about his obvious involvement with “forbidden fruit,” but ten hours must be some kind of record.

  “Have fun last night?” Luka slumped in one of the bucket chairs for guests.

  Jax sat, too. He didn’t kid himself that he was in a position of power because this was his office. “It had its moments,” he repeated.

  “Me, I ended up hiding from one of those older cougar actresses.” Luka shuddered. “My clothes were almost shredded under her enthusiasm.”

  “More than I needed to know.”

  “You’ve gotten squeamish.” Luka eyed him with speculation, the silver flecks glinting in the sunlight. “Did Charlie enjoy herself?”

  Screw beating around the bush.

  “What are you working toward, Luka?”

  Luka’s hands flew to his chest, all innocence. “I was just saying how nice it was that everyone enjoyed themselves. Even the press.” He leaned forward and a tabloid appeared in his hand. He tossed it onto Jax’s desk. “See?”

  If Jax had thought the photo of them kissing had been big, the splash of photos from the ball proved him wrong. Six in all, they ranged from the carpet to inside the event, including one of him and Charlie dancing where it was clear to everyone with eyes how hot the two of them were for each other.

  Jax traced his tongue around his teeth. He sighed. “I’m sorry.”

  Luka raised his hands. “For what? For getting WFY into the press? If I remember, that’s part of your job.”

  “No . . .” Jax stared at him. He indicated the photos. “You told me not to get too close.”

  “I did.”

  “And I ignored you.”

  “Yes. Well, I do love talking just to hear myself speak.” Luka cocked his head. “Butter. Lake. Tree. Airplane.”

  Jax narrowed his eyes. “How come you’re not furious?”

  “Is there any point?” Luka lifted one shoulder, the epitome of cool. “Would you stop seeing her if I demanded it?”

  Jax drew the line in the sand. “No.”

  “Well, then. We might as well make the best of it. I should’ve known telling you no was similar to waving a baby under a single woman’s face.”

  Jax slid him a look.

  Luka grinned. He rubbed his hands together. “Now for damage control. We can ride the wave of speculation and make a splash of your being a couple. You want a specific interviewer to break the news?”

  His head was spinning trying to catch the trap. “I promised Lisette she could.”

  “Perfect. The show that broadcasted your troubled beginning can broadcast your loved-up end.”

  “Luka.” Jax frowned. “I know you, and you don’t do anything without a hidden motive. What’s in this for you?”

  “Nothing.” Luka settled back in his chair, crossing his feet. “I figure we may as well play this out while it lasts.”

  “While it lasts?” Jax echoed.

  “Come on, Jax.” Luka snorted. “How long do your relationships usually last? Two months at best? We need to capitalize on it now. And with you having dated a winner, ticket sales will double, triple, with women hoping to be the next you take to bed.”

  “That’s not . . . You make it sound . . .”

  “What—you going to marry this girl?”

  Jax’s throat closed. “That’s a bit extreme. I’ve known her two weeks.”

  “So, then, we’ll ride out the storm, profit from it while we can. Play the loved-up couple.”

  Jax sent him a narrow-eyed stare. “It’s not a game, Luka. I care for her.”

  “Sure. Okay. Not a game.” Luka beamed at him and pushed to his feet. “Tell Josh to schedule the interview. For both of you.”

  “No.” Jax stood, too. His thoughts swirled with confusion over Luka’s assurance that Charlie wouldn’t be around for much longer. “Charlie doesn’t want to be in the spotlight.”

  “Sorry, Jax, but the Director’s approved this move.” Luka cast him an apologetic smile, but his eyes glinted hard silver. “Both of you or nothing.”

  It wasn’t the worst he’d imagined when it came to this meeting. He pushed a hand through his hair. “I’ll talk to Charlie.”

  * * *

  “He wants me to go on Lisette’s Hour with you?” Charlie’s chopsticks paused halfway to her mouth. The sweet-and-sour pork plopped back in the box.

  Jax had invited her over to his place for dim sum “and then some.” She should’ve said no based on the cheesiness of the line alone, but she’d found herself agreeing and showing up at his door in an oversized sweater and some very undersized lingerie beneath.

  They’d talked about his new idea for her store—a book club night featuring local authors, whom he seemed to think would happily agree to visit an unknown store in the heart of the Upper West Side—before he’d sprung Luka’s visit on her.

  Jax watched her over his ramen noodles. “I don’t think it’s a bad idea.”

  Charlie’s eyebrow winged. “Are you kidding? You said last night I wouldn’t have to go on the show with you.”

  “Circumstances changed.” Jax put down his chopsticks. They were eating on his couch, the glass coffee table besieged by all of the dishes he’d ordered. Charlie suspected he was trying to fatten her up—that or he really liked leftovers.

  She put down her pork as well. “You mean because we slept together?” Her stomach tightened in rejection of both the pork and the topic of conversation.

  “What? No. Don’t be stupid.” Jax’s jaw firmed. “Look, I was told not to get too close to you.”

  Charlie stared at him, her heart fluttering stupidly. “But you asked me out.”

  “Yeah.” His blue eyes regarded her. “Luka’s made it clear that WFY will be behind us if we go on the show. One interview. That’s all.”

  She tried to think past the melty feeling that was happening in her knees. “Jax, try to understand. I don’t want to be a cog in WFY’s machine.” She put a hand between her breasts and pushed as though to get rid of indigestion. “It feels like you’re pushing me to accept Genies.”

  Jax opened his mouth and then closed it. His eyes burned into her for a second before he abruptly stood and left the couch. He walked into the kitchen, leaving her alone.

  She blinked. “Jax?”

  “I know you don’t like them. Don’t think they care,” he said from the kitchen. His sigh was gusty as he opened a cupboard door. He lifted out some papers from behind a bag of potatoes. “These are from the Restricted Section in the Library.”

  “The one in WFY’s basement?”

  “One and the same.” />
  She raised her eyebrows. “Won’t you get in some kind of trouble for smuggling those out?” Her fingers fiddled with her watch.

  “Yes.”

  Hope, that cursed emotion, tickled her insides. “You’ve changed your mind about wishes?”

  “No.”

  Before the impact of that negative could crush her, he put up a hand. “I thought it was time we settled this. I want to prove to you that wishes are good things. Apparently you won’t take my word for it. So . . .” He waved the papers in his hands.

  As he walked toward her, his face was unreadable. He cleared a space on the coffee table and gently rested the thick folder on the glass.

  He stared at it as though it was about to pounce. “I could be fired for showing you these.”

  “What are they?” Warmth surrounded her as she realized, while he didn’t buy into her assertion that wishes came with a price, he was willing for her to prove it to him. He must really like her.

  Insert girlish dance.

  “Every wish that has been won and granted is recorded,” he was saying. “These are only a few of them, but if wishes are as bad as you think, you should find something in this handful of years to prove it. And I mean more than the odd case of bad luck.” His smile was small, his eyes gold. Strong emotion.

  It was clear to her he felt like a traitor for even giving her this chance. The marshmallowness in her stomach expanded until even her knees were gooey.

  She nibbled on her bottom lip, flicking her eyes between Jax and the folder. This was her chance to find evidence to prove her mom had been altered by a wish. To find out why her mom had dumped her when she’d found a rich guy.

  But she found herself less interested in snatching the folder off the table and more intrigued by why Jax was so certain of Genies and their wishes.

  The city’s noise hummed outside his window as they sat there, her on one couch, him on the other.

  She spoke. “What made you apply?”

  Jax’s hand paused in its rhythmic drumming. “To be a Genie?” At her nod, he grinned tiredly. “The hot babes.”

  She huffed an amused breath. “Seriously.”

  “Oh, seriously.” He tapped his foot against the table leg, staring down at it. “Did I ever tell you my mom was a cleaner?”

  A lump rose in her throat. “No, you, ah, never told me anything about her.”

  “She was great.” A shadow of a smile crossed his lips. “She worked as a night cleaner in a big agency and always took me along. I used to sit on her bucket and she used to tow me along like it was some kind of ride.”

  Charlie smiled.

  “Life was hard for her—like it was for your mom, I guess.” He sent her a quick look. “She never complained. I always had new shoes, clothes, food. We were so close.” His head lolled on the back of the couch and he shifted to face her. “You know that quote from Pride and Prejudice I put on your wall? You asked me how I knew it.”

  “Yeah?”

  “My mom. We used to read the classics together. She favored romances,” he said with a flash of his dimple. “Fine when you’re a kid, but when I was a teenager, man, was it embarrassing to be caught reading Belinda or Rebecca. I learned early I could spend every day fighting or I could learn how to talk my way out.”

  “Your ‘charming’ education.” Charlie’s lips curled. Her heart clenched as she thought of the tattered copies of classics he kept in his bedroom.

  Jax shared a grin with her. “Well, anyway, when I was old enough, I took a job after school. Nothing big; just delivering sandwiches into offices. One day I got asked to take some to the WFY building.

  “I’d never seen a building that beautiful or big.” He feathered a hand through his hair. “I’d never really thought about Genies much. They weren’t a part of my world. But a man I delivered a cheese and pickle to, a Genie, decided to chat with me. He sat me down, got me a root beer, and asked me about school, about my family.”

  Charlie’s eyebrows lifted at the frustrated affection in his voice. She took a stab. “Luka?”

  Jax nodded. “He answered all my questions about what it was like to have a job as cool as a Genie’s. Until then, I hadn’t even known I could apply. As soon as I knew, I knew I would be one, one day.”

  “Why?” Charlie was still struggling with that.

  Jax let out a breath, shadows haunting his face. He extended a hand. “Come sit with me?”

  Without a word, Charlie pushed to her feet and walked over to him. She straddled his lap, combing her hands through his hair. If he needed to hold on to something, she would be there.

  He dropped an absent kiss on her shoulder, his hands on her hips. His favorite place. “I applied as soon as I was the legal age, but they didn’t accept me. You know five people get chosen every year?” At her nod, he continued. “I knew my chances were rare, but I was still shocked I didn’t get in. Or the year after that, or the year after that. It took ten years for them to approve my application.”

  “Did they ever say why?”

  “Nobody questions the process.” Jax shrugged. “They have to be selective—not like Genies really quit. Oh, sure, you get some drummed out of the business in disgrace or some quit and start families. But in general, the turnover is fairly low at WFY. So, selective. I guess the other candidates did better in the interviews than I did.” He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. When I finally did get chosen, I didn’t even want to waste the temporary year they give to make sure you really want the job.”

  Charlie put her hands on his shoulders and squeezed. “Are you ever going to tell me why?”

  Blue eyes locked on to hers. “For the wish.”

  Charlie’s mouth fell open. “You wanted a wish for your mom.” Everything tumbled into place, along with strong emotion that rushed through her veins. God, she could love this man.

  Her heart stopped in its tracks.

  He kept talking. “She had such a hard life giving me everything I ever wanted. I wanted to give her something back.”

  Charlie smoothed a hand down his face, pushing the L word revelation deep into the background. “What did you wish for?”

  “A happy life for her. I wanted her to be safe, to not have to work.”

  “Was she pleased?”

  “She cried.” Jax’s lips curled upward. “You should’ve seen how happy she was when I called with the news that they’d chosen me.”

  “Jax.” Charlie placed her hands on his chest and leaned back with searching eyes. “Where is she now?”

  His eyes were solemn, his face pale. “I sprinkled her ashes across my dad’s grave. He was a pilot in the war—he died in action. She loved him so much. I knew she’d have wanted to be with him.”

  “How did . . . ?”

  “A burglar broke in when she was home and shot her three times. He took her TV and some jewelry.” His chest heaved as he pressed a hand to his eyes. “A TV and a pearl necklace for someone’s life.”

  “Shh.” Charlie dropped kisses on his face, her fingers in his hair. She wept for him inside, for the cruel way life had turned on his mom. “She was happy, right?”

  “I think so.”

  “So, she got her wish.” And it had had consequences. She swallowed the soul-shattering words. Even if she ever convinced Jax that wishes came at a cost, she’d never point to his mom as an example.

  He fisted a hand in her hair. His eyes stared into her fiercely. “I’ve never told anyone about my mom.”

  The links on her heart broke as she tumbled in free fall over the cliff.

  She framed his cheeks with her hands and touched her forehead to his. She sighed. “You drive a hard bargain.” When she sensed him start in question, she reared back to press a kiss to his lips. “I’ll do the interview. One. For you.”

  His hand loosened its hold on the strands of hair until he caressed her nape. “Kiss me, Charlie.”

  She leaned forward and sank into the kiss. His tongue teased her as his hands slid down her ba
ck to grasp her sweater. They parted for as long as it took for him to draw it off and throw it in the corner.

  “Charlie Donahue.” His words were amused with a dark undertone as he took in the black lace bustier she’d worn throughout dinner. “What are you wearing?”

  “Thought I’d slip into something less comfortable. You like?”

  “You make my heart stop.” Simple words underlined by the glitter of aroused gold in his eyes. His hands wandered, making her moan as he dipped below her jeans.

  “The Chinese’ll get cold.”

  “I’ll reheat it,” he said between kisses.

  “Reheated Chinese sucks.”

  He drew back and looked at her with pursed lips. She was relieved to see most of the darkness that had gathered in his eyes had dissolved into heat. “You got any more complaints?”

  “Yeah.” She pulled at his sweater. “You’re wearing too many clothes.”

  Their lips came together after she’d thrown his sweater atop hers, playing and teasing as Jax’s hands explored the thong she’d slipped on to accompany the bustier.

  His thumb dipped and found her clit, flicking back and forth in teasing strokes.

  “Jax.” Her breath caught on his name as she clutched his shoulders. “Take me to bed.”

  With a deep sound in his throat, Jax stood, gripping her to him. Her softness collided with his cock, making them both groan. Charlie fed him kiss after kiss as he stumbled toward his bedroom.

  “Why, Rhett, you make a girl’s knees weak,” Charlie teased between kisses in a southern accent. “Carryin’ a lady to a room like this. Makes her feel so easy.”

  He adjusted his hands on her behind to thrust her against him. As she let out a shivery little gasp, his eyes blazed blue.

  “Frankly, my dear,” he said, his thumb teasing out a response, “I don’t give a damn.”

  As she laughed, he maneuvered them into the bedroom and fell with her onto the bed. She shrieked as he collapsed. “Jax, I can’t breathe.”

  “Can’t have that.” He flipped them so he was on the bottom. His hands settled naturally on her hips. Somewhere along the way, both of their jeans seemed to have magically disappeared. Funny that.

  He looked at her with sleepy sexy eyes. “You take charge.”