Cass sighed. “Yeah, I looked like a toothpick with two cantaloupes. Had to go around like that for a whole week too, until the FG finally agreed to take it back.”
“You’d think she’d realize that a fifteen year old doesn’t want a double G bra size.” Rory shuddered and glanced down at her own chest.
“It’s not so much that she doesn’t realize, it’s that she doesn’t care,” Cass said. “We’re not full blooded and we don’t have wings or carry wands. We can’t fly or do magic or disappear into puffs of pretty pink smoke. We’re nothing but a pain in her sparkly ass that she has to deal with three times a year. And to her way of thinking, that’s three times a year too many.”
“So why doesn’t she just leave us alone?” Rory demanded. “I’ve had enough of her gifts, anyway. Who wants to sounds like a bird when they try to sing?” She opened her mouth to demonstrate and let loose with a nightingale warble that made the waitress passing by stare. Cass kicked her under the table and she shut up abruptly.
“We’ve been over this time and again. Anyone with even a drop of fairy blood gets assigned a fairy godmother—kind of like being assigned an attorney in court if you can’t afford one. The Fairy Council would have her wand if she stopped at least pretending to keep an eye on us,” Phil said grimly. “So we’re as stuck with her as she is with us. The FG is here to stay so I need to decide on a wish.”
It was surprisingly hard to keep coming up with wishes that wouldn’t backfire and ruin your life, as they had all discovered the hard way. Rory had once wished to be able to talk to dogs, and had been turned into a Schnauzer—not at all what she’d had in mind. Phil and Cass had an awful time hiding the disaster from their excitable Nana. They’d had to use their allowances to buy their baby sister dog food until their fairy godmother had finally bothered to show up and reverse her badly cast magic. And that was one of the lesser birthday wish disasters Phil could remember.
“What about a good parking spot everywhere you go?” Rory suggested.
“Did it.” Cass raised a hand. “That was what I wished last year. We never go shopping without each other so that would be a wasted wish. Speaking of which, when are we going to go look for a new bathing suit for your office beach party, Phil? You know your old one is a write off because Nana accidentally bleached it.”
“Can’t be tomorrow because Christian probably has something planned for my birthday.” Phil coughed self consciously and her sisters let it pass. “And I can’t do it Tuesday either. Maybe Wednesday since the pre-Fourth of July beach party is on Thursday.” She took a sip of wine. “Now, come on-- back to the wishes.”
“Wish that your tea will always be hot, no matter how long you let it sit,” Rory suggested.
“I did that my freshman year of college during finals when I was taking a summer semester. I didn’t want to have to keep getting up to steep a fresh pot while I was studying,” Phil said. It had been one of her better wishes, actually. One of the few she didn’t regret and hadn’t had to beg their fairy godmother to reverse. Simple wishes worked the best, they had found. The more complicated a wish got, the more room for disaster there was.
“Well, what about--?”
“Excuse me, ladies.” Their waiter, a nice looking young man with a neatly clipped mustache and dark hair, was standing at Phil’s elbow with a covered tray. He leaned toward her confidentially and she nearly groaned when he half lifted the lid and she saw what was on it.
“I heard you talking about a birthday and thought the lady might want dessert,” he said, smiling at her politely. “Compliments of the house, of course.”
“Of course,” Phil said weakly, knowing there was no point in protesting.
“Ooo, what is it?” Rory, who had an insatiable sweet tooth, leaned over to look at the tray.
“What do you think it is?” Cass demanded. “It’s what it always is.”
“Oh.” Rory looked disappointed and both sisters said in unison, “Éclair.”
“Well…yes.” The waiter lifted the tray completely, looking faintly surprised. He deposited the cold dish with its chocolaty, creamy treat in front of Phil who tried to suppress a shudder at the sight.
She had made an ill thought-out birthday wish at the age of eight that she could have an éclair every day for the rest of her life. And ever since, no matter where she was or what she was doing, at some point before the clock struck midnight and the new day began, someone offered her an éclair. It might be a waiter, a family member or even a complete stranger on the street, but come what may, she got her éclair even though she had long since become thoroughly sick of them.
Once she had locked herself in the bathroom for the entire day and refused to come out, trying to avoid the gooey desert. It hadn’t worked -- the magic had compelled Cass to go to the bakery and use her allowance to buy one, even though she very much didn’t want to. She had shoved it under the bathroom door complaining bitterly about people who didn’t face up to the consequences of their wishes. Phil had never tried to hide from her daily éclair again.
Thanks goodness, she thought looking down at the chocolate and cream confection, that she hadn’t wished that she could actually eat an éclair every day of her life or she would have had to become bulimic by now. As soon as the waiter left she shoved the plate towards Rory who dug in philosophically. Chocolate was chocolate, as far as her little sister was concerned.
She glanced at her watch and saw that their pre-birthday planning session was almost over and she still hadn’t gotten any good wish ideas. She had to think of something good, something small, something that wouldn’t change her life forever…
Suddenly a muffled rendition of Pachelbel’s Cannon began to resound from inside her sensible black purse.
“Hey Phil, your purse is ringing,” Cass said smugly. Her own phone rang the X-men theme and Rory’s changed according to who was calling her. Phil dug the cell out of her purse and glanced at the number.
“It’s Christian. I’d better go.”
“Honestly, before I’d let a man order me around like that…” Cass grumbled. Rory just shrugged, her mouth full of éclair.
“He’s not ordering me—we have plans. And if you hadn’t spent the whole strategy session dishing I’d have a plan too,” Phil groused. Her magically induced mild temperament insured that she never completely lost her cool, but she came closest with her annoying younger sister.
“Whatever. You better get the phone before Christian has a coronary. You know how he gets when he has to wait for anything,” Cass said, raising an eyebrow at her.
Phil shook her head and flipped open the phone.
“Hey, babe.” Christian’s voice filled her ear. “Look, I don’t like to rush you when you’re with your sisters but you know we have a big night planned tonight.”
“Hi, hon.” Phil suppressed a small sigh. She had gotten upset with her sisters for saying that she was always out ‘entertaining’ her fiancé’s important clients but it was the truth. Sometimes she wished that things could go back to the way they’d been before Christian graduated law school and got his job as a hot shot attorney. As crazy as it sounded, she kind of missed the nights when they just sat home and ate sandwiches together because they couldn’t afford anything else. At least then they’d had time to talk—to really connect. In the past year since Christian had been working so hard all day and entertaining clients all evening, she felt like she hardly knew him anymore.
Phil pushed her disloyal thought to the back of her mind and tried to sound happy. “So who are we entertaining tonight? And where are we going?” she asked brightly.
“We’re taking out Heidi and George Ghent. And I made reservations for four at Berns.” He laughed and Phil winced. Berns was one of the most expensive and exclusive steak houses in Tampa. The restaurant had dry aged steaks and a wine list that was supposedly unequaled anywhere in the country. “Couldn’t have afforded that this time last year, huh, Philly-babe?” Christian continued. “Gotta love that e
xpense account. But as my senior partner says, the client is always right and that’s where Ghent wanted to go. This could be a very important account for us.”
“Sounds…wonderful,” Phil said, hoping he couldn’t hear the hesitation in her voice. It seemed like every client represented an ‘important’ account but she had never dreamed that Christian would spend as much time wining and dining prospective clients as practicing law. Certainly that wasn’t what she hoped to do when she got through law school herself. Phil intended to be a civil rights attorney and stand up for people whose rights were being trampled on. Somehow she didn’t think most of her clients would be bigwigs who demanded to be taken to the most expensive restaurants in town.
“…so you need to get back here if you’re gonna have time to get gorgeous for tonight.” Christian’s voice continued in her ear and Phil realized she had spaced out, daydreaming of her own future legal career.
“Oh, yeah?” she said, hoping he hadn’t noticed her momentary lapse of concentration.
“Yeah,” Christian said, apparently unaware that she had tuned him out. “I know how long it takes you ladies to get ready and don’t say I’m being a sexist pig, either, Phil. You know it takes you twice as long as me to look ravishing.”
“But I’m always ravishing,” Phil reminded him. It was an old joke between them and Christian usually replied with a naughty come-on about exactly how much he wanted to ‘ravish’ her.
But this time he just said, “Uh-huh. Look, babe, I got a few more things to take care of on my end. Will I see you soon?”
“You bet,” Phil said, feeling deflated. But then, she couldn’t expect him to remember every old joke they’d ever shared, could she? “I’m leaving right now,” she told him. “See you soon. Love you.”
“You too, babe. See ya.”
“Bye.” She closed the phone and stood up to gather her things. “I have to go.”
Rory swallowed her mouthful of éclair hastily. “But we haven’t thought of the perfect wish yet. You have to be careful, Phil! Don’t forget the year you wished to always have on pretty shoes and then those spike heeled pumps were stuck on your feet for two weeks.”
Cass snorted. “Yeah—pretty they were. Comfortable? Not so much.”
Phil winced. “Don’t remind me. It’s a wonder I don’t have fallen arches from that little wish fiasco.” She leaned over and brushed a light kiss across her youngest sister’s cheek. “But don’t worry about me-- I’ll think of something.”
“You better,” Cass said grimly. “And you better have it ready by six fifteen tomorrow night -- the exact time you were born. Or the FG will choose for you and you know what her choices are like.” Sadly, they all did. One didn’t have to look any farther than their dramatic hair and eyes, Rory’s songbird voice and Phil’s mild temperament to know that their fairy godmother was either completely out of touch with reality, or else watching way too much Disney Channel.
“Look, just keep an eye on Nana for me and call me if she gets into trouble,” she said, bending to kiss Cass on the cheek as well. “And don’t worry about me, all right? I’ll be okay.”
But she couldn’t help feeling the tension sitting in her stomach like a cold éclair. Her birthday was coming and she was completely unprepared.
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Evangeline
Also by Evangeline Anderson
Brides of the Kindred series
(Also available in Box Sets: see below)
Claimed (Also available in Audio)
Hunted (Also available in Audio)
Sought (Also Available in Audio)
Found (Also Available in Audio )
Revealed (Also Available in Audio)
Pursued (Also Available in Audio)
Exiled (Also Available in Audio)
Shadowed (Also Available in Audio)
Chained (Coming soon to Audio)
Divided
Devoured
Enhanced
Cursed
Enslaved
Targeted
Forgotten
Switched
Uncharted
Unbound
Surrendered
Vanished
Imprisoned (coming Aug 2018)
Kindred Tales series (side stories in the Brides of the Kindred which are outside the main story arc. These can be read as STAND ALONE novels.)
Mastering the Mistress
Bonding with the Beast (Also available in Audio)
Seeing with the Heart
Freeing the Prisoner
Healing the Broken (a Kindred Christmas novel)
Taming the Giant
Bridging the Distance
Loving a Stranger
Finding the Jewel
Bonded by Accident (coming Sept 2018)
Born to Darkness series
Crimson Debt (Also available in Audio)
Scarlet Heat (Also available in Audio)
Ruby Shadows (Also available in Audio)
Cardinal Sins (Coming Soon)
Dessert (short novella following Scarlet Heat) (Also in Audio)
Alien Mate Index series
Abducted (Also available in Print and Audio)
Protected (Also available in Print and Audio)
Descended (Also available in Print and Audio)
Severed (Also available in Print and Audio )
The Cougarville Series
Buck Naked (Also available in Audio)
Cougar Bait (Also available in Audio)
Stone Cold Fox (Also available in Audio)
Big Bad Wolf (coming soon)
The Institute series
The Institute: Daddy Issues(Also available in Audio)
The Institute: Mishka's Spanking
The CyBRG Files with Mina Carter
Unit 77: Broken
Unit 78: Bred
Compendiums and Box Sets
Brides of the Kindred Volume One
Contains Claimed, Hunted, Sought and Found
Brides of the Kindred Volume Two
Contains Revealed, Pursued, and Exiled
Brides of the Kindred Volume Three
Contains Shadowed, Chained, and Divided
Brides of the Kindred Volume Four
Contains Devoured, Enhanced, and Cursed
Brides of the Kindred Volume Five
Contains Enslaved, Targeted, and Forgotten
Brides of the Kindred Volume Six
Contains Switched, Uncharted, and Unbound
Born to Darkness Box Set
Contains Crimson Debt, Scarlet Heat, and Ruby Shadows
Stand Alone Novels
Purity (Now available in Audio)
Stress Relief
The Last Man on Earth
Anyone U Want
Shadow Dreams
Hunger Moon Rising
Cougar Christmas
Planet X (Also available in Audio)
Deal with the Devil (Also available in Audio)
The Sacrifice (Also available in Audio)
Blood Kiss
Take Two
The Pleasure Palace
YA Novels
The Academy(Now available in Audio)
*1. All Kindred novels are now available in PRINT just follow the links below to find both e-book and print formats on Amazon.
*2. Also, all Kindred novels are on their way to Audio, join my Audiobook Newsletter to be notified when they come out.
*3. Please note--these are Amazon/Kindle links. If you have a Nook or other reading device, please check my website for links to all other formats
About the Author
Evangeline Anderson is the New York Times and USA Today Best Selling Author of the Brides of the Kindred, Alien Mate Index, Cougarville, and Born to Darkness series. She is forty-something and lives in Florida with a husband, a son, and two cats. S
he had been writing erotic fiction for her own gratification for a number of years before it occurred to her to try and get paid for it. To her delight, she found that it was actually possible to get money for having a dirty mind and she has been writing paranormal and Sci-fi erotica steadily ever since.
You can find her online at her website www.evangelineanderson.com
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