Magic Makes the Man

by Jason Hutchinson

  Lifting her legs, Steve sat next to her, draping those silken gams over his thighs. “Well, I’ve already gathered that.”

  “And you picked me.” She said with a smile, then pre-empted him as she saw his face. “And yeah, I already checked with Firefly. She didn’t make me fall for you, other than the stupid Astro Jernigan costume.”

  “Look, you have fantasies, right?”

  Steve laughed, nodding his head.

  She looked at him seriously. “I do too, you know. I don’t want to be tied down any more than you shouldn’t want to be tied down. It doesn’t mean we can’t have something together, though. It worked for my parents and they’ve been together for thirty years.”

  Following her was hard because he was deeply interested in what she was saying, though it was almost shocking. Just like when Cinder had taken his memory, something was bugging him and he’d learned his lesson about ignoring that sort of thing.

  “Wait.”

  “What?”

  “You said ‘she didn’t make me fall for you.’”

  Gillian stared at him for a second. “I did say that, didn’t I?”

  Steve ran his fingertips up her leg to her upper thigh. “You did.”

  She seemed to weigh things in her mind before she spoke. “I’ll stand by it.”

  “And I get to have you in my life and still…”

  Gillian laughed. “Yep, as long as it goes both ways.”

  It seemed anathema to Steve but he couldn’t find any shred of himself that wanted to convince the young beauty otherwise. While it might be uncomfortable at times, he couldn’t justify her not having the same options she was granting him.

  “Okay.” Steve said, starting slow. “So, do we have to set ground-rules and…”

  “This isn’t the Army, Steve.” She laughed. “We’ll wing it and figure things out as we go.”

  “Wing it.” Steve said, hesitantly. “That’s what gets me in the most trouble with Firefly; when she wings it.”

  “I’m not Firefly. Did Cinder tell you when she’d be back?

  “No, there’s something her older sister needs to do in order to free her from the box, or whatever the hell it was. She wanted me to thank you for rescuing her and that she wanted to grant you a wish.”

  Gillian grinned. “A wish? For little old me? How do I do it?”

  Steve pulled her on top of him and gave her a kiss, one hand working the top button of her shirt. “She doesn’t even have to be around. Just say it clearly out loud and for god’s sake just take the phrase out of your vocabulary so you don’t use it on accident. Cinder’s likely to plant you smack dab in the center of a jelly doughnut if you say something flippant.”

  The redhead in his arms laughed, then looked down at her shirt which was open in the front, revealing a daring amount of cleavage. “Looks like someone is wishing for something, am I right?”

  Chapter Thirteen

  The dress was perfect but she didn’t really feel up to the night she had in store for her. Remy LaTrobe stared at herself in the mirror. She’d gotten everything she wanted; the perfect body and the perfect career. She gave herself a pathetic pouty face.

  “But you don’t have love.” She said, giving a swoon and putting her arm across her face, hiding the freckles she’d only accepted after they turned out to be her most popular feature.

  She laughed, stepping into the first of her heels.

  Tyler was an ass, but he’d do for tonight. There was no way she was going to let the rich little twat get what he wanted, which was in her pants, but at least he was decent to look at.

  She wore her hair down and experimented with a few methods of draping it over her shoulders. One way looked great from the back and the other looked great from the front.

  “What’s the point?” She said aloud.

  The point was that she was attending the party at one of Cannes’ nightspots to mingle and keep her name in the gossip pages. Gossip pages created new roles and anyone who said otherwise wasn’t successful in Hollywood. Tyler would do well to generate a bit of buzz and would provide even more when she posted their ‘break-up’ on Photomatic where she had almost two million followers.

  It wasn’t like she was going to break his heart. Once he figured out that he wouldn’t be getting his dick wet, he’d be on to the next starlet or upcoming model. The chain had been going for quite a few years.

  “A little action would be nice, though.” She whispered, glancing down at the slope of her ass in the mirror.

  The knock on the door was a minute early, but she had never taken on the affect of having to be late and make an appearance. She swung the door open as she grabbed her clutch from the hanger in the closet.

  “Let’s roll.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  “What did you wish for?”

  “Can’t tell you.” Gillian grinned, watching the sights along the road as their Ryde driver occasionally peered back, giving them some insight on the beachside town.

  “I think that’s just for kids’ birthday parties and things like that, though I’m not sure what I want to call real or not these days.”

  Gillian laughed. “I’ll tell you later. For now, let’s just go and enjoy the night.”

  “And you say you just met this guy in the lobby?”

  “Maybe I have a little magic of my own.” She said, running her fingertips up his leg. “Hot enough, but a little older than I like. I think he might be trying to set me up with some douchey son of his.”

  Steve snorted. “But a party in Cannes during festival season? You do have a bit of magic up your sleeve, don’t you?”

  Steve settled with the driver as Gillian climbed out and looked up the long walk that led to the hillside villa. He could hear laughter and what sounded like a string quartet wafting down from the party above.

  “Let’s do this.” He said, straightening the tux he’d found in the closet of their own villa, likely setup as a part of Cinder’s contrition exercises.

  Taking Gillian’s arm, he led her up the hill. He loved her. He admitted it to himself right there on the cobbled steps as they climbed. It might be uncomfortable seeing her with another man but he wanted her to be happy, no matter what.

  They were still taking in the sight of the lawn filled with revelers and the warm light that seemed to emanate from the villa when the host approached Gillian.

  “So glad you could make it, darling.” He said, giving her a slight bow and a kiss on the back of her hand. “And I see you brought a guest.”

  “Vittorio, this is Steve Ballard.” She said. “Steve, Vittorio Castalamonte.”

  The man shook his hand well as he smiled at Gillian, impressed at her memory of his name and her apparently impeccable pronunciation.

  “Welcome to my home. Feel free to mix and mingle. These are all just people and I want everyone to feel equal in my home.”

  Steve was a bit overwhelmed with it all but Gillian handled the niceties well. Mr. Castalamonte excused himself, shuffling off to keep tabs on each of his guests. The line about equality was making him wonder until his eyes picked out Doran Bartholomew, one of the biggest directors in cinema. After that it was Tonya Farrar, Antonio Capaldi, and Leona Le.

  “Jeez, there’s a lot of celebrities here.” Steve whispered to Gillian, though he noticed her eyes were somewhere else.

  “Now, she is hot.” Gillian sighed.

  Steve followed her eyes to a brunette about fifteen feet away, speaking to a guy that he would have assumed she was talking about if she hadn’t used the feminine pronoun. She was probably twenty-one or two and he definitely recognized her, he just couldn’t put a name to the face. Her gaze turned towards them as she spoke to the handsome young man and seemed to linger for a few seconds.

  “Remy LaTrobe.” Gillian whispered. “God, I’m going to need a drink.”

  “I’ll get some.”

  Steve had noticed a bar as they’d entered and kissed Gillian on the cheek before she slipped into the cro
wd. He watched heads turn as she passed. She was gorgeous and seemed to fit in so well anywhere she went; it was something he had never really caught the hang of himself.

  Trouble was, with a drink in each hand a few minutes later, Gillian was nowhere to be found. Thoughts immediately came to mind but he quickly dismissed them. She’s welcome to do as she wants and so am I, he thought; and what I want right now is to take a break.

  What few stars he could make out over the soft glow of the Mediterranean coastline were a welcome sight, as was the breeze drifting lazily up from caressing the sea. It gave a softness to the warm, summer night. The vast majority of the party had moved inside and the corner of the yard he found himself occupying hadn’t been the hub of things earlier, either. The hum of music continued on behind him as he looked at the lights on the horizon, wondering what type of ships they were and anything else to just get his mind off everything else.

  He felt impotent. His…Steve tried a few titles on for size and none of them seemed to fit right for his relationship with Gillian. Gillian had been kidnapped and he would know little about the whys and hows of it until Firefly returned from consulting with her sisters and he didn’t even know when that would be. All he knew was that he was in the middle of a new relationship that meant more than he would have expected to him, he was the master of a fucking Jinn, and some whack-job that looked like an evil genius from a cartoon wanted to kidnap both the girl and the Jinn.

  “Is this where people end up going if they can’t stand being here and don’t have a ride home?”

  The soft voice came from behind him and he gave out a laugh that surprised him. “That’s a little off to the left. This is where people end up if they’ve had way too many ‘holy shit, you’ve gotta hear what just happened to me’ moments in way too short of a timeframe.”

  Steve turned as the voice came up to the railing next to him, seeing first a delicate smile like one from a shy Cheshire cat. Anything above it was shadowed by the lights of the villa above until she turned to face him and more freckles exploded across her cheeks than he could see stars in the skies.

  “So,” She said, gesturing to a spot on the railing just a couple of feet to his left. “This would probably be me, somewhere in-between the two of those.”

  The starlet offered her hand, the smile simplifying but still completely there. “Remy LaTrobe.”

  Steve took it and remembered not to give the full ‘manly’ shake, but he also didn’t want to give the impression that he was being gentle. The thought filled way too many moments and ended just as the handshake was tipping on the edge of being awkwardly long.

  “Steve Ballard.”

  “Steve Ballard, it’s nice to meet you.” Remy said, smiling. “I’ll take one of your ‘holy shit, you’ve gotta hear what just happened to me’ moments off your hands if you want to tell me about it.”

  Her smile was contagious on its own, but wasn’t even needed; her perfect repeat of his snarky remark was a dorky version of awesome.

  He turned to face her again. “You look like a nice person, so I won’t put that kind of burden on you.” He said, feeling his smile widen.

  “Try me.” She smiled. “I’m not always nice.”

  Steve glanced out into the night again, just to get a second’s respite from her face. She was cute and perfect in an almost unreal way. “Okay, so, this girl I’m seeing, whom I’m not really sure where I stand with; girlfriend, lover, friend, not sure, is kidnapped by this weird cartoony evil guy from some oddball magical secret society and I rescued her and now we’re hiding out here waiting for my Jinn to be freed.”

  Remy stared at him for half a minute, her last smile frozen there on her face as if she wanted time to judge what he was saying and didn’t want to bias herself.

  “That’s what’s troubling you?” She asked.

  Steve need. “That’s one of ‘em.”

  “Then I can really see why you’re out here.” She said.

  Steve could tell she was reading his face like a book.

  “Depends. Do you believe me?”

  Without hesitation she fired back. “I don’t have enough to go on to be able to believe you or not believe you, but I’ve got enough to go on to know that you believe it and that’s good enough for me.”

  “I like that. I’ll take it.” Steve said.

  “Would you be okay if I did something completely crazy and kissed you?” Remy asked, biting her lower lip, those eyes scanning and rescanning his face.

  “I say I’m being chased by magical cartoon guys and you’re afraid I’ll think you’re crazy?”

  “Don’t answer a question with a question.” Remy smiled, stepping closer to him. He took a step back and butted up against the railing.

  “What was the question?” Steve said, looking down at the young beauty as she stepped into his personal space. Is this something Firefly is doing? The question was nagging at him but he didn’t have much opportunity to examine it.

  “Would it be okay if I kissed you?” Remy repeated with a slow and patient voice, her face going into the shadow of the villa again leaving nothing but that enchanting smile and the dark tease of her tongue as she talked. “Positive consent, right?”

  Steve laughed, watching her rise up on her heels in front of him. She was gorgeous and perfect and Firefly and Gillian and he whispered in response. “Positive.”

  Remy’s lips hovered an inch from his, her breath tantalizing his.

  “Consent.” He whispered, but the last hard ‘t’ was cut off by the silken crush of her bare lips.

  The kiss went on, but with a slow leisurely pace of a longstanding and practiced couple. It was tender but didn’t sacrifice passion to achieve it. He was entranced by her; her lips, her hair brushing his neck and cheek, the soft slope of her hip pressed against his waist.

  “God.” She said with frustration, immediately dropping to her feet. “My calves are killing me. “Why the hell do I always end up liking the tall ones? It some sort of short-girl masochism, I’m pretty sure. I’d love to kiss you again, but we’re going to have to work out some logistics first.”

  Steve laughed, then found things inside him that he’d never had before Firefly had entered his life. “You want to get out of here? We can discuss logistics somewhere else. No strings attached.” He added at the end.

  Remy smiled, then looked up at the villa.

  “Date?” Steve asked. The heat of her was still on his lips.

  Remy laughed. “No, he’s an ass. If I don’t go back up there, he might forget we were even on a date. And, I guess this is where you find out I’m not the most innocent thing around. There was a woman up there that I thought…”

  Steve stared at the sweet little thing in front of him. There could have been a loss of innocence feeling, but it just made her sexier. “…thought you’d have the best of both worlds?”

  She pulled in between his legs, bringing their bodies together as they had been when they were kissing. “Cocky much?”

  Steve laughed, then couldn’t even successfully say what had popped to mind. Remy’s whole face was smiling by the time he spit it out. “Well, that’s the world that I can offer.”

  Remy ran her hand down his chest, then looked back up at him as if embarrassed by what she had just done. She lifted up and kissed him again, shorter this time.

  “Well, let’s go get her.”

  Remy gave him a ceremonious bow and took his arm, following him back up the stone walkway to the villa above.

  “Usually it’s just waifish starlets and seventy-year-olds dressing like they were in their twenties, but there was one girl that was super-hot. She just had this sex appeal that just seemed impossible because she just looked fun and cute. Trying hard isn’t really sexy.”

  Steve spent a moment comparing each of Remy’s praises to herself. She was beautiful and sexy and had a sweetness that reminded him of Gillian.

  Gillian.

  “You know, I’m sorry I’ve been going on but this girl
you’re with, is she going to be okay with us…because we could invite…”

  Remy’s words ran out as she read the expression on Steve’s face. “What?” She said, giving a cautious smile.

  “This girl. Is she about yay high?” He asked, holding out his arm. “Curly red hair and kinda looks like her?”

  Remy’s eyes went wide and she turned to let her eyes follow Steve’s arm towards the redhead that had just walked up behind her.