A Genie's Love (The Djinn Series) by Lyn Brittan Page B

home until they collapsed into grinning, gasping lumps.

Chapter Eight
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    C langing plates woke him up. Tired but happy, he blinked against the light to see a half-dressed Cassia gathering up the widgets and bobbles of their picnic.
    “Didn’t mean to wake you.”
    “Let me help.”
    He kissed her before touching a single utensil and nipped at an ear or shoulder every few seconds thereafter. This was his right and he’d exercise it. With new confidence, came new determination.
    She knew the whole of what they had and that she could leave at any moment. The sole purpose of his existence evolved into making sure that would never happen.  To hell with wining and dining. He’d make love to her until she physically couldn’t walk away. He’d bathe her in jewels. He’d hold her in his lamp if it came to that.
    “Is that regret on your face, Faruq? It’s all scrunched up.”
    “That’s resolve. I’m figuring out a way to keep you where I want you.”
    “Does it involve handcuffs or chocolate?”
    “For the sake of argument, let’s say both.”
    “No argument here. This could be the start of something good.”
    He nodded, but pulled her close, needing to ask a single question. “About the future—”
    “Every second is a blessing and we aren’t promised the next one. We’ll take this, whatever it is, one day at a time. I’m here. You’re here. That’s all I can give you right now.”
    “That won’t stop me trying to keep you.”
    “I know.” She sighed and picked up a container of dressing. “I also know that these dishes won’t clean themselves. Back to work.”
    A wish or the simplest of spells would have cleared the mess in an instant. But he enjoyed every second with her, even work. He didn’t mind that it took longer than usual as every step of the process had to be punctuated with a kiss or wink.
    Somehow, they made it inside before sunset and he had a very good idea of what would be on the menu for dessert. While she loaded the dishwasher, he dipped away to find the bathroom and clean himself up as discreetly as she’d done minutes earlier. He traced the wainscoting of the old mansion, stopping along the way to look at sepia photographs and painted oil portraits that lined the hall. Each face carried the high cheekbones and long necks that the Authement sisters shared.
    The setting sun glinted off of something at the end of the corridor, a keyhole, set in the wall. He fingered the thing and got zapped with an unpleasant burst of energy. Not good. He did it again and the same thing happened. How had she lived here with this oddity in the house?
    After coming out the bathroom, he went past it and shook his head. “Cassia? Got a minute?”
    “Is that code for something?”
    “I’m being serious,” he yelled back. “What’s this keyhole lead too?”
    He could almost hear her shrugging from several rooms away. “Don’t know. It was...hold on.”  Her footfalls echoed through the hall as she approached. “It was here when I moved in. Grandma always said that this aunt dabbled in the dark stuff. She’d turn over in her grave if she knew I was living here.”
    “And how long have you been here again?”
    “Oh relax. This house has been blessed and cleansed twice. It’s fine. I mean, I almost never use this bathroom, but I’d have noticed if something was up.”
    “You’re not concerned about a key slot in the middle of a wall? It feels stronger than when I first passed it. I want to look away from it, but something deeper tells me not to. You’ve never experienced this sensation?”
    “I never come down here.”
    “That doesn’t make it okay and it only reinforces my point. What about the tripping and falling you mentioned in the car? That’s new too, isn’t it?”
    “Now you’re reaching.  I told you, this whole place has been purified. Nothing bad is going to happen. In fact, life’s looking pretty good at the moment.”
    “That’s what people say