I gasped and wrenched my hand away from his.
He grinned.
“That wasn’t a true kiss,” I said. Did he hear my voice shaking? I certainly did.
“Tell you what,” he said, his fingers walking across my hip and to my lower back. He tugged me into his embrace. “I’ll give you a sample.”
Before I could protest, his lips claimed mine. Since he was pushing this, I expected his mouth to squish mine, for him to take what he wanted without regard for my needs.
Instead, he kept his touch soft, almost delicate. It was devastatingly destructive to my peace of mind.
A moan shot up my throat, and I clutched his forearms. Clung to him, actually, as his mouth moved across mine.
When his tongue nudged at my lips, I parted them. He explored my mouth, teasing his tongue across mine.
I lost all sense of time. Of the situation. I couldn’t do anything but succumb and feel.
He lifted his head and stared down at me with a frown tightening his brow. At least he appeared as stunned as me by our kiss and not as jaded as he must be by now.
When I struggled, he released me fast. I nearly tumbled back onto the bed. I pressed my hands to the surface to maintain my balance and peered up at him. When I touched my mouth with my fingertips, sure what I’d just experienced couldn’t be real, he groaned and spun, turning his back to me.
“That . . .” I swallowed and struggled to find the ability to speak in a normal tone. “That was a kiss.”
“It was definitely a kiss. One I will not be repeating.”
“We’re safe then, because I won’t be using a wish to ask for another.”
“You don’t want a second?”
Oh, but I did. And more.
But the last thing I’d ever do to this poor genie was force him to do anything he didn’t want for himself.
7
BOSHUN
One kiss, and I knew this woman was the one I’d crave for a lifetime.
She was my fated mate, but I couldn’t tell her. Revealing that could influence her actions and break the one rule I hadn’t named.
No falling in love with the genie.
“What’s your name?” she asked, her voice breathy.
“You could call me Jinn.”
“That sounds genie-like, but is it your real name?” She walked around to stand in front of me, though her gaze didn’t meet mine. Was she floundering after our kiss like me?
“No one has ever asked for my real name.”
“I don’t want to call you the generic word for genie.”
“Why not?”
She placed her hand on my forearm, and my muscles twitched. “Because you’re a person, not a wish-making machine.”
“I’m the grantor of wishes, nothing more and nothing less.”