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I…

I turn and look at Kaami. I promised him I’d make him baklava, Iwantto make him baklava, I don’t want to just…just…use him like this. But…oh my God,Good Food Australia? Any chef worth their weight dreams of being featured inGood Food Australia.

“Aliana?” Jackson tugs on my elbow. “Now. We have to go now.”

Kaami’s gaze finds mine. A violet light shimmers in them. He levers himself from the kitchen counter and crosses to me in a slow walk—almost a prowl—that makes my heart quicken and the junction of my thighs throb with a hungry ache.

I want to be interviewed byGood Food Australia, but I want him more. Besides, the magazine doesn’t want to interview the real me. Only the me Jackson Maine knows of, the me Kaami created with my first wish.

Turning back to Jackson, I grimace. “This isn’t going to make any sense to you, but I’m going to stay?—”

“Al?” Kaami’s hand slips over my shoulder and up the back of my head, his fingers gentle at my nape.

Contempt flickers over Jackson’s face again as he narrows his eyes at Kaami. “Do you mind? I’m trying to give Aliana everything she wants, and you’re getting in the?—”

I shrug off his grip and turn completely to Kaami. “I don’t?—”

He presses one long finger to my lips. “Go. I know you’ll be back. This is too important for you to not go.”

Yeah. I am one hundred percent in love with him.

Dimples flashing, he takes both my hands in his and touches his forehead to mine. “I only ask… Your second wish? Do you know what it might be?”

“You?” I whisper, my chuckle wry and shy and more than a little bit self-mocking. “Can you be my second wish?”

Of course, I know he can’t be. He can’t do love. One of those annoying rules.

But damn it, I can love him, right?

His eyes glow a soft, warm violet, and I quickly brush my lips to his. “I’ll be back ASAP,” I promise.

Jackson snorts behind me. “She’ll be back when I’m finished with her.”

I scowl at him. Seriously, never meet your heroes.

Snagging my keys and phone, I smile at Kaami. “Eat anything you want while I’m gone.”

He arcs an eyebrow. “And ruin my appetite for when you return?”

Jackson reaches past me, snorts louder, and pulls the door shut.

The last thing I see before he takes my elbow again is Kaami bowing, palms pressed together in front of his incredible chest, his lips curled in a mischievous grin.

seven

Jackson drives a Tesla.A big matte-black one with personalised numberplates that read BUTT3R.

When he opened the passenger door for me and waved me in like an exasperated parent dealing with a dawdling, recalcitrant child, I almost told him to forget it.

Sitting beside him now, listening to him go on and on and on about his Netflix show and YouTube channel and supermarket endorsement deals… Hmmm, maybe I should use my second wish to go back in time to before I made my first wish all about the famous chef?

Sighing, I keep my stare locked on the world on the other side of the passenger window.Good Food Australia. Focus now onGood Food Australia. Huge opportunity. Huge. One I can’t afford to throw away, no matter how narcissistic the man sitting beside me is.

My phone vibrates with an incoming text message from the hip pocket of my jeans, and I wriggle a little to my left, trying to tug it out. I should have grabbed my bag, not just my keys and phone.

And bring Kaami’s jar with you? Would that be wise?

Well, at least it wouldn’t be unprotected. Although Kaami is at home. Can he protect his own jar? Lamp? Is that a thing? I really need to learn more about the djinn I’ve fallen for, and the rules surrounding his kind. Especially if I’m going to…

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