All Bottled Up (10 page)

“The temptation is great.”

“You wanna go,
old
man?”

Jerod shrugged, but she saw the devilish glint in his eyes. Viola gave his arm a squeeze. This kid was in trouble and he didn’t have a clue.

“Can you?” she asked, releasing his arm.

He smiled ever so slightly. “Of course I can. But how is he going to feel when an old man beats him?” He said the last loud enough for the whole group to hear him.

A few of the young people in the group chucked. Viola could tell that they weren’t giving Jerod a snowball’s chance in Cozumel to win. The snide glances and eye rolls told her all she needed to know. And it pissed her off. A mean streak she didn’t realize she 84

had began to rear its head.

Someone called out on the far side. “Do a course. I’ll bet twenty the old guy doesn’t last past the first song.”

“Oh shit, I’ll give him to the second. You’re on.” A number of other bets began to circle as to how long Jerod would survive. Viola had to do something to defend her genie’s honor. Plus she’d like nothing better than to rub these kids’ collective noses in it.

“I’ll bet fifty that he wins,” she shouted over the noise.

That quieted them down. The young man on the dance pad pointed his finger at her.

“You’re on, lady. Let’s go, gramps.”

Jerod rolled his eyes as he made his way through the crowd to take his place on the dance pad. Viola had to push through as well, so she could get a better view of what was about to happen. She didn’t want to miss a single step.

Mr. Cocky stomped a number of buttons on the pad and selected a game mode that gave them three songs to dance to.

“Highest score wins.”

Jerod nodded and held out his hand.

“Good luck.”

Mr. Cocky snorted. “I’ve been playing this game for two years. Luck has nothing to do with it.”

“Are you ready?” the computer called out.

The group went crazy cheering. Even Viola found herself calling out, cheering Jerod on. She was the only one.

The first song was an old one, “Shout”. The arrows began to fly and so did their feet.

Jerod somehow managed to make it look like he was concentrating as his foot hit every arrow. Viola could tell he was toying with the boy, and enjoying himself quite a bit.

“Shit, he’s good,” one of the voices drifted to her from the crowd.

She heard the exchanging of money behind her at the end of the first song. She didn’t take her eyes off the score. Jerod was ahead, but not by much. They only had a few 85

seconds before the next song began.

“You’re a shark,” Mr. Cocky accused Jerod.

“You’re the one who wanted to take the old man on.”

“Are you ready?” the computer warned them.

The second song was another Japanese one, and boy was it fast. The arrows flew by, doubles and triples together. Jerod looked like he was tap dancing. Mr. Cocky yelled out in frustration when he missed a step, but he recovered quickly.

For his part, Viola watched as Jerod missed an occasional step himself. Probably so he wasn’t perfect. Her heart was pounding and her palms began to sweat. She noticed a few of the group were defecting to Jerod’s side, cheering him on now. When the music ended that time, Mr. Cocky was covered in sweat. Jerod was still wearing his half smile and looked as if he’d just woken up from a nap.

The last song was another Viola didn’t know, but by that time it was irrelevant. Jerod was forced to use his hands in several spots and he even threw in a spin for effect. By the end of the song, the entire crowd was cheering him on. Jerod came out two hundred points ahead of Mr. Cocky, who shook his head in disbelief.

“That was impressive, man,” Mr. Cocky said as extended his hand.

Jerod accepted it and smiled. “Lots of practice.” Viola burst out laughing. When everyone turned to look at her, she said the first thing that popped out of her mouth.

“The doctor said he needed to exercise more. He chose this.” Someone handed Viola fifty dollars and the group slowly dispersed. They were finally left alone. She stared at him, grinning until she was sure they were alone.

“That was so cool.” She laughed and threw her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek.

“I’m glad you approve.”

“How did you do that? I could barely keep up with what was happening on the screen.”

“Let me show you.”

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Viola found herself standing on one of the pads and Jerod on the other. She felt silly standing in the middle.

“I’ve put it on Basic. When the arrow reaches the top, step on the arrow. Okay?”

“Okay? How the hell do you even know how to use this thing?” Jerod grinned. “It’s magic.”

Viola rolled her eyes. “It’s lame. Let’s do this, dance
master
.” For the next hour and a half, she laughed as she tried to hit the arrows. Even Jerod began to laugh as they realized how uncoordinated she was. It was very sad.

“Did I tell you I was the only kid kicked out of ballet class when I was younger? I hurt three other kids one week, and the instructor begged my mother to keep me home.” Jerod wore a permanent grin at this point.

“Maybe your second wish should be around dancing? I could get you some fantastic lessons. Maybe make you a prima ballerina?”

Viola stopped and looked at him. For a while, she’d completely forgotten he wasn’t real. He wasn’t her boyfriend, they weren’t on a vacation together and he would disappear as soon as her wishes were granted.

“Viola?”

She wanted to cry when she saw the concern on his face. He was worried about her.

Her! Other than Beth, no one worried about how she was feeling or if there was something wrong. Why the hell couldn’t he be real?

“Can we stop? I’m getting tired.”

He nodded, running his hand down along her arm. “Hungry?”

“Yes. And we should continue our lessons.” The words weren’t pleasant when she said them. “My vacation isn’t going to last forever and I need to learn how to win Bill over.”

Jerod’s smile faded as well. The two of them stood looking at each other, insane dance music blaring beside them. He nodded, and with a snap of his fingers, the game turned off.

“As you wish.”

87

Viola hurt all over. Somewhere between appetizers and dessert, her legs decided it was the perfect time to have her muscles seize up. The scooter ride on top of dancing a highly addictive game had pushed her body past any level of exertion she’d felt before.

She worked in a call center, for God’s sake. Not that she was about to let on to Jerod that there was anything wrong. No way. He’d been fussing at her since they left the entertainment building, and the last thing she wanted was to make things worse. Who’d believe a genie could be a mother hen?

The resort restaurant was crowded, the noise rising to an uncomfortable level as their meal progressed. They’d spent half the time in silence because she didn’t feel like shouting. And the conversation she had in mind wasn’t the sort of thing a person yelled in a family dining room.

It did give her ample opportunity to watch Jerod, to try to figure him out. His blue eyes seemed to be evaluating everything and everyone his gaze landed on. If there was something that caught his interest, Jerod would reach up and stroke his goatee. She doubted he even realized he was doing it. Viola found it more than a little sexy.
God, I’m
so screwed.

She watched as he pushed his plate away, the scallop linguine half touched. She knew he didn’t need to eat, but liked that he tried to play the part of hungry boyfriend while in public. Without thinking, Viola reached out with her fork and stole a plump scallop.

“Still hungry?” he said and winked at her.

Her own plate was scraped clean. She even went so far as to soak up every drop of the cream sauce with the last roll. She still felt like she could eat.
Sad, really.
Apparently all it took to charge her appetite was a good-looking genie and a first-rate alfredo sauce.

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“It’s just a shame to have the poor little fellow go to waste like that,” she said and popped it into her mouth. In between chews, she managed to continue, “I hope Bill won’t be thrown off by my appetite.”

“It wouldn’t matter. You’d have won him over with that last topic of conversation,” Jerod said in between sips of his wine.

“He had tickets to go to the monster truck rally last year at the Metro center. Talked about it for
weeks
. I swore I was going to jump out the third-story window to end my misery if he’d gone on much longer.”

“He’d be devastated to learn of your demise.” It had bored her half to tears learning about the trucks and who the favorites were.

But because Bill liked it, she’d taken it upon herself to learn everything she could about monster trucks. Hours of her life she’d never get back. She could only imagine what would happen if she actually had to
go
to a rally.

“So, now what would he want to do?” Viola shifted in her seat and pushed her fork into another scallop. “This would be our second date, after all.”

“Second date. Hmm…” Jerod’s gaze flicked across her face and down her body.

When he reached her breasts, he smiled and licked his lips. Slowly, he looked back into her eyes and winked.

The heat in his stare made her blush. God she hated that he could do that to her so easily. But she wouldn’t look away. She’d tried to remember lesson three on attitude and mixed it with her flirting. Viola tucked her hair behind her ear, leaned forward and twirled her fork in the noodles left on his plate. He watched her every move with great interest.

“So?” she asked as casually as she could.

“Bill would most likely want to, how do you put it now? Make out?”
Oh shit!
Viola blushed again, her face so hot, she pressed her hand against her neck.

She wasn’t going to survive these lessons with her sanity intact.

“Well, that’s good to know.” She looked up and saw his amused expression. “We should be concentrating on my lessons. It’s not like I have a lot of time left.” 89

“I agree. Let’s see, you’ve mastered your lessons on appearance,” he said with a grin and she felt an invisible hand caress the back of her leg. “And you’re more than ready to conquer him in the arena of conversation.”

She couldn’t help it, Viola grinned like a fool. “Thank you.”

“And believe me when I tell you that it has everything to do with your oratory skills and not his lack of standards.” Jerod hid his smile behind a sip of wine.

“You’re such a charmer.” She rolled her eyes, but couldn’t stop from giggling. “So what next? Time off for good behavior?”

When he looked up at her this time, the air between them crackled. “Oh no. You still have lessons to learn. No time for playing yet.” Viola’s entire body reacted to the weight of his suggestion. There were only a few of her
lessons
left. All of which were very appealing. More than appealing. They were positively enthralling.

Especially lesson four.

Jerod chuckled and, with a snap of his fingers, refilled her wine glass. If she drank much more, they wouldn’t be doing much of anything tonight. When he smiled at her again, she picked up the glass and drank the contents.

“You looked like you needed that,” he said with a grin.

Since he hadn’t said anything about being able to read minds, she figured she was doing her best impersonation of an open book.

Great.

“Bill would most likely take you for a walk.”

“Is this before the make-out session?”
God, did I just ask him that!

“Yes. Come along, Mistress. You need some fresh air.” The groan popped out before she could stop it. Jerod raised a single questioning eyebrow in response.

“Legs are sore. I fail at being a dance master.” She tried to mimic the voice from the dance game, but it came out as more of a sigh.

“Bill would never ask you to dance at all, let alone play a game. He feels they’re for 90

children.”

Somewhere, Viola’s disappointment grew. Okay, so Bill wasn’t the office comedian or really even participated in any of the office special events. But that was work. He couldn’t possibly be that stuffy on his own time.
Could he?
She wasn’t sure if she could stand endless dates that revolved around him talking about how great he was and monster trucks.

The man had to have fun!

Viola gave her head a shake. No, she was being too hard on him. Bill could be charming, and Lord knew he could flirt. And he’d shown faith in her abilities when no one else had, given her a job when she couldn’t catch a break. In her mind, that counted for a lot. When he wasn’t busy and she had his attention, Bill made her feel important.

She could convince him to have some fun. Even change him on some fundamental level.

Maybe. Perhaps she could even convince him to play DDR.

Despite totally sucking at the game, she’d had a ball trying to keep up with the arrows. Jerod made it very easy for her to relax and have fun. They couldn’t stop laughing when her feet had gotten tangled and she’d almost fallen on her ass. He’d stopped her from falling and threatened to cast a coordination spell on her, which sent her into another fit of giggles.

They were a great pair.

Viola pushed that thought away as quickly as it popped up.

“You look tired,” he interjected into her thoughts.

Viola looked into his crystal blue eyes and sighed. “A bit.”

“A walk may not be the best thing for you right now. I should get you back to your room.” He sat back against his seat and looked her over again.

At his slow, easy smile, Viola felt her stomach perform a small flip-flop. She wanted him. Not just as a friend, which he’d surprisingly become, but for much more.

She wanted to jump his bones.

More than anything else in the world at that precise moment, she wanted to rip his shirt off, throw his belt out the window, and peel back the opening of his pants so she 91

could see what was hidden inside. The thought of running her hands over his naked body, circling her hands around his big cock, ’cause she knew it was big, was more than she could handle.
Fuck!
She would then…

“Screw it. Let’s go,” she blurted out as she jumped to her feet.

A couple sitting near them turned to look at her sudden burst of enthusiasm. Jerod merely chuckled.

“Are you sure?”

No pants. Really want to see him without pants.

“Positive. I could use the fresh air. Maybe the nice cool breeze will help clear my head and help my legs. I think you fed me a bit too much wine.”

“Help your legs?”

“Sure! Why not?”

Jerod still didn’t look convinced, but threw a bunch of bills on the table and stood to join her. She winced as she walked, each step a painful reminder that she really needed to renew her gym membership when she got back home. Viola followed his lead to the back veranda of the restaurant, which gave them access to the beach.

When the door clicked shut behind them, Viola felt a sudden relief of being free of the noise. The dull thud of their footsteps across the wood deck gave way to the soft rustle of sand. The ocean breeze was warm and played with the bottom of her skirt, lifting and caressing her legs. Jerod didn’t move to touch her as they walked, which wasn’t going to work for Viola. She snatched his hand and locked her fingers around his. When he raised an eyebrow in question, she smiled.

“I don’t want to lose my balance.”

Each step into the sand sent a sharp ache shooting up her legs and into her hips.

Despite the discomfort, there was no way she would let on. He’d insist she go back to her room and lie down. Probably not even give her the choice, just snap his fingers to make it happen. No, a small amount of pain was worth it. Especially since Jerod seemed so relaxed.

It struck her as odd that even though their topic of conversation over the past two 92

days had been dominated by Bill, she’d been more focused on Jerod. And while her lessons were very important, a small part of her was no longer one hundred percent convinced that her end goal, which was winning Bill’s heart, was the right one. Maybe she was fickle. A man pays a little bit of attention to her and she thinks she’s in love. Or at the very least in lust.

No, who was she kidding. She enjoyed talking to Jerod and the subject didn’t matter.

He listened to her, actually cared about what she thought. Teased and played around, making sure she wasn’t taking herself too seriously. He’d recognized something hidden inside her, helping her find a way to let it shine through. She wasn’t the same Viola White who’d arrived in Cozumel two days earlier. The very idea hit her hard. She’d never considered the fact that maybe she needed to change, or that her dealings with Jerod would do that to her. There was something about him that made her feel special.

And it wasn’t the fact that her wish was his command.

“So, would Bill be adverse to small talk at this point?” she said a bit too quickly.

Jerod seemed to consider that. “He’d be more interested in trying to get you into bed.

If he thought small talk would do it, then no.” Bill didn’t sound the least bit appealing when Jerod put it that way. In a sad sort of way, she wasn’t really surprised. Maybe Beth had been right all along. God, she really wasn’t looking forward to having
that
conversation.

“I guess that’s good to know.”

He patted her hand with his free one. “What would you like to discuss? Places Bill would like to visit? Things he expects from his future wife?”

“Why don’t you tell me about some of your other masters?” Viola stumbled when Jerod stopped walking suddenly. “Hey, a little warning!”

“Why do you want to know?”

In an instant, his demeanor changed. She watched as the smile evaporated from his full lips. His body stiffened and his fingers held hers a little too tight. Fear pounded through Viola at the thought she’d say the wrong thing again. Her mind raced through all the things she could try to say to make things better. Instead, she settled on the truth.

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“To be honest, I’m getting a bit tired talking about Bill. Besides, I’m curious. You must have met some very interesting people over the past three-thousand years. I can’t imagine what someone from that long ago was like.” She swallowed hard and waited. His eyes searched hers, looking for something. In that moment, she felt very small, and very young. Like a child who’d disappointed a parent, but for the life of her couldn’t figure out why. Why the hell did she always have to screw things up?

“Look, if you’d rather not talk about them, I’d understand. I just…wondered.” After a minute, Jerod shook his head and brought her hand up to his lips. The gentle brush of his lips across the back of her fingers sent her heart racing. He wasn’t mad.
Oh,
thank God!

They continued their walk, but this time Jerod looked lost in thought. Viola bit her tongue, refusing to say anything that would screw something up again.
Patience
. She actually sighed with relief when he began to speak.

“My fourth master was an interesting fellow. A young boy from Rome. He was a very sweet and didn’t believe me for an entire week that I was a genie.” Viola found herself smiling as they reached the shoreline. “I can appreciate his reluctance. What did he wish for?”