Light My Fire (26 page)

Authors: Jodi Redford

Tags: #Romance

BOOK: Light My Fire

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“Jo, hey, come on…” He stood, reaching out a hand to her.

She didn’t know what he had intended. Maybe to pat her on the back or give her arm a comforting squeeze. But when Wyatt stood, he caught her turning in mid-pace. They both stumbled, tangled against one another. He tried to steady her and one hand brushed against the Girls as the other wrapped around her waist.

Jo looked up into his eyes, startled by his sudden proximity, seduced by the feel of him pressed hard against her.

Then, before rational thought could take control, he was kissing her.

His mouth landed heavily on hers, a full-frontal assault of the lips. The flare of chemistry was sudden, unexpected, and so freaking perfect her brain was instantly wiped of conscious thought.

Her mojo might be going horribly wrong, but
this
felt right.

He teased and coaxed and Jo was with him every step of the way, throwing herself into the kiss for everything she was worth.

He stumbled under the force of her enthusiasm, his feet tangled with hers, and they tumbled down onto the chair. Jo’s legs fell to either side of his. He yanked her forward by her belt loops until she was seated, straddling his thighs with nothing but air between them. And not much of that.

Jo wrapped her arms around his shoulders as he palmed the back of her skull, angling her head for better access as his tongue drove to take possession of her mouth. He untangled his fingers from her belt loops and brushed up under the edge of her shirt with his thumb, just the most fleeting of touches across the bare skin of her abdomen. Then his hands were sliding against her jeans again, moving around to cup her ass, two fingers of each hand sliding into the tight back pockets of her jeans to hold her still when every hormone in her body was screaming for her to squirm against him, wriggle closer to his heat.

“You can admit you want it,” he said against her throat. “Everything doesn’t have to be a war. Jo Banks against the world.”

God, why is he
talking
? Didn’t he know there are better uses for his mouth?
Jo speared her fingers through his hair. He kept it ruthlessly short, completely restrained, but it felt as wild and thick against her fingers as an animal pelt. She gripped his head in both hands and yanked his face back to within a breath of hers. “I like you so much better when you aren’t speaking,” she growled against his mouth, her lips teasing his with every word.

He kissed her again, each drugging pull of his mouth dragging her further away from reality.

A lesson in seduction that releases lightning in a bottle…

All Bottled Up

Ó
2009 Christine d’Abo

Call center worker Viola White makes a living selling dream vacations. Too bad her own life is a litany of unfilled fantasies. Prime example—the boss she pines for barely knows she exists. Now that she’s won a trip to a Mexican beach resort, though, she vows to shake things up. Instead she winds up alone, empty handed and with a sore toe from the beautiful bottle she’s tripped over.

A bottle that’s purple, gold—and stuffed with over six feet of blue-eyed, black-haired hunk. If anyone could teach her how to seduce her boss, it’s this sexy genie.

Jerod can’t believe his bad luck. Three thousand years of granting frivolous wishes, and now he’s stuck playing matchmaker. A series of sensual lessons later, he finds there’s something different about this shy Viola. Something that tempts him to try to break free of his curse and make a life for himself—with her.

All he has to do is convince Viola that the man of her dreams is a dud. And the right man for the job of loving her is a genie.

Warning: May cause spontaneous wish fulfillment, eye rolls, and a bad case of the giggles. No bottles were harmed in the writing of this novel.

Enjoy the following excerpt from
All Bottled Up
:

“He thinks we’re in love.”

Jerod chuckled as she fought not to choke on her drink a second time.

“What?” she asked, half coughing.

“The two of us, in a secluded booth. It’s a natural assumption.”

Viola felt her face warm, though she wasn’t sure if it was from his words, or from the second glass of wine she’d finished. Her head tingled as the alcohol began to work its way through her food-deprived body. What it did was give her courage to play along.

She dipped her finger into the wine, brought it to her lips, and sucked the drop off. She then lazily drew a line down her lips, along her neck, to rest on her chest at the dip of cleavage.

“So, teacher, what would Bill want to do at this point?”

It somehow felt wrong to bring up Bill’s name. But he was the reason she was here with Jerod after all. And Jerod didn’t seem to mind. His eyes were currently following her finger on its sensual journey of her neck.

“Bill would want your finger to go lower,” he said, his accent sounding heavier.

She got a chill of pleasure from listening to him. The exotic sound of his voice was an unexpected turn on. Something she’d never known about herself before.

“Viola.”

Her eyes flicked over his shoulder to see where the waiter was.

“No one can see you.” He sounded urgent. “Undo the button.”

Who was she to argue with a genie? It only took a little pressure for her finger to release the button from its confines. Her skin was warm, her nail felt good as she grazed the sensitive skin. She felt bold. She never felt bold. Viola continued on and undid the third button.

Jerod sucked in a short breath and watched as she played with the top of her breast. Her finger felt foreign and thrilling at once.

“Bill would like that.” His whisper held a raw edge to it.

“Do you?”

Her question clearly caught him off guard as he straightened in his chair. With graceful speed, he moved his chair beside hers before she knew what was going on. He wrapped his fingers around her wrist and pulled it underneath the table. She found her hand in direct contact with his engorged cock.

“Does that answer your question?”

She flexed her fingers around him, but was at a loss for what to do next. They were in a restaurant, for God’s sake.

“You’re…”

“When I am in your world, I take human form. My body functions as it did before I was cursed. I always could appreciate beauty when I saw it.”

And how can a lady argue against that?

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“You do that often. It makes you different from my previous masters.”

“Do what?”

“Show gratitude.”

She felt his cock swell, pulse with blood under her touch. When he released her wrist, she pulled her hand away, but didn’t remove it completely, resting it on his knee. He felt so warm, inviting, it was a temptation she’d never been faced with before. One she definitely wanted to explore.

Viola bit on her bottom lip as she tried to find the right words. “How can I not show gratitude for what you are doing for me? You’ve given me so much in such a short period of time. I look different, I even feel different. It’s amazing.”

“The waiter is coming,” he said, but didn’t move. “I should return to my seat to give you more room to eat.”

“Okay.”

He still didn’t move. Instead he picked up her hand and kissed it. In a flash he was back in his original spot.

“Drink your wine, darling.”

Viola couldn’t keep up. He had her so worked up, she thought she would burst. Before she could say anything else, Jerod flicked his finger and the buttons on her shirt redid themselves.

“No sense in giving him a show.”

With the steaming meal placed before them, their conversation died down. Viola concentrated on her fish and hoped she could sort out her emotions before the meal was done. She loved Bill. It was only natural that she’d project some of those emotions onto Jerod. He was, after all, showing her how to seduce the man. It would stand to reason she’d feel something for him as a result of all they were going through.
Wouldn’t it?

After supper, Jerod waved his fingers and made a sizable stack of bills appear on the table.

“That should cover things nicely.”

Viola gasped. She’s never seen that much money in any one place at the same time.

“Ah…yeah. Nice tip.”

“He earned it. He didn’t flirt with you once.”

She giggled as they left the restaurant together. As soon as they reached the night air, Viola shivered. “I didn’t think it got this cold here at night.”

She heard him snap his fingers and out of nowhere a white knit shawl appeared in his hands. He took great care to drape it over her shoulders.

“We should get you back to your room. I would hate for you to get a summer cold.”

“Is that what Bill would do? Walk me back?” She couldn’t resist the urge to tease him.

Unfortunately, Jerod didn’t look amused.

“Not exactly. He would drive you home in his Ford and make advances toward you the entire time. Which reminds me of another lesson I need to teach you.”

“Rebuking his advances?”

He spun her around so fast she had to throw her arm up against his chest to prevent her from losing her balance.

He leaned in and whispered in her ear, “No. Lesson five.”

Her mind was a whirlwind trying to remember the order of the lessons he’d outline at dinner. “Attitude?”

“Kissing.”