As You Wish (17 page)

“There is nothing to forgive. You helped me save my mother’s life and mine.” She moaned with delight, certain his hands were heating up on her skin. “Have I told you, you’ve got the magic touch?”

He grinned at her, pressing his palms against the soles of her feet and Karis gasped at the tingly vibrations coursing through her skin. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the warmth filling her body as all of her aches and pains pulsed in tandem with her heartbeat. The skin around her wounds heated up and seemed to expand as she opened her eyes to see them slowly disappear. She let out a soft moan of relief as the last scratch on the top of her toes faded away and Vander took his hands off her feet.

“How do you feel now?” he asked, tracing a circle around her ankle.

Instead of answering, she moved onto her knees and leant forward to kiss him. She melted as his hands worked through her hair. He angled her mouth to his and returned her kiss, stroke for stroke. She poured all of the pent up emotions of relief, joy and desire rippling through her into each soft, wet caress of her tongue. Her hands went up to touch his smooth bald head and she gasped for breath as he whispered her name against her earlobe.

“You freed me.” He pulled back to look into her eyes.

Karis licked her lips, intensifying the tingling sensation warming them. “Not before you freed me. I had trapped myself in a box, unwilling to accept who I am.” She took a deep breath and continued. “I believed embracing my abilities would keep me from a having a normal life, keep me from ever belonging anywhere with anyone.”

“The first time Rue took you from me, I knew I would stop at nothing until you were safe. It drove me crazy to think of you scared and alone with him when I wanted you so much myself.” He traced the fine arch of her eyebrow. “When I saw him snatch you through that portal, taking you from me a second time, I knew my life would be over if anything happened to you. All I could think about was getting you back safe here with me like you are now.”

“I know.” Karis watched flecks of gold darken and flare in his eyes. “Focusing on getting back home to my mom and to you was what gave me the strength to push down my fear and keep running.” She ran her hand across the stubble of his beard.

“I didn’t think I could ever love again.” Vander pulled her down alongside him. “But when I heard you say you were falling in love with me—”

“You heard my thought?” she asked, turning her face to his with a frown.

“I did.”

“But you told me you didn’t. I thought I was in full control of my gift.”

“Telling you otherwise would have only made you more nervous to try to use it.” He ran a finger along her collarbone. “And I wasn’t prepared to respond.”

“Oh.” Karis looked away, despair filling her soul. She blinked back tears as his warm hand lifted her chin.

“I’m not finished. When you disappeared with Rue that last time, I could feel in my heart what I refused to recognise and I thought I would go crazy if I didn’t get the chance to tell you.”

“Tell me what,” she asked, her heart beating chaotically. Could he love her as much as she loved him?

“I do.” He pulled her on top of him. “I love you, Karis.”

She straddled him, tears filling her eyes as she dipped down to kiss his lips. “I love you too, Vander, so much.” She took his hands and lifted them to her lips to kiss his palms before touching the thick, dark bracelets around his wrists. “Will you always have to wear these even though you’re a free genie?”

“The master who gives a genie freedom can remove them.”

Her eyes widened. “So, I, can take these off?”

“If you wish.”

She studied the heavy bands for a few seconds before looking at him. “What is
your
wish?”

He placed his hands on her hips, squeezing her soft flesh. “To be with you, loving you for as long as you want.”

His words sent a rush of warmth through her body. “That’s not what I meant, but it is what I want.”

“Good,” he flashed her a sexy smile, “then take these off.”

“How?”

Vander shrugged. “Only the master who freed me would know.”

“I have no idea how—” Her breath hitched in her throat as he rocked his hips and his hard cock brushed against the soft cotton vee of her panties. Desire spiralled through her and she fought the urge to rub her clit against his dick as she struggled to think of a method to open the metal bracelets.

“Hurry, Karis.” His finger skimmed under her T-shirt.

She moaned as his hot hands spanned her waist before cupping her breasts.

Don’t over think it. You know how to take them off.

I’m going to need your hands to do this, aren’t I?

He grinned at her, gently tugging on her beaded nipples before slipping his hands from beneath her shirt. He lifted them up to her and without thinking she kissed the first bracelet. She let out a delighted giggle as it popped open and landed on the comforter.

“Now,” she whispered, leaning to kiss the other bracelet, “you belong to no one.” The warm cuff sprung open, rolled off the bed and hit the wooden floor with a noisy clank. She looked away from the metal to meet his fiery gaze.

“Wrong.” Vander ripped her shirt from the bottom up. The same passion ignited within her mirrored in his beautiful eyes. “I belong to you.”

“
No
,” Karis said, wiggling out of the torn cotton to help him yank off his shirt. “We belong with each other.”