Page 5 of Luck Be a Genie

Nick reached for my hand and clutched it in his larger one, and I held onto him for dear life. Despite the high-pitched whine in my ears distracting me, I heard his knuckles pop from my tight grip. He didn’t complain, though.

“What are you,” gasp “doing here?” I was getting really lightheaded. I wished I could get more air into my lungs, but I couldn’t calm down enough to do it.

Nick’s smile, I was sure, was intended to be one hundred percent disarming, but I could read the deep concern in his light grey eyes. “I’m going on vacation with you. I took the entire month off.”

“No you’re not!”

He petted my arm like he was trying to soothe a fractious animal, then took my hand. “It’ll be okay, Lucks. Let’s get your breathing calmer first, and then you can yell at me all you want, okay?”

I whimpered, closing my eyes. This was freaking fantastic. Why did Nick have to see me all the time when I was at my worst? Just once could he see me at my best? When nothing embarrassing or chaotic was happening to me?

Sadly, I knew that would never happen. Chaos was basically my brand, unintentional though it was. Any other reasonable being would have been scared off by this point, but Nick seemed entirely unfazed.

Using his genie magic, he blinked something up that looked like a bright blue child’s toy, then handed it to me. I took it from him in bewilderment, and I didn’t think it was the panic attack and the lightheadedness that was causing my confusion, because he’d just handed me a child’s toy like it was the answer to all of my problems.

“Breathe into it. You’re hyperventilating.”

He said it so genuinely, as if he were actually being helpful and I didn’t understand what was happening. And how, exactly, would a child’s toy help?

“Just trust me, sunshine,” Nick said, his body language tensed and stressed.

I didn’t have the breath to critique his Lucky rescuing skills, so I did as he asked. It made a horrible rattling sound when I breathed into it, but the slight pressure was making a huge difference at slowing down my panicked breathing. After a minute, my breaths were much calmer, and the lightheadedness had mostly passed.

I took it out of my mouth and inspected it in surprise. I was still lightheaded, but I wasn’t gasping for breath anymore, and that was a huge win for me. “Can I keep it?” I never knew when a good anti-hyperventilation device would come in handy.

Nick chuckled and the tension visibly bled out of him as he slumped down in his seat. I wanted to squeeze his hand in support, but didn’t. Coming to my rescue was basically his brand at this point.

“Of course. It was for you.”

“Thanks.” I stowed it in my purse, then turned back to the handsome detective. “Now, let’s try that again. Why are you crashing my vacation?”

“I needed more sunshine.” He held up his other hand as though swearing an oath. “I promise, you won’t even know I’m there.”

Famous last words.

I eyed him doubtfully as he refused to let go of my hand.

Why oh why did I have a funny feeling he was talking about needing more of me and not the flaming ball of plasma in the sky?

Well, at the very least, my vacation wouldn’t be boring.

Chapter 3

Lucky

We made it to the Maui airport without any explosions, though we did encounter major turbulence about halfway through the flight. I’d nearly climbed my seatmate like a monkey in mortal terror that we would crash over the ocean, and die in the watery depths below us, but Nick hadn’t seemed to mind me hijacking his lap. He’d just cuddled me to his chest and tried to keep my mind off everything by telling me stupid jokes that deserved to be in some dad joke manual somewhere, and then consigned to a fireplace as kindling.

But we’d finally made it and were in Maui, and though I was exhausted from the long flight and the adrenaline that I’d been feeling non-stop flying over the Pacific Ocean, I was looking forward to getting to the resort and settling in.

“No, you don’t understand, sir. I can’t be on the top floor. I don’t care how luxurious the room is and that it’s the one that’s been booked for me!”

The poor man across the check-in desk looked like he was trying to hold onto his patience by a thin thread. His welcoming smile had lost much of its luster. Even his bow tie looked like it was drooping.

“Madam—“

In a panic, I cut him off. “I get woozy at a second-floor restaurant. Woozy! I’m not getting in that death trap of an elevator and hoping against hope that it will carry me benevolently to the top floor, only to risk something awful happening and heaven forbid the rescuers can’t get to me because I’m on the flaming top floor!”

I wasn’t being loud, but I was perilously close to losing it. I was fighting tears again. He didn’t get it. How could he? If I went up to the top floor, the roof would probably cave in. As it was, my curse had struck again just as we’d arrived and our Uber driver was currently broken down right outside the resort, and had been forced to call a tow truck.