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Slowly, she lowered her hand to peer at the crystal. It sat quietly on the table amidst the papers still fluttering in the inexplicable breeze.
“I am Zurvan, genie of the crystal.”
The deep, baritone voice ripped her gaze three feet to the right, to rest on a tall man wearing emerald green. A shirt in a satiny fabric under a vest intricately embroidered with gold thread and tiny beads, and long, flowing pants billowing in the gusty air. Her eyes widened, and she tried to calm her quivering nerves with a long, deep breath.
He stood before her, arms crossed over his chest, looking like some ancient god. Long hair, glossy black, swirled around him. His face was like handsomely sculpted granite, strong and hard, but starkly sensual. Full lips blended into a strong chin.
She blinked, but the apparition remained.Genie of the crystal?The guy looked like something straight out of theArabian Nights.Like a very sexy version of Aladdin’s genie. And he seemed vaguely familiar, like a hazy image from a dream. Her gaze shifted back to his lips. Sexy. Inviting. Lips she’d love to kiss.
His dark green eyes, the color of moss in the shadowed depths of a forest, locked onto her. His eyebrows lowered like dark storm clouds.
“A woman!” His enraged voice rumbled through the room.
Suddenly he started growing, his height increasing several inches per second. She felt faint as her head tilted back, watching him rise above her. Ten feet. Twenty. Thirty. Somehow, her ceiling expanded upward to follow him. He glared down at her, green eyes blazing.
His huge hand swept toward her, and his fingers wrapped snugly around her from her waist to mid-thigh with his thumb under her breasts. Her heart thumped wildly as he swept her into the air.
“What are you doing? Let me go!” She struggled, then clung to his thumb as disorientation skewed her sense of balance.
Her breath caught and her heartbeat accelerated. This had suddenly gotten very scary. She felt as though she were falling and everything went black, though she remained conscious. Light reappeared, but she was no longer in her living room. She tried to catch her breath. It was difficult to focus on her surroundings, but she got the impression of elegant draperies, rich carpets, and plush cushions in satins and velvet, all in bright jewel tones.
The giant set her down on her feet. When he let go, she started to topple over, but a strong, firm arm grasped her waist.
Her half-closed lids jolted open. The giant now stood beside her, normal size again, if six-and-a-half feet counted as normal. It was his arm steadying her. She jerked away from him, sucked in a breath, and thrust back her shoulders.
“Who are you and why are you here?” she demanded.
He stepped away from her, giving her room to breathe.
“I am a genie. I am here to grant you three wishes.”
Oh, God. She started to sway.
He cursed in some foreign language before guiding her to a soft-looking couch a few feet away. She sank onto the cushions.
He surveyed her critically, then lifted a lock of her hair between two fingers to examine it.
“Your hair is a strange color.”
He fluttered his fingers and Celeste jumped as she felt hair slither down her cheeks and neck. She glanced down to see long, blonde waves hanging to her waist.
“And your clothes.”
“What’s the matter with my—Yikes.”
Goosebumps quivered along the naked flesh of her arms, chest and midriff as her warm, comfortable sweater disappeared, replaced by some silky little bit of nothing.
“Hey, where are my clothes?”
She glanced down at herself, examining the slinky little harem number she now wore. Her breasts, pushed together and up, spilled out over the snug, brief, purple velvet bejeweled bra that had appeared out of nowhere. A matching scrap of velvet hugged her hips. Silky, sheer, iridescent fabric swirled around her legs.
Anger welled within her. No one—thirty-foot bully or otherwise—got away with redefining her looks. She glanced up and found herself unnerved by his steady gaze. Smoldering embers of passion singed her nerve-endings as they forged a path the length of her. Yet something about that erotic gaze tickled her memory.
Her face felt hot and she knew her cheeks must be flushed. She pulled back her shoulders and straightened her spine, chasing away the lingering cinders of doubt.
I will not be manipulated.
Chapter 2
