Burning Hearts (28 page)

She smiled, and then frowned. “I’m gonna miss
you.”

“
I’ll only be gone a week,”
he reminded her.

“
But Houston is so far
away,” she whined.

He stopped at a red light, keeping his eyes
on the road. “No, it’s not. Do you even know where you live?”

She sighed. “I dunno where the hell I am
anymore.”

The light turned green, but he didn’t move.
“You could come with me.”

She was taken aback. “What?”

He finally turned to her, locking his dark
brown eyes on hers. “Why not?”

The car behind him honked the horn. Riddick
cursed and accelerated a few more feet before eventually turning
into the parking lot of the Oasis Bar and Grill where their friends
were waiting to join them for lunch.

He parked the car and shut off the engine.
“Look, Jenna, I’m not gonna beg for you to choose me, but I can see
the truth: you’re struggling. You love me and Malcolm.”

Jenna wanted to disagree,
but she didn’t want to hurt his feelings. Yes, she loved Riddick,
but her love for Malcolm was beyond high school crushes. It was
Kismet. What was meant to be and what can never be undone. But why
couldn’t they
make
love? They hadn’t tried again since that devastating night,
but she wanted to try again, to know that they weren’t cursed—that
a Mage and a Jinni could be together in that way.

“
I don’t wanna talk about
this right now.” She forced a smile and tugged at his arm. “Let’s
go eat.”

“
Jenna,” he began, and then
shot out his hand, latching onto hers in a sort of urgency, “I
won’t wait for you. I’ll always love you, but I won’t sit around,
hoping you’ll leave Malcolm someday.”

She gave his hand a gentle squeeze. “I
understand.”

~~~

“
How was lunch?”

Jenna was lounging on her bed, flipping
through the TV channels, finding nothing of interest. Malcolm sat
next to her, looking sexy in just a T-shirt and jeans.

“
Good.” She patted her
stomach. “I ate way too much. I always do that when the weather
turns cold. What were you doing while I stuffin’ my
face?”

He kicked off his shoes and stretched next to
her, propping his head against a pillow. “Spending time with my
aunt. Talking, mainly.”

She shut off the TV and rolled on her side to
face him. “About what?”

But he didn’t turn to meet her, remaining on
his back, staring up at the ceiling. “My father. Turns out, she’d
met him, before…”

“
Oh.” She chose her next
words carefully. “How’d he seem?”

He smiled and finally turned to face her, but
only moved his head. “She said that he was nice and compassionate,
and that he loved my mother very much.”

Jenna needed to hear that. Obviously, Saladin
had been lying. In that moment, she expelled all worried thoughts
about Malcolm going bad from her mind. She’d nothing to fear…well,
at least from the love of her life.

“
Did you tell her he was a
Jinni? And that you are?”

“
No.” He looked away from
Jenna. “I don’t want to scare her with the truth.”

She wrapped her arm around his chest. “But
it’s not a bad thing of who you are. Your aunt might even be
proud.”

He stroked her arm, still refusing to look at
her. “Proud of you, definitely, for ridding us of the Jinn. But me?
No. I’m not worthy of adoration.”

She shifted her body and sat on top of him,
straddling his waist. “What’s wrong? Why are you talking like
that?”

He put his arm over his face, hiding his
fiery blue eyes. “Saladin got to me, saying that my demonic side
would come out, putting you in danger, forcing you to kill me.” He
flexed his fingers. “I should’ve killed him,” he said softly, but
no less menacing.

She removed his arm, revealing those
beautiful eyes of his. “Don’t listen to him. He’s a liar, remember?
You said so.”

Malcolm sighed. “But what he said isn’t
wrong. I’ve seen it before. Those like me. Turning.”

She leaned down and kissed his lips,
welcoming the fire he always had for her, promising to never go
out. “But that’s not gonna happen to you.”

He smiled, resting his warm hands on her
hips. “Oh? And why’s that?”

She gave a proud smile. “’Cause you have
me.”

He raised his eyebrow. “And you won’t let
me?”

She shook her head. “Nope. I’ll remind you of
who you are: a nice, gentle, compassionate soul who loves and is
loved.”

He took her in his arms, and she let him
shift her body with his, so they lay on their sides, facing each
other. “I still can’t believe you love me. I don’t deserve
you.”

She tugged gently on his earlobe. “We need to
work on your low self-esteem issues.”

He smiled. “You know what would help?”

She snuggled closer and wrapped her arm
around his chest, resting her hand against his back that seemed
knotted with stress; she began massaging his muscles.

“
What would
help?”

“
Promise me that you’ll
always love me.” His tone was soft, but there was no denying the
force behind it: he was begging.

Jenna didn’t hesitate. “I promise.”

###

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Melanie Matthews prefers to write stories that are
funny and heartbreaking at the same time. “Make ‘em laugh, make ‘em
cry” is her motto. Burning Hearts is her second novel, her first
being Coldhearted, about ghosts. Are you sensing a “heart” theme?
You’re welcome to psychoanalyze her and she can be contacted on
Twitter @matthews_author. Limit your diagnoses to 140 characters,
if you can.