Sexy In A Bottle: A More Than Men Novella (9 page)

"
What if what I truly desire is you?"

Raj’s gaze dropped to the floor.
"You say that now. What if you tire of me? I am bound to serve you until your wishes are done. I don’t want to be a burden because you feel too guilty to make a wish and send me back where I belong."

"
You don’t belong in that necklace, Raj."

"
Do I belong here with you? I want to, but do I? I don’t know that the necklace isn’t exactly where I should be. It might be better for you that way."

"
What if I used my third wish to free you?"

He looked at her with soulful blue eyes that held more emotions than he could ever voice in a thousand years.
"Even if you did, what would it change? I would still be a djinn. And you deserve better."

"
Better?" Valerie couldn’t believe they were having this argument. She’d finally found someone to love. Someone who not only understood her but had the power to see to it that they were together for more than the brief remainder of her life. He could heal her. She could free him. And yet he still saw problems. If she was alive and he was free, they could weather any rough patches as easily as they had weathered the nor’easter.

"
Someone like this Danny," he said, pointing to the album. "A real man with a family and a life that you can become a part of. I can never be that for you. I will never fit in this world."

"
I don’t love Danny," she said, her jaw growing tight with irritation. "I love
you
. I want
you
."

"
And I want
you
to be happy," he said.

The frustration was boiling in her stomach. They had something beautiful and wonderful. They were on the verge of a great life together
, and she wasn’t going to let his self-doubts ruin it for them. "You’re right," she snapped. "I wish you
were
just a regular man, because if you were human, we wouldn’t be having this argument right now about whether or not you’re good enough for me."

The words slipped through her lips before she could stop them. Never before had the word
"wish" meant anything, but now it meant everything.

Raj’s eyes widened as he looked at her in surprise.
"What have you done?" he whispered. Before she could answer, he stumbled backward, collapsing to the wood floor. He screamed, a sharp, piercing sound that made Valerie’s chest tighten. He curled into a ball and clawed at his skin as though he was desperate to rip his flesh from his bones. It was a terrible sight.

Moments later
the screaming stopped and Raj finally stilled, a panting, shaking heap on the ground.

What
had
she done?

"
Raj, are you okay?"

He was cold. After everything that had just happened, it seemed like a ridiculous thought, but given it was the first time he’d ever experienced the sensation, it felt important. Tiny bumps rose up across his skin as his teeth chattered lightly against each other.

"Raj?"

"
I’m ok-k-ay," he stuttered. "Just c-cold." He pushed up onto his knees just as Valerie dashed over to the couch and snatched a blanket off the back.

"
Here," she said, throwing it over his shoulders.

That was better. The soft flannel made a huge difference. He crawled to his feet and stumbled over to sit on the sofa. He was so weak. It felt as though every ounce of his strength had just been torn from him. It had hurt.
More than a couple hundred years in those gold cuffs.

Raj looked down at his wrists. T
he cuffs were gone. His skin was scarred and twisted where they had once tortured him, but the shiny gold symbols of his bondage had vanished. He was free. No, not just free —
human
. Valerie had wished he was just a regular man. And now, for the first time in his life, he was.

He watched Valerie cautiously ease herself down on the couch beside him. There was fear in her eyes. His transformation had probably scared the daylights out of her. To be honest it had scared him as well. For a moment he wondered if the sorcerer had some kind of trap built into the curse that would torture him if he tried to escape it.

But now he knew better. It was the blinding pain of having his powers ripped away from him for good. He’d felt something similar once, when he was captured, but then it was less severe as he’d just had his magic constrained and bent to the sorcerer’s will. Losing it forever was ten times worse. But hadn’t that been what he’d secretly wished for?

A thousand times.
But not before —

"
Valerie," he whispered, reaching out to caress her face. "Why did you do that?" he asked. "I told you there were two wishes remaining. Why the hell didn’t you save yourself first?"

Tears gathered in her golden eyes.
"I know. And I told myself that was what I was going to do. It made sense. Despite your doubts I knew we would be happy together if I wished myself well, then wished for your freedom. It just came out. I didn’t even realize what I’d said until you collapsed."

Raj closed his eyes and let his head roll back. It hit the stone wall with a thud of pain that helped distract him from the situation. He was human. She’d accidentally given him freedom and stripped his powers in a single breath. And now he couldn’t do anything to save the woman he loved.

If she had wished for his freedom alone, he would’ve been able to use his magic at will. He could’ve done anything for her. He could’ve granted her a million wishes. And now, he was a shivering man, powerless to do anything but sit back and watch Valerie slowly die.

"
And now it is done," he said with finality. He was human in a foreign world, and soon he would be without the one person he counted on to guide him. He had been worried that his presence would be a burden on Valerie’s life. Now he would have to face it all alone.

"
I’m sorry, Raj. I didn’t mean to upset you."

"
Upset me? Are you not upset as well?"

Her gaze dropped into her lap as she shrugged.
"A little. But this was what I truly wanted — for you to be free and for me to not take anything from you. All those things you said about not being the man I needed — they no longer matter. You’re a free man now."

"
What good is my freedom without you, Valerie?" Raj leaned forward and cupped her face in his hands. "I’ve waited thousands of years for you. And now I’m going to lose you when up until only a few moments ago, I had the ability to save you. What use is the beating of my heart when the reason for its dance has gone?"

Raj leaned in and kissed her. He drank in the taste of her lips, committing it to memory. He would carry her with him until the day he died. Thanks to her, that would only be a short lifetime from now. He wouldn’t have to
live on for hundreds of years, pining for her inside that stupid necklace.

Valerie pulled away.
A small smile curled her lips as her gaze ran over his face. It seemed an odd reaction under the circumstances.

"
What is it?" he asked.

"
You’re skin isn’t burning hot any longer. I’d gotten used to you feeling feverish all the time."

He supposed that would be strange. A blinking
sign pointing to his newfound humanity. "I was born of fire," he said. "And now I guess I am born of woman, just like every other human. And kept at a steady ninety-eight point six degrees."

How many other things had changed? The thought struck him.
Raj got up and went over to the kitchen wall where her coat hung on the hook. In the pocket was the sapphire necklace, just as it had been all week. He held the heavy pendant in his hand, the gold doing nothing more than feel cold against his palm. No searing of his skin. No agonizing pain. He carried the sapphire back to the couch and sat down beside her.

"
What are you going to do with it?" she asked.

"
I don’t know. Part of me wants to destroy it so there’s no way I can ever get trapped back inside."

"
While therapeutic, it’s probably worth a lot of money. If you sold it instead, it would give you something to live on while you get settled in your new life."

His new life.
In the blink of an eye, he had lost and gained so much. He would have to get a job. Buy clothes that fit. Find a place to live. Learn how to build a fire the hard way. He would stay with Valerie until the very end, but he would have to find out how to continue without her. Maybe he could take over as the lighthouse keeper. The chill of the room crept up his spine. No, he would go someplace far warmer.

Raj let his thumb graze lightly over the blue gemstone. It seemed so different from the outside than on the inside.
"I’ve granted a million wishes, but not once in that time was I ever able to make a wish of my own. If I could, I would wish that your heart would beat as long as mine does. That way, neither of us would ever have to live without the other."

"
That would be —" Valerie spoke, then stopped. Her mouth dropped open into an O of concern as she hunched over. "Oh no," she gasped, her hand clutching at her chest.

Raj shot to attention beside her.
"What is it? Are you okay?"

Tears brimmed in Valerie’s eyes as she
frantically shook her head. "Why now?" she asked, looking up instead of at him. "Please give me more time with him!"

The aneurism.
Certainly the fates were not so cruel as to take her from him only minutes after he first tasted freedom. She slipped off the couch to her knees, pressing fiercely against her sternum as though it would help stop the bleeding.

"
What can I do?" he asked in desperation. He’d never felt so completely and utterly powerless in his entire existence.

"
Just hold me," she said, tears streaming down her cheeks from the pain and fear. "I only have minutes left. There’s nothing else that can be done."

Raj didn’t hesitate to scoop Valerie into his arms. He held her tightly as though she wouldn’t slip away if he didn’t let go.
"Stay with me," he whispered into her hair, rocking her gently. "Please stay with me."

"
I love you," she said. "And I’m not sorry for what I did. Freeing you was the most important and wonderful thing I ever got the chance to do."

"
I love you, too," he replied. "Thank you. For everything." He couldn’t think of anything else he could say or do. He just held her. And kept holding her.

Eventually
her rattling gasps quieted. She didn’t speak or move. Raj couldn’t bear to pull away and know for certain she was gone. He couldn’t take it. Instead, he softly stroked her hair and pressed his lips against the crown of her head.

The pain in his chest was excruciating. He’d lost her. After all this time waiting, in a flash she’d disappeared and he was alone.
He had been trying to do the right thing convincing Valerie he wasn’t meant for her. He hadn’t wanted to go. Not at all, but staying by her side was the selfish choice, he knew it. He would’ve spent every moment of his existence in agony without her, but it would’ve been what she needed.

Now he wouldn’t have her or the comfort of knowing she would be happier without him. He had nothing.
His mind drifted off to the shotgun he’d seen in her bedroom. It would be so easy to…

N
o!

Raj
knew he couldn’t flaunt his life and treat it so cheaply after she’d given everything for him. That was an insult to her memory. He would carry on as best he could, even knowing he would spend every day in pain without her.

He took a deep breath, knowing he needed to let go.
It was time to call someone, although he wasn’t sure who. The police? The coast guard? Someone needed to come, even if it was too late to save her.

"
Raj?"

His
startled heart skipped a beat in his chest at the unexpected sound of her voice. His hands went immediately to her face, jerking her head back to look at him. He wasn’t as gentle as he should’ve been, but he couldn’t help it. She was alive. "Valerie?" he said, his voice laced with disbelief.

She nodded and smiled.
"It went away."

"
What did?"

"
The burning pain in my chest. At first it felt like someone with razor-sharp fingernails was trying to burrow through me to the other side. I felt it start to fade and just knew for certain that it was because I was slipping away. But then…
nothing
. I’m still here. The pain is gone."

Raj slipped
one hand over her chest, feeling the strong beat of her heart through her rib cage. It had never felt so powerful before when he’d rested his head against her and listened to it as she slept. It was as though…

Amazing.
It suddenly all made sense. "The last wish," he said.