Page 45 of Luck Be a Genie

He swallowed. “I love when you’re close to me. Most of the time it’s not sexual, it’s just... peaceful, and fulfilling in a way I’d only previously dreamed about.” His hand flexed on my hip. “You feel like home to me.”

“You feel like home to me too.”

I knew we hadn’t been together long, but as the days passed, I’d grown more and more certain of him, of us.

And he’d been right before when he said I knew him. I didn’t know him then as well as I did now, but I knew enough that I was kicking myself for waiting so long to give us a chance.

“Nick?”

“Hmm?” He’d closed his eyes, and I’d bet money he was falling asleep. He seemed to have the magical ability to do that wherever he was, while it basically took a two-by-four to get me to sleep.

“I love you.”

His eyes flew open in surprise, and then the sweetest, most radiant smile spread across his face.

“You love me?”

I nodded, swallowing. “I do. It’s really easy to love you, Nick. You’re my favorite person in the world.”

He pulled me closer, murmuring, “That’s the best thing anyone has ever said to me.” Then he came up on one elbow, cradled the side of my face with his hand, and kissed me tenderly.

When we broke apart, he seemed content to just lie back down and hold me close to him. When his eyes closed, I was nervous he was starting to fall asleep again, so I poked his stomach.

“Don’t you have anything you want to say back?”

Eyes still closed, and a grin of pure mischief on his face, he said, “No. I’m good.”

I lightly punched him. “Nick!”

Laughing, he ran a hand through the ends of my hair, then lightly kissed my lips again before he settled back down. “I can’t even tell you when I first fell in love with you—it was that long ago. I admired you. I thought you were beautiful. I longed to be around you. But love?” He shook his head. “I can’t remember when it happened. It feels like I’ve always loved you. I really don’t believe in meant to be, but the more I got to know you, the strangest thing started to happen.

“I kept getting these flashes of emotion, but they weren’t tied to where we were in our relationship then. It was like... I was getting a glimpse of how I would feel about you in the future. There were no visions, only the emotions, but it was enough for me to know I wanted to wait for you, and to hope that one day you’d see me in the same way that I saw you.

“I love you, Lucky. I genuinely can’t imagine my life without you in it. I don’t want to imagine my life without you in it. Thank you for trusting me enough to reach beyond your fear.”

Sniffing for no suspicious reason whatsoever, I buried my face in the curve of his neck, and held him tightly.

As the sun went down, we finally left our cocoon and Nick walked me to my door, leaving me with a gentle kiss goodnight.

On the other side of the door, I leaned against it, closed my eyes, and smiled.

Chapter 17

Lucky

“We get to see sharks today!” Nick said when he met me at my door, grinning widely.

“Yay.”

My completely deadpan tone made him laugh as he hugged me good morning. “Please curb your enthusiasm, sunshine. It’s too early in the morning for that level of excitement.”

“Ha, ha.” But seriously, sharks? No thank you. And not only would we be seeing them, but there was a part of the Maui Ocean Center where you were surrounded by them in a full 360-degree tank that covered the walkway.

I shivered.

All it would take is one blip from my chaos magic, and that tank probably wouldn’t stand a chance. Did I want to be eaten by sharks today?

No. I would rather pass on that experience, thank you. But Nick assured me that whatever happened, he would protect me, even from sharks. The problem was I didn’t want him to get eaten either. I thought this was just the essence of being a good girlfriend: Don’t let your boyfriend get eaten by sharks.