Page 52 of Luck Be a Genie

Oh.

I smiled sheepishly. “Sorry.”

He chuckled and kissed my forehead. “You feeling secure enough to get into your own chair yet?”

“Am I killing your thighs?” I maneuvered into my own seat, and my knees started bouncing impatiently again. I wasn’t even terrified for the landing like I usually was. I just wanted to get there and be done with this already.

“There is literally no right answer to that for most guys, but nah. Just...” He cleared his throat and waggled his eyebrows, making me laugh.

“Gotcha. Sorry. I’m just antsy.”

He took my hand. “I know. I am too.”

Around hour nine, our pilot got back on the comm.

“King Asharien lives on the Snæfellsnes Peninsula, near Lóndrangar, on the western side of Snæfellsjökull. He’s given us permission to land on his private airstrip. He’s also given me permission to stay at the castle for the duration of your trip and has already arranged to have the plane refueled, so we will be ready to go back to Moonhaven when you have completed your business with him. We will be landing in ten minutes.” The comm channel closed.

“Well, at least we won’t have to go through a busy airport where all the signs are in a language we don’t understand,” I said, my knees still bouncing. I glanced out the window for a second, enough to see we were making a wide circle and lowering in altitude.

“It wouldn’t be a problem because I know all the languages.”

“What!” I gaped at him.

His smirk was smug. “Terrifyingly powerful genie, remember. I don’t know why you keep forgetting this.”

“Probably because you don’t act like a terrifyingly powerful genie,” I sassed, making him tickle me until I started shrieking with laughter.

“Take it back,” he demanded.

Giggling, I tried to fend him off with my puny muscle strength. “No, you’re like genie light, or genie zero. A regular genie but with fewer calories.”

He nipped my neck, making me shiver. “Not nice, sunshine,” he growled.

Still laughing, I scrunched my shoulder toward my ear in an effort to move him from the danger zone. “I wasn’t trying to be. Is it old age, do you think?”

Nick pulled back and gaped at me. “I can’t believe you went there.”

I shrugged, looking at him with wide-eyed innocence. “It’s okay if things start to fail or slow down. It happens when men age.”

He threw his head back and roared with laughter, then squeezed me tightly in a hug. “How did I not know you could be this vicious? I think you left a stab wound, sunshine. I need TLC to make it better.” He kissed my cheek and snorted, saying under his breath, “fails or slows down.” Then he shook his head, and my pulse jumped as the wheels hit the tarmac, bouncing the plane a bit.

I craned my neck to look out the window again. “Wait, we’re down?”

Nick sounded self-satisfied when he said, “Yep.”

I turned back to him. “Were you trying to distract me?”

“Did it work?”

I mean, yes. Yes, it did. Nick was always distracting in all of the best ways. “Yes?”

He smirked again and kissed me, then stood and started gathering our bags.

Tricksy genie.

Chapter 20

Lucky