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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons,
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Cover Design by Marianne Nowick
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Chapter 1
Fury had a tight grip on me as my father spelled out exactly what he expected of me. I saw my summer of lounging by the pool, spending time with my friends, and doing less than nothing curl up and die in an instant.
Glowing rage kept building until I wanted to explode. For a second, dad's office disappeared, and I only saw red. I often had that when I got really angry.
Stifling my frustration away, I clamped my hands around my chair arm, and focused on dad. At no time did I want to even look at my dopey, annoying stepbrother. Especially now that dad told me that I was the one responsible for him. I hated that punk kid!
As much as I loved my step mum, and that she made my dad happy, I hated her kids. They were brats. Harrison at twenty one, still acted like a unruly teenager, while Candy, at nineteen expected everyone to treat her like a princess. Just because we had money didn't mean we had to act like posh snobs.
"Harrison, come over here." Dad called out to my stepbrother, while I continued fuming.
From the way Harrison acted as if every woman wanted him, to the way he flaunted himself, it all bothered me. He had been the star of my dad's hit show for the last year. God, how I hated that show! It had no class and all crass. Women and men partying, flaunting themselves, and having sex with the rest of the cast. The show was a giant orgy and not much more.
I missed the documentaries that dad used to make. He used to be one of the best. His shows used to win awards for their detail, perspective and information. Now he'd been dragged down to the bottom dwellers of reality television. It was as embarrassing as it was annoying.
I heard my brother stand up, but that only made my anger bristle back to life. Staring at my white knuckles had kept me from glaring at him. I couldn't stand to see that smug grin.
"What did you require of me?" a voice so smooth and velvety, which definitely wasn't my brothers, answered my father.
Daring a glance to the voice, my mouth gasped open in shock. This man standing before me was not my brother. In no way did he resemble my crass stepbrother.
This man before me had to be the most deliciously gorgeous specimen of masculinity that I'd ever seen. My stepbrother might work out all the time for his physique, but he'd always be short and pale. This man was tall, broad, muscular, and with the most enviable caramel skin.
The only thing ridiculous about him was the costume he wore. It looked like a genie costume in the brightest blue you could ever imagine. The vest with an intricate woven design barely fit over his broad, naked chest.
Then I noticed the insane pants, and I had to stifle a laugh. The bright blue satin fitted tight against his legs, but the sheer covering over them looked far too feminine. Then my gaze saw the matching shoes with curled toes, and the laugh spluttered out of me.
"Were you running late for a costume party?" yes, I did blurt that out to his gorgeous chest and body.
"I must beg your pardon." The man seemed affronted.
That made me raise my gaze to his face. Yes, another gasp popped out of me. I'd never seen a more handsome face. Talk about symmetrical perfection. I'd never seen a straighter nose, such perfect cheekbones or jawlines in my life.
It was the piercing eyes that captured my attention, so blue, almost a scandalous colour of blue. When he tilted his head, I noticed his perfect, luscious lips. I had to swallow as I stared at him. Every inch of this man had a perfection that I'd seen nowhere else.
"Who are you?" I asked in a dazed voice.
"Isla, this is your brother. Don't try to pretend that you don't know him." Dad's voice snapped me back to reality.
"No, it's not." I protested.
"You see me!" the man turned his eyes on me, which left me stunned. "I never planned for such an occurrence, but perhaps I should have paid more attention. You are your mother's daughter in too many ways." He mused absently.
"What?" I couldn't hide my dreamy tone even when his words made no sense.
"You know I am not your brother."
As he started to speak, he touched me on the top of the head. Everything stopped moving. The clocks incessant ticking paused. My father froze with his mouth half opened and in the process of standing up. His crouch looked uncomfortable.
"What the hell?" I said into the deafening quiet.
"You know that I am not your brother." Huge behemoth remained active, and that tantalised me so much that I couldn't speak. My eyes darted past him, because he was hard to look at when his whole focus remained on me.
"You know I am not your brother, Little One." He walked over to me, tilted my chin up with a huge finger, and hypnotised me with those mega blue eyes.
"You're not my stepbrother," I managed a breathless reply. "And don't call me little one!"
"It is the truth. I much prefer truth telling. You are perhaps one of the smallest adult humans I have yet to interact with."
I didn't know whether to choose that he insulted me or complimented me. He had accurately pointed out the truth. I was short in comparison to the rest of the population. I'm sure compared to his huge size, any person would appear small. He had to be the largest person I had ever seen and the most intriguing. Did I happen to mention handsome? He would make any girl start to pant with one little look.
"Why does my dad think that you're my stepbrother?" I decide that I should get answers out of him instead of ogling him.
"As long as your brother has his clutches on my lamp, so I must remain his slave." Behemoth looked both peeved and depressed after he admitted that.
"That makes no sense. What's your name and what do you want from my dad?" I demanded.
"My name is Jene. I desire nothing from your fatherly figure. I must complete a wish made by your brother." He crossed his arms over that impressive chest.
"Okay, Jene... gawd, is that supposed to be Jene the genie? That's bloody hilarious!" I spluttered with laughter at the very thought.
"Whatever do you find amusing about my name, Little One?"
"This get up you've got on, and you're named Jene. C'mon, give me something original to work with here. You want work from dad on his stupid show, don't you?" I huffed out a laugh as the obvious dawned on me.
"Look around you. Time is at a stand still, and yet you dare to laugh at me." His annoyance echoed in every word.
I realised he wasn't a guy I wanted to tick off when he could switch time on and off with such ease. Gulping in a breath, I took a step backwards. He made a frustrated sighing noise.
"Little One, you shall come to no harm with me. I am from the Alumni clan of genies. We mean no ill intent upon the world. We are here to grant joy and abundance to those who find our lamps." He tried to assure me, but that only freaked me out more. How deluded was this guy?
"There's other clans of genies who are bad?" not sure why I focused on that.
"I would not use the word bad as much as selfish, egomaniacal, and never forget greedy. They are the lamp your brother should have searched. I am Alumni, and above their petty nonsense." He turned haughty.
"Great, great, so what's the plan?" I gestured around to where time stood still.
"You do not believe all I have spoken of, or what you see right now, do you, Little One?" He tilted his head to peer at me.
"I'm damn sure I'm dreaming, or I've lost my mind or... anything except you're a genie who stopped time." I flapped my arms around like an out of control bird.
"If I had my lamp, then convincing you would come easily, but alas, it remains in the hands of your greedy, selfish brother." He sighed, his mood retuning to darkness.
"He's my stepbrother. Why don't you just take it off him?"
"The magic never works that way, Little One. I remain trapped as long as he has my lamp."
"Stop calling me that! My name's Isla." I scowled at hi and he flinched.
"I am well aware of your name. My difficulty now comes in trying to convince you of the truth."
"You want the genie story to win, huh?" I sat down in one of the chairs in dad's office rather exhausted by this conversation.
"As it is the truth, yes, I want it to win." He sounded patronising and I frowned.
I realised my disadvantage when I had to look up, up and up just to see his face. Tapping a finger against my leg, I considered the last few moments. Nothing could explain the pausing of time, nothing except magic, I guess. Gawd, was this hunk of gorgeousness actually a genie?
"I'm going to have to stall my disbelief and go with you're a genie." I drawled.
"Excellent! Now we can work on the retrieval of my lamp." Jene rubbed his hands together appearing a bit like an evil genius.
"Did you even note my sarcasm?" I gazed at him perturbed.
"I chose to ignore your disbelief. When your father asks you to look after your brother..."
"Stepbrother." I interrupted.
"Say yes."
"Fine. I have no idea how that's going to help you, but I'll agree to look after the idiot." I grudgingly accepted the loss of my holidays.
"Excellent!" he touched me on the head again and time restarted.
"Whether you like it or not, Harrison is your responsibility for the summer. I want you to make sure that you get him to where he needs to go, especially on set." Dad's voice startled me, I'd gotten used to Jene and I being the only ones active.
"I have to be his bloody time keeper too. Come on, Dad." I argued for the sake of arguing, but I heard Jene huff from beside me.
"Isla, look after him." Dad growled.
"He's twenty one, not ten!"
"Do it for your old man, would you?" Dad dropped the anger and turned to pleading.
"Fine," I snapped. "Give me his stupid timetable, so I can make sure his highness attends to his schedule." I held out my hand.
"I'll buy you that Audi you want." Dad bargained.
"An Audi for losing my summer, I don't think that's a terribly good deal. Just give me his schedule," I put my hand out and dad placed a thick file in my hands. "You can't be serious?" I exclaimed.
"There's set times, publicity events he has to attend, and all the other things I need you to organise." Dad stated.
"This is ridiculous. He's a grown man, and I shouldn't have to be his slave." I declared, but dad had handed the problem over, so he ignored my outburst.
"Head on your way now, Isla, and thank you." Dad came around the desk, kissed me on the cheek and gestured me out for the door.
I staggered out of dad's office with Jene beside me. He definitely wasn't my annoying, selfish stepbrother Harrison. No, he was something I didn't want to consider at the moment. Had life really gone so topsy turvy since breakfast this morning?
I glanced at Jene, who seemed to glow in the bright sunshine we stepped into. Had I actually found myself a real life genie? Gawd, I had to be losing my mind.