Page 63 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 8
“Stop it.” I hit her hand. “Tanner wasn’t blowing Irish gangsters in 1845.”
“Not by choice. But whoever has his lamp holds all the power. Don’t you think he’s had to do lots of sexual things to his masters?”
“I absolutely did not think of that.”
“If he wasn’t your man, I’d have him grow out that mustache again and ride that thing till dawn.”
“Gross. But I doubt any of Tanner’s masters have made him do that. He’s a tricky genie. He would have figured out a way to get around blowing someone.”
Chastity laughed. “Very true. I guess he just really hated being a bank robber then. Odd. I think I’d find it quite thrilling.”
Or maybe something else about Ireland upset him...
“Ah. Here we are.” Tanner stopped in front of a painting covered by a sheet and yanked the sheet off of it. “Wait.” He frowned. “Well, that’s not right...”
Instead of something from the French revolution, it was a portrait of a Spanish bull fighter in the tightest little red bullfighter pants.
Chastity laughed. “Is that Nigel?”
Tanner sighed. “It is. After Marie Antoinette lost her head, we had no choice but to flee to Spain. Nigel got really into bull fighting. I think the violence helped him get out some of his frustration about his lover being guillotined, you know? Now where is that painting?”
He pulled the sheet off the painting to the left. This portrait was of Nigel dressed like a Maori warrior doing a haka dance with a jade spear. He was sticking his tongue out at a giant eagle.
“Damn it,” Tanner said. “Nigel must have hid the painting of him with Marie. It’s still a touchy subject for him.”
“Can we back up for a second?” Chastity asked. “Why is Nigel dressed like a Maori?”
“Captain Cook dropped us off there during his first voyage. It was a great place to hide from DODO. Although it was better for me than Nigel. He kept almost getting eaten by giant eagles. Apparently they thought he looked like a tasty little morsel.”
Chastity rolled her eyes. “Tasty? As if.” She took a step closer to the painting. “Does Nigel still have those Maori tattoos?”
Tanner shook his head. “No. Nigel’s a bad boy by nature. But he’s a little indecisive since our forevers are...well...forever. So he’s always getting tattoos and then magically removing them.”
A bad boy by nature? Ew.Why were we talking about Nigel’s tattoos right now? I wanted to know more about Tanner’s time in Ireland. “So you sailed around the world with Captain Cook? And ended up in Ireland? What’d you do in Ireland again? Were you a potato farmer?”
Tanner checked his watch. “We better get to island soon or we’ll miss the sunset.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me down the hallway to a normal looking door.
Seriously...why was he avoiding questions about Ireland? And I wasn’t even sure if that was the most important question I needed to ask him. Howhadhe become a genie? And how was Nigel part of it too?
We walked through a door and into another hallway on the other side.
There were so many questions rolling around in my head. But then we reached the end of the new hallway and walked out onto a balcony with an infinity pool and the most amazing view of the ocean.
I hadn’t even been aware of walking through the portal. But we were definitely on Odegaard Island. There were palm trees everywhere. And the sky over the ocean was lit up with the most beautiful array of pinks and oranges. The wind blew, and I could smell the salty air.
“Ah, just in time for the sunset,” said Tanner. “Welcome to Odegaard Island.”
Wow.This was freaking amazing!
Nigel had a whiteboard set up by the pool. And a fax machine next to it. I figured the white board was for brainstorming date ideas. But I had no idea what the fax machine was for. And I definitely had no idea why he’d chosen to wear lederhosen to the beach. They did nothing to protect him from the evil sun.
I stared past the edge of the infinity pool and out toward the ocean again. Yes, I had a million questions about why and how Tanner had become a genie. But what mattered right this secondwas coming up with a plan to end his curse. We’d have our whole lives to talk about the past. I could already picture it so clearly. Sipping drinks, floating on top of the infinity pool. And spending every evening getting absolutely railed against the side of the pool.
Yes, the questions could definitely wait until after we ended the curse. Because I didn’t want to have to wait my whole life to get that D. I felt myself blushing.
“You okay?” Tanner asked. “You look a little overheated.”
“I’m good.” I adjusted my gloves so he wouldn’t realize that I was picturing him fucking me against the side of the pool.
