'You don't need to ache anymore,' he said gently, kissing the curve of her neck as he moved her underwear down her hips. Genie raised her body to help him and then opened her legs.

'Tell me what you need,' he said, resting his hand over the heat of her. 'This,' as he moved his fingers between her lips and found her wet for him, and the urge to take the decision from her almost overwhelmed him. 'Or this...' Abel flicked his tongue over Genie's mouth, knowing how G.o.dd.a.m.n good she'd taste if he slid down between her legs. 'Or this, Genie?' he said, and rocked his hips into hers, nestling his c.o.c.k between her thighs until they both moaned.

There wasn't really any question to answer.

Genie reached between them and unb.u.t.toned his jeans, and Abel kicked them off and settled back between her thighs, flaring her knee out with his flattened palm.

Stroking her hair from her face, his fingers knotted with hers beside her head on the pillows. Beautiful, beautiful girl. Damp auburn tendrils clung to her flushed cheeks, and the tiniest of breathless, agonised smiles touched her lips.

'Ready?' he said, knowing full well that she was from the way her body undulated against his. She nodded, her eyes half closed and her mouth kiss-swollen as he slid his c.o.c.k slowly against her c.l.i.toris, building her higher. He wanted to remember her forever like this, open and wanting him so badly that she trembled beneath him. So deeply, erotically s.e.xy that he couldn't wait any more. Positioning himself against her, he pushed, sinking all the way inside her body, making her gasp.

Genie tangled herself around him, no s.p.a.ces, no air, and even if he lived to be a hundred Abel knew he'd never feel such a rush of perfect, intense completeness. For a few seconds it was all he could to hold still and keep breathing.

And then he started to move, a slow, deep grind, loving the way her body held him inside.

'Look at me,' he said against her ear, and when he lifted his head, the look in her eyes set him on fire. She was so close to coming, breathless and boneless with it, drenched and hot in his hands and around his c.o.c.k. He thrust harder for her, and then for himself, because when she hit the top she unexpectedly took his control right along with her own.

Burying his face in her neck, Abel let go, spilling himself inside her as she shook and clung to him, and him to her.

'It isn't just f.u.c.king,' he whispered.

What had happened between them in that bed was a long way beyond s.e.x, beyond f.u.c.king, beyond making love, even. It was a union of bodies and hearts and lives and love, the kind of big, once in a lifetime love that leaves you with no choice but to surrender to it and be together.

Wrapped around each other later, Genie listened to Abel's steady heartbeat beneath her ear as he kissed the top of her head.

'I bought your theatre for you,' he said, low key.

She pushed herself up on her elbows and stared at him. He smoothed her hair out of her eyes gently, waiting for her to gather herself together and say something.

'For me?'

'Yes. For you. Not for a gym. To make it a real theatre again. It's yours by right.'

'I don't know what to say,' she said after a long, disbelieving pause, blown away. 'Thank you doesn't seem enough.'

Abel hadn't just bought her her home back. He'd given her her life back, if she wanted it, and in doing so he'd said 'I love you for everything you are,' which was all she'd ever wanted to hear him say.

'There's just one problem,' he said, twisting strands of her hair around his fingers. 'I want you to come and live in Australia with me.'

Genie had been so envious of Lizzie when Abel had made her the same offer earlier that day. Knowing that his plans included her too made her feel extraordinary, cherished, truly loved.

'Or I'll come here to you,' he said, uncertain in the face of her wondering silence.

Genie treasured him all the more for making the offer because she knew how much it would cost him to leave his beloved adopted country. She'd spent so long desperately trying to hang onto the theatre and all she thought she held dear. For now, just knowing that her old life was there for her if she wanted it turned out to be enough. Maybe there was more than one way to be happy.

'I've never been to Australia,' she said, feeling quiet excitement well up inside her. 'Maybe you could show me.'

He pulled her against him. 'You'll love it. I promise you.'

Genie lay in the circle of his arms, tracing patterns on his chest with her fingertips.

'You kind of blew it with your prospective mother in law this afternoon,' he said, and she could hear the quiet laughter behind his words. She loved him for his light-heartedness, and even more for the proposal that lay casually hidden in his words.

'I love you very much,' she said, holding him close in her arms and her heart.

Abel kissed her forehead. 'You too, Beauty. You too.'

Genie listened to his breathing even out as they fell towards sleep, her head full of half formed thoughts about how theirs would be the best kind of family, dictated by choice and love rather than by blood and obligation.

Abel Kingdom. The smallest of smiles touched Genie's lips. If someone had told her a few months ago that he was to be her forever man, she'd have argued herself blind. She'd expected to find very little to like beneath his beautiful, masculine exterior, but she'd never been more wrong.

He was strong, and he was loyal. He was bold, and he was kind. The man was one hundred percent solid gold, and he was one hundred percent hers.

Epilogue ~ Ten years later, Sydney, Australia.

'London! You're so lucky, Lizzie,' Erin said. 'I'm so coming over to see you while you're there.'

'I'm counting on it,' Lizzie laughed, handing her best friend one of her own secret blend c.o.c.ktails. 'Come and help me take these out by the pool?'

Erin tasted the clear red c.o.c.ktail in the fine-stemmed martini gla.s.s and rolled her eyes. 'I'm going to miss you loads, Liz, but I'll miss your c.o.c.ktails more. You have to tell me what's in this one as a parting gift!'

Lizzie winked. 'It's my latest.' She sipped it and then grinned. 'It's b.l.o.o.d.y good, isn't it? I call it The Divine Spirit.'

She'd been developing a range of signature c.o.c.ktails for months and was looking forward to trying them out on the customers at the Divine Bar in London. Flutters of excitement filled her heart at the thought of her travel plans for the next six months. First stop London for a two month residency as guest bar manager at Theatre Divine, then onward to New York and finally Tokyo before coming home again to Australia in time for Christmas.

Circulating in the opposite direction to Erin with a tray of c.o.c.ktails, she paused beside Genie and offered her a drink.

'Wow!' Genie said, her trademark mile-wide smile brighter than ever. 'These look stunning. Deanna's going to have to watch out in London, you'll have all the customers propping up the bar instead of watching the show!'

'That's kind of my plan.' Lizzie grinned back, her dark ponytail swinging as she moved away to hand out the drinks to the many friends who'd gathered to come and see her off on her big adventure.

Genie watched her walk out into the sunshine, her heart squeezing tight at the idea of Lizzie flying the nest. She was so proud of the confident, beautiful young woman Abel's sister had blossomed into over the last ten years. Australia really had been the making of her. Genie loved her as a sister, a daughter and a friend, and she was going to miss her enormously.

'Hey you.'

She closed her eyes and enjoyed the little thrill that always rippled down her spine at the touch of Abel's warm fingers on the back of her neck. Dropping a kiss onto the shoulder exposed by her wide necked tee shirt, he settled behind her against the kitchen work surface, his hand casually on her waist.

'Okay?' he asked, against her hair.

'Yeah,' she sighed, looking around the airy, open plan kitchen that led out onto the pool. 'I know it's the best thing for Lizzie, but I'm just going to miss her.'

Abel laughed softly. 'You've got enough chicks left here to cluck over, Beauty,' he said.

'I know, I know. But London...'

Abel turned her around to face him, a beer in one hand, his other playing idly with the ties at the neck of her bikini. Lizzie had insisted on a casual pool party for her send off, which suited them well as a bohemian family of beach b.u.ms. Abel still rocked faded jeans and a tee shirt better than any other man Genie knew; he seemed to just get better and better with age. Leaning into him, she breathed his familiar clean, beachy smell in deep.

'London won't know what's. .h.i.t it when Lizzie gets there,' he said quietly, taking her fears seriously. 'And you know how much Davey's dying to see her.'

'I know, and I know Deanna's the perfect person to watch out for her while she's there, it's just... oh I know.' She shrugged her shoulders. 'Ignore me, I'm being stupid.'

And in her heart of hearts, she knew that she was. There couldn't have been a more perfect time for Lizzie to head back to experience London life for herself.

The theatre was back to its best; better than ever if she was honest, under Deanna's creative directorship for the last decade. They'd worked together through ambitious plans in the early years to rebuild the place from the ground up, and once polished it had deservedly become the most l.u.s.trous jewel in the London burlesque crown.

The Divine Girls had fast gathered a reputation as one of the s.e.xiest dance troupes in Europe, and review sites now ranked them alongside the top Parisian shows for both spectacle and glitz. Compet.i.tion was fierce each year to secure a spot in the troupe: dancers came from all over the world to be amongst the few chosen to perform on the stage that had once been smashed and ruined by falling rafters. It was a fitting way to honour the place that had been Genie's home for so many years, and although she'd hung up her own performing heels, her love for the place still shone bright.

Abel pulled her closer. 'You're not being stupid. I don't much like the thought of her in London either if I'm honest, but look at her.' They watched Lizzie as she moved easily between her friends, long limbed and tanned in denim cut offs. 'She's not that frightened kid any more, and G.o.d knows she's not going back there with screwed up crazy ideas of righting any wrongs.'

He knocked back a good mouthful of chilled beer, and Genie wrapped her arm around his back to slide her hand inside his tee shirt and stroke the smooth warmth of his skin.

'She's lucky you were there,' she said softly, remembering the difficult times.

'She's luckier that you were,' Abel said, ma.s.saging her shoulder. 'I listen to her sometimes and I can hear you in her words.'

Genie looked up at him, moved. 'Really?'

He nodded. 'She's got that same att.i.tude, that optimism. Thanks to you she walks around with her gla.s.s half full.'

Tears welled in Genie's throat; it meant such a lot to hear those words from Abel. Even though his mother had died four short years after they left London, her children would always carry the scars of their childhoods with them. Genie loved them both fiercely, and over time her love had turned out to be the band-aid the Kingdom children had needed to pick themselves up, dust themselves down, and little by little, let themselves be happy.

'Dad!'

Genie and Abel both turned as their six-year-old son came skidding into the room, a trail of his friends behind him.

'Is it time for the cake yet? We're starving!'

'When are you not starving, Rubes?' Abel said, ruffling Reuben's dark hair affectionately. 'You better ask your mum. She's the cake queen around here.'

'Not long,' Genie promised. She'd baked a huge version of Lizzie's favourite chocolate cake, a recipe they'd honed together over the years. Genie had never baked so much as a jam tart before moving to Australia; it had just seemed like something she and Lizzie might be able to learn together. They'd become something of a crack team in the kitchen, and Lizzie had taken her pa.s.sion for food and drink and turned it into what promised to be an exciting career.

'Go get all the kids together by the pool and I'll bring it out,' she said, shooing the children out towards the autumn sunshine.

'I'll go get the twins,' Abel said, dropping a kiss on Genie's forehead before heading out of the kitchen to the nursery upstairs.

Glancing at the clock, she reckoned that he'd find the babies wide awake by now. They'd been asleep for over an hour already, and at just turned two years old they were at the age where they viewed daytime naps as an unwelcome interruption to mayhem.

Genie watched him leave and stood alone for a moment, absently turning her wedding ring around on her finger as she looked fondly around the big, comfortable kitchen. They'd spent the last ten years building their family here.

Abel. Genie. Lizzie. Reuben. Amber. Jamie.

Letting one of them head out into the world alone for an adventure was going to be hard on her heart, but she knew that wherever Lizzie went, she travelled safe in the knowledge that her home and her family were right here waiting for her to come home again.

Much later that evening, when the party had dwindled and a legion of stars p.r.i.c.ked the night sky, Abel sat in one of the deep sofas out on the deck and watched the ocean.

'Penny for them?' Genie said softly, joining him outside with a couple of gla.s.ses of brandy in her hands.

He looked at her, her long hair tied up messily after an afternoon in and out of the pool, sun-kissed and beautiful in the black sundress she'd thrown over her bikini, and he wasn't even sure how to put his thoughts into words.

'I'm proud of you,' he said. 'Proud of everything you've achieved since you came here.'

Genie settled onto the other end of the sofa and tucked her feet underneath him. She looked surprised by his words as she sipped her brandy. She shouldn't be. Even though he'd tried his best to make it clear that he didn't mind if she wanted to carry on performing, she'd chosen instead to develop a burlesque-based exercise cla.s.s, starting locally and then rolling it out quickly across all of his gyms when it caught on like wildfire. It had become a surprise sensation, and she'd revelled in her brand new business, growing her range of s.e.xy exercise clothing and cla.s.ses year on year. It was so very Genie to think of a way to allow as many other women as possible to feel empowered and beautiful while also allowing him to have her all to himself. He hadn't asked it of her, yet she'd chosen to give it to him anyway.

Leaning forwards, she kissed him lingeringly and then lay back with her head in his lap.

'I'm proud of you too,' she said, closing her eyes as he unpicked the band from her hair and combed it through with his fingers. Mellow music floated on the air from the remnants of the party at the back of the house, and slowly, slowly, Abel's ma.s.sage turned from relaxing to sensual. Her head, and then her shoulders, and then a slow stroke over the hollow at the base of her neck. It was always this way with them; he had a special way of touching her, and it had only grown more spine-tinglingly intimate with the pa.s.sing years.

When his fingers moved down to cup her breast through the thin material of her dress, she pulled his hand to her mouth and kissed his palm, the band of his wedding ring cool against her cheek.

'Come on,' she said. 'Let's go to bed.'

He glanced down at his swollen jeans, and then ruefully towards the lingering party-goers he needed to walk though. 'I better wait five before I follow you up.'

Genie laughed softly, kissing him as she got to her feet.

'Teenager,' she whispered, winding her way back into the lit up beach house.

Abel picked up his brandy and sighed with bone deep contentment, his eyes on the dark horizon, his mind on Genie. He could still see her as she'd been the first time he'd ever laid eyes on her, dancing on that theatre stage back in London. She'd dazzled him then, and she'd gone on to dazzle him even more every day since.

It was no good. Thinking of her peeling her clothes off on stage was doing nothing to calm him down. Knocking back the last of his brandy, he headed inside in search of his wife.

THE END.

To sign up for Kitty's newsletter about upcoming releases, CLICK HERE To read Knight & Play, the first book in Kitty's Lucien Knight trilogy for $0.99c, CLICK HERE.

A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR.

Thanks so much for reading Genie. I really hope you enjoyed it, and would love it if you have a second to post a review to help guide other readers.

I've got a top-secret project coming up next, more news very soon on my Facebook page and newsletter.

In the mean time, let me introduce you to a brilliant erotic author who I think you're going to love ~ already multi-published in the romance genre, Tabitha A Lane and I are writing buddies and good friends.

Hazzard Blue is her erotic debut, and having been lucky enough to read it, I can happily confirm that you're in for a sizzling treat!

I'm thrilled to be able to share the first chapter of Hazzard Blue with you here, so settle in and indulge yourself in a taster of your next erotic read.

Until next time, Kitty x "You want to host a s.e.x party in my house? What do you think this is, Mr. Hunt, Eyes Wide Shut?"

Kathryn Hazzard needs a miracle if she's going to pay her huge tax bill and urgently repair Hazzard Hall's leaking roof - inheriting the family stately home isn't the rose garden it's cracked up to be. When salvation turns up on her doorstep in the form of gorgeous Daniel Hunt, can she risk her reputation by letting him use her beloved home as the venue for his high cla.s.s and outrageous s.e.x party?

It's tempting. But then lots of things are tempting, aren't they? It doesn't mean they're good for you. Just ask Eve about that apple...

First Chapter of Hazzard Blue by Tabitha A Lane.