Excerpt from The First Wish

I had so much fun writing the Genie in a Bottle series. Out of all the characters I have created, I think I may have had a crush on Inas the most.

Here's a little excerpt from the first installment:

I know I should have been terrified that there was a strange man standing in my bedroom, but I had just watched him emerge from a bottle, so I figured I’d let him explain.

I didn’t know what to say at first. All I could do was stare at him in wonder. He was at least six feet tall, with shoulders almost as wide. He was olive-skinned, as if from somewhere in a desert—the Middle East. His face was slender with a neatly-trimmed goatee framing out his very full lips.

His head was adorned with a thick mane of long black hair that was pulled into a ponytail and draped sleepily across his shoulder like an ebony serpent. His arms were thick and well-muscled, he held them folded across his chest.

He wore big puffy pants and an open purple vest that was too small for him, with gold embroidering on it. The bottom of it barely reached the lower part of his ribs, exposing his torso and defined abdomen . . . he was very distracting.

“Madison Reed,” the man said.

And he knew my name.

I tried to back away further, but bonked my head against the wall because I was already pressed against it. I didn’t say anything. I wasn’t sure why I had suddenly become mute, but I had. Well, I had one idea. One very large, attractive reason who knew my name. Why would he know my name? Had he seen my mail or something? Did he get mail in that bottle? Who was he? I knew I could get the answers to all my questions by simply asking him, but I couldn’t speak.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

I looked at him. His eyes were blue-gray! Seriously? Who was this dude?

“Who are you?” I asked when my voice was finally kind enough to join us again.

“My names is Inas. I am a jinn that has been imprisoned in that bottle for 2,000 years.”

I smiled. “Oh, that clears it up.”

He relaxed his arms, which revealed more of his perfect chest, which didn’t help in my concentration matters, but he remained standing where he was—in front of my desk, in my room.

I pulled myself off of the wall and straightened up, but remained sitting on my pillows against the headboard. “Okay, let’s slow down here.”

“Okay,” Inas agreed.

His voice was deep and soothing. The sound of it had an immediate effect on me. I instantly felt calmer being around him. Weird.

“Who are you again?”

“My name is Inas. I have been imprisoned in that bottle for 2,000 years.”

Okay, he was sticking with that story.

“Who imprisoned you?”

“God.”

Here's the AMAZON link for the Genie in a Bottle series!

Stay safe! Mask up! Protect others! 💓🧞