All Bottled Up Read Online Free PDF

cursed.
    The elevator dinged and the doors opened on the fourth floor. Viola checked to make 26

     
    sure the corridor was empty before bolting down the long hallway to her room, the last one on the right.
    In continuation of her excellent luck, her electronic room key didn’t open on the first or second pass. She drove her knee into the door in frustration, almost crying from the pain after the impact.
    Viola closed her eyes and tried to calm down as tears welled up in her eyes. With a slow, deliberate stroke, she slid her key card through the reader. The click of the lock as it released was the best sound in the world. She ducked into the room and turned the deadbolt, the tension in her body finally able to give. Still, she flipped the sliding lock over and only then did she feel able to calm down.
    Viola rested her forehead against the door and closed her eyes. She was getting too old for this. She’d resigned herself to the idea that she wasn’t couple material a few years ago. Not that she was old, but at twenty-nine, time was starting to speed up for her in the other world known as relationships. She hadn’t had a lot of luck making any progress in that department recently. And while Beth’s advice to get laid was tempting, it wasn’t what she wanted. Viola wanted a relationship, to be part of a couple. Make a difference in someone’s life. Hell, maybe have kids one day.
    Okay, getting laid was part of it too. She wanted to be sexy. She’d been very unsexy for most of her adult life. Wouldn’t even know how to be sexy if someone walked her through it. Not like there was anyone out there who could do that for her.
    Her stomach chose that moment to make an ear-splitting growl that she felt all the way to her head. A quick peek at her watch announced it was after lunch. She rubbed her tummy.
    “Room service,” she sighed.
    “Would you like to wish for some food? I can fill the room with delights beyond your imagination.”
    She screamed and dropped the bottle to the floor with a thud. When she spun around, Jerod was sitting cross-legged in the middle of her bed.
    “How did…when…” Her brain couldn’t form a complete thought. Picking up the 27

    bottle, she held it upside-down and hoped it wouldn’t break if she had to hit him over the head with it.
    “I told you. I am a genie and you freed me from my prison. I am bound to you until you use your wishes. And please be careful with my home. I will need that back.” Anger overcame her fear and Viola swung the bottle violently in his direction.
    “No. You are a crazy stalker who somehow figured out where I’m staying. I’m getting security.”
    However, when she tried to open the door, it wouldn’t give. The slide lock was jammed and she couldn’t push it open. Time for plan B . She started to make her way toward the phone on the nightstand, but didn’t want to get too close to Jerod. Instead, she made a beeline to the bathroom where there was a second phone. Thank God .
    When she turned the corner and turned on the light, Jerod was standing there.
    “I am unable to harm you in any way, Mistress. It is part of the code I live by.” Viola promptly fainted.
    The next thing she knew, she was stretched out on the bed, the bright flowery comforter pulled up to her neck. She kept her eyes squeezed shut. With any luck, he hadn’t dismembered her, tied her up, or whatever it is stalkers do to their victims.
    “Jerod?” she said his name so softly, she barely heard it herself.
    “Yes, Mistress?”
    She squeezed her eyes tighter. How the hell was she going to get out of this?
    “I told you, I won’t hurt you.”
    No way was she going to open them to check either. Best just to stay cocooned here in bed, protected by ignorance.
    “Please open your eyes, Viola.”
    His gentle request was so unexpected, her eyes opened on command. She peeked above the mountain of comforter, and found him sitting cross-legged on the oversized ottoman. He had that amused