Speaking of which ... "Do you want to borrow a flannel shirt? As much as the pink sequins and lace fit in when we were in Vegas, you're going to catch a lot of attention at a diner next to a fishing lake in Ohio."
He glanced at her and froze. She stood completely still; her face lifted to the golden early morning sunlight, her arms held out to her sides--palms up--as if she were welcoming the dawn. She was a goddess, inviting all to worship her, and his magic yearned toward her like a hound called to heel by his mistress.
And suddenly he was a freaking poet.
Damn hangover.
He was going to kill his cousin Rose's husband.
As if called by the thought, Alejandro pushed open the front door and ambled in. "Hey, Rose wants to know if you want to go to breakfast with ... oh, I'm sorry, my friend, I did not realize you had company. Hello, beautiful lady."
"Forget how to knock?"
Jake bit off the words as he took a step toward Alejandro. The man might be a married FBI Paranormal Ops agent, but Jake knew at least ten ways to choke the life out of him.
For the hangover and for the way he was looking at Donya.
"Aren't you going to introduce us?" Alejandro asked.
"No. Get out. I blame you for this hangover." He stalked over to the door and held it open. "Out. Now."
Alejandro ignored him. The jackass.
"That's very rude, Jake," Donya said, in that sultry voice of hers. "I'd love to meet Mr. Tall, Dark, and Delicious."
"Right. Don't be rude, Jake," Alejandro said, moving out of arm's reach.
"That's it. You have to die. I know I have some arsenic around here," Jake told him.
"Maybe behind the Fruit Loops," Donya said dryly.
Jake shot her a look. "You're not helping ... oh. Oh."
She didn't have purple hair or pink sequins now. Her hair hung in rich dark waves to the middle of her back. Her dress was the color of sunshine and hugged her rounded curves in a way that made him suddenly, desperately jealous--of fabric. He almost swallowed his tongue.
Then he noticed Alejandro and his dumb grin, and he figured he didn't have any choice but to introduce them before he kicked his cousin-in-law's ass.
"Donya, this is the rotten apple of the family tree, my cousin Rose's husband, Alejandro, the former vampire hunter and current P-Ops not-so-special agent."
"Alejandro Vasquez, and I am delighted to meet you. Are you Jake's special friend?" He shot a smart-ass glance at Jake, who was suddenly thinking of how easy it would be to stage a fatal fishing boat accident. "I wish you'd tell me--"
"I am Donya Sherazelle, and wish me no wishes, vampire hunter, for I am free now. I will give you nothing," she said, and her voice was ice.
Suddenly, Jake felt a lot happier.
Alejandro's mouth fell open. "I didn't--I wasn't--I was just going to crack a stupid joke about giving me tips on how to get Jake to act civilized."
Donya blushed. Jake didn't know genies--Djinn--could blush. He also didn't know that watching a Djinn blush would give him a raging hard-on, so he moved closer to the counter for cover and thought about cold showers.
"My apologies, Alejandro Vasquez. It is nice to meet you. I might be oversensitive to anything that sounds like wish for a while." She didn't offer to shake Alejandro's hand, though, which cheered Jake up enormously.
"So, introductions made, get out. And never bring your rot-gut tequila into my life again," he told Alejandro. "I think my head exploded once or twice last night."
Alejandro shrugged. "Not my problem if you're too weak to handle your liquor," he said slyly. "Or your women."
The door slammed open, and Jake's favorite cousin Rose, who looked to be about fifteen months pregnant and was all golden hair, glowing skin, and belly, swept the room with her gaze and then focused in on her husband. "Did I hear you say something about 'your women' to my cousin? Please tell me you didn't pull such a B.S. macho line out of your butt and say those words in front of our guest."
Jake whistled. "Somebody's in trou-ble," he sang out.