Hailey was pretty sure she was hyperventilating. The not-being-able-to-breathe thing was kind of a giveaway. Not to mention, all her blood seemed to have rushed—very peculiarly—to her feet, which felt very heavy to walk with. Or was it on? Either way, she’d stopped trying, leaning weakly on the back table for support.

Around her, guests were patting one another on the backs, verbally and literally, helped along by the excellent champagne the waiters were now serving. A toast to the success of the auction, which had raised a staggering amount of money, aided by the last lot. Ryder. The lot Hailey had originally bid on as her version of flipping the bird to Ethan.

When she’d been unsuccessful on the previous lots, her earlier doom and gloom had descended again, wrapping its shroud of disappointment around her shoulders. While she was pleased so much money had been raised for the kids, it was also freaking unbelievable that she’d come to blow a huge chunk of money—that by rights she should put into savings—and had been unable to. Like the universe was preventing her from proving she could be rash and impulsive.

She’d been fairly certain the man next to her could smell her desperation as the lots sped by. He’d certainly been eyeing her like she was likely to jump up and streak though the room in hysterics. Or maybe she was just sensitive. One or the other.

The last lot had been announced, and Hailey had known pressure like a soldier going into battle. Do or die.

And Ryder had strode on stage, muscles rippling, clad in that white tee that left nothing to the imagination, and she’d almost dropped her paddle. Wary of looking like a fool in front of him again, she’d wavered in her determination. Ultimately, she’d decided his wish was the perfect bird to flip at Ethan. Not only throwing money away that he’d “invested in their future,” but throwing money away on another man. A Genie.

A fog had descended, blinding her against anything but winning.

When she’d almost upped her bid to a thousand more than she had, she knew she’d come to the end of the line. Clarity had brought along its cousins, reality and practicality, and she’d reluctantly stopped bidding. Resigning herself to simply donating the money, she’d stood to go, and that would have been the end of it if she hadn’t tripped and somehow managed to secure the winning bid.

For five thousand dollars more than she had. A drop in the bucket for some of these women, but for Hailey it represented living on ramen for the next six months or so.

And she hated ramen.

Hailey avoided the other women’s jealous stares and instead studied the heels that had made her trip twice this evening. She couldn’t remember hitting her head, but maybe that was what this was. A concussion. She’d wake up in a minute.

She placed a hand on her stomach as she drew breath in. It was going to be okay. All she had to do was talk to Kate, explain the accident. Somehow, Hailey doubted they’d have trouble finding a backup buyer for the lot she’d won.

A wish. Unbelievable.

Yes, she’d played the lottery a couple times when she’d turned eighteen and had become eligible to buy a ticket, but she’d never expected to win and have her wish granted by one of WFY’s Genies. That was something that happened to other people.

And now her.

Hailey scuffed her shoe on the carpet. A wish would solve her life’s biggest worry right now, namely make her a partner without having to play along in Erica’s puppet theatre. A wish could unlock the hold she’d put on everything else in her life except work, like a man, a house, kids.

A wish she didn’t intend to bid for because she didn’t have thousands to burn.

God. She couldn’t even try to be rash and exciting without it going wrong. No wonder she preferred to plan everything to the last dotted i. Look at what happened when she diverted from type.

Twenty-two thousand dollars. Christ.

She wondered if she could break a paddle clean across her knee.

“We meet again.” The distinct smoke-and-sunshine voice of the Genie with looks too good for her own good rumbled behind her, causing her stomach to tense again.

Great. Now she was going to have to try to explain the strange fact of winning a lot she didn’t have the money for. After already looking like a klutz and throwing herself into his arms.

Life sure was good at the moment.

Hailey turned, braced for the impact of the Genie’s smile. “Hi.”

“Congratulations,” he said again, his body way too close to comfort. “On winning.”

She eased back. “Thanks.”

“I’ve never seen someone so determined.” His eyes sparkled amber, like the notes in an aged brandy. “You really wanted to see me again, huh?”

His arrogance untied her tongue. “Please. The only man I’d spend that kind of money on is Christian Louboutin.”

“With your legs, I guess that makes sense.” He shifted onto his back foot as if realizing he’d set her back on hers with the compliment. “But it still stands that you bid. On me.”

“On a wish.” Hailey blinked, backpedaling. “I mean, I didn’t bid. Well, yes, I did, but I didn’t mean to bid at the end.” Smooth talker. Flustered, she cleared her throat. If only he’d move back. “I was actually leaving.”

“Nice way to catch people off guard.”

“It wasn’t a strategy.” She motioned at her shoes. “I tripped.”

He looked skeptical. “You tripped and managed to bid, all at the same time?”

Put like that, it did sound like she was trying to save face. Except for the fact that it was the truth. “Yes.”

“Hmm.” A smile creased his cheek, a dimple playing there.

The beginnings of annoyance stirred. “What does that mean?”

“What does what mean?”

“You hmm’d. At me.”

“You make it sound dirty.” That smile deepened. “I was just thinking that some people have too much pride. It’s all right to admit it; I won’t hold it against you.” He waved her off as she spluttered, amazed at his arrogance. “I’m interested, too. You don’t need to act aloof.”

Defensive, Hailey glared at him. Her silk dress rustled as she folded her arms. “I’m not so hard up I have to buy my dates. And I’m not interested.”

Liiiaaar, sang Inner Hailey.

Okay, so it had been a bit barren in dating country since Ethan, but why waste time on men when all you got were recriminations and insults and blows that took your ego and pounded it into a teeny-tiny ball?

Ryder clucked his tongue. “You’re sad again.”

“Stop that.” Hailey tightened her arms as if that protection would hide her shortcomings from his perceptive gaze. “Look, I admit I did bid. Hey, when do you get the chance to win a wish?”

“Every Saturday on the lottery, for about two hundred years now since a Genie invented wireless communication.”

Her teeth ground together. “But,” she continued, “I’m on, shall we say, a fixed budget. I stopped bidding when I reached the top end.”

Ryder tilted his head. An inscrutable expression touched his face. “You can’t pay, huh?”

Jesus, the guy was blunt as a machete after whacking through the Amazon rainforest and back. She barely kept her mouth from falling open. “That’s none of your business.”

“Why are you here if you don’t have an unlimited checkbook?” he asked curiously.

She only blinked at him. “You’re not really here,” she said. “You’re not really asking me these questions.”

“No rich husband like most of these women,” he said, more to himself as his curious gaze winged across her face. “A career woman, am I right? Still working your way up the ladder.”

Hailey rubbed circles on her forehead. “I’m not here, this isn’t happening.”

“Hey.” Her head snapped up as he touched her arm. It felt like a brand against her bare skin. She swayed a little. How long since an attractive man had touched her?

“If you can’t pay it all off,” he was saying, “maybe we can do some sort of deal.”

Like a baseball bat to the ribs, it knocked her back. She almost cracked him a good one across the face, but aware of all the stares fixed on them, mentally counted to ten. Even as steam poured out her ears.

“I am not one of those women,” she hissed at him. “I don’t do deals on my back.”

A couple of seconds passed before laughter mixed with consternation in those incredible eyes. “You do have a dirty mind, Hailey. That wasn’t what I was thinking at all.”

She tried to keep calm, edging back, away from him. “It doesn’t matter. I’m going to talk to Kate and have her pass the wish to the next highest bidder.”

“You can’t do that.” He shook his head.

More guests were staring now, some whispering behind their hands.

Hailey cleared her throat and through a fake smile said, “Yes, I can. That’s how it works.”

“You can’t renege.”

“Yes, I can.”

“Can’t.”

“Can.”

“Can’t.”

“Ca—this is ridiculous.” Frustrated, still conscious that everyone was focused on her, Hailey kept her hand gestures—especially ones she shouldn’t make in polite company—to a minimum. “Excuse me.” She’d better find Kate now before taking that crack at the Genie after all.

She stopped before she took a step, arrested by his loose grip on her wrist.

Amber glittered beneath the glow of the above chandelier as he stared down at her. “You want this wish, right?”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

His thumb began to inch back and forth on her wrist. Like a pendulum, it went tick, tock, tick, tock, tick . . .

Damn it, she would not be put under some kind of spell. She was a strong, confident woman who was not weak. Not anymore.

Hailey tugged her hand out of Ryder’s hold as discreetly as she could. “I’m going to talk to Kate. I’m sure the backup bidder will match the winning bid.” Triumphant, she faced him.

How could he argue with that?

“Hmm,” Ryder murmured again, something hidden in his face.

Warning trickled like water through a dam as she nodded a good-bye and turned on her heel. Despite her logical solution, she had the worrying feeling that she hadn’t seen the last of the too-tempting, too-irritating Genie.

* * *

“What do you mean you don’t have a backup bidder?” Hailey hissed into her cell as she balanced folders in her arms. She awkwardly tapped in the code to get into the Upper East Side building Erica’s business was located in and shoved aside the door. “I don’t have that kind of money, Kate.”

“Then why did you bid?”

Hailey stomped into the elevator and jabbed her floor’s button with satisfying viciousness. “I didn’t. I tripped and did it accidentally.”

The pause on the line indicated Kate was wondering how much Hailey had had to drink last night. If she hadn’t spilled the one drink she’d been given over Ryder’s tee, Hailey might have wondered the same thing.

But there was no use arguing it. “You must have another bidder who can match the sum that I . . . that won.”

“Sure. I mean, pretty much everyone wants a wish.”

“So?” Hailey paced out through the open elevator doors and down past the reception area, nodding to Mona who sat behind the desk. The calming neutrals of the hall didn’t cut through the tension that balled in her stomach. “Call one of them up.”

“Well, about that . . .” Her friend trailed off.

Hailey didn’t like the sound of that silence.

“Kate.” She dipped to keep the top folder from slithering off the pile, awkward and off center. “I didn’t sleep last night.” Instead, she’d fretted over Ryder’s parting “hmm” at midnight . . . then one a.m. . . . then two, while her feet danced from caffeine overload.

Sure. Caffeine is what made you tremble. Go with that.

Hailey shook her head. “I can give you seventeen thousand.”

“That’s a lot of money.” Surprise sounded loud over the phone. “Where . . . ?” Manners pulled Kate to a stop.

“It doesn’t matter.” No way did Hailey want to go into it, not with her brilliant plan in tatters around her feet. Trying to prove she could be rash had only created more problems for her. “But that’s the max I can go. I’ll donate it anyway, but can’t you go to the next bidder for the full amount?”

“Normally that’s what I’d do.”

Something in Kate’s voice slowed Hailey to a stop. “But . . . ?”

“Ryder insists that you get the wish.”

Light-headed, she was light-headed. “Run that by me again.”

“He says that you bid, you won, and therefore, you wish. Nonnegotiable.”

“That’s stupid. Not to mention, really stupid.” And apparently it was going around. “As long as you get the money, who cares who originally won?”

“Look, I don’t know why he’s sticking to his guns, but he is.”

I’d stick to his guns, too.

Hailey mentally gagged her thoughts. So not the time.

“Can’t you talk to your friend Luka?” Hailey eyed the top folder as it began its slide again and tried to balance the weight to stop it. “He’s Ryder’s manager, or whatever they call it, right?”

“Handler. And I could, but Luka already went out of his way to be helpful. I don’t want to abuse his trust.”

“Kate, I don’t have twenty-two thousand dollars.”

Discomfort colored Kate’s cough as she cleared her throat. “Ryder says he has an alternate solution. A way to make up the extra cash.”

The memory of the laughing gleam in Ryder’s brown eyes made Hailey’s eyebrows slam together. His “hmm” took on a crisper focus. “I bet he does,” she ground out.

“He said to call him when you’re ready to talk terms.”

“The arrogance,” Hailey fumed. And a little panicky. It was all slipping away from her. “Because he’s a Genie, he thinks he gets to call the shots?”

“He kinda does.”

The top folder made a break for it and tumbled off the stack. When it hit the floor, it burst like a grenade, scattering paperwork all over the carpet.

She swore. “Damn it.”

“Hailey?”

“It’s nothing. One more example of how my life’s shot to sugar.” Hailey sighed and gave up on the papers for now. She put her back to the wall, fought not to slide down it. “This is crazy.”

“Genies do seem to bring that out in people,” Kate agreed. “Ready for his number?”