Fairy Godlover Read online

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  Phaze

  www.phaze.com

  Copyright ©2004 by Devi Sparks

  First published by Phaze, December 2004

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  NOTICE: This work is copyrighted. It is licensed only for use by the original purchaser. Making copies of this work or distributing it to any unauthorized person by any means, including without limit email, floppy disk, file transfer, paper print out, or any other method constitutes a violation of International copyright law and subjects the violator to severe fines or imprisonment.

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  Fairy Godlover

  An erotic romance novel by

  Devi Sparks

  Phaze

  6470A Glenway Avenue, #109

  Cincinnati, OH 45211-5222

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  ISBN 1-59426-502-X

  Fairy Godlover © 2004 by Devi Sparks

  All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Cover art © 2004 by Stacey L. King

  Phaze is an imprint of Mundania Press, LLC.

  www.Phaze.com

  Chapter One

  Kelsey Schroder shoved into the front door of her house balancing mail, purse, travel mug and jacket in one arm as she struggled to remove the key from the lock with the other. With a jerk, the key came loose, but so did the jacket and travel mug. She groaned as the latter hit the floor and spilled cold coffee over the polished hardwood.

  Muttering mild obscenities, she stepped over the mess and entered the kitchen, depositing everything else on the counter and grabbing the paper towel roll. Then she swiped the window cleaner from beneath the sink and walked back to the front hall.

  She really needed to do something about that sticky lock, but what?

  Just as she was finishing the cleanup, the phone rang. With a sigh, she stood, tossed the coffee-soaked towels into the trash, and reached for the cordless handset.

  "Hello?"

  "Hola chica! I was hoping you'd be home!"

  "Hi Gina, I just walked in."

  "How was your day?"

  "Oh, you know. Same old story."

  "Fulfilling, but boring as hell?"

  "Yeah. How was yours?” Kelsey went to the refrigerator and got a bottle of water and a protein bar—her usual after-work snack.

  "Fabulous! I got a promotion!"

  "That's great! I didn't even know you were up for one?” She ripped open the bar and took a bite.

  "Neither did I. That's what makes it so cool!"

  "So what's your new job?” she asked, still chewing.

  "I'm the new Promotions Director! You know how I told you they said Amber was sick last week? She quit! Got a better offer from KSPT Denton."

  "Well congratulations! Do you also get a raise?"

  "You know it, girl! The down side is that I have to be at the station all weekend to do a crash course in the scope of Amber's job."

  "Think long-term benefits and you'll breeze through it.” Even as she said it, Kelsey smiled, knowing long-term thought wasn't exactly her friend's forte. She was a ‘now’ kind of person who lived each day to the fullest.

  Kelsey had met Gina her freshman year of college, when Gina lived across the hall on the sixth floor of Mercy Hall. For subsequent years they had shared an apartment with an assortment of other girls.

  Gina had always been the wild one, her personality much larger than her slight, five foot five frame. While Kelsey had earned her degree in accounting with a minor in mathematics, Gina had earned a degree in marketing with a minor in theater.

  Now Gina had her dream job, and Kelsey had a fulfilling job.

  "Um, Kels? Would you hate me too much if I bowed out of the banquet next week?"

  "I suppose I can't be too upset as long as you don't ask for a refund on your plate.” Kelsey kept her voice light, but she wanted her best friend to know she wasn't joking.

  "Of course not. Gimme some credit, will ya?"

  "Just making sure. So what is so much more important than a boring charity banquet? You get a hot date?"

  "Yeah, I got a date, and he is definitely hot."

  "I sure could use one of those."

  "Yeah, well. Wishing doesn't get you anywhere, does it? You need to quit being a closet nympho and make time to go out there and find yourself a gorgeous virile man."

  Kelsey grinned at the ‘closet nympho’ bit. Gina was probably the only other person on earth who knew about a certain blue box in her closet.

  "Make time. Hmm ... I've still not found a recipe for that."

  "Eh, you're not such a great cook anyway."

  "Don't I know it. And besides, I could have Mayor Kirkpatrick if I really wanted.” She could almost hear Gina's eyes rolling in the brief silence.

  "Yeah, well ... if you want to get it on with that, we may have to seriously discuss your obscene level of desperation."

  "And the fact that the only sex I get requires batteries is not obscene?” She slammed the bar wrapper into the trash can to punctuate her statement, even though Gina couldn't see it.

  "We all hit dry spells, sweetie. Why do you think they make those things in the first place?"

  "So tell me about your hottie."

  "Oh, honey. I met him at the gym on Monday, and we went out to lunch yesterday. Ooh! He's the perfect gentleman, I tell you! He's going out of town this weekend, but he's taking me to lunch again on Monday..."

  As Gina went on about how they were going to a Mavericks game on Thursday night—the night of the banquet, how his green eyes slayed her, how his dark spiky hair made him look dangerously sexy, kinda like the lead singer of Hoobastank, Kelsey picked up each piece of mail, inspected it briefly, and deposited it either into the recycling or back onto the counter in a separate pile.

  "Is he a good kisser?"

  "Pretty good, not the best I've had, not the worst.—Don't say it. He might be very capable in bed—and I intend to find out."

  "What about his personality?"

  "His what?” Gina joked.

  "You know, that little thing inside that's pretty much who you are. Whether you're an arrogant bastard or not."

  She picked up a sky-blue envelope printed with strange markings. It almost went into the recycle bin, but impulse made her examine it more closely.

  "I can spot an arrogant bastard a mile away, thanks to your arduous relationship with Shithead."

  "Ancient history, Gina. I was twenty-two then. I didn't know any better.” Kelsey turned the envelope over in her hands. Faerie Guardians, Inc.? Who was Faerie Guardians, Inc., and why would she be getting a hand-addressed mailing? Hand addressed? She looked at the front again. Hand addressed.

  Had she ordered something off the Internet? Was it another charity wanting donations? Only one way to find out, Kels.

  She tore open the envelope, a little more apprehensive than she thought she should be, and pulled out a gleaming white piece of paper.

  Dear Ms. Kelsey Schroder,

  We are pleased to inform you that you have been chosen to benefit from the services of one of our award-winning guardians. Please expect arrival within twenty-four hours.

  Sincerely, R.H. Mann.

  After reading the letter silently, Kelsey puzzled for a few moments, brows furrowed. Was this a practical joke? If she knew anyone who was prone to such diversions, she might think so.

  In her ear, Gina was continuing to tell her about the nameless hottie's finer qualities.

  "Hey Gina,” Kelsey interrupted. “You know anything about...” she flipped the envelope over again to look at the return address, “Faerie Guardians, Inc.?"

  "Fairy what?"

  "Never mind. Probably just junk mail."

  But she tossed the letter on top of the stack of mail, rather than in the recycling. Perhaps she'd have another look after she'd eaten something and done her nightly stress-relief workout.

  "Oh, shit. My mother's on the other line. I gotta go."

  "Tell her I said hello."

  "Yeah, yeah. If I answer it."

  "Bye Gina."

  "Bye sweetie."

  Kelsey put the cordless back in the handset to charge and smiled. Conversations with Gina always had a way of vitalizing her, perhaps because Gina seemed to ooze excess energy.

  Closet nympho. Hmph. She grabbed a fresh bottle of water from the fridge and headed down the hall to her bedroom to change her clothes and do her daily workout. The envelope on the counter was forgotten, at least for the moment.

  Forty-five minutes later, she pulled off her headphones and tossed her dead walkman into her wing-back chair, but didn't slow her pace on the treadmill. When the crap would they make batteries that lasted more than a few days?

  To occupy her brain in the absence of music, she concentrated on the statistics flashing on the machine's display. Twenty-three minutes. One hundred twenty-nine calories. Two-point-six miles.

  Combined with the resistance training she'd done with hand weights and an exercise ball, she would get a good workout tonight. Maybe she would reward herself with a small dish of ice cream.

  She gr
inned at the thought, her mouth already watering.

  Just then a glowing ball of light danced in the peripheral of her vision.

  She blinked a few times to dissipate the light, then hit the ‘slower’ button a few times. Her vision sometimes did weird things when her blood pressure got too high or she had a sinus infection. Since her head felt fine, she stuck two fingers to her neck to check her pulse.

  Fourteen, fifteen, sixteen ... The ball of light abandoned the edge of her vision altogether and danced into the middle of her bedroom, plain as day.

  Uhhh ... Her jaw sagged to her chest as her feet stopped. The treadmill, however, kept going, carrying her backward until she stumbled off the back, yanking the safety cord attached to her wrist from its slot in the front of the machine.

  Arms flailing, she regained her balance and looked again to the center of the room where the ball of light still danced.

  Wow, I must have worked out harder than I thought. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, counted to three, and opened them again.

  Still there. Was it getting larger? Nahh ... Couldn't be. Surely it wasn't turning blue, either.

  She gave her head a firm shake, in case something might have rattled loose.

  Still there.

  Oh-kaayyy, she thought. Perhaps she had gotten a bit dehydrated, or maybe her blood sugar had plummeted without the normal feeling of nausea. Without taking her eyes off of the growing ball of light, she reached over the top of the treadmill and snatched a peppermint candy from one cup-holder, her water bottle from the other.

  She jumped back, startled, when suddenly the ball of light burst into a shower of sparkling bits of dust that ejected outward, hesitated in mid-flight, then submitted to the gentle pull of gravity.

  And in the midst stood the shape of a person. A man, to be exact. A tall, lean, gorgeous man.

  Wearing an orange satin suit.

  Chapter Two

  "Hello?"

  Sebastian waved aside the last glittering particles of pixie dust and peered at the woman whose voice sounded like smooth bourbon. That she was a woman and not a child should have immediately set off warning bells in his head, but he was too absorbed with the view to be alarmed.

  His gaze traveled quickly from her athletic-shoe clad feet, over shapely calves to well-toned thighs and gently flared hips clothed in cut-off sweat pants. Above the rolled-down waist of her shorts, her own narrow waist was bare, revealing a firm stomach—with a temptingly ‘outie’ belly button. Her smallish breasts were flattened against her chest by the sport bra she wore, which accentuated the broadness of her shoulders.

  She was breathing hard, he realized, and his pulse leapt, until he realized she stood beside an immense treadmill that still hummed slightly.

  "Hello?” she said again, a twinge of impatience in her voice, and his gaze rose to her face. Her cheeks were flushed from exertion, her lips slightly apart as she breathed, making her look freshly fu—

  What the hell was he doing? He jerked his gaze from her tempting lips to the wide gray eyes that looked directly at him. “Who are you?” he asked finally, annoyed with himself.

  She raised an eyebrow. “I should ask you the same question."

  He chuckled incredulously. “I'm Sebastian Phate, your faerie guardian...” he hesitated. “Ehh, perhaps not your faerie guardian. I'm sure there's been some mistake.” He patted his chest absently, then reached into the appropriate breast pocket of his blazer and pulled out the assignment paperwork. Opening it, he looked again at the name of his assignment. “Are you Kelsey Schroder?"

  She nodded, making her blond ponytail bounce.

  "Kelsey Marie Schroder?"

  Again she nodded.

  "Hmmm ... Is this 561 Elmore Boulevard?"

  "Yes."

  "Born June twelfth, nineteen sev—” He gasped slightly. “Why you're 30 years old!"

  "Thanks for reminding me."

  "Obviously there's been a mistake. Faerie guardians are for disadvantaged children, not well-shaped women."

  Her delicate eyebrows rose. “Pardon me?"

  He cringed inwardly. “Well-off, I meant well-off."

  "What makes you think I'm well-off?"

  "I uh...” Come on, Sebastian ... “I just assumed."

  "Okay, who put you up to this? Was it Gina? Benji? Gerhardt? And how did you do that?"

  "Ehh, excuse me?"

  "You don't expect me to believe you're actually a fairy godmother, do you? Come on, who put you up to this?"

  "Of course I'm not a fairy godmother,” he informed her, rolling his eyes with disdain. “First of all, its ‘faerie', with an ‘ae’ and an ‘ie', not an ‘ai’ and a ‘y'. Second of all, the politically correct term these days is the genderless ‘guardian', not godmother or godfather."

  "I see.” She tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Does Elvis talk to you?"

  "I fail to see what Elvis has to do wi—Ohhh.” His eyes narrowed. “You're implying that I'm slightly off balance."

  "Look, I don't mean to insult you, and truthfully I should be assessing my own mental stability, since I'm the one who thinks she saw a gorgeous man suddenly appear her bedroom. I just want to know why you're here."

  He grinned. “Gorgeous?"

  Her arms folded across her chest and she tilted her head at him in an entirely adorable way. “Why are you here?"

  "I can't answer that question. I don't know. This is the assignment information I was given."

  "Okay, then how did you do that—that—poofing thing with the glitter?"

  "This?” he asked, then disappeared into a poof of glittering particles.

  "Yes, that would be it."

  "It's just part of the job,” he said from behind her.

  Kelsey spun around to see more pixie dust settling around him. “What happened to the dancing ball of light?"

  "I only use that when I want to get a new client's attention."

  Kelsey had a nagging suspicion that either he was exactly what he claimed to be, or she was losing her ever-loving mind. For the sake of expedience, she decided to go with the first option, no matter that choosing it might in fact support the second option. If he was anything like the fairy godparents on television, he could be a tremendous asset to her job. “Do you grant wishes?"

  "Within reason—and within the law."

  "Can I make one?"

  "Sure, I suppose.” He sighed heavily, no doubt expecting something extravagant.

  "I wish for six cases of QuickRice."

  His eyes widened in bewildered surprised. “Rice?"

  "Rice."

  Six cases of QuickRice appeared stacked in the far corner of her bedroom.

  Kelsey smiled, deciding that having a fairy god—er ... faerie guardian—could be a really good thing. Especially one who looked like that.

  Where he stood now, the light from the bedside lamp reflected off the shiny fabric of his slacks in just such a way as to highlight an impressively sized bulge behind the zipper. Sheesh, if he was that big flaccid, she could only imagine how big he'd be fully erec—

  Whoahhh Nellie! She had to find something else to concentrate on, like those large masculine hands with wide palms and long fingers—No! Not a good idea. Hmm ... How about that god-awful suit?

  Sebastian blinked, his mind suddenly blank. Whatever it was he'd been thinking about was gone, replaced by the sight of the hard points which suddenly jutted through the thin fabric of her sport bra. He felt a stirring in his loins and immediately looked at the carpet, turning his thoughts to boring tedious paperwork. New pony; filled. Barbie dream house; filled. Ohh, but she had a beautiful smile. Paperwork. All the money in the world; declined. Super Smasho drum set—

  "So what's with the suit?"

  His head jerked up. “Excuse me?"

  "The suit. Is that like standard issue or something?” Her gaze drifted over him, lingering slightly below his belt.

  "No, we're free to wear whatever we want, within reason of course."

  "And that's within reason?"

  "Are you insulting my suit?"

  Her eyes grew even wider, as though she were surprised by her own audacity. “I'm—I'm so sorry,” she said. “I tell you I don't mean to insult you and then I insult you.” She shook her head and sighed. “I'm a little out of sorts, maybe. I've never had a six foot man—"

  "Six foot two."

  "—appear out of thin air in my bedroom before, no matter how many times I wished it.” She laughed apologetically. “I guess the orange satin was too much for my senses."