Free The Girl and the Genie by E. M. Lilly

and summoned him. The genie, as he had done the other day, gave her a cool, disinterested look after materializing in front of her. He also refused to even glance at Winston, whose rear-end was bouncing around enthusiastically as he wagged his tail.
    “Miss Mignon,” Jack acknowledged in a voice every bit as cool as the look he had given her. “You have a wish for me to grant?”
    “Yes,” Emily said. “I’d like to wish that you listen to my apology. You don’t need to accept it, but I am making the wish that you listen to it.”
    This surprised Jack, and his coolness from before began to thaw. Not so that it melted completely, but enough to where his expression toward her became more civil.
    “Very well,” he said. “Your wish has been granted.”
    “Good. I’d like to apologize for before. My behavior earlier was unnecessarily snippy with you, and I shouldn’t have accused you of spying on Sally. After all, I was the one who mentioned the idea of making a wish for her to meet the perfect man, and for the two of them to fall madly in love, so I should’ve been expecting you to do what you did.”
    Jack’s expression thawed a bit more and he allowed a weak smile to show on his lips. “Miss Mignon, your apology is accepted. And I should apologize also.” He appeared to breathe in heavily before letting out a long sigh, except that Emily had the sense that the genie didn’t actually breathe air and that this was only a mannerism that he had maintained from when he was human. “I overreacted,” he said. “Perhaps I’m overly sensitive to any accusation about being what you’d call a Peeping Tom.” He paused for a moment as his smile turned guilty, then added, “It’s a long and painful story, but a similar and absolutely false accusation was once leveled against me regarding a harem member belonging to a sultan who ruled the region where I lived, and that is what ultimately led to me being transformed into what I am now.” Jack let out another long sigh and his smile turned guiltier. “And I need to apologize further for taking advantage of the situation to tease you. I knew your real desire was to make that wish for yourself and not for your friend, Sally Palmer.”
    Emily had thought that was the case—that Jack had played up how attractive he found Sally as a way to make her jealous. She resisted the urge to press him further about that. Still she felt herself blushing once more. “I would’ve wished that for Sally if it was possible,” she insisted.
    The genie shrugged. “I’m not doubting you, but I knew at the time that wasn’t what you were really after and I used the opportunity to have some fun with you. It was meant to be harmless, but because of that you’ve now wasted another wish.”
    From Jack’s expression, Emily wasn’t entirely sure whether he was gloating over the fact that he had made her throw away a wish or was actually regretful about it. She decided it would be better to give him the benefit of the doubt.
    “ C’est la vie ,” Emily said, magnanimously. “I still have seven wishes left.”
    “Ah, but those wishes will go faster than you’re expecting. There will come a time when you’ll badly want back this wish that you have wasted.”
    “If that turns out be the case, then so be it.” She pointed at Winston whose rear-end was still wiggling like crazy as he wagged his tail, and was jumping up on Jack’s legs trying to get his attention. “Are you going to keep ignoring the little guy?” she asked.
    Jack noticed Winston then and scooped him up so that Winston could slobber over his face, then proceeded to rub the dog gently along the loose skin hanging from his jaw. After about a minute of his attention fully on the English Bulldog, he looked at Emily again.
    “Miss Mignon, if you don’t mind my asking why did you make that wish? I would’ve been granting you wishes regardless.”
    “Didn’t you expect me to do what I did?”
    “Perhaps so,” he