Keyboards and Kink (38 page)

What had she done? She’d won her freedom but at what
cost? She’d lied and manipulated the man she loved and now, when
she told him the truth? He’d never forgive her.

May walked to the kitchen and downed a cold glass of
water, shaking like a leaf as realization at what she had done set
in.

She couldn’t tell him. He could never find out what
she was. Ever. That was the only way, wasn’t it?

Feeling slightly easier, she walked back along the
large hallway and through the open bedroom door, before realizing
she was in the wrong room. But just as she was about the leave, she
noticed a photo of herself on the floor. Moving to pick it up, she
noticed it was her profile picture from the dating site.

Smiling she moved to put it back on the big desk but
as she went to put it down, she noticed more paperwork. She didn’t
mean to look at it but when she noticed her name and other photos
of her, she grabbed it, turning on the desk lamp.

What the hell was this?

****

May had been gone for a long time when he went to
look for her. He was happy. For the first time in, well, forever he
thought everything would turn out for the best. They had a
connection, one that hopefully could overcome anything.

As he walked down the hall to the kitchen, he saw the
small light glowing from his study. An uncomfortable feeling
started at the pit of his stomach and grew bigger as he slowed
down. Finally he stood in the doorway and looked at May, sitting
quietly at his desk, watching him.

“Shit,” he cursed gently under his breath. How could
he have forgotten to lock the door?

He didn’t need to see what the paperwork was in front
of her to know she’d rumbled him.

“I can explain—”

“Oh I bet you can.” Her voice was dangerously quiet.
He wore only his jeans, but as May stood up, he saw every beautiful
line of her body. Every inch that he’d explored in the hours in
which they’d physically been together. His body automatically
hardened.

“I was only doing my job—”

“Was all of it your job, Alex?” May threw down the
papers she held in her hand and looked at him, the only light in
the room making her colored skin look pale. “Did you get paid extra
to fuck me? Or was that just a bonus?”

Alex reared back like he’d been slapped. Of course he
deserved it. Why shouldn’t he? He’d lied to her, met her under
false pretences, but everything else?

“I never lied when I told you I loved you.” Alex’s
voice was gruff as he stared down the woman that had showed him how
easy it was to love. He wouldn’t let it end like this. “I fucked
up, big time, I should have told you straight away that I’d been
contracted to find you but as soon as I saw your online profile, I
started falling for you.”

Alex saw her tough façade start to crack and her
bottom lip start to wobble and he stepped forward, his hands out
towards her, but she stopped him with an outstretched arm. “No,
Alex, I don’t know you. I don’t know anything, anymore.” A big tear
rolled down her cheek and onto her breast and Alex’s heart melted.
“You said you were a computer programmer but you live in a big
fancy house with an old fancy car. Just who are you?”

“I do—”

“All I wanted was a normal man who would want me for
what I am too.” Wiping her eyes she looked at him again. “Who hired
you? Was it… did they say anything about knowing me before?”

Knowing her before? Before what? He watched her
carefully for a moment as she nervously awaited his answer. What
wasn’t May telling him? Why was the “agency” looking for her?

“What aren’t you telling me, sweetheart?”

Tears started to pour down her face in earnest then
as Alex knew he had to stand his ground, however much it hurt to
see her like this.

“Tell me,” he said again quietly.

At first his heart broke for her then doubts crept
in. Instinct told him that he should have kept that icy heart of
his in check. He waited for the punch line

“I fooled you, Alex. I made you fall in love with me
to win a bet.” And there it was. Alex’s world shifted as his hands
fisted at his side.

“You’re lying.”

She shook her head, as if no longer able to look at
him.

“I wanted to be…” She glanced up at Alex before
looking at her hands. “…human.” Alex started to chuckle until it
got louder and more dangerous sounding, even to his own ears.

“I’m telling you the truth, Alex. I easily seduced
you because I’m a Succubus.”

That stopped his mirth. For some reason, he was
expecting her to say she was a sparkly vampire or a werewolf or
something. But a sexual demon?

Alex was open-minded. But a naked demon in his study?
Whom he found on a dating site? No fucking way.

But his mind still whirled at the possibilities of
the rumors he’d heard of the “agency” he worked for.

And she was very talented, he’d give her that.

Alex swallowed down his alarm at the fact he was even
considering this madness.

“Prove it.” How would she be able to? He’d resist her
charms this time. Alex looked down at her large jiggling breasts.
Maybe.

“Describe your ideal woman.”

You
, everything in him burned to say. His
wounded pride made him make up something that was her exact
opposite. “Blonde, blue eyes and small breasts.”

Her bottom lip wobbled again and instead of feeling
satisfaction, he felt as hopeless as she did.

“Fine.” In a blink, she was exactly the woman he had
described. Alex staggered back and grabbed hold of the doorframe,
his mouth falling open. “Do you believe me now?” Her voice was the
same though. This was a total mind fuck.

Seconds passed and each of them was silent.

It was too much for him to comprehend.

Alex turned and left the room. Answers were what he
needed. He grabbed his shirt and car keys and sprinted from his
house.

Quite apart from the phenomenon he’d just witnessed,
it didn’t stop the fact that the woman he’d fallen for, hook, line
and sinker, had used him to win a bet.

It sucked to be him.

Chapter Four

“Lu,” May breathed, pulling down her dress. “You
always did have impeccable timing, my friend.” She pushed her long
dark hair behind her ear and looked around the bedroom she’d been
sharing with Alex a few minutes before and felt the desolate
emptiness erupt again deep down inside. It was all over. “I guess
it’s time for me to go home now.”

Lilu laughed, a soft sound that shouldn’t have come
from one of the minions of the Devil. “You won, my sweet.
Congrats—you’re a mortal.” He sneered at the word but, when he
wasn’t in front of the other demons, it wasn’t half as
intimidating. “Of course, He wasn’t too impressed to have lost you
but he’s always good for a bargain, you know that.” A piece of
parchment appeared on the desk near her and she stepped forward to
look closer. It was their written agreement, with His seal at the
bottom.

“Sign it and you become a mortal, losing your
powers.” May took the pen he was holding and signed without
thinking. “Congratulations,” he said as the parchment disappeared
again.

May looked up at him, her eyes glassy.

“He told you he loved you. That was the deal,” Lu
said quietly.

“But … this was all a lie.”

The large Incubus tilted his head and looked at her
steadily, appraising her until at last he spoke. “Is that what you
really think, May?”

“Well, I—” Did she? A small part of her longed for
any sign of love, any indication that what he said he meant.

“We’re not the only ones who work for higher powers,
you know.” His pocket vibrated and he pulled out a smartphone, then
quickly typed out a message. “I gotta go, May.”

“Lu? What do you mean?” Her supervisor and friend
bent and kissed her hard on the mouth before striding away towards
the bedroom door. “Lilu, tell me what you mean.”

He stopped at the door, winked and was gone.

May was just as confused as before, but one thing was
for sure. She needed answers. And she needed to make sure Alex knew
exactly how this human felt.

****

May was ready to give up hope.

Alex wasn’t responding to her calls or texts, and her
limited knowledge of his usual haunts meant she didn’t know where
to find him and it had been hours.

She felt like jumping off a bridge. Scratch that, now
she was human, it would bloody well hurt—well, not as much as she
was hurting right now.

How could she have been so stupid? She dropped her
head onto her balcony rail and knocked it gently a couple of times,
hoping for some inspiration and praying for divine
intervention.

It was early in the morning, the sun starting to
light up the empty park below when she heard it. Talking. Lifting
her head she looked out, scanning the area. Two people sat below on
a bench in shadow but she could just about make out a face on one
of them.

Alex.

Controlling her squeal of pleasure and making sure to
thank the person who’d answered her prayer—even if it was somewhat
of a foreign notion to her.

May ran down the stairs, outside, and stopped as soon
as Alex saw her. He slowly rose to his feet.

She’d changed clothes when she got in earlier, and
her jeans, t-shirt and trainers made her confidence flee. May
turned and looked at the door again and wondered if she had enough
time to change but decided against it, just in case Alex
disappeared again.

“May, I—”

“No, Alex, I need to explain.” She stepped forward,
curious about the older lady still sitting at the bench, intently
watching them, but deciding to ignore her. “I never dreamed I would
fall in love. All I’ve ever wanted to be was normal.”

She looked again at the woman, wondering how much she
could say in front of her.

“It’s okay, she knows, May,” Alex said quietly. She
knew? Who was she? The question was there in her eyes, but Alex
didn’t answer. May had no choice but to carry on, make him
understand.

“I’ve never liked being a demon. It’s just so
backhanded how some of them go about their jobs. I never felt like
I fit in. So when I made the deal, half in jest, I took the
opportunity when He took the bet.” May stepped towards him and
touched her fingers to his.

“I never meant to hurt you, Alex.” May looked at the
ground, at the stupid trainers she wore. “I was already in love
with you by the time we met but I thought it would be easy to use
my charms to make you admit you loved me too.”

“But I was immune to your usual charms, right?” The
soft tone of his voice brought her head up so fast she could have
snapped it straight off her neck. Alex was smiling at her, the
corner of his mouth hitching up in that sexy way he had. He wasn’t
mad?

May nodded her head slowly as they both looked deep
into each other’s eyes. May hoped he was seeing that she was his
for the taking because she was already dreaming of their
forever—

“This is Mrs Baxter.” May blinked at her dreams being
interrupted but the old woman who’d begun to blend into the
background with her sensible two-piece tweed suit and salt and
pepper hair now stood up and held out her hand to her. She warily
took it, glancing back and forth between Alex and her.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, child. We’ve had long
discussions about you.”

“We? You and Alex?”

“No.” Mrs Baxter smiled and looked to Alex. “You
asked to leave Hell.” She made the sign of the cross briefly
without missing a beat and May had to stifle a grin. “And when you
did that, you became one of ours, young lady. And that means we
couldn’t just let you fall in love with any old person, could we?”
The sparkle in her eye suddenly made her look twenty years younger
and pieces of the jigsaw slotted into place in May’s mind.

“This was a set-up?”

Her laugh was wicked and exploded from her like a
volcano, scattering the few birds that had settled there so early
in the morning. “Do you really think He would give you such terms
including a dating site and three weeks without using your charms?
No, once someone asks to leave His domain, He must make a deal with
them and give them a fighting chance to win. Just as He does
someone who offers his soul to the Dark One.” Again with the sign
of the cross. “He had to discuss your unique circumstances with
us.”

She picked up May’s hand and placed it into Alex’s as
they both gazed into each other’s eyes. “Do be aware that He will
be watching though. You are a child of his, May. One day He might
prey on you once more when you are in need. You of all people know
how the game works.”

Mrs. Baxter stepped away from them and bent to
retrieve her handbag and umbrella. “Be good, my friends.” She
turned and left them, May staring at her as she walked briskly into
the chilly spring morning before disappearing behind a small copse
of trees.

“I’m so sorry for lying to you, May. I wanted to tell
you.”

May looked back at the man at her side and reached up
to clasp his cheek.

“We both had reasons for holding back.”

Alex took her fingers in his and kissed each in turn
and grinned. “You look gorgeous, by the way.”

May looked down at herself and gasped. Shit, she’d
forgotten about her attire. Her confidence took an instant nosedive
and she grabbed hold of his hand and started to pull him towards
her building. “Don’t look at me, I look a mess!”

“You’re perfect.” That stopped her in her tracks as
she remembered something. Something that was niggling her and she
had to get it out as quick as possible. May didn’t even stop
walking to talk.

“I can’t change into your perfect blonde woman now.
I’m stuck as me now I’m human. Sorry.”

Alex let go of her hand and she reluctantly turned
and looked at him. He was angry. She could see it in his eyes.