Bewitch(8)

“You’re in luck.” Those words stopped him dead and he turned back to her.
“I am?”
She nodded, looking very bright and cheerful. It set him on edge. He didn’t like that she was smiling at him. It made him feel as though she was up to something, was plotting behind those beautiful eyes. He could almost see the wheels in her mind turning.
“I can help you better than Verity could have... but I have a price.”
He knew it. She was up to something. “What?”
She nibbled her lower lip and crossed the room to him, moving so close that personal space became an issue and he had to take a step back to avoid her body pressing into his. She looked up into his eyes, hers surrounded by sinful black kohl that highlighted how silver they were and enhanced the devastating power they held over him. He couldn’t look away, even when his gut instinct was to run before she answered because he already knew he wasn’t going to like her reply.
“I want a taste of you, Incubus.”
“No fucking way.” The only way he could distance himself was to back out into the street.
Elissa didn’t look pleased. Her expression darkened and then lightened again in the space of a heartbeat. She shrugged.
“It was worth a try.” Those words gave him the distinct impression that she really needed his help with a different matter and had been trying to sweeten the deal by getting a taste of him. His incubus side kicked off at that, disgustingly pleased by the fact that she wanted him. Desire surged through him, hunger to taste her too and see if she was as sweet as she looked. Payne tamped it down, unwilling to surrender to that urge.
She backed off, moving to the fireplace. He flinched when she poked it with a fire iron and shoved the dark memories it evoked to the back of his mind. His right forearm throbbed and he was holding it before he realised what he was doing.
Payne stepped back into the small building.
Elissa put the fire iron down, much to his relief, and settled herself in the armchair facing him.
“Tell me what you know about curing my friend’s problem.” He remained near the door, his gaze locked on her, monitoring her for a sign that she was lying about any of this—her feelings and her ability to help him. Her heartbeat remained level.
“There’s a ring that can bind a fae to someone.”
Payne’s breath left him on a sharp exhale. “It exists?”
She nodded. “It’s real alright and I’ve seen it.”
He had heard of such a ring, one powerful enough to overrule any other bond, but he had thought it was a myth. None of his research into it had turned up anything to indicate it was real, so he hadn’t pursued it as a possible solution for Chica. If he could get his hands on it, Andreu could use it to bind Chica to him, freeing her of her bond to the theatre. Payne was sure she would happily go along with being bonded to her mate.
Elissa toed her heeled short black boots off and brought her feet up onto the seat of her armchair, tucking them close to her bottom. Red knickers. Payne tried not to stare. It was hard to keep his eyes on her face when all they wanted to do was drop a few feet and stare at her backside, imagining the naughty lingerie the jeans concealed.
The incubus side of him purred. Damn, she was wreaking havoc on him.
“I know where the ring is and that’s where you come in. The man who has it also has something of value that belongs to me, something dear to my heart. I want it back. You’ll be perfect for helping me achieve that.”
Payne folded his arms across his chest. His forearms tensed against the rolled up sleeves of his dark grey shirt. “Why?”
“Because the man is also an incubus.”
Payne resisted his desire to growl at her. “I don’t see how I will be much help with that.”
She stared at him, her right eyebrow slowly rising. “You really don’t have a freaking clue about yourself, do you? I had thought I was reading you wrong...”
Payne glared at her. He knew all he needed to know about himself. He was an abomination and he hated this world. He wanted to go back to his world.
He did not want to meet another incubus.
There were two other reasons he didn’t want to help her. One, he couldn’t control her for some reason and it was unsettling him, especially with that phantom’s words still ringing in his ears. Being around Elissa was too enticing. Two, she was right and he didn’t know much about incubi and he hated to go into any situation blind.
Diversionary tactics were required. He knit his eyebrows together and pinned her with a scowl. “Did you try to fuck that male too?”
Elissa tensed, flew from the armchair and slapped him hard across his left cheek, snapping his head to his right. The scent of fresh blood cut through the herbs and spices in the air. She had reopened the wound.