Keyboards and Kink (34 page)

His breath rasped. He squirmed a bit, tensed again.
The fingers in her hair untangled themselves. “Stop, Bella.”

She released him and sat back on her heels. Her gaze
roamed up and down his naked form. He seemed too excited, too
sweaty…too human. Was it possible he’d been morphed into the game
as well? Did it matter at the moment? No, she decided. But what did
matter was if he wasn’t happy. “Didn’t you like what I was
doing?”

He grasped her shoulders and pulled her up. “I liked
it more than you know.” His hands roamed up and down her arms, over
her breasts and down her torso, before clutching her hips.

The actions sent tingles rampaging through her body.
Godric yanked her toward him. She molded against him, her curves
fitting with precision into his.

“In fact, let me show you how much I enjoyed it.” He
planted his mouth on hers while directing them to the island
counter then lifted her up on to it.

Another wave of hungry desire spiraled through her as
he groped her ass. His tongue met hers, thrust for thrust. Weaving
her fingers in his golden locks, she held on to him, not able to
get close enough, not able to get enough of him period. A spark of
hope that he was in the game, too, kindled into a small fire in her
heart. Wouldn’t that be something if he were real?

Their hot bodies pressed together. She loved the feel
of him, all soft skin and hard muscle. She drank in his strength,
his heat, and put the moment to memory.

Godric sought and cupped her breasts. His thumbs
brushed over the hard buds of her nipples, then he wound his hands
to her back and held firm to her. Their mouths warred with a savage
intensity. He ended the kiss, spread her legs and bent down.

Not sure if she, or he, would find enjoyment in this
part of the experience, she tried to prevent him from going down on
her by pushing on his shoulders, squeezing her legs together.

“Bella, stop. Let me.”

“I don’t know. This…” She circled her hand above his
head and her crotch. “Has never worked out well for me.”

“Trust me. You’ll enjoy it. Will you let me?”

She nodded, and he positioned her legs on his
shoulders and placed his face near her pussy. His hot breath on her
nether lips made her head swim. When he tongued her clit, bolts of
excitement shot up her torso. Thorough in his act of cunnilingus,
he kissed, licked, teased her pussy while his hands caressed and
massaged her hips and thighs.

None of her exes had ever been so adept at bringing
her pleasure in this manner. She grasped Godric’s head, snaked her
fingers through his hair again. Her canal clenched around his
tongue. He increased the pressure and pace, fucking her pussy with
his tongue, moving it in and out of her vagina, taking turns to
lave her labia and lick her clit. She moaned and writhed, asked to
be let go, but he continued. Her body tensed. She couldn’t help the
long groan escaping her. The fiery, electric pleasure racing
through her was like nothing she’d ever felt before.

“Oh, God, Godric,” she cried out. If he wasn’t in the
game with her, for a guy doing things to her through a computer
character, he excelled, and it sure beat getting herself off on her
own. Her body seized and released again, quivered. “Holy cow,” she
stated in between her breathy pants.

Once her trembles ceased, he kissed his way back up
her body, circling her nipples with his tongue for a few moments
each, ending with a soft peck to her nose.

“Ready for another?” He stood between her legs, his
cock pressing upon her pussy.

“I…” Could she have another? All her sexual life
she’d been a one-time-only gal.

Godric smiled, kissed her forehead. “You trusted me
once, right?”

She nodded.

“Then do so again.” He thrust into her.

The first thought that screamed through her mind was
about protection. He wasn’t sheathed, but like she’d mused earlier,
they were characters. Protection wasn’t needed since they were
technically fictional. The next thoughts careening through were all
focused on the intense pleasure his cock stroking within her
provided.

Godric held her as he pumped while kissing and
nibbling her earlobe. She wrapped her legs around his waist, hooked
them at her ankles, wanting to keep him close. Stroke after
sensuous stroke had her senses reeling. He dipped down, took the
tip of a breast in his mouth. She cradled the breast for him in one
hand, placed the other on the back of his head.

His thrusts increased until she was gasping for air.
Her body seemed to move in waves as another orgasm consumed her and
set her insides to gratifying contractions. He moaned against her
breast, jerked a couple of times and stilled. His hands slowly
caressed her back.

There’d been no talk of love or a relationship, but
he seemed to be treating her with more tenderness and respect than
any of her boyfriends had. God, how she wanted him in her life on a
more permanent basis and not just in a game. Too bad Godric was
just a character and she didn’t know the man behind it.

As if reading her mind, he came off her breast and
gazed into her eyes. “Tell me who you are, Bella. Tell me where I
can find you.”

“My friends call me Beth, and I live where the game
is set.”

“Well, hello, Beth.” He ran the backs of his fingers
along her cheek, brushed her hair behind her ear. “My friends call
me Rick, and believe it or not, I live in Vegas, too.”

“That’s awesome. I can’t wait to—”

Godric-Rick swayed, pulled out of her and fell back.
He dropped to his knees.

She jumped off the counter and knelt beside him.
“Rick, you okay? You’re looking a little…off.”

He shook his head and blinked a couple of times.
“Yeah, I think I’m all right. Since our mishap Downtown, I’ve been
feeling weird.”

“Weird? How so?” The hope fire flared. She sent a
silent prayer up that he was going to say what she wanted him to
say.
Real
.

“You probably wouldn’t believe me.”

She chuckled thinking of her own predicament. “Try
me.”

“It’s strange, but I feel as if I’ve actually been
in
the game and not just controlling my character as a
player. It’s like
I am
the character.”

Bella-Beth embraced him. “You’re not alone,” she
whispered in his ear. “The same has happened to me.”

“Really?” He repositioned himself to look at her.
“You’ve, or rather your spirit’s, been sucked into the game,
too?”

She nodded and smiled.

“Interesting. On a scientific basis, it’s going to be
fun trying to figure out how this happened, but on a base, human
survival level, how the hell are we going to get out of here?”

Thoughts of her quest slipped into her mind. There
was no way she wanted to kill Rick’s character now, clan mission or
not. If she was seen outside of his property, clan members could
confront her, make her fulfill her duty. “I don’t know how we’ll
make it home, but until we do, let’s stay here.” Try as she might
to disguise the fear she felt, it slipped into her voice
anyway.

“You sound distressed. Why do we need to remain in my
house?”

She let go of him, scooted back and hugged her legs
to her chest. “My latest mission is to find the main Winchapel
vampire-warlock, take his shadow magic from him, retrieve his
amulet and leave him a withering husk. All the clues I’ve gathered
have led to you. I’m supposed to kill you, but I won’t. And if I go
outside, there’s a chance my clan members will find me and make me
complete my duty.”

Godric-Rick reached over and stroked her leg. “No
worries. I’m not who you seek.”

“Well, that’s a relief.” Her words were barely
audible to her ears.

“Bella? Beth? What’s going on?”

She watched Godric-Rick’s mouth move, and she could
barely hear him. She shook her head and held her hands up.

He scrambled to his feet, hurried to a drawer and
came back with a notepad and pen. Pen to paper, he quickly
scribbled on it and then held it for her to see.

You’re fading. Becoming transparent. I’ll find
you, Beth. You’ll know me when I call you my beautiful
warrior
.

“Bella!”

Chapter Five

The faint call of Rick’s character’s voice echoed in
the darkness. She wanted to cry out to him, but she couldn’t see,
couldn’t open her mouth, couldn’t move. There was only a black
nothingness as she jolted out of one world and jerked back into her
own.

She woke bent over her desk, her cheek
plastered to the keyboard. Drool pooled on the desk under her open
mouth. Sitting up, she wiped her lips and looked at her clock. Only
a half hour had passed. Thirty minutes in reality whereas in the
game it seemed she’d been there for much longer.

Tears fell from her eyes. Beth didn’t
care and didn’t wipe them away. She’d had one of the best times
with a guy in her whole life and now he was gone. Surveying her
small apartment, she shook her head. Nothing looked right.
It’s too bright and cheery, small,
closed in
.

And totally empty of the one thing she
wanted to occupy her space.

Rick.

He said he’d find her. But how? Rick
didn’t know who she really was. She had no idea about him either.
Searching for each other in a city of over a million people would
be a monumental task.
Am I up
for it?
She didn’t know. For the past
several days, she’d been living on take-out and staring at her
computer playing the game. Was she ready to face the real
world?

Eyeing her couch and the soft, thick afghan
laying there, she decided to sleep on what had transpired and see
how she felt about it all in the morning. Plans to hunt for Rick
could be made then when her mind was clearer. Curled in the fetal
position on the couch and hiding under the cover, she fell asleep,
tears drying on her face.

Sunlight beamed in through the window.
Colors kaleidoscoped on her closed eyelids. It took her several
moments to realize it wasn’t the light waking her up. Her doorbell
rang again, followed by a few raps.

“
I’m coming. Hold on.” Beth tossed
the blanket off her body and swung her legs over the side of the
couch. She felt on the wrong side of normal, like she was hung
over, and knew she probably looked that way, too. As she hurried to
the door, she ran her hands through her hair and attempted to
smooth down her rumpled t-shirt. When neither would behave, she
huffed.
Screw it. Whoever’s
there will just have to deal with the way I look
.

Flinging open the door, she spat out,
“What?” Immediately, she regretted the rude outburst.

Mr. Gott, also known as Mr. Hottie and her
boss, stood on her front stoop.

Her cheeks seemed to heat with the
fires of a hundred suns. She couldn’t believe her luck.
Of all the times to look like a hot
mess
. “Mr. Gott, what brings you by? Is
everything all right at the office?”

“Yes, Lizbet, everything’s okay in the
department. I’m here because I did some…um…research to track you
down.”

Beth leaned against the doorjamb, in no
mood for idiotic things. “Research? All you had to do was go to HR
and ask them where to find me. But that still doesn’t explain why
you’re really here.”

The corner of his perfect lips curled into a
flirtatious half smile. Memories of a man within the game with a
similar expression assaulted her mind. She couldn’t look at her
handsome boss anymore and focused on a kid bouncing a ball across
the street.

“True. I could have just requested your employee
files, but I had another reason in mind. A more personal
reason.”

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. His
beautiful white-toothed grin sent a bolt of electricity straight to
her pussy.

“A few days ago, I had a feeling about something and
needed confirmation that I was on target to finding my beautiful
warrior.”

Her gaze shot to his face. There was no sign of mirth
in his dark chocolate brown eyes. A cute black curl of hair hung
over his forehead. She fought the urge to reach up and tuck it back
into place. “Excuse me?”

“I know who you are…Bella. I think I started piecing
things together about how you and Bella were one and the same at
the pub, but after we made love, I did some digging and verified my
assumptions.”

“You’re Rick? Godric?” Her voice squeaked, and her
knees buckled. She clutched the side of the doorway to steady
herself.
No. Can’t be. Mr. Hottie is my game lover?
Then his
name clicked. “Frederick Gott. Gott is German for God. Jesus. Why
didn’t I make the connection before?”

“Don’t worry, sweetie. It’s all good.” He
swept some hair behind her ear just as he had in the game. “We’re
together now.”

“Are we?” Desire clawed at her. Beth wanted
his words to be true, but she was afraid she was still dreaming and
would wake any moment.

Rick nodded. “I’ve liked you for a while
now, Beth. You’re so smart and funny…beautiful. But it’s hard to
approach you at work. You’re always so busy, and when it comes to
telling you how I feel, I have to admit I’m a bit shy.”

“You? Shy?”

“Well, yeah. One moment we’re having a
great time together, and the next you’re avoiding me like I have
the plague. How did you think I’d feel?”

“Sorry. It’s just that after the charity
event I was kind of afraid of my affectionate feelings for you,
too, so I started avoiding you.”

“
Aren’t we a pair?” He chuckled. “Oh,
and as I poked around, I found out that others have tapped into
different parameters of the game. I haven’t discovered their
identities yet, but they’re behind giving you the quest to come
find and terminate me.” He shook his head, twirled a lock of her
hair around his finger. “But that’s
a conversation for
another time. Right now, I have more pressing issues to take up
with you.”