Baal (Speed Dating with the Denizens of the Underworld Book 28), page 1
BAAL
SPEED DATING WITH THE DENIZENS OF THE UNDERWORLD
BOOK TWENTY-EIGHT
LAURA GREENWOOD
CONTENTS
Baal
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Epilogue
Read More from Laura Greenwood
About Laura Greenwood
Baal
Speed Dating with the Denizens of the Underworld
Book Twenty-EIGHT
Copyright © 2023
Laura Greenwood
ISBN: 978-1-77357-538-4
978-1-77357-537-7
978-1-77357-536-0
Edited by: Drowlgon Press
Published by Naughty Nights Press LLC
Cover Art By Silvana G. Sánchez
@ SelfPub Designs
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BAAL
A storm god, a witch, and a photo shoot full of naked gods…
Chelsea’s boring retail job has one perk, the charming and enigmatic customer she has a crush on. But he couldn’t possibly have any interest in her, could he?
After Baal is asked to photograph a naked calendar, he jumps at the opportunity, especially when it means that he’ll be able to ask Chelsea for her help, and get to spend some time together in the process.
Will the two of them give in to the tension building between them?
Baal is book twenty-eight in the Speed Dating with the Denizens of the Underworld shared world, featuring a charming god, a gorgeous witch, a shared passion, and more.
CHAPTER 1
Chelsea
It was about as busy as it ever got on a random Thursday at The Coven Copy Shop and I eyed up the back room, hoping that I could find an excuse to slip back there and work on my potion that would develop photos in a more interesting way. I’d already managed to figure out how to make focus sharper, but there were so many other things I wanted to try, including making photos move. I knew I’d only be able to sell the service to paranormal clientele, but it was still something I wanted to work on.
“Hey, Chelsea, your favourite client is here,” Anise called from the customer service station.
I looked over in her direction and she nodded towards the door. I followed her gaze, my heart skipping a beat at the sight of the handsome black man about to make his way inside. As much as I knew crushing on the customers was a bad idea, I couldn’t help it whenever Baal was around. I wasn’t sure whether it was the calm collected tone in his voice, the obviously toned chest under his shirt, or his love of animals that had started the inappropriate thoughts, but there was certainly no doubt that I had them. He was everything I’d ever wanted all rolled up into one smoking hot package.
No doubt he’d never look at me twice, and with good reason, there was nothing special about me.
The bell rang and he stepped inside, a bright smile flitting across his face the moment he saw me working. That didn’t help my crush either, but at least it made him easy to deal with, unlike some of our other customers.
“Hey,” I said with a lame wave. I should really try harder if I ever wanted him to notice me.
“Hi, Chelsea.” The way his voice curled around my name made my heart flutter. And something else, but that was especially off-limits given that he was one of the copy shop’s regular customers.
“So, I’m guessing you’ve been off shooting some wildly exotic animal this past week,” I said. “What was it?”
“Don’t you want me to leave it as a surprise for when you develop the photos?” he asked with a bemused smile. He pulled out a memory card and put it on the desk in front of me.
“And miss you telling me about it? Don’t you realise that’s the highlight of my job.” It was only partly a lie. I didn’t mind what we talked about.
He chuckled. “Then it wouldn’t be right for me to deny you. It was sharks this time.”
“Sharks?” I was pretty certain my eyes lit up.
“Is that a good one?”
“Okay, so no word of a lie, sharks are my favourite fish.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Not overall animal?”
“No, I had to split them into categories or I’d never have been able to pick one.”
“So what’s your favourite land animal?” He leaned on the wall beside my desk and looked at me with an intensity that made me think he actually wanted to hear my answer.
I shook my head. “Land-based mammal.”
“Nice distinction, though I don’t think there are many flying mammals, are there?”
“Just bats.”
“Not even flying squirrels?”
“They don’t fly, they glide,” I pointed out. “It surprises me that you haven’t seen any on your travels.” A pang of jealousy spread through me. Baal’s job as a wildlife photographer was my dream job, but I was very far from getting to it, I needed a lot more experience before anyone would even consider hiring me.
“I haven’t had a chance yet, but if I ever do, then I’m going to think of you the whole time,” he promised.
A small thrill went through me at the admission.
“So, why do bats deserve their own category?” He leaned on the counter, bringing us close enough that I could smell his aftershave.
Why did it have to smell so good? It was going to be hard to concentrate if this continued.
“Because bats are almost as cool as sharks. Do you know much about them?” I asked, finding it hard to keep my thoughts focused.
“Only that they’re on my bucket list of animals to photograph,” he responded.
“Oh, you’re going to love it if you do. I hope you get to photograph the lesser long-nosed bat, they pick up pollen and can sometimes carry so much that they turn yellow.” I could hear the excitement in my voice and had to wonder whether I was making myself sound a little too crazy.
Thankfully, Baal’s smile grew wider. “That does sound cool, I’d like to see that.”
“I’ve never seen them in person myself. It’s not like working in a copy shop comes with enough money to travel and see animals.”
“Have you been to The Horus Sanctuary?” he asked.
“No, why?”
“I don’t think they have any of your lesser long-nosed bats, but they do have some other species there.”
“Huh, I didn’t know that.”
He nodded. “My friend runs it, he has all kinds of animals there, mostly those kept as illegal exotic pets, though there are others that come from zoos that got closed down. It started as a bird of prey sanctuary, hence the name, but it’s grown since then.”
“And it’s open to the public?” I asked.
“Only certain parts of it, some of the animals aren’t well enough adapted to be able to interact with people. But if there’s something that you want to see, I’m pretty sure Horace will take you back there to see them as a favour to me.”
“Horace works at The Horus Sanctuary?” I asked, amusement sparking within me.
Baal’s lips quirked up into a bemused smile. “He owns it.”
“That’s so cool.”
“You never told me your favourite land-based mammal,” he prompted. “What is it?”
“Promise not to laugh?” I tucked a strand of curly red hair behind my ear.
“I swear I won’t.”
“The Hampshire pig,” I said. “It’s the one...”
“With black faces, but pink stripes.”
“I wouldn’t really call them stripes, but yes, those are the ones. You know them?” I had to admit to being surprised. Most people had no idea what different kinds of pigs looked like.
“I’ve photographed lots of different animals, including several on farms. When I got started in animal photography, I did a lot of photo shoots at farm fairs, you get to know a lot about different livestock there,” he said.
“So that’s where to get started? Farm fairs?”
“It’s one of them,” he responded. “But actually, I had a project I wanted to talk to you about, we should grab coffee sometime and talk about it.”
“Coffee?” Was he seriously just casually asking me about going for a coffee?
He nodded. “You know, dark, blac k, bitter unless you add a tonne of sugar.” The sparkle in his eyes revealed that he was teasing.
“I know what coffee is,” I assured him, trying to find the right way to say that going for one was something I was definitely interested in without seeming too overeager.
The bright trill of his phone ringing filled the air and he grimaced, pulling it out of his pocket. He looked at the screen and let out a loud sigh. “I’m really sorry, Chelsea, I have to take this. But we’ll talk when I come back for the photos?”
I smiled, a little sad that the promised drink wasn’t going to be sooner than that, even though I knew it wouldn’t mean anything and was just that. A drink. “No worries. I’ll get these sorted for you, I can’t wait to see the sharks.”
“And I can’t wait to hear about which is your favourite photo.”
“I’m not supposed to have favourites,” I said.
“But you do.” He smiled. “I’ll see you later.” He pressed the green button on his phone and answered the call.
I sighed and picked up the memory card, turning it over between my fingers as I did.
“Watching you two attempt to flirt with each other is my favourite sport,” Anise said as she came over to join me.
I groaned. “That went even worse than usual.”
“Nah, he’s clearly into you.”
“No, he’s not. He just likes what I do with his photos.”
She scoffed. “You only think that because you don’t see his face when he realises that you’re not in. That man is smitten. I’d almost wager that you put a love spell on him.”
I rolled my eyes. “I did no such thing.”
“Mmhmm.”
“Oh shh.” I swotted at her arm. “It’s nothing. Are you all right if I go into the back and develop these?” I held up the memory card.
“Be my guest, try not to drool over them.”
“They’re photos of sharks,” I pointed out.
“Mmhmm, that your crush took, I wouldn’t put it past you.”
“We need to find you a new sport to watch,” I muttered.
“You can try, we’re going out on Wednesday night, you should come.”
“All right, I will,” I agreed, but only because I wanted something to take my mind off Baal and his charming smile. Otherwise I was going to end up completely obsessing over a man I barely knew, and that wasn’t me.
Except that all of the current indicators said that it was.
I pushed the thought to the side. It could never happen anyway, so it wasn’t something that I needed to worry about. A night out with Anise would definitely be the distraction I needed.
CHAPTER 2
Baal
I knocked on Horus’ office door and cursed at him for the fifth time since I left the copy shop. The man certainly knew bad timing. And just as I was finally managing to talk to Chelsea about going for a coffee. I wanted to talk to her about an opportunity that had come up, but in all honesty, I was hoping that one coffee would lead to two and I’d finally get some time away from the copy shop with Chelsea.
“Come in,” Horus called out, pulling me back to reality.
I stepped inside and took a seat at his desk. “This better be good,” I muttered.
“Have I caught you in a rare bad mood?” he asked, looking up from his desk with a bemused expression on his face.
“Yes.”
He chuckled and leaned back in his seat, pushing his hand through his short curly hair. “What’s got you all stressed, Baaley?”
“For one, you calling me that, you know I hate it.”
“Almost as much as Seth hates it when I call him Uncle. He hates it even more when I point out that’s what he is.” Amusement danced over Horus’ face, just like it always did when he talked about infuriating his uncle.
“It’s still a sore spot that everyone thinks he killed your father and left you half-blind,” I pointed out.
“Complete rubbish, I’ve clearly got both my eyes.” He gestured upwards.
“And your father is walking around in broad daylight. But you know what rumours are like. Seth only just started coming to the underworld again, don’t ruin it for him.” It was nice having my old friend back, I didn’t want him chased off.
“He has? I didn’t know that,” Horus mused.
“Oh, yeah, he’s dating Menhit. I’m not entirely clear how they met, but they’re sweet together.”
“The fact that anyone managed to catch his heart after Nephthys broke it is surprising,” Horus responded. “But enough about my uncle, believe it or not, I didn’t bring you here to talk about non-existent family feuds.”
“I assumed you brought me here to talk about something like the calendar you want me to shoot. You were very vague on the phone the other day.” Though that had been enough for me to start planning on asking for Chelsea’s help.
“I was, wasn’t I?”
“Cryptic doesn’t suit you, Horus. Just come out with it.” I folded my arms across my chest and waited for the other god to explain.
He chuckled. “All right, fine. I want you to shoot a naked calendar for me.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You realise that I normally photograph wildlife, right?”
“Now you do, but we’re both well aware that you’ve shot a lot of other things in your time too.”
“That’s fair. Though I’ve never done a naked calendar before.” Though now he mentioned it, I had to admit that it sounded like a good challenge, and no doubt Horus was well aware that I’d still do it, especially as I’d already agreed.
“And there’d be wildlife involved this time too,” Horus assured me.
“Is it a naked calendar you want, or an animal one, you’re going to have to make up your mind.”
Horus chuckled. “I want both. Naked people with either their animal forms or their pets, it’s up to them.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You realise I can’t photograph someone in their animal form at the same time, right?”
“That’s what photoshop is for. Or they can get out some of their features while in their human bodies, I know you can do that with your horns.”
“I can...” I said slowly.
“So there you go. I’ve got some names already for you, but there are a few more people I’m waiting for responses from.”
“Where are you wanting me to shoot? Are you offering up part of the sanctuary for me?” I’d always wanted to do a shoot here, but there hadn’t been an opportunity yet.
“Absolutely not, that would be far too stressful on the animals,” he responded.
“Of course.” Which made sense, but was a little frustrating in terms of actually organising the shoot. “Have you talked to Menhit?” I asked, an idea springing to mind.
“No, why? Do you think she’d take part?” Horus asked.
“Almost certainly, but I was actually thinking about her oasis as the place for the shoot. It’s in purgatory, so it would definitely help with keeping things private and making sure that no humans see anything they’re not supposed to, and it’s beautiful, there are lots of different places to take the photos we need.”
“Hmm, I’ve never been.”
“It’s worth asking her. And knowing her, she won’t charge you for it if you say it’s for charity.” I wasn’t completely convinced she’d charge anyone, but the charity angle definitely helped.
Horus smiled. “I like your bargaining skills.”
“She hasn’t said yes yet,” I warned him.
“No, but hopefully she will.”
I nodded. It would be a good place for a shoot. I suspected the only problem might be whether or not Seth would get in the way and tell her that she shouldn’t cooperate with Horus. My fellow storm god was still a little bit tetchy about the situation with his nephew.
Then again, he was happily in love and that changed people.
