Accidentally...Over?: Accidentally Yours 5 (20 page)

“Okay,” Ashli blurted out. “I’ll do it.”

Brutus snarled. “You’re making a mistake, Ashli. Stay here with me. I will ensure your safety.”

“I don think anyone can save me if I stay. I wan to go wit Máax. I’m sowwy.”

Máax’s ego did a little cheer. Not a pom-pom cheer, but a triumphant warrior–like cheer, just to be clear. She wanted to be with him.
She
wanted to be with
him
.

Great. Now what?

You’ll have to figure it out.

Damn. What the hell was he doing?

I’m hoping Cimil is wrong about her prophecy.

Fourteen

Sun setting to her back, Ashli stared out across the lapping sapphire-blue waves, having never felt so petrified in her life. It wasn’t the moving ahead a few decades that necessarily bothered her, though that certainly got an award for bizarre and unusual, but the conversation between Brutus and Máax had bumped her anxiety up a few notches. It didn’t help that she also continued to feel out of sorts, all tingly and such. Probably a result of almost dying yet again.

So why hadn’t Máax proposed his solution to begin with? And if Brutus worked for the gods, then why would he challenge Máax like that? Something didn’t sit right. Especially that bit about Brutus becoming so protective. The look of wrath on his face when he’d stormed from her house left her more mystified than ever. What had she done wrong? And why did it bother her? Probably because Brutus had saved her life, and it meant something to her. Just as it meant something that Máax had saved her, too.

Gods, caring about people is so hard.
She almost cared too much.

“Are you ready, Ashli?” Máax’s warm, rough hand covered hers, jarring her from her uneasy contemplation. “Come.” He positioned her directly under a palm tree that stood a few yards from her back porch. “You must stand directly above the magical tablet I have buried here.”

Really? Really? Did he just say “magical tablet”? Maybe he parked it next to his sister’s magical unicorn.

Well, consider yourself lucky. At least he’s not whipping out the DeLorean and asking you to hold a lightning rod.

“Sure,” she replied, “weady as I’ll evew be.” Damn, her tooth hurt. She hoped there was a good dentist in town twenty years into the future.

“Excellent. I am taking you straight to our cenote about two hundred kilometers from here; I need to make a quick stop.”

Whoa.
“What? I thought we were staying hew.” A few decades into the future, yes, but
here. Here
was important.

“I don’t have time to explain; however, I promise we will return to your home after I take care of something.”

Her hands trembled. “Máax, I’m not weally weady for all of this. It’s too much. Can we just take it one step at a time?”

He grumbled something unintelligible under his breath. Probably more of that annoying Latin. “No. I am sorry, Ashli. Normally, I would default to being a gentleman—Okay, perhaps not—I would probably insist. As I am about to do now.”

“Why?” she asked.

“Because there is something important I must do,” he
said in a soft, reassuring voice, then gently brushed her cheek. “There is nothing to fear. I promise.”

Well, if he said so. Right? After all, the guy
was
the God of Truth. If he said, “Nothing to fear,” then he meant it.

But then why did her stomach signal otherwise?

“Time to go.” Máax firmly gripped her hand, sending a shock wave of tingles charging through her body. Still, her cold feet seemed unable to move. Before she mustered a protest, the sand beneath her feet began to vibrate and hiss. A dark manhole-sized fissure opened in front of them. She tipped her body forward and peered inside the vertical wind tunnel. It swirled with bits of debris and sand on the surface, but there was no bottom, nothing inside. Just darkness.

Knees shaking, she stumbled back a step. “Maybe this isn’t such a goow ideaw.”

“I’m sorry, my dear Ashli, but there is no time for further deliberation.”

She felt a hard tug on her arm, and then her body fell forward. She yelped when the force of the opening grabbed hold and sucked her in.

“Waaaiiiit.” A flash of light momentarily blinded her. She now stood in the jungle at the edge of a dark green pool of water. Speckles of sunlight filtered through the treetops, and a multitude of unseen birds chirped loudly all around her. There had to be hundreds from the sound of it.

“Holy shit.” She spun on her heel. “Was that it?”

“Yes. That was it,” said the deep, sexy male voice at her side. She felt his rough hands slide down her arms. “However, this next part of the journey will not be so pleasant. Hold your breath.” Máax scooped her up in his arms.

“What the hell? Máax!”

“Sorry, love, but it must be done.” He hurtled them both toward the dark, murky water.

Lying on a warm, fluffy bed, Ashli awoke in a large, sunny bedroom. She held her breath listening for anything to orient her, but her thumping heart sounded like a loud drum inside her head. An odd, uncomfortable feeling covered her body, as if her limbs had gone to sleep and were just now coming out of that pins-and-needles phase.

Slowly, her eyes swept the room. Not one item looked familiar. A bright red painting of some pre-Hispanic dog hung on the wall next to a large flat thing. A television? The furniture—nightstand, table and chairs in the corner, and the dresser—was that rustic Mexican style she liked, but also unfamiliar.

She looked down the length of her body, relieved to see she wore her favorite white cotton summer dress. Something familiar! But there was also a necklace with a black shiny stone hanging around her neck.

She carefully sat up, wondering if she’d suffered another head injury. She wiggled her toes and wobbled her head between her shoulders. Nope. Everything felt okay.

Her eyes returned to canvassing the room, immediately settling on a picturesque set of doors that led to a balcony overlooking the ocean. It looked like a perfect day outside. Was she at an oceanside spa? The giant bouquet of fresh lavender sitting on the table sure made it smell like it. So how had she gotten here? Where exactly was “here”?

She moved to slip off the bed but was abruptly pulled back. “Ah, you are awake.”

She yelped. “Máax? You scared the hell out of me.” She looked toward the direction of his voice and noticed the deep indentation of his body right next to her on the bed.

His familiar, electrifying touch slid across her midriff and pulled her the rest of the way down. “My apologies.” His lips brushed against her cheek and left a trail of salacious tingles on her skin. “How do you feel?”

She felt… She felt… great, actually. Like she’d had a really long nap after a run on the beach. And lying next to Máax, who caressed her with the entire length of his body, an undoubtedly naked body, had an instant effect. One that fired up the old girlie parts.

Vrroom?

“Relaxed. Except where are we?” She couldn’t remember—well, anything really.

“This is your home.”

Her home? She propped herself up by the elbows. “This doesn’t look like it.”

“Ah yes. Well, apparently your little beach house was wiped out ten years ago in a hurricane. It was rebuilt. This house was made with reinforced steel beams running thirty feet into the ground. You also bought the land to both sides permitting us to build something infinitely grander.”

Her home was gone? She felt mortified. She’d loved that home. “I lost my house? And I bought land?”

“Well, your Uchben-managed trust purchased it, but yes. And yes, your home is gone. I am sorry. But such is nature. A cruel bitch,” he said casually, as if she’d lost her favorite pair of socks.

But this wasn’t casual. It was…

Devastating.

“Are you all right, Ashli?” Máax’s hand brushed her cheek.

She nodded and sat up again. “Yeah. It’s just—wow. It’s really gone?”

“We saved your belongings—some, anyway. They’ve been put into storage further inland, where they’ll be safe.”

“How do you know all this?” she asked.

“You’ve been asleep for about a day. The Uchben, including Brutus, have already been here. They debriefed me on everything.”

“Brutus? He stayed here the entire time I was away? Shouldn’t he be retired by now?”

Máax chuckled. “I may have forgotten to mention that Brutus is one of our elite guards and therefore immortal. But no, he oversees things for us and has had his hands quite full these past years.”

“Oh.”
How strange.
But of course, why wouldn’t Brutus be immortal? He worked for gods and surely that meant many dangerous assignments; they couldn’t be worried about him dying all the time. Made sense. On the other hand, living forever sounded—well, like forever.
I think I’d go crazy.
Especially considering the plethora of strangeness that accompanied her life. An eternity of this weirdness might be too much.

“So. You’re sure I’m okay?” Why couldn’t she remember what happened? Everything was a giant blur after she’d gone into that portal.

“You are perfect,” he replied. “Never better. It was only your home that had a little trouble.”

“Oh.” She needed a moment to digest. For some reason, she thought everything in the future would be exactly
the same, just maybe more modern. Twenty years wasn’t that much time. Was it?

“Does your new home not please you? Is it not beautiful?” Máax asked.

What could she say? If the rest of the home was as nice as the bedroom, she knew it was gorgeous. The only issue was that it wasn’t
her
home. And that people in these parts might confuse her for a telenovela star or a drug lord. Lavish was an overstatement.

Well,
she told herself,
you’re alive; that’s what matters.
And she was with Máax.

“You didn’t have to do all this,” she said gratefully.

“Of course I did. I want you to be comfortable here.”

His lips skimmed hers. Their warmth and inexplicable familiarly melted away the sadness and sense of loss. It was amazing how Máax could do that—heat her up, make her toes tingle, turn her into a raving sex loon with one simple touch.
Squaaaawk!

A blistering urge to have her hot, lusty way with the god sideswiped her. She wanted to seek comfort in that potent male body—yes, yes, invisible, but she knew exactly what was there—and lose herself in the powerful emotions he triggered. She didn’t care that it might not lead anywhere. Like the last time they’d gone at it like frisky little chipmunks in her kitchen, her entire body craved him.

Before she could act on those impulses, she found herself standing, being tugged toward the bathroom.

“They’ve included every comfort known to womankind: a sauna, jet tub, and champagne bar.”

She leaned inside the doorway. Her entire previous beach house could fit inside. “It’s incredible. Really, but—”

By the hand, Máax tugged Ashli into the hallway. Raised
ceilings with large skylights above and white tile flooring beneath illuminated every corner with bright, cheery sunlight. Máax dragged her through the rest of the new home complete with six guest rooms, five more baths, a study, one giant living room, and a gourmet chef’s kitchen.

How had he planned all this?

“And then there is this…” Máax opened the double doors to her new beachside patio.

What the…?
She felt like she’d won the grand prize on a game show.
And look! It’s your newww open fire pit and stainless steel outdoor kitchen, Ashli! But wait! There’s more! That’s right. It’ssss hand-carved furniture! Wild applause.

“Máax. This is all too much.” He’d gone overboard, turning her sweet, charming tropical bungalow into a multimillion-dollar mansion. Not that she wasn’t grateful, because she was, but it was all too strange.

“Nothing is too much for you.” Máax pulled her into his body. His electrifying hands cupped the back of her head. “I want you to be happy here.”

“I didn’t come here,” she whispered, “for a house. I came because I wanted to live.”
And, maybe, to be with you
.