Accidentally...Over?: Accidentally Yours 5 (32 page)

Damned good question.

“I’m not really sure,” she said. “Guess I haven’t had a lot of time to think it through.” Before they had been kidnapped by vampires from her new home in Tulum, she’d been hoping to start a new life with Máax. She’d been hoping they might live happily ever after, free from the past.

Uh. Yay. Good luck with that. You’ll be having nightmares for the next century. Especially about that horrible monster.
She still couldn’t believe that had happened. Why had he chosen her out of everyone there? How had she managed to fend him off?

Put it on the list of disturbing things to figure out.

“You’ll have all the time in the world now. Not to mention, you have plenty of people here to guide you in the ways of immortality.”

Immortal. Immortal. Immortaaaal. Nope.
“I guess, but I can’t stay here, sponging off your brother.”

Máax chuckled. “Sponging? Is that what you call being at my brother’s home?”

“I guess.”

“You’re a guest, Ashli. You can stay as long as you like. Kinich wants for nothing. Like all gods, he has enough money to buy a small country, perhaps two. So do you, for that matter.”

Ashli knew her mouth hung open like a complete fool. “I’m not some charity case, Máax. You can’t give me money.”

Again he laughed. “Give? Give you money? I promise you, my dear Ashli, that the money in your name has nothing to do with me, barring the fact that I asked our best Uchben investor to manage your account. And trust me when I tell you that he charges a pretty penny. You’ve been gifted nothing from me.”

Ashli nodded, trying to digest. “Exactly how rich am I?”

“Not as wealthy as I; however, I’ve about a seventy-thousand-year head start.”

“You mean, what, like a million dollars?”

He laughed toward the ceiling. “Oh, my dear Ashli, you are so charming.”

She slapped him on the shoulder. “Don’t make fun of me!”

“I’m not making fun; I am enjoying your innocence, your beautiful sweet, naivety.”

Ashli stopped moving. “Máax?”

“What?” He peered down, that charming smile now clearly on display. So, so charming. It boggled the mind.

“Are you capable of answering any question without behaving like a smug dork?”

“Dork?” He laughed.

“Yes… dork.”

He rubbed his stubbled chin. “I do believe that is the first time I’ve been called such a name. I find it moderately offensive, but shall let it slide given you are my mate, and I love you more than life itself.”

Love. He’d said he loved her more than life itself.

His words hit her panic button. “Don’t, Máax.” She jerked herself from his warm, comforting grip.

Máax reached for her and pulled her back. “Don’t what?” he whispered in her ear. “Don’t love you?”

Yes. No. Dammit. Maybe.
“You have no right—”

“I have every right. You were born to be mine. And you wish to deny me the right to say how I feel, to speak the truth?”

“You want to talk about the truth, Máax? Do you?” she hissed. “I’m too afraid to be with you. I’m afraid you’ll hurt me.”

“I know,” Máax replied.

“You know?”

He nodded. “Remember? I can feel your emotions. We are bonded. Which is probably the reason we become so volatile when together. But yes, I feel your fear of me. Of everything. What I cannot determine is how to rescue you from it.”

“Rescue me? Is that what you really think I need from you?” She couldn’t believe him.

“Of course. I am a—”

“May I cut in?”

Both she and Máax stopped dancing and directed their attention to the man standing before them. Brutus. He now wore a tux, and with his cropped dark hair and husky, muscular build, he looked like the kind of man a woman would appreciate for simply making an effort, although the tux was not in his comfort zone.

“Sure, Brutus, I’d love to.”

Máax growled.

“Don’t.” She pinched his arm.

“Did you just pinch me?” Máax scowled.

“Yes. Now back off.”

A moment of brisk silence passed before Máax dipped his head. “As you wish. I’ll be in the men’s room, removing my paint. It is making my skin itch.”

“Fine.”
The outrage! Rescue me? Fix me? Save me! How about respect me. Treat me as an equal?

Máax stepped away and Brutus stepped in.

She pasted on a smile and leaned forward. “You do know he’s going to kill you for doing that, don’t you?”

Brutus wiggled his brows. “It’s worth it. Besides, you looked like you were about to detonate. Thought you might need a moment.”

Was she that transparent? “Thanks.”

For the next few minutes, Ashli danced with Brutus and focused on calming down. That damned volatility again. Máax created a chemical reaction in her brain. Any fear or negative emotions seemed to magnify.

The song was almost over when someone tapped her on the shoulder. “May I cut in?” Sentin stared down at her as if she were a yummy human treat.

Yikes.
“Ummm, I guess?”

“One dance, asshole. After that she’s mine for the next two songs,” Brutus barked.

Sentin laughed, but not in a happy way. “We’ll see.”

Ashli took Sentin’s hand, feeling a bit awkward. The rudeness between these men was a bit much.

He shuffled her away from a glaring Brutus who now stood at the edge of the parquet dance floor.

“I know I’m new to all this,” she said, “but are all men so…”

“Manly?” He winked. “No. Just me. Especially in bed.”

Okay.
She mentally scratched her head during the remainder of the song. By the last note, there was Brutus pulling her away. “My turn.”

Sentin grunted in protest, but Brutus ignored him.

Ashli had just about had it. Really, what was with these guys? Why were immortal men such barbarians?

“May I cut in?”

“Me, too!”

Máax’s brothers, the drunk bartender and the one with the giant headdress, were standing there, salivating. That guy in the Maaskab outfit, Andrus, was back, too.

What in the world?

“Take a fucking number.” Brutus twirled her quickly and smiled.

Ashli stopped moving. “Brutus. What’s going on?”

“What?” He shrugged.

“Why is everyone treating me like the last scoop of ice cream?” She felt seriously freaked out now.

Brutus smiled. “Because there’s something about you, Ashli. Something wonderful.”

She stepped back. Okay. Strange. The pack of rabid men were right there again.

“What do you want?” Brutus growled.

“Her. We want her, so step aside.”

“Guys! Please. No more fighting. Just stop.”

Brutus’s lethal gaze softened. “She’s right. My apologies. Sentin, you should dance with her.”

“No. No. I am the one who should apologize; I was behaving rudely to all of you. Brutus, you should finish your dance with Ashli, then Andrus, then K’ak, and then Belch.”

“No,” objected Andrus. “I will go last. I insist. Besides, I really just wanted to ask for some advice. It can wait.”

The men began to argue once again about who should go last. What were these guys on?

Ashli felt herself being pulled away the moment that fists started flying.

“Máax?”

“Let us get you out of here.” Máax had taken off his gold paint already. How? Had he run through a car wash?

“What’s going on? Why are they fighting like that?”

“I have absolutely no idea,” he replied.

She followed his lead out to the parking lot. “Where are we going?”

“To a hotel for the evening. From there, I will make some calls and try to figure out the issue before I must turn myself in in the morning.”

A hotel? With him?

“Uh-uh. No way.” She pulled her hand away.

“I could take you back to Kinich’s home, but I suspect that they will be at your door within the hour.”

“Maybe I should go home to Mexico,” she said.

“If you wish. But not until morning.”

Stubborn goat.

“Fine, but you’re not staying with me in the room.”

“You won’t even know I’m there.”

Ugh.

Forty minutes later, they pulled into the luxury spa and resort in Sedona. Máax had never stayed there, but he’d asked Penelope, his sister in-law, for a recommendation. His plan was simple. He might not have an eternity to be with Ashli, but he’d settle for one night. One night of holding her. No, it would not be enough, but if that was all he could get, he’d take it.

Ashli shut off the engine. “That was fun. I’ve never driven a BMW.”

“Yes. Kinich has quite the collection of cars, but I selected this one for the tinted windows, given I drove it to the event myself.”

“I can see how that might come in handy when one is invisible,” she said.

“Or painted in gold.”

She snickered. Damn he loved her smile.

She ran her hands over the steering wheel. “So what’s the plan?”

“You check in. I will make some phone calls and figure this out. I only wish I had not committed to turn myself in tomorrow.”

She sighed. “How long will you be gone?”

“Forever. As I told you earlier.”

Her head snapped in his direction. “I thought you were kidding.”

“No,” he said.

Ashli’s beautiful, delicate face turned a pallid shade of mocha. “But what did you do?”

He didn’t answer immediately. “I do not wish to lie or conceal the truth, so I simply prefer to say that I did what I felt was right.”

“Are they really going to send you away forever?” Ashli appeared to be genuinely distraught, and he had to admit, it made him feel… loved.

“The laws are quite clear, and though a unanimous vote can modify the laws, I am certain my sister Fate will block such a move.”

“But why?”

“She is angry at us. It is a long story. One I do not care to recount.” Honestly, he wished he’d not sworn an oath to keep his sister’s secret. The temptation to throw her under the bus and save his own ass was far too great now. But he was determined not to be that sort of man. It was one thing to lie or break a promise to save another, but to save himself? That would make him a selfish, greedy bastard.

Ashli looked out through the windshield, her eyes tearing up. That was the one thing he’d hoped to avoid. In fact, he hadn’t thought about it, but what was to become of Ashli once his punishment was handed down? Her bond with him would prevent her from moving on.

Yes, I will ask my other sister to remove Ashli’s memories of me. She will have a chance to find some semblance of love.
Although it would not come close to the love they could have shared.

As for Máax, he’d already decided that he didn’t want to forget Ashli. He would cherish his memories of her for eternity. He would never let her go, he would never move on. He simply didn’t want to.

“Will you be put to sleep?” she asked.

“No. I will be awake, but entombed and powerless. But this is not your concern.”

“Not my concern,” she repeated in a whisper and then pinched the bridge of her nose. “Máax, this is horrible. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Truthfully, it was not important. To me, anyway. I knew this was coming even before I met you. Then, I suppose, I was distracted by saving you and preventing the apocalypse,” he paused, “getting you to forgive me for lying.”

She sighed. “Are you sure? I mean, there has to be a way to change this.”

“You are not so anxious to rid yourself of me, after all?”

She shook her head. “I guess not. But—Christ, Máax. You should’ve told me.”

“Perhaps. But what would it have changed?”

She shrugged. “How can you be so calm?”

“Ashli, have you not learned by now that there are no guarantees? We have this moment, and this moment alone. And in this moment, I am here with the woman I love. Tomorrow brings another battle.”

One he knew he’d lose.

He exited the vehicle and opened the driver’s side door for Ashli. “Are you all right?”

“No. Not really.” She slid from the car, long legs first. He loved the way she looked in her tiny little white toga dress. She was the most beautiful woman in the world. Every damned silky tanned inch of her. Of course the men would want to fight over her. Although that bit back at the party was rather extreme. He had no clue what was going on.

He stepped to the side and closed the door, but instead of walking toward the reception area, she leaned against
the car and folded her arms. “This plan is never going to work.”

“Of course it will; I have made a reservation under your name. I will follow you to the room.”

“No. I mean, you and me sharing a room.

“Why is that?” he asked.

“Because the only thing I can think about is kissing you. While naked.”

“I see you still wear the necklace I gave you, so I think that might be arranged.”