Accidentally…Cimil? (Accidentally Yours #4.5)(7)
Author: Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

The evil I witnessed in his eyes wasn’t the humans tearing apart their planet in a bloody, all-out war or blowing up the world with one of those bomb thingys that I’d heard the dead from ahead speak of. The destruction I saw was us. Us! Yes, as in, the deities. The very gods who were created to protect this world end up destroying it, driven mad.

Why?

That was the question. If only I knew. But the Universe had shown me a glimpse of our future, and it was a lonely one.

“Still sitting there I see?” A deep, masculine voice rumbled against my dark thoughts.

Narmer.

He wore a royal-blue sarong, nothing else, and his hair was tied back with a small golden thong. No. I don’t mean underwear. That would be just weird. He’d also shaved off his pharaoh-tee. I normally appreciated men with a little beardage, but he looked clean and fresh and masculine yummy.

Wait! I know! I hopped up from the bed. “Come here!”

His broad shoulders and powerful chest seemed to take up the entire chamber. It was unusual to see such a large human, such a tall human, but they did exist. Clearly. And this one was quite possibly the most divine male specimen I’d ever beheld. He was perfect. Right down to his toasty-brown ni**les, rippling stomach, and powerful legs.

I waved him over, but he gave me a look of suspicion.

“Oh, would you stop that?” I said. “I don’t bite. Much.”

He walked around the bed and stood in front of me. Well, hello there! I mentally saluted his milk-chocolaty ni**les and then looked up at his face. “Bend down and look into my eyes.”

He frowned instead.

Ugh! “Bend, big boy.” Let’s see what else the Universe has to say. I’m sure she left me another clue inside that thick skull of yours.

I saw the anger simmering in his eyes, but he obeyed and slowly lowered his gorgeous face, placing us nose to nose.

I stared deeply into his pupils but only saw what I normally see inside humans: their light and…

Uh-oh. I pulled away.

“What?” he asked.

I stepped back and put on my game face. His light was dull, meaning his end was near. Very, very near. The soul senses such things, and it begins to detach, preparing for the journey ahead.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

Camel crap. I couldn’t tell him he was going to die. Besides, there was nothing I could do. It was dangerous to tinker with the natural course of the Universe.

“I know! Let’s change subjects!” Better yet, maybe I should try to figure out what the Universe was trying to tell me.

Narmer crossed his beefy arms over his chest. “I grow weary of your riddles. And why are you no longer angry with me?”

“I found something more important to do: I am trying to have an epiphany. A big, big aha moment.”

“I do not know these words,” he said.

“No. Of course you don’t. Because you’re not a goddess with mysterious, all-knowing powers, like me.” And if those failed, there was always disco dancing to help me relax so the “all-knowing” might come. Gods, I can’t wait for the seventies! Looks like so much fun! In these times, the humans’ idea of a celebration consisted of killing something large, roasting it on a fire, and getting hammered on fermented fruit juice. Lame. I wanted disco balls; really, really big shoes; and wah-wah-wah music.

“Stop!” Narmer barked. “I command you!”

I froze in midlighting finger and turned. “You’re ruining my concentration.”

He closed the gap between us and grabbed me by the shoulders. I was about to release a surge of light into his hands simply for the sheer joy of watching him shoot across the room and slam into the wall, but then I remembered the stupid collar. I was dead in the water.

“I came to tell you something,” he said.

“You may speak.”

I could have sworn I saw actual sparks shoot from his eyes. Probably no one had ever told him anything other than, “Yes, my king” or “No, my king” and “Your wish is my command, my king.” Well, soon he’d be just another soul wondering why he had wasted his life on silly things like wealth and power.

And why the hell he’d messed with me!

He closed his eyes and took a breath, clamping down whatever bull crap he had the urge to say. When his dark eyes opened again, he tilted his head and placed his hand on my cheek. There was flicker of something almost… endearing within them.

“I came to tell you that I am sorry.” His jaw muscles ticked as he ground his teeth. “I am sorry for treating you so rudely.”

Wow. Looks like that hurt! “Are you okay? Should I make you a pot of soothing chamomile tea or call for a healer?”

His eyes shifted a bit. “I am very well. Why do you ask?”

Because you look like you just dropped an egg and have the worst PMS ever. “I’m guessing that apologizing, especially to a lowly female, bruised that giant ego of yours. But I’m glad to see you survived. Good stuff. Now, let me go. I have a planet to rescue.”

His face turned bright red. “I will not release you until you take the vow.”

I rolled my eyes. “Back to square one, are we?”

He didn’t respond.

Ugh! “A square is one of those shapes that has four—”

“I know what a square is,” he interrupted. “But I do not understand your expression.”

“Square one is the place where you started—Oh! Never mind, Chucky,” I said. “What I meant was that you are infuriating! You thought you could come in here, make an apology—wow! Such a huge sacrifice—and win me over with that? Really, big boy? You’ve taken me prisoner. You put this collar around my neck like I’m some sort of pet, and you’ve neutralized my powers. Do you really think an apology is going to—”

He bent his head and kissed me hard.

My entire body lit up like a bonfire, and the heat from his bare chest enveloped me in a steamy wave of lust. My knees buckled, and he immediately wrapped me in his large arms, pulling me close to prevent me from sliding down to the floor where I conjectured I might end up a squishy little puddle of fluttering nerves and unflattering spasms of joy.

And for a moment, I swore our bodies melted together. I’d never felt anything so potent. That dark, empty space inside my chest began to glow like a warm ember, and the only thing I could think of was stripping away my tiny little top and skirt. I wanted to feel his heavy body slip and slide over mine as his hands and mouth roamed every inch of my—