Accidentally…Evil? (Accidentally Yours #3.5)(8)
Author: Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

Oh yes. With every pulse of my immortal light.

You don’t even know me.

I know your soul; that’s all I need.

This is insanity.

Welcome to my world.

Your world scares me.

Maggie retreated and threw back the rest of her wine. The liquid brought a welcome warmth to her chest despite the constant tropical breeze skating off the calm lake behind her. Every second she spent in his presence brought her closer to a cold reality lurking just beneath the surface: Part of her wanted to believe the crazy things he told her. Part of her wanted him.

This is insanity. I need to leave.

She moved her feet in front of the crackling fire and gave her toes a wiggle. How far would she get without shoes when she made a run for it? Solid blackness had replaced the lush greens of the jungle and night had set in.

You have to try for your father.

“So you believe I’m special because you can touch me?” she said.

“And because of the vision.”

“Vision?” Obviously, she’d seen it, too, when they kissed; however, she didn’t know what to make of it. Nor did she want to discuss it. She just wanted to leave.

“Do not deny you saw it,” he said.

“I saw no such thing.”

He laughed.

“Are you doubting me?” she asked.

He nodded, and his long black hair fell over his face. “Yes. In fact, I am. Perhaps it is time to disclose that among my many powers, I know when humans lie.”

“Aha, see! You know when humans lie. I must be human.” I can’t believe I’m making this argument.

He frowned and pushed back his hair. “Not likely.”

“To my knowledge, my parents are human. Well, my mother was. God rest her sweet soul.”

Chaam’s frown softened into something resembling compassion. “I am sorry to hear you lost your mother. Were you young?”

“No. It happened about six months ago. A heart attack while at work.”

Wow. Maggie hadn’t ever said that out loud. It felt good talking about it. And it felt surprisingly good talking to Chaam. Come to think of it, this was the first time in months that she’d felt so at ease. The realization added one more layer of complexity to the situation.

“She was a movie actress,” she continued, staring at the flames, avoiding direct eye contact. “A really good one, but her real passion was teaching children at the local dance academy.”

“It sounds like she was a beautiful person,” he said.

Maggie nodded. “The most beautiful person I’ve ever known. I think it’s the reason my father wanted to come here, to escape her memory.”

Her father. God, how he’d changed. The man she used to know had never run from anything. He embraced life as did her mother. Together, the two were like perpetual motion. Unstoppable. And wildly in love until the very end. Maggie could only hope to find something so epic. She’d dreamed of it, but sadly, all she’d found were men who left her frigid in the feelings department. And when she said frigid, she meant deep freeze, like she was some horrible woman-shaped iceberg with fashion sense. And quite a bit of baggage. Stylish baggage, of course.

It’s not that way with Chaam, now is it?

Damn it. No, it isn’t. Maybe that’s why her mind kept spinning in the mud. Dirty, dirty, sexy mud she wanted to roll in with Chaam.

“It’s why I had to fight to come on this trip,” she added, still refusing to look into his eyes, knowing she would like—no, love—what she saw.

“You remind him of her, don’t you?”

She felt his eyes burning on her. “Yes.”

He placed his hand on her cheek. “Look at me, Margaret. Don’t be afraid.”

Could she dare to meet his gaze?

Maggie slowly turned her head. When she did, the larger-than-life man sitting before her seemed to have reached a heightened level of exquisiteness. She drank in the well-defined angles of his cheekbones and jaw, the perfect, yet large proportions of his muscles and limbs. She marveled at his flawless golden brown skin glowing with the oranges and yellows of the flickering firelight. Then there were his eyes. Two hypnotic jewels of seduction that drew her in like sexual gravity, urging her to leap across that wide-open stretch of insanity and take him up on that offer of carnal pleasures.

With exaggerated caution, Chaam reached out and brushed her cheek. She leaned into his hand and basked in its warmth. “If you look like she did,” he said. “I can understand why your father is unable to recover from his loss. You are divine, Margaret O’Hare. The gods themselves could not compete with your perfection.” He leaned in to kiss her.

Horsefeathers! Maggie popped up. What was she thinking? She’d become completely engrossed in this conversation. “I need to use the powder room.”

Chaam tilted his head to one side. “Powder room?”

“I have to, you know, listen to the call of nature?”

Chaam looked from side to side. “You hear them, too? How very odd. Perhaps it is a side effect.”

What? Heavens no. She wasn’t crazy. “Uh, I have to empty my bladder.”

“Oh. Of course.” He gestured toward the jungle. “You may use any tree you like.”

This was her chance. She headed straight for the dark jungle.

“Any tree where I can see you,” he added.

Drat! She stopped and found herself staring straight up a wall of solid, unnerving man. How had he moved so fast? “You, you can’t honestly th-think-think that a lady would allow a man to watch her.”

“I am not a man. I am a god, and there is little I haven’t seen except for these rooms made from powder you speak of. How do the walls stay up?”

Ugh! Impossible, crazy, gorgeous man. “Magic. I can explain later, but right now, I need privacy.” She smiled as sweet as apple pie with ice cream on top. “Please?”

Chaam considered her request for a moment. “If you are not back in one minute, I will send the jaguar after you. You cannot hide from that nose, and he is all too desperate to do anything to please me. He has his eye on a very fine female he’s been unable to woo.”

Woo? Now the animals were wooing each other? Oh boy. He really was insane.

“I understand.” She scurried off into the brush, praying those crazed animals were not waiting in the shadows like he’d said.

Maggie. Are you forgetting? They stared at you for three hours like furry sentinels.

Damn it, Maggie. You need to run. Now.

So she did.