Accidentally in Love with…a God?(Accidentally Yours #1)(19)
Author: Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

He watched with intensity while Emma removed her shoes and chucked them at the cat he’d summoned to herd her into the water.

The cat, a lovely female jaguar, had been his only other companion these last years. Birds, toucans especially, and monkeys came to visit every so often, but were more interested in viewing him like an exhibit at the zoo. But the cat, who could hear his words like all other animals, loved to talk about philosophy and the art of the hunt. She was quite entertaining. Luckily, she’d agreed to take part in his back-up plan without eating Emma. Votan knew there was a solid chance Emma’s nerves would get the best of her and would, therefore, need coaxing to take the plunge. He’d been right about that, but not about anything else, and he hated himself for it.

He closed his eyes to send the animal away, but before he gave the instruction, Emma threw something else, and the cat yelped.

Suddenly, the water began to swirl into a liquid tornado, pulling him up. He flailed his arms and kicked with every ounce of anger and frustration stored in his human-like body.

Breaking free from the water’s grip, a scream of joy escaped his lips. Years of being unable to touch the air were suddenly over. His chest heaved. His lungs expanded. His skin tingled to life.

He gazed up to the sky and soaked in the now un-muted colors of the trees. Green. So much lush, delightful, vivid green!

“You did it!” He frantically twisted his body, treading water. “Emma? Dammit, woman. Where the hell are you?” She certainly hadn’t left the cenote; the walls were too slick. But she was no longer bobbing along the surface. Where could she be?

Then the realization struck him. He glanced down into the dark water and cringed. “Son of a bitch!”

Despite the seventy years of constant pain from being imprisoned underwater, he sucked in a lung full of air and dove into the watery abyss. His fingers stretched and clawed, plowing through darkness. All light faded from view as he ran one hand along the jagged wall of the pool as a guide.

Hair. Guy felt something fibrous and stringy.

He took hold of the tangled mass until he managed to get a solid grip on her waist. Guy battled his way through the water, kicking hard to reach the light above. As his head broke through the surface a second time, Guy took his first glimpse of Emma. His heart nearly stopped. She was exactly as he’d imagined. Every lash. Every freckle. Even the tiny dip in the curve of her ear. She was…a goddess.

There will be time for admiring her later, he scolded himself.

He took hold of her wrist, and then gave a powerful kick, managing to catch the ledge of the pool with his fingertips. She felt like a heavy rag doll, completely lifeless. He gently slid her up over the edge and laid her down in the dirt. Her face, though cold and blue, was exquisite. He pressed his lips to hers (and tried not to think of how he wanted to kill the men who’d looked at them when he could not) then gave her a breath, then another. Her body still had life pulsing inside, but it was fading fast.

“Don’t go, Emma. Stay here!” he commanded, prying open her eyes with his fingers. “You can’t leave. Do you hear me, woman!”

He breathed into her again before turning her to the side. Using his two hands like a vice, he pushed the water from her lungs and then gave her one more breath before she coughed violently. She cracked opened her eyes.

Dark green—so lovely.

She stared directly into his eyes, and something inside him ignited, froze, stopped and started, all at once. He simultaneously felt rage for having been deprived of the vision of her his entire existence and gratitude for finally having her in his arms. It was all wrong. It was so right. This was not good.

Was Emma the woman from Cimil’s vision? Because she most certainly was the one from his, and he could easily see how such a beautiful, smart, feisty woman could “emasculate” him, as Cimil had put it.

Gods dammit. Yes, yes, throw in pining and groveling, too. I may never be able to let her go, now, he thought. Then, she will truly hate me.

Her long wet strands of copper curls clung to her face. He cleared them away and gathered her fragile body in his arms. She smiled peacefully, and the most luscious wave of joy washed over him at his realization. They’d done it. She would live, and he was free.

“I’m back,” he growled to the sky. “And there will be hell to pay for not coming to my aid. Do you hear me? Hell to pay!”

Chapter THIRTEEN

With his golden face beaming, the man smiled as he stroked my sopping wet hair and cradled me against his warm, smooth chest. “I love this dream,” I said with a breathy voice, then stretched my arms above my head, gazing happily into the most striking set of luminescent, turquoise green eyes I’d ever seen.

To boot, they belonged to a breathtaking, masculine face, a face one would expect to see on the cover of a magazine named something like, I’m Way Too Hot To Be Your Man, or In Your Dreams, Honey.

Oh, yeah. Without a doubt, I’d topped myself this time. Sculpted cheekbones, thick dark lashes, chiseled jaw, and lips so full they simply had to be meant for kissing or eating something really juicy. He was way hotter than the specimen of perfection from my last dream, and bonus, he didn’t have that scary vibe. I reached up and ran my fingertip along the ridge of his hard-lined warrior nose.

“Emma, what in the name of the gods’ creation are you doing?” he scorned. “We really don’t have time for your immature little fantasies. We’re in the middle of a crisis. Do you not remember?”

I blinked and slowly moved my eyes from side to side.

Jungle? I was in the jungle. And my clothes were wet. Come to think of it, for a dream, I didn’t feel so hot. My lungs burned, my body felt like it’d been chewed up, and my head was throbbing. So, aside from the perfect man with long, damp, wavy black hair holding me in his arms, none of this felt like a dream. It felt…

“Holy Mother!” I pushed myself away and rolled into the dirt, pointing in disbelief. “Wha—you—you—?”

“Ah…so eloquent as always, my sweet. It is astounding; you actually have a college degree, yet cannot find better words.” He pushed himself up off the ground.

As he rose, my heart stopped, started, then went into overdrive. His legs and spine straightened into a towering mass of unforgiving muscles. With shoulders like a lumberjack and thick, powerful thighs, I didn’t know if I wanted to run away or climb him like a tree. He was utterly enormous. Jolly Green Giant enormous. Except, obviously, not green. More golden brown. He was a gorgeous, towering mass of golden brown perfection.