Accidentally in Love with…a God?(Accidentally Yours #1)(28)
Author: Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

Suddenly, the man grabbed me and threw me to the bed, pinning me under him. “Promise, or I’ll have them kill you on the spot.” His voice was like a low vibration ricocheting inside my head, leaving behind painful shards.

I squirmed beneath him. “I don’t know what kind of sick game this is, but if you’re real, then you should know I don’t respond well to bullies.”

He pushed his upper body up, pinning me with his bare hips. “I don’t respond well to humans who don’t do as they’re told, but keep wiggling. I like it.” His c**k began to harden, and I realized only my towel stood between us.

My panic mode went into overdrive. I needed to buy time so I could wake up. I needed to divert his attention away from any possible thoughts of the unthinkable. This was not going to happen. No way. Now how. Not even in a dream.

I relaxed my body and looked him in the eyes. “Is it true?”

“What?”

“That men who force women to have sex are also into animals too? I read it in an article. Goats, sheep, you know. Should I baaah for you so that you feel more at home? Baaahh.”

Okay, that was a really weird thing to say. But it was all I could come up with, and the startled, disgusted look on his face said it all. I’d completely grossed him out.

His expression quickly shifted to anger, and then he backhanded me.

Dream or no dream, it stung like hell. Blind, stupid rage burst from inside me. “Fuck you.” I tried to position my knee to kick him but was immobilized by his weight. “Tommaso! Tommaso!” I screamed. Maybe, by some miracle of God, I’d scream in real life.

“Shut up!” He gave me another brutal slap across my face; blood gushed from my nose. “If you run, I’ll find you and kill you!” he screamed in my ear and began cutting off the air from my lungs with his powerful hands.

“I won’t run,” I croaked.

“Good girl,” he said, then released me.

I curled into a ball and cupped my nose.

“Emma, what the hell?! Are you okay?” Tommaso stood above me, a look of horror strewn across his face.

I took a deep breath, relieved to feel the air returning to my lungs. I ran my fingers over my nose and thankfully found it intact, but the painful residue of his strike lingered.

Hands down, that was the most god-awful nightmare I’d ever had. “Just a bad dream.” Hiccup!

“You sounded like someone was strangling you.” Tommaso sat at my side, his hands leapfrogging over the various parts of my body inspecting for damage. Thankfully, I wore pajamas.

I sat up and buried my head in the oasis of his broad chest.

Reluctant at first, I felt him slip his arms around me and tighten. “What happened, Emma?”

I hiccuped for several moments while trying to wrangle a coherent thought. “I can’t explain it.”

“Can’t? Or won’t?” He stroked the back of my head, following the length of my curls.

“Both. But, please, don’t go. And don’t let me go back to sleep.”

***

When I opened my eyes, it was late morning, and I found myself alone. Tommaso had not only left me, but he’d let me go back to sleep. Figured. Why should I expect he’d do me any favors?

I looked over at the bathroom door, almost too afraid to enter. What if I was dreaming again and that monster was in there? And where was Guy? He’d said he’d never let anything bad happen, yet here I was. A mess. Afraid. Being held against my will. Worst of all, he didn’t care about me enough to even send a letter, or call. Nothing. He just dumped me off in this place. He didn’t care about me. Never did. And it hurt. It was a brutal wake-up call. I had to fend for myself now.

I cautiously tiptoed to the bathroom and flicked on a light, letting out a sigh of relief to see the room empty. I looked in the mirror. There were no marks of any kind, but my mind still felt the pain. My neck and nose were tender and sore, like I had invisible bruises.

I ran my hands over my face and then studied red veins in my bloodshot eyes. A tiny sparkle around my neck caught my eye. It was an intricate silver chain with a black stone amulet the size of a nickel. I stared at it for several moments.

“It’s supposed to help with the nightmares,” said a voice.

Tommaso was standing in the doorway wearing black jeans and t-shirt that stretched snugly across his chest and the swells of bicep. If that fabric could talk, it would say, “Lucky me.” He wasn’t the solid six-foot-nine mass of fiercely intimidating muscles like Guy, but he was a lean, well-built man. The kind any woman could appreciate. Except for me, who was too busy hating men.

“I brought you breakfast.” He held up a paper bag and gave it a shake. “Fresh bagel and cream cheese.”

I didn’t know what to say. He was actually letting his guard down, and I was feeling way too fried to resist any act of kindness, even from my captor’s minion.

“Thank you,” I mumbled.

“I thought it would be a nice day for a walk. Why don’t you eat, take a shower, and I’ll be back for you. Just knock on the door when you’re ready.”

“You’re going to let me out of this room?” My mind started thinking about plans for escape.

“Don’t get any ideas. This entire estate is gated with a hundred motion detectors and a small army of guards.”

Oh, shoot. Maybe I could sneak a phone call in then.

“And the only outside lines are safe behind lock and key,” he added.

What. Was he a mind reader? “I’m not planning anything, I’m just happy to get out of this room,” I lied.

He raised one brow, clearly not believing me. Smart man. “Tommaso?”

“Question time?”

“How did you guess? What exactly are you?”

“Are you asking if I’m human?”

I nodded yes.

“I am,” he replied.

“But you know Guy isn’t, and that doesn’t concern you?”

“No.”

“Are there more like him?”

“Yes,” he answered.

“Is his kind dangerous?”

“Lethal.”

“Oh.” How did I figure he’d say that.

“But,” he added, “not lethal for you unless you give him a reason.”

“You mean lethal but with a conscience?” I could almost grasp that concept—I’d seen Lord of the Rings five times. Viggo…yummy.

Tommaso nodded. “Something like that.”