Accidentally in Love with…a God?(Accidentally Yours #1)(5)
Author: Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

He shifted his weight to gaze in the opposite direction. Suddenly, the branch gave way. Tree limbs lashed at his flesh as he hurtled back toward the Earth.

Chapter FOUR

Present Day. New York City.

“Passport, my sweet?”

“Check.”

“Tickets, my sweet?”

“Check. And stop calling me ‘my sweet.’”

“Do you have a good map”—dramatic pause—“my dearest?”

I rolled my eyes. “I bought a guidebook online. It’s got—”

There was a knock at my bedroom door. It was my mom. Sadly, I lived at home again after being moved out of my apartment while in a coma. No one thought I was coming back. Ever. And after hearing I was going to die, my roommates and best friends, Anne, Nick, and Jess, couldn’t stand to live there. Too depressing, they said. They’d moved out right away.

“Be quiet,” I hissed at Guy. My mother couldn’t hear him. No one could, except me. But he had an uncanny knack for provoking a response, so I was constantly covering up my seemingly absurd comments.

“Make her go away. You still have to pack, and we must review the plan one last time.”

“I’m not leaving until morning. There’s plenty of time,” I whispered.

“But you must be prepared properly, Emma. We’re not going on a picnic.”

“Don’t you have a nap to take or something?”

“Only if you’re…” He lowered his voice, “coming.”

The sexual innuendo wasn’t missed. My core fluttered with little waves of warmth. I shook my head, trying to get a grip. I couldn’t let him affect me like that anymore. I had to stay in control.

“Right, big man. Like that’ll ever happen if you’re involved. I bet you’re some kind of cave dwelling, telepathic hobgoblin. I bet you’re so ugly, even your cooties close their eyes. I bet the only way you can get a woman is by clubbing her over the head.”

“Mmm…if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were issuing a challenge. And, you know, I cannot resist those; I’m far too competitive. What’s the wager?”

Oh, please. “Okay, I’ll bite. What do you want?”

“That, my dear, is easy. You will become a nun, never to date again.”

“Ha! Nice try. Not in a million years. In fact, as soon as you’re gone, I’m going on a slut-athon.” Not true, but I hoped he got the point: I hated him trying to control me. And since the accident, he seemed more…intense. More protective, more needy of my attention, and more flirtatious. He reminded me of a caged wolf. A horny caged wolf. Was it a defense mechanism? Was he as nervous as I was about meeting face to face?

“My sweet Emma, how you try my patience.”

“Eye for an eye, bub,” I said.

The knock at my door repeated. Christ! I’d forgotten my mom was there. That was the other problem with having Guy in my life. He always distracted me. People thought I was a space-case.

I picked up my cell from the nightstand. “Bye. I’ll call you later,” I said loudly, feigning to have just ended a call in case my mom had heard me talking. “Come in, Mom.”

The door chugged open as it collided with the heap of rejected clothes on the floor. Who knew packing to face my destiny would be so hard?

Her brown bob popped through the crack.

“Sorry, didn’t hear you. Was talking to Anne.”

“Emma. Just checking, did you change your mind about that ride to the airport?” she asked.

“Be confident Emma, she cannot sense your deception. The woman has been through enough already.”

Guy was right. My parents had been through a lot. First with my grandmother’s unsettling disappearance last year then with my near death. The last thing I wanted was to traumatize them further. And no, I didn’t like lying to her. But this was important. This was my life. I had to take this chance if I ever wanted to be free of Mr. Voice.

“No thanks, Mom. I knew you’d be working late tonight, so I’ve got a car picking me up,” I said. The flight was leaving at six A.M. so it was a good excuse.

“Well…Okay, if you want to do it that way,” she said.

“Hey, I’m coming back in a week.” I squeezed her hand.

The story I told my parents was simple. I had a little money saved and needed to get away. Me time. I told them I needed a break after everything that had happened, including recently graduating Summa Cum Laude from NYU with a BA in Marketing, minor in español—no easy task, but it’s amazing what people can do when they don’t have a real social life. Once I assured them I’d stay at the resort and only go out on guided tours, they’d eased up a bit on the worrying.

Now, if they had any clue I planned to land in the Cancun airport, rent a car, drive five hours toward the border of Belize, and set out to find a dilapidated ruin in the middle of the jungle, they’d handcuff me to my bed. In fact, that wasn’t such a bad idea. After hearing the plan from Guy, captivity sounded like the saner choice. According to him, he’d been following some “very bad people.” Somehow, they’d set a trap, and there he’d been ever since. Cursed.

“You mean, like, magic-cursed? They’re holding you with some voodoo spell?” I’d asked.

His only reply was that some things had to be seen to be believed.

No kidding.

I turned to my mom who had concern written all over her face. “I promise you, Mom, there’s absolutely nothing to worry about.”

***

“Finally, I thought she’d never leave” Guy grumbled after I had one final safe-travel talk with my mother.

I sat down on my bed and covered my face with both hands. Was this real? Was this finally going to happen? In twenty-four hours, I’d meet him and be free forever.

I felt the sharp pang of loss in my stomach. I mentally shooed the pang away.

“Emma? Why are you groaning? What’s the matter now?”

I didn’t want to talk about my irrational conflict. “What do you mean?”

“You’re sighing and making funny noises. I know something is wrong. And…why do you insist on calling me Guy? What happened to Mantastic? Which you say with blatant disdain and sarcasm. Or, your all-time favorite, A-hole?”

He was trying make me laugh, but I wasn’t in the mood. “You’re the one who keeps saying you’re ‘just a guy,’ so tell me your real name, and I’ll use it.”

“You can call me Hunk of Burning Love or Cupcake.”