Accidentally in Love with…a God?(Accidentally Yours #1)(8)
Author: Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

Petén scrambled away and returned with a bowl. “Try this medicine.”

The sweetness ignited a blur of strange images: powdered-sugar dusted cookies, miniature chocolate cakes, and a dozen others. He could see himself standing in an enormous white kitchen, wearing an apron, rolling dough on a board, and singing to Madam Butterfly that played in the background. A redheaded woman with deep green eyes crept up behind him and slipped her slender, pale arms around his waist, planting a tender kiss on his shoulder blade. Who was she? The woman from Cimil’s vision?

His heart filled with warmth as he emptied the bowl and the pain dissipated. “Delicious, may I have more?” Such an odd sensation was running through him. He wanted to see her again. No. He needed to see her again. The loss of the vision ignited an instant hollowness in his chest.

Petén nodded again. “I will return shortly.”

Votan lay staring at the thatched roof above, feeling the tingling of his body as it repaired itself, the heat of the tropical air soothing his skin. His mind raced. He had the urge to return to Cimil immediately and beg for more information about the female. But he wasn’t going anywhere until he’d dealt with the priests he was after. And now, the situation had just become infinitely more complicated; the man Petén described was, without a doubt, one of Votan’s brothers.

Chapter SIX

Present Day. New York.

The hair on the back of my neck stiffened like quills. I was being watched. Should I run? What if the person followed me? No, I couldn’t leave. I had a plane to catch. A damned important plane.

“Guy? You there? Someone’s watching me.”

Silence.

“Guy? Where the hell are you?”

No answer. Crap.

A minute earlier, I’d just been enjoying leisurely sips of my icy rum and Coke while people-watching—my all-time favorite sport—from a small wobbly table in the airport bar with a view of the terminal. Something about drinking at five in the morning felt trashy, but the flashing neon beer signs and small army of flip-flop-clad fellow rule breakers, kicking off their vacations, somehow made it acceptable. I swiveled in my chair, searching for the discomforting vibe. My nerve endings were tingling.

There, in the corner, I noticed an enormous man with thick waves of long black hair, emerging from the shadows. Or, at least, I thought he would emerge. Instead, the shadows hugged his body like a heavy cloak as he approached. His eyes, the color of a tropical ocean, suddenly pierced the darkness. Before I could run, we were toe to toe, but he wasn’t there to dance or buy me another drink.

“I’ve been looking for you everywhere,” he said in a smooth, deep voice.

“You have?” I said, involuntarily rising toward him. I inhaled deeply. He smelled like black licorice.

He reached out his hand and cupped my cheek. His touch was electrifying. “You know you belong to me, don’t you.”

My alarm clock shrieked, and I catapulted from bed, drenched in sweat. I ran my hands through my sopping hair. “Jesus H. Christ. What was that?”

“Another hot dream about me, my sweet?” Guy said in a heart-stopping lathery voice.

It was true; I dreamed about him way too much, but this was different. “My only dreams of you involve kicking your man-nuggets,” I lied. “And, by the way, you usually look like that troll from Lord of the Rings. I’m sure it’s a premonition.”

“In about twelve hours, you are going to be very disappointed. I hear a nunnery in your future.”

“I never agreed to your wager. Remember? Besides, what’s with you and this nun thing? Do you have some weird fetish? Is that normal for decrepit cave-dwelling creatures?”

Guy laughed and it instantly ignited every cell in my body. His laugh was the kind that could melt a polar icecap. It was powerful, yet inviting. It was infectious to the nth degree. I could hear it every day for the rest of my life, and it still wouldn’t be enough.

The man from my dream suddenly flashed in my mind.

I sat down on the edge of the bed and rubbed my face. Oh, god. Maybe it was a premonition. I’d never had one, but that didn’t rule out the possibility. Not only had the man been powerful and irresistibly seductive, even without a face, but he was definitely dangerous.

“Guy, your eyes wouldn’t happen to be turquoise, would they?”

Several moments passed before he finally answered. “Why do you ask?” his tone irritated.

“Answer me.” I grabbed my floral, terrycloth robe from the hook behind the door.

“You first.”

I suddenly felt my stomach lose altitude. Why was he pushing back? If he didn’t have turquoise eyes, then the question was innocuous. “Don’t. No games. Not now.”

“They are not turquoise. Now tell me, why you ask?”

Was he lying? I didn’t feel the conviction in his tone like I normally did when he spoke. Would it really change anything if he was? I decided it wouldn’t. I was committed to seeing this all the way through. Even if it killed me. “No reason. The troll in my nightmare had turquoise eyes,” I lied.

He hissed with frustration. “Go get ready. You’re wasting time.”

***

Predictably, General Temper-Tantrum wasn’t feeling quite so calm about the situation, which meant it really was going to be dangerous. It seemed the closer we got to the airport, the worse his foul language became. He was giving me a massive headache.

Once finally airborne, I slipped the hood of my pink sweatshirt over my hair and turned my head nonchalantly away from the passenger to my side toward the window to my left. “Would you please chill out?” I snapped quietly.

“Chill out? I am perfectly calm!”

I wanted to pull out my hair. “Please?” I begged.

He sighed. “I’m sorry. Emma? Did I thank you?”

“About ten times. But if you really want to thank me, how about some of those answers you promised.”

“Not yet.”

“Why not? We had a deal, remember?”

He growled. “What do you need to know, my sweet?”

“What are you?

“Any question, but that.”

I huffed in protest. “Fine. Who are you?”

“And that.”

Before I protested again, he threw me a bone. “Do you recall how upset I became when your grandmother disappeared?”

How could I forget? I remembered every detail from that day. It was when my life went from frustrating and weird to downright miserable. My grandmother was the heart of our family. She was…amazing. And I don’t mean it in a “never forgets my birthday” or “or bakes the best cookies” kind of way—although those both applied—but people were drawn to her. They adored her. Maybe it was her wide green eyes or her inviting smile, but I think there was something else. She radiated life and people flocked to her like moths to a flame. And when she disappeared, it tore me apart. My entire family spent months looking for her, even hiring private detectives, but she was gone. Just…gone. The authorities—idiots—officially concluded she ran away. Her passport was missing, and she’d personally cleaned out her bank account. The video at the bank confirmed it. But I don’t think any of us, especially my mom, could accept that she’d leave us like that. I knew in my bones she was dead because only death would keep her away.