Accidentally…Over? (Accidentally Yours #5)(62)
Author: Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

Sentin grunted in protest, but Brutus ignored him.

Ashli had just about had it. Really, what was with these guys? Why were immortal men such barbarians?

“May I cut in?”

“Me, too!”

Máax’s brothers, the drunk bartender and the one with the giant headdress, were standing there, salivating. That guy in the Maaskab outfit, Andrus, was back, too.

What in the world?

“Take a f**king number.” Brutus twirled her quickly and smiled.

Ashli stopped moving. “Brutus. What’s going on?”

“What?” He shrugged.

“Why is everyone treating me like the last scoop of ice cream?” She felt seriously freaked out now.

Brutus smiled. “Because there’s something about you, Ashli. Something wonderful.”

She stepped back. Okay. Strange. The pack of rabid men were right there again.

“What do you want?” Brutus growled.

“Her. We want her, so step aside.”

“Guys! Please. No more fighting. Just stop.”

Brutus’s lethal gaze softened. “She’s right. My apologies. Sentin, you should dance with her.”

“No. No. I am the one who should apologize; I was behaving rudely to all of you. Brutus, you should finish your dance with Ashli, then Andrus, then K’ak, and then Belch.”

“No,” objected Andrus. “I will go last. I insist. Besides, I really just wanted to ask for some advice. It can wait.”

The men began to argue once again about who should go last. What were these guys on?

Ashli felt herself being pulled away the moment that fists started flying.

“Máax?”

“Let us get you out of here.” Máax had taken off his gold paint already. How? Had he run through a car wash?

“What’s going on? Why are they fighting like that?”

“I have absolutely no idea,” he replied.

She followed his lead out to the parking lot. “Where are we going?”

“To a hotel for the evening. From there, I will make some calls and try to figure out the issue before I must turn myself in in the morning.”

A hotel? With him?

“Uh-uh. No way.” She pulled her hand away.

“I could take you back to Kinich’s home, but I suspect that they will be at your door within the hour.”

“Maybe I should go home to Mexico,” she said.

“If you wish. But not until morning.”

Stubborn goat.

“Fine, but you’re not staying with me in the room.”

“You won’t even know I’m there.”

Ugh.

Forty minutes later, they pulled into the luxury spa and resort in Sedona. Máax had never stayed there, but he’d asked Penelope, his sister in-law, for a recommendation. His plan was simple. He might not have an eternity to be with Ashli, but he’d settle for one night. One night of holding her. No, it would not be enough, but if that was all he could get, he’d take it.

Ashli shut off the engine. “That was fun. I’ve never driven a BMW.”

“Yes. Kinich has quite the collection of cars, but I selected this one for the tinted windows, given I drove it to the event myself.”

“I can see how that might come in handy when one is invisible,” she said.

“Or painted in gold.”

She snickered. Damn he loved her smile.

She ran her hands over the steering wheel. “So what’s the plan?”

“You check in. I will make some phone calls and figure this out. I only wish I had not committed to turn myself in tomorrow.”

She sighed. “How long will you be gone?”

“Forever. As I told you earlier.”

Her head snapped in his direction. “I thought you were kidding.”

“No,” he said.

Ashli’s beautiful, delicate face turned a pallid shade of mocha. “But what did you do?”

He didn’t answer immediately. “I do not wish to lie or conceal the truth, so I simply prefer to say that I did what I felt was right.”

“Are they really going to send you away forever?” Ashli appeared to be genuinely distraught, and he had to admit, it made him feel… loved.

“The laws are quite clear, and though a unanimous vote can modify the laws, I am certain my sister Fate will block such a move.”

“But why?”

“She is angry at us. It is a long story. One I do not care to recount.” Honestly, he wished he’d not sworn an oath to keep his sister’s secret. The temptation to throw her under the bus and save his own ass was far too great now. But he was determined not to be that sort of man. It was one thing to lie or break a promise to save another, but to save himself? That would make him a selfish, greedy bastard.

Ashli looked out through the windshield, her eyes tearing up. That was the one thing he’d hoped to avoid. In fact, he hadn’t thought about it, but what was to become of Ashli once his punishment was handed down? Her bond with him would prevent her from moving on.

Yes, I will ask my other sister to remove Ashli’s memories of me. She will have a chance to find some semblance of love. Although it would not come close to the love they could have shared.

As for Máax, he’d already decided that he didn’t want to forget Ashli. He would cherish his memories of her for eternity. He would never let her go, he would never move on. He simply didn’t want to.

“Will you be put to sleep?” she asked.

“No. I will be awake, but entombed and powerless. But this is not your concern.”

“Not my concern,” she repeated in a whisper and then pinched the bridge of her nose. “Máax, this is horrible. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Truthfully, it was not important. To me, anyway. I knew this was coming even before I met you. Then, I suppose, I was distracted by saving you and preventing the apocalypse,” he paused, “getting you to forgive me for lying.”

She sighed. “Are you sure? I mean, there has to be a way to change this.”

“You are not so anxious to rid yourself of me, after all?”

She shook her head. “I guess not. But—Christ, Máax. You should’ve told me.”

“Perhaps. But what would it have changed?”

She shrugged. “How can you be so calm?”

“Ashli, have you not learned by now that there are no guarantees? We have this moment, and this moment alone. And in this moment, I am here with the woman I love. Tomorrow brings another battle.”