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.”
One he knew he’d lose.
He exited the vehicle and opened the driver’s side door for Ashli. “Are you all right?”
“No. Not really.” She slid from the car, long legs first. He loved the way she looked in her tiny little white toga dress. She was the most beautiful woman in the world. Every damned silky tanned inch of her. Of course the men would want to fight over her. Although that bit back at the party was rather extreme. He had no clue what was going on.
He stepped to the side and closed the door, but instead of walking toward the reception area, she leaned against the car and folded her arms. “This plan is never going to work.”
“Of course it will; I have made a reservation under your name. I will follow you to the room.”
“No. I mean, you and me sharing a room.
“Why is that?” he asked.
“Because the only thing I can think about is kissing you. While naked.”
“I see you still wear the necklace I gave you, so I think that might be arranged.”
Ashli shook her head and sighed. Well, of course he would answer that way. Men. But didn’t he get it? She didn’t want to want him. Especially not now. He’d be gone from her life forever, and she seriously doubted she’d ever get over the loss. If she slept with him, it would make it impossible to forget him. Impossible.
You’re already in knee-deep. Sleeping with him won’t make any difference.
It won’t help.
The irony was that as wounded as she felt about what he’d done, she was beginning to see the logic—he had saved her. And now, she understood there was a sacrifice on his part to do so. He’d lied, and it chafed him to do it.
Why did everything need to be so complicated? And heartbreaking? “Are you sure? Absolutely sure they won’t let you go?”
“Quite,” he replied.
Ohmygods, this is awful. Awful. How can this be happening?
“Do you really love me?” she asked.
“Quite.”
Gods, she loved him, too. And now she was going to lose him? Forever? “Then I want one night with you.”
She found herself pushed against the side of the black sedan in the dark parking lot. His body was all heat and hardness.
“Are you sure?” he whispered in her ear.
She place
d her palms on his smooth, muscular chest. “Yes.”
His lips covered hers, and she felt the prickly roughness of his stubble against her mouth, contrasted by the silkiness of his lips and tongue. He took his time kissing the corners of her mouth, softly biting her lower lip, sliding his tongue over hers. But that wouldn’t do at all. What she really wanted was hot and hard and explosive.
Knowing he wore not a stitch, she slid her hands down his chest, savoring the rigid currents of his abdomen, until she reached her prize. He was rock hard. She leaned her body into him, massaging gently. He released an exquisitely male groan and then pressed her more firmly against the car, using his entire body to hold her in place. His sultry kiss turned into feverish lust. His breath came hard and heated from his mouth, and his warm hands slid under her dress, gripping her hips.
“Gods, Ashli, what you do to me.”
No. What he did to her! She was about to show him.
She moved her arms up and around his neck, wanting to feel her breasts against his chest. She wanted to feel everything against him. He grabbed her legs and slid them around his waist. She felt his erection prodding her through the thin fabric of her panties. She was already so close, she could barely stand it.
“What the hell?” a strange voice rang out through the lot behind her.
“Shit.” She gasped. It was the security guard.
Máax immediately dropped her legs.
“Lady, I don’t know what the hell you were doing there—goddamned strangest thing I’ve ever seen—but take it somewhere else.” The security guard walked around the car to her side.
Ashli heard Máax chuckle lightly in her ear.
Oh, God, this had to be the single most embarrassing moment of her life. Some guy spotted her with her dress hiked up, making out with an invisible man.
“It’s a new kind of yoga. The… I love myself yoga.” She wrapped her arms around herself and pretended to be kissing the air in front of her.
Again, Máax chuckled, but she didn’t dare smack him.
“Sure, lady, whatever.” The guard waited.
She smiled awkwardly and made her way inside to the reception area and registered. Apparently, Máax had reserved the honeymoon suite.
The moment she had her key in hand, she headed straight for the room. She knew Máax followed closely; his vibe was in the air, buzzing all around her. She slid the keycard into the lock and popped open the door. Máax pushed her inside and slammed the door shut.
She felt his hot mouth over hers and his hands quickly pulling up her dress.
He pushed her against the wall with his body, and in the dark, her mind filled in every blank: how he looked, the expression on his face, the hard lust in his eyes. It was as if she could see him through her senses. He cupped her breasts through her white lace strapless bra and massaged forcefully, grinding himself against her. No. She couldn’t wait one second longer. She pushed him back just slightly, unhooked her bra, and kicked off her heels.
Máax quickly slid down her panties and had her up against the wall again. She wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist.
“Are you ready?” he asked, his voice gruff.
She’d never been so ready. “Yes. Yes. Ohmygod, yes.”
He positioned himself at her entrance and thrust forward with one sharp movement, sliding deep inside her. His groan matched her own. His size and length created an erotic mixture of friction and pressure. She could feel every inch of him inside, pulsing and throbbing.
“Ohmygod, you feel incredible,” she panted.
He pulled out and thrust his hips sharply forward again, repeating with a savagely brisk rhythm and equally savage grunts. His mouth ravaged her lips and neck and the tops of her breasts, moving at a frantic pace.
“I cannot hold on much longer.” His voice was gravelly and sensual.
She had to admit the thought of him coming put her one thrust from tumbling over the edge. She gripped his shoulders firmly and moved her body against his, meeting him thrust for thrust.
Then she felt it happen, that coiling tension concentrated into one single point at her core. Before she could stop, it exploded, releasing crushing waves of wicked, erotic pulses. He leaned forward, pushing his thickset length into her, as deep as her body would allow, triggering another turbulent explosion. He released a loud, throaty groan, his entire body rock solid for several moments while he spilled inside her.
Without releasing her or pulling out, he carried her to the bed and lay her down beneath him. He began pumping himself, sliding with a leisurely rhythm, between her thighs. He showed absolutely no signs of flagging.
“Gods, Ashli, you are so beautiful, so sexy.”
She covered his mouth with hers. No. She didn’t want to talk. Then she might have to face the fact that being with him this moment was possibly the most rapturous, blissful moment of her life. All mixed with the kind of profound emotional connection only heard of in fairy tales.
Oh, crap. I really, really love him.
Dammit!
She let out slow breath and threaded her fingers into his hair. There will be time for thinking later, you idiot. Right now, just be with him.
She rolled him over and straddled him. The only thing missing from this moment was being able to look into his eyes. If only she could see him for real.
“I bet you’re the most beautiful man on the planet,” she said appreciatively. She felt his hands on her breasts and his hips prompting her to move faster.
“Not nearly as beautiful as you are, and tonight, I intend to worship every single inch over and over again.”
“I hope I can keep up.” She grinned.
He flipped her onto her back again and slid inside her. “I’ve never been with another woman, but the seventy-thousand-year wait for you was worth every moment of torture, Ashli. You’ve already exceeded every expectation.”
Seventy thousand years? For her?
He kissed her hard and pushed deep inside, igniting her once again.
The next morning, Máax looked at Ashli’s beautiful naked form snuggled next to him. He could not believe how perfect they were together. The way their bodies moved in unison, the way her soft sighs signaled what she liked and when she was ready for more. The way her soft hands pressed into his shoulders or ass when she wanted it hard. She probably had not realized yet that her immortal body was able to do things a human shell could not—go all night with a god, for example. They made love fifteen times, eighteen if he counted bringing her to orgasm with his tongue. Twenty if he counted the two times they’d showered and she had slid him between her soft, juicy lips, sucking him until his eyes literally rolled.
But now that he’d had this taste of her, of her love for him, he knew there was no way he’d settle for letting her go. He could not face the thought of an eternity without her, she without him. There had to be a way.
You know what you must do, then.
Yes. He could make things right for him and Ashli. Maybe. But it meant exposing the secret he’d sworn to keep. Yes, breaking his promise, betraying his sister would make him a liar for a second time in his existence. But so be it. This was no longer about saving his own ass; it was about saving Ashli from immeasurable heartbreak, too. It took last night to make him realize the truth.
He chuckled softly to himself and beamed down at her. And the human teaches the old god a new trick.
He wrote her a quick note and deposited it on the pillow next to her. “I will make this right, my love. I promise.” He kissed her on the lips and savored their warmth.
“I love you, Máax,” Ashli mumbled and then rolled over.
He smiled. “And I love you.”
Yes, perhaps the end of the world had been avoided, but things were about to get ugly. He wasn’t going down without a fight.
Ashli violently tossed and turned in her sleep. She dreamed of Máax falling into a dark pool of water. Over and over, he screamed, begging for her to save him. She grabbed at
piles of ropes, but they were too short or too weak to hold any weight. “Ashli! Ashli! Help me!” he repeatedly yelled.
“No!” Ashli opened her eyes and sat up in the empty, cold bed.
“Máax?” The air in the room lacked his delicious scent and the strange energy that circulated about when he was near.
She slid from the sheets and checked the enormous bathroom—a complete mess from their crazy, wild sex. They’d had fun on the counter, in the shower, in the bath, and on every other surface available to them. It had been a night like no other because Máax had ignited something powerful inside her. A renewed sense of passion for life, something she’d never dreamed possible.
“Máax?” Perhaps he’d gone out for coffee and pastries. She’d bet this place had a really nice café because there was no possible way he’d leave without saying good-bye. Not after last night. Not after they’d finally clicked in a way that left her breathless merely thinking about it. Not after they’d somehow managed to channel all of that emotional intensity between them into the most rapturous, sinful lovemaking that it could only be described as a union of two souls. Transformational.
In fact, she’d already made up her mind to fight for him. Yes. She’d go see that crazy sister of his, Cimil. There had to be a price for this freedom. In her bones, she knew a solution existed, and she wasn’t going to let him go down without a fight.
“Máax?”
She sat down on the bed, a cold thought coating her like a sheet of ice. What if he hadn’t gone out for coffee? What if he’d already left to turn himself in without saying good-bye?
Had last night simply been a desperate man’s attempt to sow his divine oats?
She threw on her clothes, grabbed her purse and heels, and headed out to the parking lot.
“No. Please… no.” The car was gone. He’d left without saying a word and had even taken the car.
How could I have been so stupid?
Twenty
One day later
Why won’t they leave me alone? Ashli covered her head with a pillow to block out the voices outside her door, but it did very little. They were so damned loud.