Accidentally...Over?(28)

Really? Really? Did he just say "magical tablet"? Maybe he parked it next to his sister's magical unicorn.

Well, consider yourself lucky. At least he's not whipping out the DeLorean and asking you to hold a lightning rod.

"Sure," she replied, "weady as I'll evew be." Damn, her tooth hurt. She  hoped there was a good dentist in town twenty years into the future.

"Excellent. I am taking you straight to our cenote about two hundred kilometers from here; I need to make a quick stop."

Whoa. "What? I thought we were staying hew." A few decades into the future, yes, but here. Here was important.

"I don't have time to explain; however, I promise we will return to your home after I take care of something."

Her hands trembled. "Máax, I'm not weally weady for all of this. It's too much. Can we just take it one step at a time?"

He grumbled something unintelligible under his breath. Probably more of  that annoying Latin. "No. I am sorry, Ashli. Normally, I would default  to being a gentleman-Okay, perhaps not-I would probably insist. As I am  about to do now."

"Why?" she asked.

"Because there is something important I must do," he said in a soft,  reassuring voice, then gently brushed her cheek. "There is nothing to  fear. I promise."                       
       
           



       

Well, if he said so. Right? After all, the guy was the God of Truth. If he said, "Nothing to fear," then he meant it.

But then why did her stomach signal otherwise?

"Time to go." Máax firmly gripped her hand, sending a shock wave of  tingles charging through her body. Still, her cold feet seemed unable to  move. Before she mustered a protest, the sand beneath her feet began to  vibrate and hiss. A dark manhole-sized fissure opened in front of them.  She tipped her body forward and peered inside the vertical wind tunnel.  It swirled with bits of debris and sand on the surface, but there was  no bottom, nothing inside. Just darkness.

Knees shaking, she stumbled back a step. "Maybe this isn't such a goow ideaw."

"I'm sorry, my dear Ashli, but there is no time for further deliberation."

She felt a hard tug on her arm, and then her body fell forward. She  yelped when the force of the opening grabbed hold and sucked her in.

"Waaaiiiit." A flash of light momentarily blinded her. She now stood in  the jungle at the edge of a dark green pool of water. Speckles of  sunlight filtered through the treetops, and a multitude of unseen birds  chirped loudly all around her. There had to be hundreds from the sound  of it.

"Holy shit." She spun on her heel. "Was that it?"

"Yes. That was it," said the deep, sexy male voice at her side. She felt  his rough hands slide down her arms. "However, this next part of the  journey will not be so pleasant. Hold your breath." Máax scooped her up  in his arms.

"What the hell? Máax!"

"Sorry, love, but it must be done." He hurtled them both toward the dark, murky water.



Lying on a warm, fluffy bed, Ashli awoke in a large, sunny bedroom. She  held her breath listening for anything to orient her, but her thumping  heart sounded like a loud drum inside her head. An odd, uncomfortable  feeling covered her body, as if her limbs had gone to sleep and were  just now coming out of that pins-and-needles phase.

Slowly, her eyes swept the room. Not one item looked familiar. A bright  red painting of some pre-Hispanic dog hung on the wall next to a large  flat thing. A television? The furniture-nightstand, table and chairs in  the corner, and the dresser-was that rustic Mexican style she liked, but  also unfamiliar.

She looked down the length of her body, relieved to see she wore her  favorite white cotton summer dress. Something familiar! But there was  also a necklace with a black shiny stone hanging around her neck.

She carefully sat up, wondering if she'd suffered another head injury.  She wiggled her toes and wobbled her head between her shoulders. Nope.  Everything felt okay.

Her eyes returned to canvassing the room, immediately settling on a  picturesque set of doors that led to a balcony overlooking the ocean. It  looked like a perfect day outside. Was she at an oceanside spa? The  giant bouquet of fresh lavender sitting on the table sure made it smell  like it. So how had she gotten here? Where exactly was "here"?

She moved to slip off the bed but was abruptly pulled back. "Ah, you are awake."

She yelped. "Máax? You scared the hell out of me." She looked toward the  direction of his voice and noticed the deep indentation of his body  right next to her on the bed.

His familiar, electrifying touch slid across her midriff and pulled her  the rest of the way down. "My apologies." His lips brushed against her  cheek and left a trail of salacious tingles on her skin. "How do you  feel?"

She felt …  She felt …  great, actually. Like she'd had a really long nap  after a run on the beach. And lying next to Máax, who caressed her with  the entire length of his body, an undoubtedly naked body, had an instant  effect. One that fired up the old girlie parts.

Vrroom?

"Relaxed. Except where are we?" She couldn't remember-well, anything really.

"This is your home."

Her home? She propped herself up by the elbows. "This doesn't look like it."

"Ah yes. Well, apparently your little beach house was wiped out ten  years ago in a hurricane. It was rebuilt. This house was made with  reinforced steel beams running thirty feet into the ground. You also  bought the land to both sides permitting us to build something  infinitely grander."                       
       
           



       

Her home was gone? She felt mortified. She'd loved that home. "I lost my house? And I bought land?"

"Well, your Uchben-managed trust purchased it, but yes. And yes, your  home is gone. I am sorry. But such is nature. A cruel bitch," he said  casually, as if she'd lost her favorite pair of socks.

But this wasn't casual. It was …

Devastating.

"Are you all right, Ashli?" Máax's hand brushed her cheek.

She nodded and sat up again. "Yeah. It's just-wow. It's really gone?"

"We saved your belongings-some, anyway. They've been put into storage further inland, where they'll be safe."

"How do you know all this?" she asked.

"You've been asleep for about a day. The Uchben, including Brutus, have already been here. They debriefed me on everything."

"Brutus? He stayed here the entire time I was away? Shouldn't he be retired by now?"

Máax chuckled. "I may have forgotten to mention that Brutus is one of  our elite guards and therefore immortal. But no, he oversees things for  us and has had his hands quite full these past years."

"Oh." How strange. But of course, why wouldn't Brutus be immortal? He  worked for gods and surely that meant many dangerous assignments; they  couldn't be worried about him dying all the time. Made sense. On the  other hand, living forever sounded-well, like forever. I think I'd go  crazy. Especially considering the plethora of strangeness that  accompanied her life. An eternity of this weirdness might be too much.

"So. You're sure I'm okay?" Why couldn't she remember what happened?  Everything was a giant blur after she'd gone into that portal.

"You are perfect," he replied. "Never better. It was only your home that had a little trouble."

"Oh." She needed a moment to digest. For some reason, she thought  everything in the future would be exactly the same, just maybe more  modern. Twenty years wasn't that much time. Was it?

"Does your new home not please you? Is it not beautiful?" Máax asked.

What could she say? If the rest of the home was as nice as the bedroom,  she knew it was gorgeous. The only issue was that it wasn't her home.  And that people in these parts might confuse her for a telenovela star  or a drug lord. Lavish was an overstatement.

Well, she told herself, you're alive; that's what matters. And she was with Máax.

"You didn't have to do all this," she said gratefully.

"Of course I did. I want you to be comfortable here."

His lips skimmed hers. Their warmth and inexplicable familiarly melted  away the sadness and sense of loss. It was amazing how Máax could do  that-heat her up, make her toes tingle, turn her into a raving sex loon  with one simple touch. Squaaaawk!

A blistering urge to have her hot, lusty way with the god sideswiped  her. She wanted to seek comfort in that potent male body-yes, yes,  invisible, but she knew exactly what was there-and lose herself in the  powerful emotions he triggered. She didn't care that it might not lead  anywhere. Like the last time they'd gone at it like frisky little  chipmunks in her kitchen, her entire body craved him.