Accidentally...Over?(46)

"Joking about what?" Máax asked.

"That your sister, the Goddess of Forgetfulness, is DJing?"

"What are you talking about?"

Ashli laughed. "I get it. She's the one who makes everyone forget? You're funny."

"I am?"

"You are joking, right?"

"About what?" Máax looked down at her with his sunglasses-covered eyes.

"About your sister, the Goddess of Forgetfulness." Máax still looked  confused. "Oh, never mind." Suddenly, Ashli forgot what she was talking  about and lapsed into a state of bliss. Touching Máax felt so damned  good. Seeing him was even better.

"So, my dear Ashli, now that all is set right in the world. What do you plan to do with the rest of your life?"

Damned good question.

"I'm not really sure," she said. "Guess I haven't had a lot of time to  think it through." Before they had been kidnapped by vampires from her  new home in Tulum, she'd been hoping to start a new life with Máax.  She'd been hoping they might live happily ever after, free from the  past.                       
       
           



       

Uh. Yay. Good luck with that. You'll be having nightmares for the next  century. Especially about that horrible monster. She still couldn't  believe that had happened. Why had he chosen her out of everyone there?  How had she managed to fend him off?

Put it on the list of disturbing things to figure out.

"You'll have all the time in the world now. Not to mention, you have  plenty of people here to guide you in the ways of immortality."

Immortal. Immortal. Immortaaaal. Nope. "I guess, but I can't stay here, sponging off your brother."

Máax chuckled. "Sponging? Is that what you call being at my brother's home?"

"I guess."

"You're a guest, Ashli. You can stay as long as you like. Kinich wants  for nothing. Like all gods, he has enough money to buy a small country,  perhaps two. So do you, for that matter."

Ashli knew her mouth hung open like a complete fool. "I'm not some charity case, Máax. You can't give me money."

Again he laughed. "Give? Give you money? I promise you, my dear Ashli,  that the money in your name has nothing to do with me, barring the fact  that I asked our best Uchben investor to manage your account. And trust  me when I tell you that he charges a pretty penny. You've been gifted  nothing from me."

Ashli nodded, trying to digest. "Exactly how rich am I?"

"Not as wealthy as I; however, I've about a seventy-thousand-year head start."

"You mean, what, like a million dollars?"

He laughed toward the ceiling. "Oh, my dear Ashli, you are so charming."

She slapped him on the shoulder. "Don't make fun of me!"

"I'm not making fun; I am enjoying your innocence, your beautiful sweet, naivety."

Ashli stopped moving. "Máax?"

"What?" He peered down, that charming smile now clearly on display. So, so charming. It boggled the mind.

"Are you capable of answering any question without behaving like a smug dork?"

"Dork?" He laughed.

"Yes …  dork."

He rubbed his stubbled chin. "I do believe that is the first time I've  been called such a name. I find it moderately offensive, but shall let  it slide given you are my mate, and I love you more than life itself."

Love. He'd said he loved her more than life itself.

His words hit her panic button. "Don't, Máax." She jerked herself from his warm, comforting grip.

Máax reached for her and pulled her back. "Don't what?" he whispered in her ear. "Don't love you?"

Yes. No. Dammit. Maybe. "You have no right-"

"I have every right. You were born to be mine. And you wish to deny me the right to say how I feel, to speak the truth?"

"You want to talk about the truth, Máax? Do you?" she hissed. "I'm too afraid to be with you. I'm afraid you'll hurt me."

"I know," Máax replied.

"You know?"

He nodded. "Remember? I can feel your emotions. We are bonded. Which is  probably the reason we become so volatile when together. But yes, I feel  your fear of me. Of everything. What I cannot determine is how to  rescue you from it."

"Rescue me? Is that what you really think I need from you?" She couldn't believe him.

"Of course. I am a-"

"May I cut in?"

Both she and Máax stopped dancing and directed their attention to the  man standing before them. Brutus. He now wore a tux, and with his  cropped dark hair and husky, muscular build, he looked like the kind of  man a woman would appreciate for simply making an effort, although the  tux was not in his comfort zone.

"Sure, Brutus, I'd love to."

Máax growled.

"Don't." She pinched his arm.

"Did you just pinch me?" Máax scowled.

"Yes. Now back off."

A moment of brisk silence passed before Máax dipped his head. "As you  wish. I'll be in the men's room, removing my paint. It is making my skin  itch."

"Fine." The outrage! Rescue me? Fix me? Save me! How about respect me. Treat me as an equal?                       
       
           



       

Máax stepped away and Brutus stepped in.

She pasted on a smile and leaned forward. "You do know he's going to kill you for doing that, don't you?"

Brutus wiggled his brows. "It's worth it. Besides, you looked like you were about to detonate. Thought you might need a moment."

Was she that transparent? "Thanks."

For the next few minutes, Ashli danced with Brutus and focused on  calming down. That damned volatility again. Máax created a chemical  reaction in her brain. Any fear or negative emotions seemed to magnify.

The song was almost over when someone tapped her on the shoulder. "May I  cut in?" Sentin stared down at her as if she were a yummy human treat.

Yikes. "Ummm, I guess?"

"One dance, asshole. After that she's mine for the next two songs," Brutus barked.

Sentin laughed, but not in a happy way. "We'll see."

Ashli took Sentin's hand, feeling a bit awkward. The rudeness between these men was a bit much.

He shuffled her away from a glaring Brutus who now stood at the edge of the parquet dance floor.

"I know I'm new to all this," she said, "but are all men so … "

"Manly?" He winked. "No. Just me. Especially in bed."

Okay. She mentally scratched her head during the remainder of the song.  By the last note, there was Brutus pulling her away. "My turn."

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 fucking 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."