IMMORTAL MATCHMAKERS, INC. (16 page)

“Yes. The creature who hunts her. No.”

Going to kill her. Really, really going to kill her
. “Cimil, what is the creature?”

“I just told you; I don’t know. I see no creature hunting her.”

“So if you cannot see it, does that mean it’s using Maaskab-like tricks?” The Maaskab concealed themselves from the gods for centuries by slathering their bodies in black jade paste. Black jade was also the same material used to blunt a deity’s power. “In fact, could this creature be an actual Maaskab?”

“Hmmm…” Cimil said. “It’s a possibility. And it would explain why my goddess radar isn’t picking anything up.”

“I thought you killed them all,” he said.

“Oh, no. We left a few alive. One never knows when you’ll need an evil Mayan priest adept at the arts of manipulating dark energy, creating tablets and spells used for time travel, and obsessed with enslaving humankind for ritual blood sacrifice. Yanno what I mean?”

“No. Not really.”

“In fact, now that you mention it, I do believe we had a Maaskab fill out an online profile.”

“What? Are you fucking with me, Cimil?”

“Hold on.” He heard Cimil clacking away on her computer. “Here it is. Says he’s a Maaskab, never been married or in a serious relationship apart from the Lord of Darkness, and enjoys long walks in puddles of human blood and the smell of destitution.”

“What a catch.”

“You’d be surprised how many ladies in L.A. would go for this sort of thing.”

What the fuck?
“He’s here in Los Angeles?”

“Yep. But he didn’t give an address. Just says to call his cell.”

“A Maaskab has a cell? What the hell is this world coming to?”

“Hey, even evil psychotic, bloodthirsty priests need to keep in touch with friends.”

“So aren’t you going to kill him?” Andrus asked.

“Who?”

“The fucking Maaskab,” he replied.

“No, silly. I told you. We only left a few alive, and we might need them one day.”

But this had to be the bastard who was feeding off of Sadie. Only Maaskab didn’t feed; they just liked to kill or manipulate dark energy. But whatever he was doing to Sadie, he couldn’t allow it.

“Fine. Then I will hunt him down and kill him. Give me his number.”

“Are you so sure he’s the one you’re after?” Cimil asked.

“Are you telling me you know something?”

“I know everything. Except the things I don’t know, but since I don’t know them, then I know everything as far as I’m concerned.”

That made no fucking sense.

“The number, Cimil,” he demanded.

“Sorry. No can do. We have a strict policy about sharing our clients’ personal information.”

All right. Now he knew for certain that the goddess was toying with him. “Thanks for nothing, Cimil.”

“Always here to serve my fellow immortals. See you at the mixer!”

The call ended and Andrus groaned and rubbed his face. A Maaskab was loose in L.A. and the gods—or at least Cimil—didn’t want to do a thing about it.

At least now I know what I’m dealing with. But why the hell would a Maaskab be after Sadie?
And how would he catch it?

Hell, I can handle taking down one Maaskab
. But as he thought this through, it made less and less sense.

A Maaskab owning an art museum? And walking around in everyday clothing?

Maaskab didn’t really wear clothing unless one were to count those loincloths made of human skin and the human finger necklaces they so loved. Then there was the preference for not bathing. Ever. As in never ever, ever, ever. And they slathered themselves in the blood of their victims. The stench was recognizable from ten miles away.

And don’t even get me started on their hair
. Long black ropes of blood-caked dreads often beaded with human teeth. Their eyes were generally blood-red pits and their mouths dripped with black-whatever likely resulting from the ritualistic crap they ate.

And, because many of them were actually fathered by the God of Male Virility, Chaam, when he’d been going through an evil rough patch, many were just as large as dear old Daddy. Basically seven feet tall, but thankfully without real powers except for the skills they cultivated on their own.

No. Something about this situation wasn’t sitting right. A Maaskab wouldn’t be running around L.A. and going unnoticed.

Unless…he’s working the next
Insidious
movie?

No. Even they have better standards
.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Sadie began to sort through the selection of clothing Andrus had brought from her studio apartment and determined that every item she owned was in the walk-in closet.

“What the heck?” she whispered, scratching the back of her wet head of freshly washed hair. She wasn’t so sure she liked the idea of Andrus having gone through her stuff, but the gesture was really sweet; he’d wanted her to be comfortable.

And don’t forget safe
. He seemed to care about her—a practical stranger—and that’s why she couldn’t stay angry at the man regarding the bomb he’d dropped: He was almost engaged. But they weren’t in any sort of relationship, and just because she found the man sexy, in a very brutish sort of way, didn’t mean she was really, really into him or had any claim on the guy.

That said, she did owe him. Quite a lot, actually. So if he needed her help to impress this woman, she would do her best to chivalrize him, Prince Charming-ize him, or whatever.

She threw on her favorite pair of jeans and light blue tee and found Andrus sitting in the den. It was empty but for a desk, chair, and laptop.

“Hi. Whatcha doin’ there?” she asked.

His turquoise eyes flashed up from the screen. “Looking for something. By the way, how tall was Tim?”

“Uhh… I don’t know. Six four or five maybe?”

“How about his hair?” he asked.

“Long, black,” she shrugged, “he usually wore it back with a little leather tie. Why?”

“I’m doing some research. Can you tell me anything unusual about him? Tattoos, what he liked to eat, clothing or music preferences?”

“He had some tribal snake tattoos on his back. Nothing else unusual about him except…”

Oh, she really, really didn’t want to tell Andrus about the time she’d had sex with Tim. It was pretty strange. And personal.

“What?”

“I’m not sure I want to share this with you.”

“I need to find him and definitely need to figure out if he’s some sort of Maaskab—or perhaps a slave to a Maaskab. I don’t know.”

“You can’t be serious? You think he’s some Mayan witch doctor?”

“Or a minion of sorts. And before you ask, I am not referring to those annoying little one-eyed yellow things on all of the billboards around town.”

“Thank God. I’d hate to turn into one of those.”

“Agreed. Because then I would have to kill you.”

She gave him a terrified look.

“I’m merely joking, Sadie. Even if you turned out to be something so heinous, I would not harm you. But anything you can tell me about Tim might assist me in tracking him down.”

Oh, God
. “It’s sort of embarrassing.”

Andrus stood, walked around to the front of the desk, and leaned against it with those big arms crossed over his big chest. “Trust me, I’m over three hundred years old and my previous mate used to glamour me into submission and then make me watch while she did whatever she liked.”

Sadie gasped and covered her mouth. “Oh God, that sounds awful.”

He lifted a brow. “I am grateful that my time with her was before the invention of vibrators and nipple clamps. Though, she did find a certain degree of fascination with vegetables.”

“On you? She used them on you?”

“No. Thankfully. She liked to make me watch, though. I think it is why I have an aversion to salads.” He shrugged. “In any case,” he stepped forward and gripped her shoulders, “there is little that can shock me.”

She took a deep breath and gazed into his soothing blue eyes.
I swear, there’s just something about him that makes me all gooey and hot and bothered and—

“Any day now, human.”

She glared at him.
And such a bossy pig.
“Fine, but lean down. It’ll be easier if I whisper it in your ear.”

He smirked. “Very well. I am leaning.”

She put her mouth to his ear and began to whisper the things that Tim had done to her that one night they’d been together, starting with how he stripped off her clothes and bathed her in a warm bubble bath, caressing her breasts and touching her between her legs. “And once I was warmed up, he took me into the bedroom and turned me around and fucked me from behind. Really, really hard. It wasn’t bad, but the entire time, he kept saying that he wanted me to eat him.”

Andrus pulled back, his face flushed red.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Yea-yeah.” His voice came out all scratchy. “S-so did you?”

“What?” she asked.

“You know…eat him?”

“No. Not really. I mean, I did nibble on his nipples a little. But the man was insatiable with the fucking. I mean, he just kept pounding me from behind, and it went on and on and on. Finally, after three orgasms, I passed out.”

Andrus blew out a huge breath. “Wow,” he croaked, and then cleared his throat. “That s-s-sounds awful.”

She shrugged. “It was okay. Not really my thing.”

“Nuh-nuh-no?”

Why did Andrus look so flustered?

“My thing is really more in the foreplay department—you know—I like it when the man takes his time and uses his tongue on every inch of my body. Then, I like to use my mouth and bring him right up to the edge a few times before I let him slide it in nice and slow.” She sighed.
Damn. That sounded really good right about now.

Sadie? What the hell? Why are you telling him all this?

She snapped to her senses. “Ohmygod. I can’t believe I just said that—are you okay? You’re sweating.”

He bobbed his head. “Ye-yes. Fine,” he said with a scratchy voice.

“Okay. Good. Well, I hope that was helpful.”
Because for the life of me, I have no clue why I just told you all that stuff.
Though every word was true. However, it was like she knew what would turn him on and couldn’t resist doing it.

“Yep.” He turned and marched straight from the room.

“Hey! Where are you going?”

“I need to take care of something,” he called from somewhere inside the house.

“Okay! But you and I are going on a training date tonight! So we’re having a crash course in wooing starting after lunch!”

He didn’t reply, but hopefully he’d heard her.

Damn, that was really weird
. Maybe she scared him off with her little too much information?

~~~

Andrus headed straight for his bedroom—on the other side of the house from Sadie—locked the door, got out some lotion, stripped off his shirt, and dropped his jeans.

He’d never felt so hard in his entire life, and this raging erection would not be going away on its own.

What the hell is this woman trying to do to me?
he thought as he took his cock in his hand and started stroking, imagining it was the inner sanctum of Sadie’s hot, wet body milking him hard.

Images of taking her naked from behind, licking every inch of her body, of her taking his cock in her mouth, pummeled his mind. He imagined cupping her breasts and sucking on her sweet nipples as she moaned in ecstasy.

Godsdammit. So close. So close
. He was too high on arousal to try to talk himself down or to rationalize how wanting her was wrong.

Instead, he just imagined the sweet taste of her lips on his mouth while he fucked her hard—now from the front so he could see her face when he slid his large cock in and out of her, over and over again until he finally felt her walls contracting around him, begging for his cum. And then…he’d give it to her and…

“Sadie,” he groaned, spilling himself into his tee shirt. “Fuck! Oh gods. Fuck.” He kept coming and coming, like it would never end.
Feels so godsdamned good—

“Andrus?” There was a knock on his door. “You okay?”

Oh hell.
He dropped his head, panting hard. “Yeah,” he said, in a raspy low voice. “Just doing some push-ups.”

“Oh. Okay. I thought I heard you calling my name right before you said, ‘Fuck. Oh gods. Fuck.’”

He winced. “No. Just…cut myself shaving.”
Sonofabitch. Did I have to be so loud?

“I just wanted to be sure you heard me? I think it’s better if I show you what I like, and then you can do it with me tonight.”

Do it?
“Sorry?”

“You know, dinner? After I go over what I think works with a woman.”

“Uh yeah. Dinner. I’ll pick a place.”

“Okay. Enjoy your push-ups and shaving.”

“Fuck,” he whispered, looking down at his cock. She’d just made him hard again.

He sighed and grabbed the bottle of lotion.

~~~

That man was totally pleasuring himself to me. What in the world?
Honestly, it was kind of sexy. Especially the part about imagining him behind that closed door with his erection in his big hand, that huge bicep flexing and bulging as he pumped.

“Wow.” She fanned herself, thinking she might need to take another shower.

Sadie, don’t go there. He might be a little attracted to you, but he is going to meet his Mrs. Andrus.
It wouldn’t be doing herself any favors to entertain thoughts of getting intimate with the man.

No. This is strictly business.
Even if her heart said it wasn’t.

Later that afternoon, Sadie pulled a reluctant Andrus away from his laptop. Surprisingly, for a man who’d spent a few hours jerking off, he looked tenser than ever.

I wonder if it’s an immortal thing.
She tried not to judge. And not to let it turn her on again. She seriously came
this
close to rubbing one out herself just to relieve the pressure.

“Okay.” She sat him down in the living room, where he took the large white sofa, and she took the overstuffed armchair. “Let’s start with a little visualization exercise. Do you know what this woman looks like?”