“We need to buy furniture this week.” The furniture from my old condo just wasn’t enough to furnish a Victorian mansion, especially one I was turning into a bed and breakfast. I needed to get my ass in gear and start prowling the thrift shops.
Aegis shushed me. “Hush.”
He paused on the landing, pressing my back against the wall as he nestled himself between my legs. I wrapped them around his hips. With one hand supporting my butt, he slid the other around my shoulders, then pressed his lips against mine, kissing me so deeply I forgot about furniture and thrift stores and everything else. His tongue gently flickered in and out of my mouth.
I moaned, pressing against him. My breasts were threatening to burst out of the bra all on their own. “Upstairs. Now.”
“At your command.”
And we were on the move again, up to the master bedroom. While it was technically my bedroom, since Aegis and I had different schedules and he didn’t dare sleep above ground just in case of an accident with the curtains, it was all ours when it was time for sex.
He tumbled me onto the bed, wedging himself between my legs as he held my wrists over my head. “Command me, woman.”
A jolt of hunger raced through me, slashing like lightning from my breasts down to my pussy. I wanted out of my clothes. Their restraint was driving me nuts. I closed my eyes, focusing, and the zipper on my jeans began to slowly open. I urged it on, feeling the belt buckle shift as I willed the prong to slip out of the hole.
“You’re very hungry, aren’t you? You want me in you, don’t you?”
His voice echoed through me, like the rich, deep notes of a song. Eyes flashing, he shifted position, sitting back on his knees as he let go of my wrists. Reaching down, he slid my belt out of its loops, tossing it aside. Then, with one swift yank, he pulled my jeans down as I raised my butt and bent my knees. I was going commando beneath, and Aegis let out a growl of delight as he worked the jeans off over my feet. They landed on the floor next to the belt. I sat up, yanking off my top. The hunter green tank joined the pile of clothes, and my bra was the cherry on the top.
Aegis was on his feet, unzipping as he eased off his leather jeans. His cock sprang to attention, hard and smooth, as cold as the rest of his body. He started to shrug off his leather jacket but I stopped him.
“No. I love the smell of leather.” I knelt on the bed, my breasts rising and falling with each breath. The chill of the room shrouded me, and my nipples grew as hard as his shaft.
“And I love your breasts,” he said with a low growl. “I love how ripe and round they are, how smooth they feel under my fingers.” He grinned. “And I love how they jiggle when I touch them. Your nipples drive me crazy.”
I squirmed, wet and hungry for him. “Touch them. Touch me. Please?”
“I’m taking my time, woman. I want to watch you. Lie back and bend your knees. Spread them so I can look at you.” His gaze rested greedily on me as I obeyed.
I lay back, spreading my legs as I reached down and slowly rolled a finger around my clit, then spread the lips of my vaj. “You want a taste?”
With a grunt, he dove deep between my legs, pressing his face between my thighs as his tongue worked overtime to swirl over my clitoris. I jumped at his touch, a peal of laughter dancing out of me as my desire began to build.
“Oh gods, oh gods, don’t stop!” I fisted his hair as he lapped at me, tonguing my sex until I was dizzy. Catching my breath, I let out a choked shout as he drove me higher and higher. I couldn’t stop if I tried. The past six weeks with Aegis had been the best sex of my life. I’d never had it this good, and I’d had my share of lovers, my ex-husband being the worst of the lot. After what had felt like a long, dry desert in my life, everything was growing again, vibrant and humming along like a top-of-the-line vibrator.
“Come on, Maddy, come for me. Come on,” he coaxed. His voice muffled by my snatch, he increased the speed of his tongue. He was always careful with his fangs, making certain to keep them at bay when he was eating me out. We’d already had one accident and I didn’t care to repeat it.
“I’m coming, trust me I’m co—co—co—” And the words stopped there as I began to come, my orgasm vibrating from my core out through my fingertips. The world exploded with color and then, as the waves rippled in rings and slowly began to subside, I opened my eyes to find a trail of rose petals drifting down around us. They landed on the bed, on my nose, on Aegis’s hair.
He laughed softly.
“I love how you bring the roses when you come,” he said.
I sighed, settling in beneath him. The roses didn’t happen every time, but when they did, I felt like I was dancing in a garden under the moonlight.
Aegis rose up with a steaming look, then nestled between my legs as he drove himself deep inside me. As we began to move in rhythm, his girth stretched me deliciously wide. I let out a soft moan. He rested his head on my breasts and I slid my arms beneath his, embracing him. He thrust deeper, penetrating every inch of me until there was no part left untouched. He slipped one hand down between my legs, tweaking my clit, and that one touch was all it took. I climaxed yet again, and another time as he stiffened, tilting his head back as he let out a long throaty groan.
As he relaxed into my embrace, I drifted and the rose petals kept falling.
At that moment, Bubba landed on the bed beside us and let out a loud purp. Aegis glared at the huge orange cat, but then broke into a wide, toothy grin.
I gave the cjinn a shake of the head. “Dude, really? Please, we’re in the middle of something here.”
Bubba snorted then hopped over Aegis’s back and jumped off the other side, yowling as he stared out the French doors leading to my balcony. He swatted at the glass, hissed, then turned around and raced out the door into the hall.
“Well, that’s enough to dispel the mood, don’t you think?” I leaned back, breathing deeply as a wave of laughter raced through me. The past six weeks had been easily the oddest of my life, and the best.
SO, INTRODUCTIONS ALL around. My name is Maudlin Gallowglass. Maddy for short. I’m older than the hills—or at least older than most of you. I was born on October 28, 1629. Figure that I’m 387, going on thirty. Nobody could ever accuse me of being mature, though I’m fully grown and a damned powerful witch.
The Gallowglass family has magical roots going back to the days of Stonehenge. You know that folk song “Boys of Bedlam” that a gazillion groups have covered? There’s a girl mentioned in it—“Mad Maudlin goes on dirty toes, for to save her shoes from gravel.” And the Bedlam in the song wasn’t anything like the Bedlam that I live in now.
Yeah, that girl was based on me. Nobody in the history books seems sure who wrote the song, although there are claims that someone named Thomas d’Urfey penned it. But I happen to know the truth. Tom (the Tom of the song “Mad Tom of Bedlam”) was my boyfriend and he wrote it. D’Urfey just swiped it. There was a lot of literary pilfering going on back then.
Tom (my Tom) wrote a number of songs as we escaped England to return to Ireland. We traveled for years, trying to evade the witch hunters. We passed as wandering minstrels and never stayed in one place too long. But it wasn’t the witch hunters who finally got him. No, it was the vampires. They trapped us, but I escaped, thanks to him. I’ve never forgotten his sacrifice. And I remembered the vamps who turned him. They paid. Mad Maudlin made sure.
So yes, I’m Mad Maudlin, though these days I tend to go by just plain Maddy. I left Mad Maudlin in the past, which is the safest place for her. That part of myself can be a lot of fun, but she’s scary as hell and not always nice. I’ve kept her under leash and key for nearly three centuries. The day I let her loose, heaven help whoever I’m targeting.