GettingLuckyinGalway (6 page)

She glanced up at her lover’s expression, his face grim as
he moved in and out of her, thrusting fast and deep. Their eyes met and she was
lost in his glowing green depths.

No one had ever fucked her this thoroughly before, touched
every secret part of her, parts she hadn’t known existed. A low growl filled
the room and Calder knew her beast was close to the surface, wanting to bite
and claim their mate, but she forced the cat back. No biting until she knew the
man currently owning her body.

Roark gave an almost violent plunge that arched her back and
had her clamping down hard as climax tore through her, breaking her down to the
most basic level of her being. Vaguely in the back of her mind she was aware of
Roark’s grunting and the feel of his hot seed filling not her, but the latex
barrier separating them. For a moment, just a split second, she resented the
condom, but there was time later to enjoy the feel of Roark spilling himself,
scalding hot inside her.

Meanwhile his thrusts lost their smooth movements and he
hammered into her like a desperate man as he huffed in and out. The pulse beat
rapidly in his neck even as his jerky movements slowed to a stop.

Still half stiff inside her, Roark rolled them until she lay
on top of his sweat-dampened chest. His arms rose to encircle her in a
cherished embrace.

“You’ll be the death of me, but what a marvelous way to go,”
he panted out as she dropped her head to his shoulder.

“I couldn’t agree more,” she muttered, not bothering to lift
her head. “But first I think someone needs to call the medics. My legs are
paralyzed and I can’t feel my brain.”

She felt his smile against the sensitive skin of her temple.
“You can’t feel your brain on a good day.”

“
Cher
, I’m a woman. I can feel everything. Since
you’re a man you have no idea what I’m talking about. Your job is to lie there
looking pretty until I’m ready for you to service me again.”

She felt a stinging slap to her bare ass then Roark’s large
palm rubbed the hurt away. “How you can even think right now?”

“Again, I’m a female. We’re capable of all manner of great
things of which men know nothing.” How nice it was to lie here, the fire
warming her back while her mate heated her front. She’d never thought of mating
in these terms, more of a working partnership than the sensuality of lovers.
Despite the fact she’d been wrong, Calder liked it.

“Fine, then I’ll let you, oh magic-less one, carry me to bed
so you can ravish me all over again.” His eyes were closed and his breathing
evening out as he spoke of moving.

Giving in to the urge to stroke the jet-black strands of
hair from his eyes, Calder smiled down at him. “Hmm, was it me ravishing you or
the other way around?” she teased, her cat delighted in the playful aspect of
their mate.

“Hmm,” he sighed then blinked long black lashes open. “Can
we agree that we ravished each other?”

“It’s a deal.”

“Good.” He sat up, his movements causing his cock to push
deeper inside her already wet depths. Naturally her body responded by clamping
down on the delicious length inside her.

“Yum, dessert.” She licked her lips, knowing how very
catlike it made her look and not caring.

“Give us a second, love,” he said, then more low,
Gallic-sounding words spilled from his kiss-swollen lips. An instant later she
felt the change deep inside her.

“You switched out the condom?” How awesome was magic? No
more pulling out to change the rubber. They could fuck all night without ever
having to separate their bodies.

“Yes. I didn’t want to risk my pretty face in case you
developed a dislike of separating from my cock.”

“Good thinking,” she praised him then leaned the scant
inches down to kiss him. “We’ll have all night to play with that bit of magic.”

He stiffened harder inside her, but his words belied his
actions. “Just be sure to put something manly on my tombstone, love. Like, he
died in service of his mate.”

She was still laughing when he flipped them around and took
her over for the third time.

Chapter Four

Waking to sunshine and the warmth of fur startled Roark for
seconds before his brain kicked in. Without the benefit of coffee it took
precious moments before his sleep-muddled mind clicked the pieces together.

Carefully he eased into a sitting position, wanting to do nothing
to disturb the slumbering lioness currently drooling on his stomach.

“What the feck?” From holding a beautiful woman in his arms
as he slept to waking with a deadly predator purring and making biscuits on his
bare thigh. Told this story by someone else, Roark would laugh his Irish ass
off, but considering it came from his mate, he found little humor in the
situation.

“Nob,” he called out as softly as possible, praying the
little brownie would hear and come running.

“Ye bellowed?”

“Oh good goddess, it’s too early in the morning to deal with
your fashion-challenged self.” He whimpered and covered his eyes, hoping to
keep the small elf’s fashion choice from burning his retinas.

Day-Glo orange t-shirt clashed marvelously with puke-green
dyed denim. A polka dot scarf of various dirt-colored dots had been merrily
tied around his tiny neck. One neon child’s size hiking boot tapped impatiently
as Roark did his best to wipe the fashion disaster from his mind.

Carefully, mindful of the disaster awaiting his poor abused
eyeballs, Roark cracked one lid open.

“Bah.” Nob waved a hand down his body. “Ye know nothing of
today’s styles, ye mongrel. Now besides insulting me, what did ye call me for?”

Roark waved at his lap, unable to understand why Nob
couldn’t comprehend the problem all on his own. Maybe his clothes blinded him
to anything outside his own sphere? “Have you noticed anything different?” He
pointedly looked down at his lap where very sharp feline teeth rested way too
close to his pride and joy.

Nob crossed the room at brownie speed, his dark nut-brown
forehead wrinkled as he took in the scene before him. “What did ya do?”

The accusation took a few moments to sink in as Roark fully
expected his house brownie to defend Roark and his family jewels. Instead the
pesky creature stood looking at him, a full-grown leprechaun with extraordinary
powers, with disappointment.

“I gave her unimaginable pleasure the likes of which I’m
sure will never be matched.” He didn’t mention the astounding pleasure he’d
received in return. No need to get sentimental in front of the being who had
changed his nappies. “Though it does nothing to explain why I have this,” he
waved a hand to where his cock rested, soft and defenseless against the giant
predator snoring above it.

“Aye, ye must have done something ta screw things up. Ya
always do.” Nob backed away, wringing his hands in a way that sped up Roark’s
heartbeat.

“I’ve been asleep for the past couple of hours. What could I
have possibly done to warrant this?”

“Don’t know, but her cat knows she can’t trust you. Until
she falls asleep and stays human in your arms for the entire night you’ll never
really have her. Or at least that’s the legend among their kind.” Those violet
eyes holding the wisdom of centuries caught and held his own green gaze. “You
fix this, young man. None of your tricks or half-assed attempts to partially do
the work. She’s not a woman who just happens to turn into a cat. She’s a
complicated mix of feline and female. You’ve been blessed more than you
deserve.” Then the brownie threw down the worst threat Roark could ever
imagine. “If you don’t get this settled within the next forty-eight hours I’ll
call your parents home from their cruise of the Fae plane. Your mother will not
stand for your selfish nonsense either.”

“You know, instead of threatening me with the fury of my
mother’s wrath, maybe you could offer some constructive advice. I am over five
hundred, much too old to be threatened like some babe barely out of short
pants,” he protested while slowly inching away from the heated lion’s breath
tickling his ever shrinking balls.

“You know there’s another part of the legend,” the little
brownie stated, unclenching his arms. “The second part of the legend states
acceptance must come from the animal soul of the shifter within seventy-two
hours or the bond and the mate will disappear from your life forever. While
she’ll be able to mate and have children with another male, as she’s your
Liaria
,you’ll be alone. A mateless eunuch of a leprechaun only spoken of as a
warning to young Fae. Kind of like the human’s version of the booger monster.”

“Ha, success,” Roark stated unnecessarily when he finally
stood, naked, by the side of the bed. “People will speak of me, Nob, have no
doubts of that. However it won’t be as a cautionary tale, but as the paragon of
virtue whom others of my race will always aspire to be, but never quite make
it. Besides,” Roark gave a casual shrug of his bare shoulder, “I’ll discover
what ails her, fix it and get on with the rest of our lives. Her adoring me and
me being worthy of being adored.”

A harsh coughing noise sounded from the bed and both men
turned to look at the feline staring at them with intelligent, tawny-colored
eyes. In a splash of vivid colors, the lioness disappeared and in her place a
very naked, very curvy Calder sat looking both amused and irritated.

“I’ll adore you? Really?” she asked sarcastically. “Will
this be with or without magical intervention?”

“Well,” he defended himself. “Anything sounds bad when you
put that tone in it.”

“I don’t think it has anything to do with the tone, but more
along the lines of the sheer amount of stupidity crammed into one man-sized
sentence.” With casual movements, Calder wrapped the fine Irish linen sheet
around her lickable body. Disappointed in missing the sight of her bare breasts
bouncing with her every movement, Roark sent a well-practiced and adorable pout
her way.

Instead of jumping to do his bidding, Calder rolled her
uniquely colored eyes and spoke to Nob as if Roark no longer existed in the
same room.

“Is he always this bad?”

The Benedict Arnold of house brownies shrugged his hideously
colored shoulders. “He’s gotten worse the older he gets. Once he hit two
hundred it became impossible to tame his ego. Add in his power, passable looks
and you get a self-esteem not even Godzilla could crush.” Nob shook his head,
strands of silky hair tangling around his so sad face.

“Well, I guess this explains why my cat doesn’t trust him.”

“Yea, I thought as much. However, if fate deigned for the
two of you to be mates then there must be something redeemable in him.”

They both turned thoughtful gazes his way, neither one
worried or concerned in the least with his blatant nudity. Getting fed up with
their harsh, if possibly honest description of his person, Roark crossed his
arms over his chest and learned against the old wood chest by the bed.

“Do I need to be here for this conversation or can the two
of you insult me without me hearing it?”

“Nay, don’t need ya here at all. You’ll only bugger up the
situation even more.”

“The only thing I’d need you for is purely physical and I’ll
let you know when you’re up to bat. Until then why don’t you go somewhere else
and look pretty while the grownups talk?”

What happened next Roark would have blocked from his mind if
he had the magic to. Instead he was stuck with the horror for the next three to
five hundred years. Calder, his mate, the woman he’d made scream his name in
passion, reached over and patted his ass before pushing him out of the room.

She’d pushed him out of his own freaking room! Oh this would
take some thinking, but Roark was determined not to start their mating with a
pat on the ass and tossed out on his bum.

“It’s a good thing he’s so pretty,” Calder’s husky voice
proclaimed.

“Aye, without his looks he’d be useless,” Nob agreed.

Roark couldn’t stand any more. A single thought had him
completely dressed and out of the house. He didn’t need to stay around to be
insulted. He could go someplace else and be treated this badly.

“Little rough on the man, weren’t you?”

“You think he needs coddling? His blessed mother did enough
of that for five children,” Nob complained.

“Look, I get it. There’s something wonky going on or else I
wouldn’t have woken up as a cat. But cut the drama, please, at least until I
get a least two cups of coffee in me.” Though comfortable in her nudity as most
shifters were, Calder hesitated to drop the sheet in front of Nob. The man was
like a father to her mate. Should he really be seeing her naked?

“Clothe yourself, but quickly, Calder. We must make plans
before your man returns.” The door latched softly shut behind him.

“Please throw clothes over your naked ass, Calder,” she
mimicked in a low and very bad Irish accent. “You’re tit-deep in shamrocks and
leprechauns, me girl.”

And did she really want this? The obvious fight for her
mate’s respect and affection? He was a vain creature to be sure, as most of the
Fae were known to be, but once rewarded with their loyalty, they never betrayed
you.

“Of course I want more than just his fighting skills. Love
would be nice along with the amazing sex.” Finding her clothes from last night
clean, fresh and ironed within an inch of their life, Calder quickly dressed,
shook out her hair and considered the morning primping done. At least until she
found a toothbrush. Cats didn’t like dirty teeth any more than they enjoyed
having a dirty coat.

Finding a bathroom proved to be easier than she thought.
Through a door she assumed led to a closet, Calder came across one of the
largest, most lavish bathrooms she had ever seen.

Bigger than her apartment back in Baton Rouge, the room was
made out of a mix of gold and marble. The standalone tub big enough to hold
Calder and six of her closest friends looked to be hand-carved out of marble
and weigh more than her car back home.

The shower, another gold-veined masterpiece, took her breath
away with the huge walk-in area, two benches, eight showerheads and one large
rain trough directly overhead.

Hidden in its own personal closest complete with TV, radio
and internet connection—goddess, her mate was such a guy—stood a carved marble
toilet. Even thinking about sitting there and doing business made her shiver.
Until she saw the edge of power threading around the seat.

“Huh, leave it to a man to waste his magic on a heated toilet
seat.” Quickly changing her mind, Calder took care of her personal business
then washed her hands. Gratefully, she brushed her teeth with a toothbrush from
the stash she found in the bamboo basket under the heavy gold sink.

If she didn’t know it before, she sure as hell knew her
leprechaun had a thing for gold. If he had a natural affinity for the raw
material it would explain the lavish decoration of his temporary residence.
Would things change back to normal once he left? And what would normal be?

Shaking off the eerie feeling of being out of synch with
reality, Calder left the bedroom, her muscles protesting each step. The vague
pain reminded her of Roark and the man who’d taken her last night versus the
one who woke with her this morning.

“And they say cats are the moody ones.” She snorted in a
very unladylike fashion at the thought and followed her nose to the wonderful
smell of breakfast.

“Ah, finally you’re showing yourself. I wondered if I would
have to send a rescue party to find you in that monstrosity of a bathroom,” Nob
greeted her while flipping something golden and delicious-looking on the stove.

“It’s a monument to gold, that’s for sure. What did this
place look like before Roark took over?” She grabbed the single cup in front of
the coffeepot and filled it to the brim. “Hmmm, this smells just like home.”
She took a small sip, aware of the danger of slurping the steaming liquid.
“Tastes like my home brew too.”

“As it should, since I took the beans straight from your
apartment. Also I sent a few of the younger cousins to tidy up your place a
bit. It’ll give them something to do and keep them out of trouble for the next
little while.” Nob carried a full plate of corn-style pancakes, thick sausages
and buttery potatoes and set it in front of her.

“Eat it up. Shifters need their protein and from what I’ve
seen of your home you don’t eat enough to keep a sheep alive.” His scolding
came firm but lovingly.

Calder speared a corn cake into her mouth and forgot about
protesting Nob’s lack of insight on her eating habits. “Hmm, yum, you keep
feeding me like this and I’ll let you insult my fridge all you want.”

“Calder, I simply don’t understand.” The little man tugged
nervously at his strangely dotted scarf. “You are a shifter, born and bred, but
nothing exists in your home except food for cattle and goats. Nothing a
predator of your nature should be eating. I confess it’s left me feeling a
little confused.”

How to explain the modern woman’s aversion to looking like a
female without causing the poor brownie’s head to explode? “Umm…it was my
grocery day?”

“Oh.” The little man looked relieved. “Oh my yes, that
explains so much. Well, no worries then my younger cousins will have you
stocked up in no time.”

Really she should be worried about these cousins of his
trampling through her home, but it wasn’t as if they could make a bigger mess
than what she’d left behind. Packing had never been her strong suit and
unfortunately her home reflected it. “Do I need to pay these guys or do they
work on a barter system?”

“Oh heaven no.” The Fae looked insulted at such an offer
you’d think Calder offered to blow his dad the way Nob reacted.

“Fine,” she said, more than willing to drop the subject. “So
how long before Roark comes to his senses?”

“Oh not long, not long at all, my dear, maybe only twenty or
thirty years, if that.” He looked pleased as punch at his announcement.