You’ve experienced it. You’ve coveted it. You’ve used it as an excuse not to attend the house painting party, or the dog birthday party you were invited to, even though you are allergic to everything dog. It is the perfect Saturday afternoon.
Granted, not everyone has experienced the perfect Saturday afternoon. Planets must be aligned just right; in-laws, or outlaws, must be out of town; the weather must be mild enough for you not to break a sweat. Rare components all, but when they fall into place…OM.
This morning I woke after a good nights sleep, something that is in itself a bit of a miracle but that is another post. I dutifully did my sit-ups, pushups, and twenty minute aerobic routine before stepping into the shower. When I got out of the shower, freshly warmed by the hot water, I strode around my apartment in my towel,looking to see what was on my agenda for the day. Vacuum? Nope, did that during the week because of a little crumb incident. Dust? Nope, that followed the vacuuming (please no bickering over which comes first, the vacuum or the duster). Laundry? Not enough to justify the water use. No yard work (apartment living at it’s finest), no auto repair, no babysitting nieces, nephews, neighbors pets, or moving-van contents. Then it slowly dawned on me. I could do whatever I wanted to do. There was no agenda. No plan. I could watch the Stanley Cup finals, or a movie. I could grill a steak, or create something equally decadent in the kitchen. I could nap, I could read…I COULD WRITE!!!
If you are not new to my blog, you know that I am a writer/author of M/M Romance, and that I occasionally dabble in poetry. I am also writing a F/F Romance tentatively titled “Shieldmaiden” and I would like to give you an excerpt today. If you are new to my blog, please feel free to look around and read some of my other posts. I write whenever and wherever the muse strikes. When, that is, the muse is around and not over at Starbucks eyeing the cute barista. My muse is hedonistic and will spend hours drooling over a good looking person; or an incredible sunset photograph, without so much as a by your leave, until I am forced to beg and bribe to lure her away. Today, this perfect Saturday afternoon, my muse is sitting zen like next to me on the couch, cooing with each new poem I post or paragraph I type in Shieldmaiden. My muse it seems, has been waiting for this cosmic alignment with equal fervor. We are a couple today. OM
Now, back to the Perfect Saturday Afternoon. Time for a glass of wine, a little fresh air on the deck, and if I am lucky, a kiss from my muse.
Shieldmaiden takes place on the Island of Breton, sometime after the erection of Hadrian’s Wall, and before Geoffrey of Monmouth penned “Leir of Britain” or contributed to the Arthurian Legend. In the story, the Shieldmaiden Bryn, the daughter of a Druid Elder, falls in love with the Princess Thalynder, the only daughter of the King of the Realm. Unbeknownst to Bryn, the dragon that companions the Princess, is really her own dragon; bonded with her at infancy and given to the King for his daughter in payment for protection of the druid clann from the raiders across the eastern sea.
From Shieldmaiden:
“I have no time for men,” Bryn said, her voice thick with renewed passion. She ran her free hand over Thalynder’s neck. She moved her hand to Thalynder’s jaw, and when Thalynder did not pull away, Bryn placed a kiss on Thalynder’s throat. Another kiss on her chin, then another on her mouth. She felt Thalynder’s hand touch her breast and she moaned against Thalynder’s soft lips. Bryn kissed those lips with desire and urgency, and was rewarded by a gentle squeeze of Thalynder’s hand, causing her nipples to come erect. She felt Thalynder relaxing under the kiss, and she moved to part Thalynder’s lips with her tongue. She felt Thalynder stiffen, then relax against her. She let her tongue lay softly against Thalynder’s tongue, and then felt Thalynder respond by pushing her own tongue further into Bryn’s mouth. Bryn moved her hand to the back of Thalynder’s neck and took the kiss deeper.
The lush dance of two tongues eager for the touch of the other; asking for more and pushing hard against each other to take all the other would give. Bryn felt Thalynder release her other hand, and then felt both hands on her tunic over her breasts. She moaned deeply in Thalynder’s mouth. With one hand on Thalynder’s neck, the other moved to touch the brocade tunic at Thalynder’s breast. Bryn moved her hand in a circular motion over the brocade, feeling the shiver of Thalynder’s body against hers. She moved to pin Thalynder against the tree, and then positioned her leg so that she could raise her knee and rub against Thalynder’s mound. Thalynder shuddered, then abruptly stopped the kiss and pushed Bryn back.
“No,” she said breathlessly. “A little at a time, my Bryn. I am only now getting used to kissing you.”
Bryn, as breathless as the Princess, released Thalynder from her position against the tree. She ran a hand over Thalynder’s cheek, then lay her forehead on Thalynder’s shoulder and sighed. “What am I going to do if you marry?” she asked.
Shieldmaiden is my first attempt at a female/female romance. I hope you like the draft excerpt that follows at the end of this post. I would love your comments about the excerpt.
For those of you readers of M/M Romance, my short story A Pharaoh’s Promise will be available free to Goodreads members under the Love is Always Write event, posting is set for June 14th. A second ebook, Light and Shadow, a Seventh Window Publication, is due out later this summer.
My ebook Scar Tissue is available here:
http://www.seventhwindow.com/index.php?main_page=product_music_info&cPath=&products_id=41
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