Fantasyland 03 Fantastical (33 page)

I looked down the sidewalks to my left then
to my right.

And again, Tor was gone.

I stared at the slick sidewalk as the misty
rain made my skin and hair damp. Then I raced back into the
building, up the steps, into my apartment and I grabbed my
purse.

Then I ran to the corner store and bought a
pregnancy test.

Thirty minutes later, my hands gripping the
steering wheel tightly to stop them from shaking, I was in my car
going
back
to the grocery store even though half of its
goods were stuffed into the cupboards and fridge of my kitchen.

But we hadn’t bought the ingredients to red
velvet cake.

And as crazy and uncertain as our worlds
were, Tor and I had something to celebrate.

That was, if he came home.

* * * * *

I was curled up in my pink chair, the purple
throw tucked around me, dozing when I heard the key scrape the
lock.

My eyes opened, I sat up, putting my feet to
the floor, my heart sliding up into my throat when I heard and saw
the doorknob turn. I held my breath, my mind trying to recall one
of the ways I came up with while making the cake as to how to
apologize to Tor when the doorknob turned again.

I tipped my head to the side, staring at it
and then heard the key in the lock again.

Uh-oh. Tor’s new lock wasn’t working.

Then I jumped when I heard a banging at the
door.

“Cory, babe, open the door!”

Oh crap. It wasn’t Tor. It was Noc.

I froze.

There was more banging and then, “Cora! I
see the light coming through the bottom of the door. I know you’re
awake. Open up!”

My eyes flew to my DVD player and I saw it
was nearly two in the morning. What was he doing there at two in
the morning?

“Cora! Fuck me, babe, open the fuckin’
door!” he shouted then more banging.

I stared at the door, my body unmoving.

He was a big guy, just as powerfully built
as Tor. My door was crap because my landlord was crap. He could
bust down my door, easy.

Shit!

There was silence then he called through the
door, “Right, locks changed. I get it. Ice cold.”

Oh shit.

“Do me a favor,” he went on. “Pack my shit
in a suitcase and put it in the hall. I’ll be back tomorrow to get
it.”

Then there was one, loud thump on the door
and then nothing.

I held my breath. When I was about to pass
out, I sucked in a deep breath and held that. When I heard nothing,
I threw off the blanket, tiptoed (focused on the tasks at hand, I
still hadn’t taken off my sandals) to my purse and pulled out my
cell.

Tomorrow, should Tor come back (and, God, I
hoped he came back), we were going straight back to the mall and
getting him a blasted cell phone.

I looked at my phone and saw I had five
missed calls while my phone was in my purse at my parents’ house,
no voicemails. Checking the history, I saw that four were from Noc,
one was from my friend Phoebe.

Phoebe. Holy crap!

It was too late to return Phoebe’s call so I
flipped the phone shut, dropped it back in my purse, tiptoed to the
kitchen, grabbed the biggest, sharpest knife I could find and I
tiptoed back to my living room. I turned off the lamps then settled
back in the chair, tossing my throw over me.

I stared at the door, my fingers curled
around the handle of the knife and I waited for Noc to come
back.

About a half an hour later, I fell
asleep.

We’ll Have It for Breakfast

My eyes opened when Tor lifted me to cradle
me in his arms.

“Tor?” I asked sleepily.

“Just so you know, love, a true warrior
princess would not allow a man to approach and disarm her while she
carried on sleeping.”

Hmm.

I didn’t know what to make of that except
for the fact that it was true.

He walked us to my room and as he did last
night, set me on my feet by the bed. Then he made as if to move
away but I shook off the residual sleep claiming me and stopped him
by lifting both hands and wrapping them around his neck.

“Honey?” I whispered and his hands came to
my hips, fingers digging in.

Then I felt his forehead drop to mine.

I sucked in breath.

“I missed you calling me that,” he
murmured.

My heart leaped.

“You’re not angry with me anymore?” I asked,
my voice tinged with hope.

His forehead left mine.

Uh-oh.

“What you said was cruel,” he informed me
and I couldn’t read his tone.

My fingers at his neck gave him a squeeze
and I whispered, “I know.”

“And untrue,” he went on.

I took a risk and moved slightly closer to
him. “I know,” I repeated not because I knew then, just because I
knew now.

“I want an heir because it’s my
responsibility to provide one. But mostly I want an heir because I
want children,” he told me.

“Okay,” I said softly.

“But more than that, I want you,” he
finished, his fingers digging deeper into my flesh and I pressed my
lips together as my heart didn’t leap… it flew.

“Really?” I breathed.

“Cora, my love,” he started then I saw his
shadowed face get close, “I know your life is in turmoil, but you
really must start paying attention.”

As much as it pained me to admit it, he
wasn’t wrong about that.

I swallowed then quietly I agreed,
“Okay.”

His fingers squeezed again and then started
to release so my fingers pressed in and I got on tiptoe so our
faces were even closer. “Please, don’t be angry with me anymore,” I
whispered. “I shouldn’t have said what I said. Not at all but
especially with what happened to your Mom and your stepmoms. I’m
really so, so sorry.”

He nodded. “All right, Cora.” And again he
started to move away.

I held tight and got higher on my toes so my
lips were a breath away from his.

“Don’t be angry with me anymore,” I repeated
and he stilled.

“I’m not angry, sweets,” he whispered.

I touched my mouth to his and said yet
again, “Don’t be angry with me anymore.”

His fingers flexed into my skin again and he
replied softly, “Cora.”

I touched my mouth to his again, my fingers
sliding from his neck up into his hair, my body moving in two
inches so it was against his.

Tor got the message. I knew this when he
groaned against my lips, his head slanted, his mouth opened over
mine and his tongue slid in.

Yes.

I moaned into his mouth and the kiss went
instantly wild. His arms closed around me and crushed me to him
then I burrowed closer, pressing my fingers into his hair to hold
his mouth to me as he drank from me and I gave to him… everything I
had.

Then, suddenly, he broke his mouth from
mine, turned me so my back was to him and with a hand between my
shoulder blades, he shoved me forward. My arms went out to break my
fall, my hands hit the bed at the same time he tossed the skirt of
my dress up.

Oh God.

My knees trembled and I felt wetness
saturate between my legs.

He yanked my panties over my ass.

My knees nearly buckled.

“Tor,” I breathed.

He jerked my panties down my legs. “Step out
of them,” he commanded, his voice thick.

I stepped out of my panties then he pushed
against me with his hips and I mounted the bed on my knees. I felt
his hand working at my behind then
he
mounted
me
,
filling me full.

My head jerked back at the feel of him.

“Yes,” I whispered.

He shoved in with his body and got on the
bed on his knees then leaned forward, wrapping an arm around my
chest, the other around my ribs, he hauled me up, still impaled on
his cock.

“Mouth,” he growled, I twisted my head and
the instant I did, his mouth found mine and he kissed me.

This kiss was wilder, no control, not from
Tor, not from me and I loved every
fucking
second of it.

His mouth broke from mine and he ordered,
“Discard your dress.”

With trembling hands, I pulled off my dress
and flung it aside.

“Now this,” he demanded, tugging at the cup
of my bra.

Arching my back (which also succeeded in
sliding him deeper inside me which felt freaking
great
), I
reached for the hooks at the back of my bra, undid them clumsily,
pulled it down my arms and tossed it aside.

One of his hands went to cup my breast
warmly, the other hand slid between my legs, his middle finger
hitting the core of me.

At the sensations these caused, my back
arched again and I whimpered.

His thumb and finger found my nipple and he
pulled. “Who’s inside you?”

“My prince,” I breathed, twisting my neck,
tucking my forehead into his neck and covering his hand at my sex
where his finger was working magic.

He pulled my nipple again and fire shot
straight through me. “Bloody right,” he growled, his hips dipping,
he drove back up inside me.

“Baby,” I whispered, my hand tensing on
his.

“Who are you?” he asked on another pull on
my nipple causing another shaft of fire.

“Your princess,” I answered immediately,
wanting my reward.

I got it, another heady stroke of his
cock.

“Who are you?” he repeated and I closed my
eyes as his finger between my legs twitched relentlessly and I
ground into him.

“Honey,” I breathed. I was losing it.

Another pull at my nipple, sharper, harder,
better
, then, “Who are you, Cora?”

“Your wife,” I whispered, his hips dipped
and he surged up again, pulling at my nipple and rolling my clit at
the same time and I cried out, “Tor!” as it overwhelmed me.

I barely started coming when he shoved me
back down into the bed and then started moving inside me, rolling
his hips as he did it, his hands at my hips yanking me back while
he drove in.

God, beautiful.

I lifted up on my forearms, arched my back,
lifting my ass for him and he reached forward, his fingers curling
around my shoulder, he pulled me back into him, this allowing him
to thrust deeper into me. I shuddered and finished my climax as he
plunged in, his rhythm slow, steady, his hips rolling, his hand at
my shoulder driving me back as he drove forward and it started
building again.

“Baby,” I gasped breathlessly into my
comforter.

His hand left my shoulder and both curled
around the sides of my ribs.

“We go back to my world, we find someone who
can make you more of these shoes,” he declared huskily.

“Yes,” I breathed.

His hips rolled and he thrust deep. “Dozens
of them,” he went on.

“Yes,” I repeated.

“My wife has a beautiful arse,” he grunted,
his hips rolling and thrusting again.

I closed my eyes, arched my back and
stretched my arms straight forward, pressing back even as he pulled
me to him.

“Fuck me,” I whispered and his thrusts
quickened. “Yes,” I breathed.

“And the wettest, sweetest fucking cunt,” he
growled, his voice hoarse, his thrusts coming faster.

My head jerked back, my hair flying, my sex
spasming. “Oh my God,” I moaned.

“That’s it, my love,” his fingers at my ribs
flexing tight, yanking me back violently, “give me what’s
rightfully mine.”

“Okay,” I breathed then my body bucked and I
cried out yet again as a stronger climax washed through me, Tor
pounded into me, hauling me back into him, his thrusts savage as I
heard him grunt and he drove in hard, once, twice, three, four,
five, six times then he stayed planted and groaned.

My eyes slowly closed and just as slowly a
smile curved my lips.

He waited until my breathing slowed then he
pulled me up again, arms tight around my chest and ribs, bodies
still joined and his face went into my neck.

“Would that we would be transported to a
world where you could spend your days with my seed planted deep
inside you,” Tor whispered into my neck.

I closed my eyes again as renewed heat
flooded my system.

“Which would mean,” Tor went on quietly, “I
would spend my days planting it there.”

My body trembled and then I swallowed.

Tor kept speaking.

“Are we understood, you and I?” he
murmured.

“Yes, Tor,” I whispered, lifting a hand to
place it lightly on his neck.

And we were. Or, at least, I hoped we
were.

His lips went to my ear. “We have enough
challenges ahead of us, my sweet. We do not need to be striking out
and wounding each other.”

Boy, was he right.

“You’re right,” I agreed softly.

His arms gave me a squeeze then the one at
my ribs loosened, his hand sliding down to rest on my belly briefly
at the same time he kissed my neck. Then he lifted me off him, set
me on my knees in the bed and fell to his side grabbing my hand as
he did so. I went down and he rolled to his back and pulled me in
his arms so I was pressed into his side, one of his hands coming up
to play with the ends of my hair.

“Uh… Tor?” I called.

“I’m right here,” he answered and I snuggled
closer, because he was.

Then I told him something I had to tell him
but didn’t want to.

Still, I had to.

“Earlier tonight, uh… Noc came around.”

“I know.”

My head shot up and I looked at him through
the shadows. “What?”

“I alighted the stairs when he was shouting
through your door. I hid, watched, prepared, should he lose his
temper, to intervene. He did not. He left and I followed him.”

My hand lying on his chest fisted. “You
followed him?”

“I did. And Cora, I will say it’s very
strange seeing another you,” he told me.

I was sure it was but I was also stuck on
Tor following Noc.