I smiled at the startled look on his face, and ignored the warning voice in my head. Io, what are you about?

Before Rolf could do more than sputter a profanity, I grabbed him by his shirt and, using the one move I could remember from my self-defense class, spun him around, directly at the portal. He gave a shriek, his arms cartwheeling wildly, and then all was quiet.

“Sweetling,” Nikola said, shaking his head as he strolled over to me. “I know you disliked him, but now we will not be able to keep an eye on him.”

I licked the tip of his nose before wrapping my arms around his waist. “I want you to be happy, too, you know. It matters more to me than anything. More even than showing you just how fabulous the future can be. I love you so much, I’m willing to sacrifice even my need for toilet paper.”

He didn’t expect it, not at all, and for that, I was grateful. Because if he knew in advance that I was going to flip him over my hip, right into the portal, and follow him through a second later, he would have made a big deal about it.

“And it’s not a big deal,” I told him half a day later, when we woke up to find ourselves lying in the afternoon shade of the trees. “I knew that, in the end, I wasn’t going to be happy unless you were happy, and besides, I did come prepared this time.”

“If you’re going to continue to make sheep’s eyes at him, I shall leave,” Rolf said. He’d been bitching ever since we’d woken up about ten minutes before, complaining nonstop that I had ruined his life. He had watched with acid comments when I—with Nikola’s advice—managed to disperse the swirly portal until nothing more remained of it but a memory. “It’s enough to make my stomach sour. Nikola, I shall be raiding your cellar, and expect to hear no chastisement later.”

“You are welcome to whatever you can drink,” Nikola said as Rolf staggered off into the woods, still complaining about his ill-treatment.

Nikola shook his head, and looked at the carrier bag I’d grabbed before throwing myself through the portal. “Did you bring your presents?”

“Yes. A laptop for us to play on.” I pulled out a small black laptop. “You’re going to have to rig up some way to recharge the battery, but I figure that’ll be a good project to keep you busy for a while. And the same goes for powering my hair dryer.”

He looked at the pink dryer I laid on top of the laptop. “You will need to explain electricity in more detail, then.”

“I’ll do my best. I got an encyclopedia on DVD for the laptop, so that should help with the parts I don’t know. And then there’s—”

“Toilet paper,” he said, nodding at the large package I set to the side. “I understand it is important to you, but, Io, I did not mean for you to sacrifice your happiness for mine. I was content to stay in your time and learn all that there was to learn.”

“Silly man,” I told him, leaning over to kiss him. “Content isn’t good enough. I want you ecstatically happy.”

He fell backward, pulling me down on top of him, his hands busily sliding up my skirt so that he could stroke my thighs. “I am always ecstatic where you are concerned. As Rolf has gone, and the portal is no more, I will allow you to seduce me here in the Zauberwald, but then we will discuss your heedless actions, and how you must learn that I am master in my home, and your place therein.”

“Oooh, getting all bossy with me, are you?” I murmured, kissing a line down his chest as I unbuttoned his shirt, my fingers and mouth going wild on all the exposed flesh.

“Yes. I am a dominant man, Iolanthe. You may not have noticed this about me—arms up, please; thank you—but I am, and I expect that since you made your choice to live with me at my home, a choice that I would have preferred we discuss before you made such a large sacrifice, but as you have made that choice, then I expect you will abide by my rules.”

Too many words, I said, wriggling as he peeled off my shirt and bra, his fingers gently stroking my bare breasts. I paused for a moment, looking down at him, noting the deep sapphire blue of his eyes. “I made a sacrifice. Did you—”

“Yes,” he said, pulling me down so my breast was at his mouth. I have my soul back. And for that, my love, as for everything else about you, I will be eternally grateful.

I do so love it when you get mushy on me, I said, squirming with happiness as he laved his tongue along a very sensitive nipple.

“Then I shall mush for you any time you like. Would you remove my breeches, please? But be careful, they are the only ones I have, and I wish to preserve the silken undergarment that keeps my testicles safe from the toothed apparatus.”

“It’s called a zipper, and I have good news.” I pulled off his shoes and socks, and helped him out of his jeans and underwear before grabbing the carrier bag. “When you were with Ben and Finnvid trying to calm Rolf down, I picked up a few more undies for you. See? All sorts of colors.”

He looked at the rainbow of silk material I splayed across his belly, his penis happily waving at me as he touched first one, then another of the underwear. “Presents?”

“Yes, my darling, presents. For you. I bet if we’re careful, we can make them last a very long time. And then when they wear out, we’ll make a pattern from one, and have some more made up for—Nikola!”

He didn’t give me any warning, just pulled me over his body, and impaled me, the silk underwear beneath my thighs as his fingers dug into my hips, urging me on.

It didn’t take long for me to give in to the pleasure that I knew I’d always find with him. He murmured words of love that filled me with so much joy, it threatened to spill out over me, drowning us both. And when he pulled me tighter, his mouth finding the sensitive flesh of my neck, I braced myself for that fraction of a second when he bit deeply, taking what only I could give him, and returning it with love.

It was heaven. And no matter how much I might miss the conveniences of my former life, I knew that this new one would be infinitely better.

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