Untamed Passion

************

When Nakina awoke, the sun had set some time ago. She had been tucked beneath the covers; her clothes had been folded and were on a chair nearby. A door opened to admit Michael back into the room, a towel about his waist and he was drying his hair with another. Lowering the towel he found her watching him and smiled, his hair a delicate mess. Unconcerned with this, he came to sit next to her, the bed bending beneath him as he sat.

Though covered, her shoulders and arms were bare. He ran the back of his fingers along the smooth plump skin. "Did you sleep well princess?"

"I am well," she replied modestly, her cheeks flushed and hot.

"It is already late, would you care to remain here tonight?"

She shot an alarmed look, but goosebumps ran across her body. Did he still want her? Her body felt stretched and ached pleasurably, but she had work the next day – his eyes were playful and she suspected he would not let her rest the entire night were she to accept. She declined.

Michael was disappointed, but he accepted in good grace. "Do you wish to return home immediately? Won't you at least remain for dinner? I have already prepared a small repast and we can leave immediately when you're done."

Since he had prepared, she did not refuse, but ate gingerly – it was usually the woman's duty to prepare the meal in her culture. She looked about the apartment properly for the first time, having been too intent on her lessons previously. It was a spacious, but spartan environment, and though the bed was comfortable and luxurious, it seemed out of place.

"Do you live here?" she asked doubtfully.

"No," he replied honestly. "This place is more like a refuge for me, and the place I come to sort out my work or just to get away from the world for a little while. Truthfully, I don't use it that much."

"Your work?"

"Yes, with pharmaceuticals. Medicine and that sort of business. I deal with the running of some the family funded hospitals on the island, and oversee projects to manufacture new and better types of medicines."

Looking over him, she felt a little tongue tied. His bearing and expression told her he was proud and confident, but she reflected he must have passed through some years and fires to acquire it. She inquired into his age and he answered, and she was surprised and more than a little shocked. It was not Nakina's way to tell lies, but when he asked hers, she subtracted five years from her own to match his. There was no indication that he disbelieved her, but his trust stung her conscience – men were supposed to be a little older than the woman he bedded. Nakina was learning that things were not the same in the outside world.

Finally they finished the meal and Michael drove her back. When they arrived, he said to her: "Would you like to come and stay with me?"

****************

Two months went by, and the apartment changed to reflect a new, more feminine, presence. Such a sight greeted Michael as he came in for the afternoon. Nakina had risen to greet him as he came in and her smile was incredibly beautiful. She returned to her seat where she had been. Michael's assessment of her intellect had been accurate – she was now quite able to read more complex texts and her speech was almost perfect in both languages. Unfortunately other's had not been so convinced, as he had found out when he had tried to inquire into better paid jobs for her. His only relief was that things were slowly changing in the world.

Nakina had been nervous during the first few weeks, fearing that he would tire of her and tell her to leave. It had not happened. Michael always seemed happy to see her and his desire for her never seemed to wane. Nor had hers remained the same, but had grown to almost match his own insatiable appetite. He watched her for a while, until he deemed her interest in the book was waning, and then he came to her, nuzzling at her neck from behind. She was used to this now and leaned her head to grant him access to a longer stretch, having come to understand that her scent was an aphrodisiac to him, and she was no longer embarrassed when he breathed close to her.

They were quickly undressed and quickly in bed, and though they could not tell, that bed had the faint scent of sweat and sex. Upon that bed, they made for a strange couple; he athletic and slim and she plumply voluptuous. Though being larger of body than him, she discovered he was surprisingly strong, and now he used that strength to wrestle her down – the strength merely a symbol of his masculinity and her submission the measure of her femininity.

Soon he was between legs and sliding lower, his head seeking the mound of her sex. She had resisted it at first, but now had come to crave this erotic tantalisation of her body. Her heavy legs were seductively draped about his shoulders, but she struggled against the hands that held her own down, allowing for the movement of only her head and torso. It was only part of the play to excite him, and soon it subsided when she began to gulp for breath.

Michael had settled into this, always intent that she should experience one climax. He teased with his tongue, parting the black velvet lips to reveal the quivering pink flesh beneath. She had learned to trim and shave, but he forbade her remove it all; the powerful musk between her legs was powerfully arousing to him. When she struggles grew weak and her body writhed, he would release her so that he could also pleasure her further with his fingers.

At times their lovemaking was lazy, at other times fierce. Love made their sex tender, difficult days brought lustful struggle. Now that she had access to sex for pleasure, Nakina spared no effort in her free time to explore carnal secrets with her white lover. Though a seasoned partner, Michael did not deny her anything in this regard – he was eager as she, for no woman of paler complexion had provided such intense sexual intimacy as had Nakina's ebon embrace. He was not sure why he desired her, only that she inspired him to climb to greater heights, and at any rate, he rarely thought about the existence of other women now.

Nor was their relationship merely carnal. Every day, every hour they spent together heightened their feelings towards each other. If they were not spending their hours in bed, they were always in each others company, performing simple daily routines together or reassuring each other with gentle touches. Moments of frustration were few and far between, and anger had not raised its ugly head. For his part, Michael was contented and happy, but Nakina carried a sadness that she would not be able to fulfil her duty as a woman for him.

What they didn't know was that their time of bliss was running short.

****************

One day, near the end of their third month together, Nakina returned home to find Michael speaking on the phone. His voice was calm, but his face was frowning. He set the phone down with a perfunctory "I understand."

"Is everything alright Michael?" she asked in the soft voice he loved.

He pushed his hair back, smiled and gave a sigh. "Family business. It seems I have been nominated to represent the family in an overseas venture. They require my presence for an extended period."

"Do you not want to go?" she asked, thrilled that he would rather remain with her.

"Usually I wouldn't mind. But this requires my attention for two whole months – and I can't think of a single viable excuse to say no."

Nakina felt the bitter stab of disappointment. Two months. It felt painful when he was absent for three days. However, as an outsider, she did not want to interfere with anything pertaining to his family. She looked him over, appreciating his furrowed brow that sought a way to delay the trip, or lessen the ache of separation. With a probing kiss, he left her three days later – the maximum delay he could manage to the trip.

Occupying herself every day, the weeks went by quickly and she learned more in the ways of independent living. There were new dishes to learn, new additions to be made to their abode, and without Michael's presence she also learned the pleasure her own fingers could bring. There was no substitute for his touch, and often she would await his daily calls, to describe what she wished of him in the quiet dark of the night, her cheeks flushed with hot shame and burning desire. She reflected that her somewhat immobile lifestyle, and the fact that Michael was not present to make her sweat, was causing her to gain weight. Perhaps being indoors for too long was also the cause of her dizzy spells.

Michael came back, not a day or nor an hour later than he was due. Nor did he waste time returning to his proper home as he should have. He came straight from the airport to his love-nest, wherein awaited a nest of a different sort, one much more delectable than a simple nest of concrete and furniture. It was half past two in the morning and she was asleep. He had a sudden desire to strip, toss the duvet from her body and make her squeal, but he felt begrimed and tired after the trip and so delayed it in favour of a steaming hot shower.

Emerging fresh and fully awake, he stood at the side of the bed, naked and pale. For a moment he waited above the covers, reconstructing her dark body in his mind, challenging himself to abstain, failing embarrassingly. The fiery enthusiasm had cooled, but not his desire, so he slowly eased himself beneath the sheets, pressing his pale flesh against the hot black of hers. Arousal was almost instantaneous and his erection prodded proudly against her dark fleshy cheeks.

Was she asleep? Her burning slit, slippery and wet, seemed to suggest that she was not, but she did not respond when he began to caress her hips. Michael could not have known that her fingers had induced this condition only half an hour earlier – Nakina had learned to pleasure herself only after he had left: he had never seen her do so during their time together.

Perhaps she was tired. Not wanting to disturb her, he gently slithered into her clutching depths, with the intent of falling asleep within her in this erotic posture.

"Michael?" she groaned, as she awoke to the invasion of her body. Her buttocks squirmed against him and he gripped her waist to pull himself further inside.

"I have returned, my love." he whispered huskily as he penetrated her as deeply as her body would allow, and began to caress her thighs.

She curled her legs and stretched her body with abandon, her arms thrown over her head, and, having set her in motion, his hand began to wander higher to prepare her for the act of love. "Michael, I want you, I need you." she moaned softly.

"I'm here, ma Cherie," he whispered. He grasped her hips and began a slow tantalising rhythm, feeling every inch of the slippery silk of her depths as she glided over him. Her groans encouraged him to bolder action and he began to praise her body with hands, sliding across her smooth hips and felt the curve of her abdomen.

That wandering hand froze. The swell of her belly, once soft and chubby, now felt stretched and tight under his fingertips. He explored more fully with a circling inspection of his palm. It made sense of course – from the very first day there had not been a moment where they had utilised any form of protection, and his seed had never gone to waste. This was the inevitable conclusion to their passion: his child safely nestled within her womb. Yet she was to surprise him again.

The sudden change of motion had caught her attention and she twisted about to look at him. Her lazy smile said she saw nothing out of the ordinary.

"Forgive me," she murmured sleepily, "but it seems I have not been getting enough exercise whilst you were gone, and appear to gotten a little fat."

He was more than a little dumbstruck and searched her face for a sign she was making a joke, but it seemed she was quite serious. She could feel his searching eyes in the gloom and fidgeted a little nervously. Michael himself was a bit at a loss. "Nakina, what do you mean by fat? You are heavy with child."

"With child?" she said, somewhat wide-eyed and her voice a little thin.

He could not credit this coming from someone like Nakina. "You're pregnant."

Nakina looked at him blankly for a moment. Then her eyes rolled back and she fainted for the first time in her life.

****************

When she regained consciousness, the familiar softness of Michael's bed was gone. Instead, the bed she found herself upon was hard and narrow, and there was a scent of medicine in the air. A drip was attached to her arm and she understood that she was in hospital. Why was she here? Michael had returned... late in the night it seemed, and...

Looking down, she touched her swollen belly. It all made so much sense now, yet she had genuinely thought it was just some extra weight. How was this possible? She searched desperately for some dim memory, but couldn't remember any such event, and she felt tearful. The last time she had done so, seemed impossibly long ago. The door to the room opened to admit Michael, who upon seeing she was awake, came quickly to her side. Why would he smile in such a situation? He took her hand as he sat at her bedside.

"It appears that sudden tension combined with low blood sugar caused you to faint," he said, giving her hand a quick squeeze. "It nothing serious – they'll keep you for observation and you'll be out at the end of the day."

"Michael," she began, squeezing back strongly, "I'm sorry. I don't know who it was. Believe me, I've tried to remember, but I just don't know!"

Disturbed by her tears and this revelation, Michael moved closer. "Who, Nakina? What is this about? I do not understand your meaning."

"The baby's father!" she cried openly now, "I can't remember anyone except you!"

"But... it's mine. Right?" Michael was confused and uncertain at this point. Although it was a possibility, he doubted Nakina would have been seeing another man. The stage of development was advanced, and surely coincided with the time they had both started seeing each other.

"That's impossible!" she answered, trying to hold back.

"Why?"

Nakina was no less hesitant to discuss such topics than most people might have been. It had been the spice in their relationship, but now it seemed a barrier. There was no way around it however. "Well... its just... you're a European man and I'm a woman from Africa, and..."

Michael almost fell off his chair in surprise at what she was suggesting. He didn't want to laugh at this piece of her innocence, but it finally crept out until she clutched at his arm. "What is wrong?" she asked in alarm.

He told her. It felt more than a little strange to explain something that everyone else would have taken for granted. Was there still places in Africa that thought like that? She seemed to be absorbing it very slowly and he wanted to laugh again.

A small knock on the door announced the presence of the doctor, but he did not come into the room. He was reminding Michael that it would be best if he left for now. Visiting hours be damned, thought Michael and gave her hand another squeeze, "I'll come to collect you later in the day when they discharge you, just bear with it until then."

She nodded her understanding and he touched her cheek before leaving the room. The doctor looked between the two of them and then also left. Nakina relaxed back onto the bed, not caring for prejudice. Her anxiety and fright was draining away, now replaced with dawning contentment, even happiness – it seemed that she would be able to fulfil her role as a woman for him after all. She was only a little embarrassed for her outdated beliefs, of which she was still struggling to shake off the last shreds, and she squirmed at the thought that she was carrying a white man's child in her womb.

The door opened again, shaking her out of her reverie, as a nurse came in to make the rounds. She was a pretty native girl, of average height and caramel skin. They both greeted one another and the girl went straight to looking over the reports and checking her drip and medications.

Whilst the nurse worked, Nakina lay back to think about how their lives were going to change. Again her thoughts were disturbed, when she realised that the girl was scrutinising her closely. Suddenly her eyes lighted up, "Oh! You're the one everyone has been talking about!"

"Talking about?" Nakina asked startled. "What do you mean?"

"Yes! You're the woman whom Michael Ambrose has been seeing – I just saw him leave your room! You are new to the country, yes? God, you're a fast mover! How much has he been paying you per night?"

Nakina was shocked, and at a loss for words. This slip of a girl was mocking her! Despite this, the girl seemed more like an excited child having heard an interesting piece of gossip – her attention was not focussed on Nakina, and now she moved on without waiting for an answer.

She looked down, having just noticed Nakina's expectant condition. Her eyes seemed wide with surprise, and, unless Nakina missed her guess, a hint of envy. "You're already this far along? You must have been milking him for months now, I'm so jealous!"

Leaning in as if to a fellow conspirator, she continued: "You must have made tons off of him by now! I hope you charged extra for letting him have you without protection – I'm amazed he's still around after all of this, most guys would have left the moment they found out... you know, about the baby thing, especially with a black girl. Either he's more responsible than he looks, or you've been driving him so crazy in bed that he doesn't want to let you go! Whichever way, you're going to be set for life."

Finally finding her voice, the nurse-girl stepped back in surprise as Nakina shook her off angrily, "How dare you! I am no such woman as to sell my body for the pleasure of men – Monsieur Michael and I are in a serious relationship!"

"You haven't seriously fallen in love, have you?" came the wide-eyed response. "You're new to this sort of thing aren't you? I'm sorry, but it doesn't quite work that way around here, you are not likely to end up as..."

Nakina cut her off: "How could you take me for some kind of cheap... cheap..." she could not finish the sentence. She understood the concept, but Michael had not been teaching her the more vulgar aspects of the language, and so she lacked the words.

"I'm sorry," said the girl modestly, even genuinely. "I see I went the wrong way about this. Here on Casslan, well, everyone's got their own communities, you know what I mean? White among whites, black among blacks. There's no real trouble between us, thank God; no apartheid or that sort of thing – it's just the way its always been since the colonial era, and everyone tends to stick to that because they figure it keeps things peaceful-like. I guess I mistook you, 'cause the usual reason most of us 'native' girls meet with... 'those' kinds of guys is to, you know, make a little extra. Romance don't really tend to happen, or just falls apart so quickly. When I heard that Michael Ambrose was your, uh, patron, well... 'Michael Ambrose' would be the least likely man on this island to get involved with a, you know, sister. So when I heard, I assumed, probably wrongly, that it was just a, um, financial relationship. I didn't mean no harm."

With this crash-course in the politics of racial entanglement on Casslan, Nakina felt a sense of apprehension regarding Michael. She had spent so much time with him that she hadn't really been examining the working and attitudes of the islands. Lying here without any ability to question him, she could only hope their relationship was not like that. Her attendant finished with her duties and gave her a long hard look, then decided to speak frankly to her.