How it all Began

Nikolaus laughed despite himself. Somehow he had not thought so far ahead about integrating Lauren into Swedish society. For the first time he wondered about the lives of black people in Sweden. If he were honest with himself he would have to admit that he didn't number any of them among his friends. Now he wanted to marry a black woman? When did his life become so complicated?

"You find that funny? I tell you it was like pulling teeth!" Ari declared. "My little one is stubborn and she has no idea about the phenomenal amount of potential that she has. Make no mistake, Mr. Lundborg, if I do not think that you are the man for her, the one to continue to allow her to thrive, I will not let you have her. I have a very good man in South Africa. I had actually come here to get her ready for him. I have other options in North America and in Europe; men whom she already knows. I will instruct her to go to one of them after I'm gone if you do not step up to the plate. Do you understand this?"

So there it was, out in the open at last. In a way, Nikolaus felt relieved to have the threat out in the open. He knew that he had only a little time left or his dream could be grabbed from his grasp. He had no intention of letting that happen. Nearly dead or not, Ari Simonian was fighting for continued control of his wife's life. Nikolaus had been a surprise to him but he had taken this in his stride and tolerated his presence. Nikolaus was under no illusion now that the man liked or approved of him or his relationship with his wife. In fact, he was willing to bet that Ari hated him with a passion. Ari had just taken the strategic path to eliminating him as competition.

Nikolaus had no intention of going quietly. He reflected on this for a few moments, leaving Ari's question unacknowledged. It was sad really; he could have become one of the man's disciples. In fact, he very nearly became one. Now, he was cast in the role of the beta wolf ready to challenge the alpha while other innumerable alphas lurked hidden in the bushes, watching. He couldn't even be sure that they would honour his right to his prize even if he won her fair and square. Nikolaus made up his mind in that instant. He was ready to return to Sweden; and by God he was going to take Lauren home with him when he left.

"I understand perfectly, Ari," Nikolaus said quietly.

Lauren noticed the tension in the air as soon as she entered her home. She tried to ask Nikolaus quietly what had happened because she had left her two gentlemen in such a good spirit only four hours before when she went to teach her class and pick up a few supplies from the supermarket. Nikolaus was torn. He wanted to talk with her but didn't know what to say... he didn't think that "I suspect that your husband is capable of killing us both and I think that he'd rather do that than allow us to be together" would go down well with her.

The thought that Nikolaus may have upset Ari made Lauren very angry with him and she asked Nikolaus to leave. He refused and it was in trying to calm her that he really kissed her for the first time. This was not the lust-laden demand for her mouth, but rather a sweet comforting plea in which he managed to convey his love and longing for her. Lauren's eyes opened wide! Message received! Her breath became shallow and she tried to pull away from him, but he held on to her in a bear hug and kissed her hair tenderly.

Nikolaus was horrified to hear Lauren sob into his chest! He held on to her anyway, and allowed her to pour out her grief at watching her husband slip from her grasp. He continued to hold her even after he looked up from one of his kisses to see Ari Simonian watching them both coldly.

"Lauren asked you to leave, Mr. Lundborg," Ari said pointedly.

"She's just upset because of your illness," Nikolaus said defensively. "Both of us are," he added as an afterthought.

Nikolaus realised that remaining in this man's good graces, however tenuously, was his only chance.

"Look why don't the two of you spend some time together and let me cook you a nice dinner this evening," Nikolaus offered. Lauren smiled at him gratefully, but he couldn't read Ari's impassive expression. Nikolaus patted Lauren on her back comfortingly, spun her around gently and pushed her encouragingly in the direction of her husband. He watched Ari take her away and winced as he heard their bedroom door close and the key turn in the lock!

It was some five hours before they re-emerged to share in the feast that Nikolaus had prepared for them. They were refreshed and he was relieved to see that the mood of playful bonhomie had been restored.

"I owe you an apology, Mr. Lundborg," Ari said quietly when Lauren excused herself to get them slices of cheesecake and glasses of champagne for dessert.

"My illness makes me irrational. This is what I hate most about it."

"Think nothing of it," Nikolaus smiled, not believing a word of this apology. "And please call me Nikolaus," he reminded Ari, gently.

To be honest, Nikolaus had spent a considerable time at their door listening to the sounds of their lovemaking and whispering. He just wanted to be sure that Lauren was safe. He had no doubt that he was prepared to break the door down if he heard anything suspicious. Guiltily, he had watched them take each other with strap-ons, he had watched Lauren go down on Ari the way in which she had gone down on him. He watched Lauren nurse her husband on her big succulent breasts and role play being his little girl; and finally he watched them sleep, on the security camera when during one of his guilt-ridden breaks he realised that he could no longer hear them.

He had felt like a loser watching them but he couldn't take his eyes off Lauren really making love to someone whom she loved genuinely. Her playfulness and tenderness showed that she was not always a sub and he wanted to see more of that in her. It surprised him greatly that she could sometimes be a Domme and he was definitely interested in that aspect of her sexuality. He only managed to turn the camera off guiltily when he noticed how lovingly they were spooned together. No, Lauren was in no danger at the moment; his spying on her could no longer be justified.

Neither Lauren nor Nikolaus had suspected the extent of Ari's holdings in the Caribbean until he proposed a tour so that he could inspect his properties and decide which they would keep. He had invested heavily in his wife's homeland and so owned several hotels and guest houses, two sugar plantations and one of the more popular tourist attractions. He owned beachfront and mountain top villas on prime Jamaican soil; and, they were told, he had similar holdings in Puerto Rico, St. Barts, the Dominican Republic, Antigua and St. Lucia and was a major player in the manufacturing sector in Trinidad and Tobago.

Lauren was floored! It seemed to her that she did not know her husband at all! Far from being impressed, as impressive as the evidence of his business acumen was becoming, she was hurt by what she interpreted as being his lack of trust in her. She had actually stayed as a guest in some of her husband's hotels! She wondered if his penchant of seeming to know what she was up to in her life was as a result of having actual spies everywhere! She wondered if her job and meteoric rise at the university were as much about her skill as it was about his endowments. She wondered why it was that she was not allowed to live in the same country as him! She wondered who his friends were, and why it was that she knew so few of them.

Nikolaus couldn't believe it of himself when one evening Ari offered Lauren to him unsupervised and he chose to spend the evening chatting with her instead of ravishing her as he dreamed of doing every night after the Simonians had retired and he was left to his own devices. At the end of their time together Nikolaus felt that he had gained a friend and he was even more interested in the woman than he had ever been in anyone.

It was then that the tone of his fantasies changed and he found himself fantasizing about chatting to her across from him at the table in his ancestral home, about swimming with her on the lake at his parents' summer home, about getting up with her at night to comfort their new-born baby! Jeez, he had to get a grip! He even had a name picked out for his son! Jonas! Where did that come from? He wanted a daughter named Paulina and a son named Jonas! And, more than anything, he wanted these children with Lauren!

When he went to bed later that night it didn't take him long to drift off to sleep because he found that he had the sweetest of feelings by just dreaming about driving through the Swedish countryside with Lauren and their children. He couldn't remember being happier.

"I haven't seen you around for a while, Nikolaus," Nardia said accusingly.

"I've been very busy."

"Doing what?"

"I've been trying to sort my life out."

Nikolaus made a decision. He sighed.

"Look, Nardia, this isn't going to work out... You and me, we..."

"You sleeping with Dr. Grant-Simonian?" Nardia's voice became louder and shrill as she became angrier. She began to attract stares from the few patrons in the restaurant.

"Keep your voice down," Nikolaus snapped savagely. "There is no need for a scene. You knew that we weren't going to be forever."

Nardia got up from her chair menacingly.

"Nuh fool wid me yuh know, Nikolaus! Me wi kill har!"

Nikolaus felt a flush of warmth creeping up his neck and into his face. Until recently he hadn't blushed in years; but things really had changed and he found that he did it easily now. He now saw his depraved lifestyle for what it was. He was under no illusion that Nardia's anger was fuelled not by her concern about losing his love, but rather by her fear that his patronage was being withdrawn. He paid for her apartment, her school fees, her books, her clothes; he paid for her life. She was nothing but a very expensive prostitute; very talented, especially with her tongue in his asshole, but a whore nevertheless.

He couldn't even bear to compare her with Lauren and the thought that she was free to call Lauren's name and speak about her offended him greatly. Not for the first time did Nikolaus doubt that he deserved to be part of Lauren's life. The whispers of the onlookers in the restaurant broke into his reverie.

"Look, Nardia, sit down and listen to what I have to say if you want me to continue supporting you," Nikolaus said blandly.

The girl glared at him but she sat down.

"I am leaving you; but I will put enough money in your bank account to pay for your education for another two years. Be sure that you don't fail anything Nardia. I'll pay your rent and utilities for three years and I'll give you money for food and clothes during that time. I don't think that I'm being unreasonable, I'm giving you a year to find your feet after graduation, but after that you're on your own. I will do these things if you meet certain conditions," he paused to ensure that she was listening to him carefully.

"You are never to step up to Dr. Simonian and speak to her about me. You are never to discuss her with your friends. Don't take any of her classes, Nardia. Change your major if you must, but I don't want you anywhere near her; do you understand?"

The girl hesitated. She was obviously calculating her options.

"It's that or nothing," Nikolaus snapped.

Nardia looked at him furiously, but she agreed to his terms.

"Nardia," Nikolaus said quietly. "Listen to me carefully. Don't you fool with me. If I even suspect that you, or any of your friends, are disturbing Dr. Grant-Simonian all this will disappear. You'll find yourself out on the street with only the clothes on your back. Do you understand?"

Nardia stared at him sullenly and then her eyes filled and she began to cry quietly. Nikolaus got up quietly, threw some money on the table to pay for their meals, and walked away.

Nikolaus went back to his own townhouse in New Kingston after leaving Nardia. He thought about going back to Lauren and Ari's place but felt that he had some tying up of loose ends to do, and that this would probably best be handled privately. He felt emotionally drained but relieved that the unpleasant task of breaking it off with Nardia officially was behind him.

It was his first time in his own home in six weeks and his plants looked dead. He'd never cared enough to have a pet so at least he hadn't had that to think about. The place seemed dusty, quiet and lonely. He watered his plants and turned the television on for company.

The noise only made him feel more solitary. He didn't really trust anything in the refrigerator, so he just ordered a pizza. It occurred to him that he wasn't living much of a life if he could just walk away from it for six weeks like that; without even looking back once.

He spent the next half hour making calls while awaiting his dinner. Most of them were to say his goodbyes and thankfully, none of them was as unpleasant as his meeting with Nardia. He had one very important one to make though and he decided to do that after he'd got something in his stomach.

"Hej, it's me," he said softly when the voice answered. "Hur går det? We need to talk... I know, I know..." he laughed, sexily.

God what was he doing? He cleared his throat, nervously, his heart thundering in his chest.

"So, how have you been?"

Even after nearly four years Nikolaus was confused. He wasn't gay and he wasn't bi either, if the failure of his previous attempts to seduce men were anything to go by, so he couldn't understand why it was that his cock still stiffened at the sound of Erik's voice or at the thought of the man. He'd left Sweden frightened by his physical reaction to his best friend nearly four years ago but he had to deal with it squarely now. It was nearly time to go home - regardless of what happened with Lauren - it was time. He couldn't run any longer. He was tired.

Nikolaus and Erik had begun working in the Lundborg conglomerate for Nikolaus' father ten years before. They had been friends since boyhood and regarded each other as the brother he didn't have. True, Nikolaus had an older brother, but when he had moved to Canada to set up his architecture firm away from their father's iron fist, and when his sister also showed little interest in the day-to-day operations of the company, the family had turned to Nikolaus and Erik as the future of the firm.

The young men revelled in the free rein that they were given to introduce new ideas into the company's operations and their resulting meteoric rise when these bore fruit. All seemed well for the first six years until the night of the company's annual Christmas party when Erik had followed Nikolaus into the washroom and given him a blowjob that had resulted in Nikolaus' most intense orgasm until then.

Nikolaus couldn't return to the party that night, nor could he look Erik in the eye when the man came to apologise for what he thought might have happened between them the night before; he couldn't be sure since he had been drunk. Nikolaus' shallow breathing, the fact that he licked his open lips while staring at Erik's mouth and the fact that he backed into the wall at the sight of his friend seemed to be enough to reignite Erik's subconscious; because before he knew what was happening again Nikolaus found himself pressed up against the wall with Erik's erection digging painfully into his thigh and the man's mouth demanding his as if it was his due.

Nikolaus also found himself kissing Erik back hungrily. He never understood that! He had a girlfriend and had thought about marrying her! They had had great sex during the past two years! He had never even looked at a man before in his life and now he was ready to cream his pants because Erik had touched him!

Of course, it wasn't lost on Nikolaus that all this enthusiasm meant that Erik had been thinking about him in this way for a long time. He hadn't noticed anything different about his friend at all before; but it explained why Erik had turned down at least two statuesque blond models who had offered themselves to him! It didn't bother him at all if Erik was gay; they would still be best friends, nothing would change that. He just didn't understand his own reaction. It changed what he thought that he knew about himself.

Nikolaus fled and found refuge in the arms of his girlfriend Lindy. He nearly proposed to her the first time that he'd seen her after sharing that his kiss with Erik but his tongue stuck in his mouth and he just couldn't bring himself to do it. This bothered him greatly; but after trying, and failing on three occasions, he knew that she was not the woman with whom he would spend the rest of his life. He called their relationship to an end and called Erik.

Their brief affair was torrid to say the least. Nikolaus had been right, Erik had been desperate in wanting him for a long time; and now, given the unexpected chance, he was making up for lost time. Erik was insatiable and so Nikolaus found himself in the throes of orgasm more times with Erik than he had with anyone else in his life within the first month of their relationship! Nikolaus objected but capitulated eventually when Erik wanted to take their relationship out into the public domain.

He found the world of Stockholm's gay bars and clubs fascinating but was relieved to find that he wasn't attracted sexually to any of the other patrons. He also found that the assumption made by many, that Erik was topping him, annoying. Erik had never attempted to enter his ass although he'd seen the man look at him speculatively on more than one occasion.

Instead, Erik had laid himself out for Nikolaus' inspection and pleasure on several occasions. Nikolaus had taken him anally several times and couldn't believe how good it felt! Indeed, it was when Lindy had rejected him that way that he had called it off with her. He knew that he would always want to be able to do that with his partner regardless of who that person was. He had seen Ari take Lauren like that on several occasions so he knew that with her he would have nothing to fear.

He also knew that he needed to be with someone who was adept at giving him great oral stimulation; and goodness, Erik could definitely do that! Always a lady, Lindy hadn't produced the ropes of cum and spit that had excited Nikolaus when she was kneeling naked, nursing at his groin.

Erik, and now Lauren, could make him cum just by watching them suck him off. Nikolaus didn't think that he actually needed to feel the sensation of what they were doing; the visual itself was so intense. He loved the way in which they both looked up at him with adoring eyes while they went down on him. He loved the fact that both of them moaned their pleasure at having his steel shaft in their mouths. The extra vibration always made it better for him, and it was something that they could both teach many of the paid escorts that he had known during his exile. Until he had met Lauren, Nikolaus could not remember anyone milking him the way that Erik did. It just didn't add up. He wasn't gay, or regardless of whatever else he had been, a home-wrecker for that matter, but his best lovers had been a man and a dying man's wife!

Nikolaus shook himself out of his reflection back to the present to focus on what Erik was telling him. He was shocked to find that his hand had unconsciously found his cock and was massaging it lovingly. He considered tucking himself away but shrugged his shoulders and continued to give himself pleasure at the sound of his friend's deep baritone voice.

He listened carefully to his friend tell him that he understood that Nikolaus didn't want a relationship with him and that that was okay, he just wanted him to come home so that they could work together as they had done in previous years. Erik told him that his departure was killing his father and resulting in a loss of confidence by their investors and that he felt responsible for that. He offered to leave the company if Nikolaus would just return to Sweden and take up his place at his father's side in the company.