I nodded.
“So, we must consider. I want you to understand that for me the way we have been tonight is important. If we are to continue, that will always be the basis of our sexual relationship. But outside that, you will find me generous, supportive, courteous. Loving, if you will allow me to say that. The choice is yours.”
“But how can we continue?”
“Very easily. You do not need Jeremy. You do not need your work. Come with me. I can support us both. We will travel – I have interests in many parts of the world. And we will explore our – relationship. It has many possibilities you may not yet realise.”
It was direct Nikos again. Confronting a situation head on. “How soon must I decide?”
“Now. You don’t have to but why delay? And what is your choice? To go back to Jeremy and a life where every day will be same, or to join me at the beginning of a journey of discovery. Tonight you have made only the first step.”
I knew there could only be one answer. I asked to be left alone while I telephoned Jeremy. The conversation wasn’t easy but at least it was short. As gently as I was able, I told him of my decision, that I had found someone who could give me what he never could.
“Sex,” he said.
“Among other things.”
“Sex,” he said. When I didn’t respond, he shouted, “Filthy, dirty slut!” and slammed down the phone.
Nikos listened to my account and took me to bed where he held me in strong arms for a long while. Eventually, he asked, “Can you sleep?”
“In a while. But first I want you to fuck me. It doesn’t have to be like before, but tell me what you want and I will do it. Let this be the real beginning. Only one condition. No matter how long you make me wait, no matter what things we do together, always let me come. Don’t ever leave me on a high.”
“I accept,” he said softly. “Now open for me. This will be short and hard. You will come and I will come inside you. You are taking the contraceptive pill or shall I use a sheath?”
“It’s all right. I want to feel you inside me, the real you. Be as hard as you like.”
The following morning I waited until I knew Jeremy was at work, went back, collected my passport and a minimum of personal items and left for good. I telephoned my office to say I was resigning and a letter would follow. Nikos gave me a large sum of money and sent Stavros with me in the Bentley. The chauffeur waited while I bought virtually a whole new wardrobe with a wide range of decorative and provocative underwear. Nikos had told me that it would play an important part in what was to follow.
He also told me something of his background. He had inherited his father’s small shipping business, sold it and diversified. Until he was forty, he devoted every waking hour to multiplying his fortune. Then he liquidated the majority of his interests and embarked on a life of sensuous pleasure. There had been other women – still were other women. I would meet some of them, become involved with them, but I would be the only one central to Nikos’s life.
The interests he had retained were in a series of luxury hotels all round the world. They were not a chain but each manager was trained to recognise a certain type of wealthy client. They would then be offered a card which would be their entrée to the other establishments Nikos controlled.