It was my own fault. After all, I suggested we walk home that night instead of grabbing a cab. Who would have thought a twenty minute walk could be so dangerous?

Alexei and I had eaten dinner at that new overrated trendy place on Melrose then dropped in for a drink or three at the Baja Joint. By the time we left there we were feeling no pain, which is why the decision to walk back to my place seemed to make so much sense at the time.

I'd only known Alexei a couple of weeks at that point. He was a recent emigre from Russia, newly divorced and just out of the closet. He was a gorgeous Slavic hunk at six foot one, two twenty with dirty blond hair and the most incredible green eyes I'd ever seen on anyone. He'd never been in a gay relationship before and his quiet naivete was damned near as arousing as his perfect bod and nine inch cock.

Not that I was some kind of relationship expert mind you. I'd always been a cruise hound up to this point, I mean why settle for one cock when you can sample a dozen, right? But there was something about Alexei that was making me reconsider my stance and frankly I was getting a little scared by the feeling.

Alexei must have sensed some of my ambivalence and he'd been bugging me all night to talk about it. The time hadn't seemed right so I put him off.

Then we walked home.

It was a cloudy, cool California night so the streets were nearly empty but that didn't bother me. I'd walked this particular way home a dozen times without incident.

For all Alexei was new to gay relationships he was an open friendly guy and as we strolled down the dark street back toward the village he threw his arm around my waist and tucked one big hand into my jacket pocket. I slid my arm under his coat and let my hand ride on his hip, occasionally slipping down to rub the mound of his ass through his tight jeans, anticipating the evening to come.

My street was dark. Two streets light burned out. Shit. Seemed like nobody in city hall wanted to fix anything anymore. Dark streets that smelled of dog shit and car oil. And this was supposed to be a trendy neighborhood?

Two shadows detached themselves from the badly trimmed hedge that marked my neighbor's property and before I knew what was happening I had been yanked away from Alexei and my arms were pinned behind my back.

"Hey --"

I never saw what hit me. Someone's fist I guess. A sudden explosion of light and pain then I stumbled back onto the sloping lawn and tripped on the uneven grass. Alexei was yelling but he was doing it in Russian so I couldn't understand a word he was saying.

The two muggers, if that's what they were, were yelling too. In English. Ugly words. Faggot. Fudge packer. The usual narrow minded garbage you get from a certain class of homophobe. A boot connected with my knee and more pain shot through me. I rolled away from it. I could hear grunting and flesh hitting flesh. I couldn't make out more than shadowy forms. No way to tell which one was Alexei.

"Alexei!"

Then the ugly hate-filled words stopped, replaced by more loud grunts and roars of pain. I scrambled to my feet and waded in but by the time I got there the two punks were in full flight. I only managed to kick one in the butt on his way by. I started to run after them but Alexei stopped me.

"Let them go, Nick. Is not important anymore, da?"

I was panting and dancing around, on a pure adrenaline high, but Alexei got me aimed back toward my place and taking the key from my shaking fingers opened the door. He shoved me inside, and closed and locked up behind us.

"Are you okay?" he asked when I fell into the kitchen chair and put my head in my hands. I was shaking, coming down now and realizing how close we had come.

Alexei knelt in front of me. There was a crust of blood on his silk shirt and a thin dribble of red streaked down from his chin. He grabbed my shaking hands.

"Oh God, who the hell were those guys?" I said, fighting the tears that welled up in my eyes. No way I wanted to cry now. I was too damned mad to cry.

"Angry punks," Alexei said. "Fools."

I touched his chin, lightly stroking the shallow cut. "Are you okay?"

"Sure. Is nothing - just scratch. You on other hand," he gently ran his fingers over the side of my face. I winced. "Are not so well. You are going to have, how you say, a shiner."

I loved Alexei's accent. I could listen to him talk for hours - though usually I got so turned on I didn't last hours. Now I just clung to him and didn't want him to let me go.

But he pushed up from the kitchen table and disappeared into the hall leading to the bathroom. Returned a few minutes later with aspirin, a wet clothe and a tube of antiseptic cream. We cleaned each other up and by then I was completely down from my adrenaline high and yawning awkwardly. Alexei helped me to my feet.

"Come," he said. "Is time to rest."

Too tired to argue I followed him and lay down on my king size bed fully clothed. I closed my eyes, felt Alexei sit beside me. Opened them to watch him. I never got tired of watching him. Or of wanting him.

"Alexei --"

He put his finger on my lips. "Sleep, Nicky. Tomorrow --"

I groaned. Instantly Alexei leaned over me, alarmed.

"You are hurt somewhere else? You must tell me. Do you need a doctor --"

"Yes," I managed to gasp. I grabbed his right hand and pressed it against the bulge of my rigid cock, feeling myself pulse under his fingers. "I'm hurting bad. You can't leave me like this. Not in this condition."

Suddenly Alexei's face changed. He grew serious, frowning. But I could see the smile underneath.

"Yes? Is bad?" Alexei said. "I must see what I can do about this..."

He leaned over and dropped an open mouth kiss on the side of my mouth. His tongue came out and teased my lips but when I opened them and tried to kiss him back he moved away, sliding his mouth alongside my cheek. He nuzzled my ear, nibbling on my earlobe and heat pooled in my already rock hard dick.

At the same time he teased open the top button of my cotton shirt. His lips moved down, exploring the skin he had exposed. I groaned and curled my fingers through the layers of dirty blond hair. Urging him down. Wanting to bury my cock in his hot wet mouth.

But whatever Alexei was doing it wasn't giving me the blow job I wanted. With excruciating slowness he eased open the second button. On the third one he finally exposed my chest and with the same deliberation circled one nipple with his mouth, sucking on the super hard nub and rubbing it with his tongue. He scraped it lightly with his teeth and I nearly jumped off the bed, grinding my hips into empty air.

I groaned his name and he moved to the other nipple. Giving it the same careful treatment. I was writhing on the bed now, my hands knotted into fists on the duvet, my muscles standing out like cords of exposed wires.

He opened another button then a fifth. My cock was leaking pre cum so heavily the front of my jeans were soaked with it. I tried to reach for my own dick, unable to bear the pressure any more. He grabbed my hands and held them at my side, while his mouth worked me over everywhere there was bare skin. I went back to clutching the duvet. He slipped the top button of my jeans open. I cried out.

The zipper slid down of its own accord as my cock seemed to fly out. I don't know if I'd ever been this hard. Or this close to exploding with absolutely no stimulation at all.

Alexei undid the last button on my shirt and in one move ripped the jeans off me and threw them on the floor. I hadn't worn underwear that night and my seven inch dick bounced off my stomach muscles, seeming to reach for Alexei's mouth.

Instead he opened my legs and knelt between them. I nearly screamed when he took one of my balls in his hot mouth. He sucked on it and rolled the scrotum around in his mouth then went to work on the other one.

I was moaning his name now, a regular mantra of need.

He ran his tongue, thick with saliva, up my uncut tool and circled the head, pushing back the foreskin. Then he swallowed me. My hips jerked and I plunged my dick down his throat. I could feel his muscles working as he swallowed me, suppressing the gag reflex as he took the whole thing into him in a single move.

I fucked his face savagely. I was beyond thought, beyond anything but raw lust. I shot my load so abruptly it burst out of him, dribbling down his chin even as he sucked and swallowed and lapped it up. It kept coming, a flood of jism that I didn't think would ever stop. I was drained. Empty.

I must have passed out. I vaguely remember Alexei pulling the duvet up over us, as he snuggled up behind me arms wrapped around me as though they would never let me go. I fell asleep to the feel of his gorgeous hard body pressed into mine. God how I wanted him to --

I blinked awake. The burnished sunlight of a new day was streaming through the open windows of my bedroom. Outside I heard the dim traffic from the boulevard. A bird called from a nearby tree.

But that barely registered. All my senses were locked on the unbelievably exquisite feel of my legs being dragged open and a hot wet mouth being pressed against my hole.

Alexei had never rimmed me before. I'd had the pleasure of doing him a few times and knew how much he loved it. But until now he'd never shown any sign of wanting to reciprocate.

Now he dove into it like a seasoned pro. His tongue pushed and probed, digging into my hole with an enthusiasm I matched with my loud cries of lusty enjoyment.

"Oh fuck yes! Alexei, fuck, oh fuck, yes!!"

Then he replaced his tongue with a finger and I opened my legs wider, wrapping them around his shoulders as he popped a second finger into me.

He leaned over me, his green eyes alight with passion. "Look what I have kept for you, Nicky. From last night."

And I felt the thick lube covered head of his cock pressed against my now ready hole. He eased in, pushing past the ring of muscle and rocking into my tight, dark ass. I rose up to engulf him and he braced himself against my shoulders as he began to move. Slowly at first, going in a little further each time. Soon, Alexei was sliding his steel hard cock all the way in, using long measured strokes against my prostrate to drive me to a frenzy. I rose to meet him, pulling his head down to kiss him, my hands capturing his ass and trying to draw him in even further.

The tempo increased and he began to ride me hard, the gentle Alexei gone in the face of this wild-eyed passionate brute. I matched him stroke for stroke urging him on with whimpers and moans of delight. He began to gasp and groan. The room was filled with the hot musky smell of man scent and the sounds of passion out of control. The bed rocked as his body slammed into mine again and again. I couldn't get enough. I wanted him harder and faster.

The tide of passion rose within each of us inexorably. Unable to resist, Alexei pounded into me, giving in to my hoarse demands, harder, faster, deeper and deeper, his movements becoming more urgent, less coordinated. I matched his need with my own, gripping him, riding him like he was some great wild stallion.

"Nicky, Nicky." He buried his face against my throat, biting the skin of my carotid, tasting me. Crying my name, again and again. His cock throbbed and he gasped, grabbing my hips in his big hands hard enough to leave bruises. I could feel his hot cum shooting out of him, pouring into me in hot pulsing loads of release.

Then I came, my cum splashing over my sweat slicked stomach, over his chest and abdomen. His mouth came down on mine, releasing a final gasp of need. He collapsed on top of me and I held him in trembling arms.

Knowing now I loved him with a passion I had never felt before. Knowing I wanted to be with this man for the rest of my life.

"Alexei," I murmured against his damp chest. "We need to go walking more often."

He laughed, a rich powerful sound that raised my soaring spirits even higher. I nibbled at the skin of his throat, all too aware of the pulse beating there. Feeling his heart beat slow and grow calm against my chest. Knowing it wouldn't take much to get it racing again.

"Alexei," I said again.

"Yes, Nicky."

"I love you. Will you marry me?"

"Ah, Nicky," my Slavic hunk sighed. "I thought perhaps you would never ask."