It was not difficult for Tom to identify the couple he had come to meet, and likewise, the man of the pair had pegged Tom almost immediately. He made a half-waving gesture in Tom's direction. The woman---the man's wife---did not turn around. Tom gestured back with an upraised finger indicating "one minute".
Tom walked to the bar and ordered a drink, keeping his back to the pair that waited for him to join them. He hadn't been in this bar in years, but it still felt stylish---cool, blue neon lighting---not dark. It must have been quite hip back then, but now the few patrons that occupied the hotel lounge were 40- to 50-somethings---upscale, but decidedly not hip. Tom could see the man talking to his wife in the mirror above the bar. He paid the bartender, sipped the drink she left behind, and pulled off his jacket. A t-shirt and jeans were too casual for this bar, but not too casual for the meeting that brought him and the couple to this place. He left his jacket on the back of a bar stool, and walked with his drink to the booth where the waiting couple sat. Tom could see the husband communicating to his wife that he was approaching.
He stood up from the booth and extended his hand. "Tom? Good to meet you," he said in a slightly too upbeat voice.
"Hello Richard," Tom responded, shaking his hand. "Good to meet you finally."
"Tom, this is Emily," he said gesturing toward his still seated wife. She smiled a forced half-smile.
"Hi Emily---pleasure to meet you." He extended his hand to her and she reluctantly reciprocated, the smile still frozen on her mouth. He shook her limp hand gently, and then held it for a moment longer than was comfortable. Tom stared intently at her before he released it.
"Well...uh...let's sit down and talk a little bit Tom," Richard said. He slid into his wife's side of the booth and extended his arm along the back of the seat behind her. Tom sat down where Richard had been and faced his new acquaintances. They made small talk for several moments---Tom and Richard that is. Emily sat silent---not withdrawn, but assiduously avoiding Tom's eyes by alternately looking at her drink and her husband. He recognized this period of inane but necessary banter with the eager---and anxious---husband; he understood the mute and doubly anxious wife. It was more than ice breaking. Richard---unconvincingly assertive in the exchange---was maneuvering for control ahead of the real conversation they were about to have. Emily deployed passive-resistance to an encounter she did not need or want. Tom had participated in this script several times before and had his role well rehearsed by now---relaxed but attentive; empathically responsive; interested but not prying. There was no need for him to rush the process. Richard, like all of the husbands, would become impatient with his own chit-chat and find an awkward segue to the business at hand. Emily might let her guard down if he maintained an unhurried, no-pressure manner. She had, he was sure, received plenty of pressure from Richard already.
To say that Richard and Emily was a handsome couple would be too generous---above average appearance perhaps, but not striking as a couple or individually. They were a middle-aged couple. Richard, perhaps athletic years ago, carried the excess pounds typical for a man his age; that, and gray thinning hair, put him close to 50. Emily had maintained a more fit physique than her husband. She wore stylishly short hair, too auburn to not be dyed, and sleek glasses. He had seen her before, in a vacation-photo attached to a clandestine email from Richard sent to entice his attendance at this meeting. The poolside picture of a modestly breasted woman with full thighs and ass, in a bathing suit too risqué for a middle aged wife, had indeed piqued his interest. Tom liked that fact that she looked so comfortable in the revealing suit---the kind of comfort afforded only by a distant Caribbean resort and a few marguerites. She was not a natural beauty, but he found her shapely form and confident smile attractive. He had revisited the photo several times prior to tonight's meeting, closing in on the uniquely pretty face sporting sunglasses and large earrings. Richard had asked him to keep his possession of the image a secret.
"You know, Tom...uh...in your email you said you've done this a couple times." Richard was ready to move to the main course now.
"Yes, a few times," Tom responded, offering a low estimate. He probed lightly, "Have you had any experience with this before?"
"Well, no," Richard said. "We did get as far as meeting once with another guy---recently---and it just didn't feel right. Hard to say why, but we both agreed---me and Emily that is---we both agreed that it just wasn't a match. Right baby?" For the first time he sought to include Emily in the conversation, resting his hand on her shoulder as if to demonstrate their alliance.
"Yes", she said. "I guess so---kind of creepy." She looked at Tom for the first time. Tom smiled understanding. This was a good sign---she had divulged some critical information about another prospect---she had determined that he (Tom) was
not
creepy.
Richard chuckled, "Yeah, kind of creepy." He cleared his throat as if to indicate an important admission was coming. "We did a little swinging several years ago, but we haven't really done anything in a long time. We didn't really swap that much---two or three times with a couple we met. It was fun, but we just didn't pursuit it very long. Just a thing."
"Yeah, I know," Tom said. "This kind of stuff is very idiosyncratic---very difficult to find people that you trust and that you click with. There are so many variables that have to work. It's hard."
"Exactly!" Richard responded with animated appreciation. "It is so difficult to meet the right people."
Tom had scored a direct hit and took the opportunity to advance the agenda.
"I know we discussed a bit about this in our emails, but maybe you can tell me a little more about what you and Emily are looking for." Tom deployed a therapist's look of earnest concern as he dropped the confessional ball totally in Richard's court. Tom knew he would run with it.
"Well, I...we..." he looked at Emily and then back to Tom. "I guess really it's my fantasy...um...to see Emily with another man." Upon this admission Emily reflexively lifted her glass to her mouth and gulped a drink. Richard looked at Emily again. Tom could see them both flush simultaneously. It was quiet for several seconds. He intervened while Richard was back on his heels.
"So you'd like Emily have sex with another man while you watched?" Tom asked as if to clarify the obvious.
Richard nodded, "Yeah I guess that's really it. Emily knows that I've been turned on to the whole---ah, you know---cuckold thing. And I think with the right guy I could really get into that. I think Emily would like it..."
"I don't know," Emily interjected before he could complete his sentence. "I don't know."
Richard moved to squelch her reluctance. "Honey, don't get so anxious---we had fun with Chris and Gene---it's not that different."
Tom took this as his cue to ally himself with Emily and, at the same time, offer some titillating details to fuel Richard's fantasy. "Well Richard, actually, other than the presumption that everyone consents, it really isn't much like swinging at all---I think that's the term you used. This is quite different and I think it may be helpful to Emily if I tell you what I would be looking for if we decide to move ahead."
