Max and Ren broke out laughing as soon as they saw each other. Liesel and Max were waiting in the lobby when Ami and Ren walked up. The two women looked at each other trying to figure out what was going on.
"We should have known," Ren said.
"It makes perfect sense," Max agreed.
"What?" the two women asked in unison, both totally confused by the conversation their husbands were having.
"Max and I met in the bar earlier today," Ren explained.
"We both knew our wives had found new friends, we just didn't know who," Max continued.
They all laughed at the serendipity of it all, and headed to Max's car for the trip to the restaurant.
The restaurant was perfect, sitting high on a cliff overlooking the harbor. They sat at a table beside the old fort wall with a perfect view of the setting sun sinking into the ocean.
They decided to swap, so to speak, with Ren and Liesel sitting side-by-side and Max and Ami together. The two women were across from each other.
Max and Liesel were regulars at the restaurant, and all the wait staff knew them.
"Do you like seafood?" Max asked them both.
"We love it," Ami said.
"Good. Then if you'll trust me, we'll order our favorite. It's not on the menu. It's something Liesel came up with one day, and the staff has been serving it to us ever since. It's a seafood platter with basically every item on the menu, plus a couple of grilled lobsters thrown in for good measure."
"Sure, sounds great," Ren said.
They ordered drinks. First they tried something called a Blue Octopus, which was made with the local liqueur Blue Curacao. It wasn't bad and actually had a kick to it. Next, they moved on to the Orange Julius, but not the kind you had as a kid. This one also featured the local liqueur, but this time the orange variety. After that one, they were all feeling pretty good.
Ami asked questions about the history and culture of the island. She and Ren both admitted they were not very knowledgeable about the Dutch, other than being the home of Anne Frank, an active drug culture and the world-famous Red-Light District.
Over lobster, squid, shrimp, octopus and fish, Liesel and Max were able to flesh out their education about the Netherlands and, in particular, Curacao, which was much like a second home to them.
Max asked Ren about his diving trip that morning.
"We dove a couple of great reefs," he said. "First, we went to Kokomo Beach, which I don't think has anything to do with the Beach Boys song, and then headed over to Snake Bay, where I saw a huge moray eel and a couple of lionfish."
"Are you going again tomorrow?" Max asked.
"Yeah, I've got it all set up. Why? Do you want to go?"
"I would, actually," Max said. "I was planning to dive on this trip. Lately, it seems I've haven't had time because I'm usually so busy when I come down here. We should see if the guide will take us to the Water Factory. The reef right next to the desalination plant is teaming with fish, and we might see some turtles."
"Awesome! We need to be at the dive shop by 8:30 a.m. Will that work?"
They ordered after dinner drinks with Max and Ren opting for spiked coffee drinks, and the two ladies selecting aperitifs.
"While the boys are looking at fishes, do you want to hang out at the beach again, Ami?" Liesel asked.
"Sure!" Ami said perhaps a little too enthusiastically.
With the subject of the "beach" broached, Ren couldn't help himself.
"So, Liesel, I understand you gave Ami a real hand at the beach this morning."
Max, who was taking a sip of his coffee, snorted and almost spilled it all over himself.
"Yes," Max said, getting into the spirit of things. "I heard they hit it off with quite a bang."
"Come now, Max, we mustn't begrudge their fun in the sun."
"Far be it from me to lift a finger to stop them," Max replied.
Both women gave their men withering stares, but they couldn't keep the pose for long before they started laughing, and then everyone was cracking up and joining in the double entendres.
"You have to admit, Liesel, it was pretty hot out there, huh?" Ami said with a wink.
"It certainly was. You were positively dripping. I'm worried, though, that those beautiful breasts of yours might have gotten a little sunburned. If you need me to come over tonight and rub some lotion on them, I'll be glad to help because that's just the kind of friend I am."
"That's very kind of you," Ami said. "How can I ever repay you?"
"I have a couple of good ideas, she said with a wink, and under the tablecloth, she placed her hand on the inside of Ren's thigh.
With the ice officially broken, the subject turned more directly to sex.
Ami and Ren learned that not only were Max and Liesel swingers, but they also had an open sexual relationship.
"You mean you both openly sleep with other partners aside from swinging?" Ami asked slightly shocked.
"Yes," Liesel said. "Unlike you prudish Americans, Europeans aren't as hung up on sex. We've found that having an open relationship enhances our sex life together."
"But don't you get jealous?" Ren asked.
"I'm confident that Liesel loves me," Max said, looking over at his wife as she took his hand in hers. "We have a mutual trust that's based, not on possession, but on love."
"I won't say we never feel a tinge of jealousy," Liesel said, "but we are open enough to talk to each other about it, and frankly, if one of us becomes uncomfortable with the other's relationship, then we end it."
"Last year," Max continued, "I was seeing a beautiful young college student who we met at a party. She liked to be dominated, which is one of my, umm, turn-ons, if you will. Liesel actually prefers to dominate rather than be dominated, so this student was fulfilling a need for me. I loved how she wanted me to tie her up, spank her and fuck all of her holes. She was quite addictive," he said, a little chagrined.
"A little too addictive for me," Liesel said, with a quick smile to her husband. "I was starting to feel uncomfortable with the time Max was spending with Laurel, and I told him so."
"I ended it the very next day," Max said. "Liesel is too important to me to risk over some stunningly attractive, sexually exquisite, delightfully submissive young woman," he said, smiling broadly as Liesel punched him the arm across the table.
