A month or so after the affair at Leda's castle Clete called and invited me to dinner the next weekend. Casual, we'd do a cook-out on the patio unless the weather was bad, he said. I asked if I could bring a date and Clete sounded a little odd, so I shrugged although he couldn't see it and said I probably wouldn't bother, unless something came a long that was too good to turn down.
Nothing did so here I was walking in the cool of the late afternoon sun up Clete and Marci's driveway, wondering once again what the evening might bring. Just in case, I'd stopped and picked up a big bottle of one of our favorite red wines, a nice smooth Cabernet.
Marci met me at the door with a smile and a big hug that told me she wasn't wearing a bra under the UW sweatshirt. "C'mon in you big lug," she said. "I've missed you. An' I hope you've missed me."
I hugged her back and registered that we'd answered one question that had been nagging at the back of my mind. Marci at least didn't consider our intense sexual encounter at Leda's orgy to be a problem for our ongoing relationship. That was good and at least one part of my anatomy was happy. Unless Clete developed a problem after we'd fucked, I was looking forward to being with Marci again. She was one of the best experiences of my life. "Clete's in the playroom and I'll be there in a mo."
I snagged a cold beer and tromped on down the stairs. There was a game on the big wall-mounted television. I recalled that the last time I'd gone down those stairs to the playroom, Clete hadn't been alone, and he and the two women with him were all naked. But then, so was I.
"Hey, buddy, grab a sofa," he waved me down and in a few minutes we were just a couple of buds hanging out, watching a game and drinking beer. A commercial came on and he muted the sound, rolling up on one haunch so he could look at me. "So, how you doing?"
"I'm doing fine," I said seriously. "But I get the impression maybe there's something going on? Do we have a problem?"
Clete blinked and stared at me for a silent minute. He frowned and then a big smile came and then went. He took a shot from the beer bottle in his hand and nodded to himself. "Oops. You're wondering if I'm okay about the other night. With Marci."
"Well, yeah, because if—"
"Nah, it's cool. I get it. You wanted to bring a date and I sounded kinda cool to the idea, yes?" He grinned. And you thought I was upset because you and Marci connected." He grinned again and made a circle with thumb and finger and jacked the neck of the bottle in and out a couple of times. There was no mistaking his meaning. "Nah, we're very cool. Marci says you are one fine lover. I hadda put my foot down tonight. She wanted to greet you at the door naked and jump your bones immediately. But I told her we needed to talk first and fuck later."
I shook my head. Clete was not being particularly clear. But I was getting the message that our relationship was okay. That was a relief.
Marci came into the room just then and plopped down in the big chair with her husband. She whacked him on the hip and said, "Slide over, ya lug. Give me a little room here." He did and she slid lower beside Clete. Her sweatshirt pulled against her breasts and I could see the outline of a nipple where it lay against Clete's hip. Clete saw me looking and grinned again.
"The reason we wanted you to come alone is because we think you are ready for the next step." Marci looked at me seriously and fiddled with her nipple through the cloth. I was starting to get an erection. "The thing at Leda's is pretty rare, and it's really not our scene, not to mention it costs a lot of money when you add it all up.
"We have our own group, it's kind of an adventure group. You already know that Clete and I have a sort of an open marriage. But we're really swingers."
"That means we don't fuck around except together," Clete said. "There are lots of ways to do that and we want to try most of them."
"The biggest problem is people's attitudes," Marci went on. "So most swingers seem to gravitate into tight groups of folks they can all trust. That works well until the group changes in some way. Our group had just lost three people and it's only eight to start with. So you can think of this as a recruiting conversation."
I was surprised. Stunned maybe. To collect myself I drained my beer bottle down my throat. When I looked over at Clete he was nodding. "Nice, right down the gullet. You should try a dildo." He chuckled. The kitchen timer dinged and Marci struggled up. "Continue without me," she said.
"Thing is this, normally we'd be looking for another couple or two. But it takes a long time to be sure before we approach someone. I hope you realize that if you say no, that's okay but you have to promise not to tell anyone about this conversation."
"I get it. Not a problem. Even though I'm single, you want me to join your group. Even though you know I also don't have a lot of experience."
"Oh yeah, that's why we made sure you'd be at our last party and wangled you an invitation to Leda's."
Clete went on to explain that both he and Marci were vouching for me which helped and there was another reason. For years I'd been a good amateur photographer as they both knew and I even did some video weddings for relatives. They'd turned out pretty good so people knew about me. Clete and Marci's group was excited by the possibility of building a library of their activities. Marci hollered down that dinner was ready and to come up. We continued our conversation at the dinner table, downing my wine and another bottle as well.
"So you want me to run cameras at your parties while all you lechers have an orgy. Is that it?"
