The wedding had been everything we had hoped for and as proud parents of the bride at 51 and 52 years of age we were looking forward to being empty nesters and living a little.
The reception was held in a small hotel just out of town, we were staying overnight and were happy that it was all over; ready to relax in our room and just waiting for the last few guests to leave. The best man Alf, and his friend Ben, were sitting at the bar chatting with the young barmaid, the hotel manager Chas, who we had got to know during the planning of the wedding, was clearing away glasses and we were saying our goodbyes at the door. When the last guest left we joined Alf and Ben at the bar, I said "Not going home then?"
Alf replied, "We were going to but Chas, the hotel manager, has invited us up to his flat for a last drink."
Chas walked over to us and said, "You two are very welcome to join us, Elsa the barmaid is coming, I've got a bottle of malt that will make a nice relaxing end to a busy day."
Helen, my wife said, "All I want to do is sit down and take my shoes off, my feet are killing me. We can go for a drink if you want to Rupert."
The sitting room in the flat was small, the sofa set of a three-seater settee and two matching armchairs set close together around a gas fire almost filled the room. There was a small gap between one of the chairs and the sofa which we squeezed through one at a time, Alf sat on the far chair, then me on the sofa, Helen next to me in the middle of the sofa then Ben next to Helen and Elsa in the other chair. Chas handed full glasses around from behind, sat on the arm of Elsa's chair and said "cheers."
Chas was the perfect host, paying attention to everyone, keeping glasses full, telling jokes and stories such that everyone was soon relaxed and comfortable amid a lot of laughing. Everyone was getting along really well; it is not often that people of our age have very much to do, socially, with younger people but we were all like old friends. The chat got a little risquΓ©, led by Chas who, judging by the touching and nudging, was a little closer to Elsa that employer, employee. Alf told a steamy story about what he got up to on his 18-30 holiday, sex in all kinds of situations and strip poker that finished up as a party with a room full of naked people. I said to Alf, "I wouldn't mind going on one of those holidays. Have you got a brochure?"
In mock rebuke Helen said "Rupert! What about me?"
I said, "OK, OK you can come to the naked party too." It wasn't very funny but we all laughed and laughed, I suppose it was the drink. Chas poured another round of drinks and Helen said.
"Excuse me if there's a smell but I'll have to take these shoes off."
"Hold on a minute." Said Chas, "You can't just take them off," then to Alf, "If this were an 18-30 party you'd have to earn the right to take something off with strip poker, isn't that right Alf?"
Helen said, "If this were an 18-30 party I'd be over twenty years younger, my feet wouldn't be throbbing and I wouldn't need to take my shoes off." We were still laughing at this, as Chas took a pack of cards off the mantelpiece and started dealing them into the lap of each of us, still laughing he said.
"Helen, it's not fair but rules are rules and you can't take your shoes off until you've lost two hands." More laughter, the cards were dealt and the next thing we were all studying our hands.
"What am I supposed to do with these," Helen said to no one in particular, "I don't understand this game." Ben leaned over and said,
"Let me see," he spread her cards out and said, "For someone who doesn't know the game you certainly know how to pick your cards." We all showed our hands and Helen had won, Alf shouted up.
"Point of order Mister Chairman, we need a clothes count before we start."
Elsa giggled and said "Well done Helen, this is my favourite game" and looking excitedly around the room, "We don't count ties or jackets, a shoe and a sock are only one item."
I was still chuckling but had enough wit about me to take stock. Elsa was clearly no novice at this game; she couldn't have been more than nineteen, was trim and looked quite attractive in her uniform white blouse and black skirt, she was coarse and swore quite a bit but so did Helen and I now and again. Alf and Ben were in their early twenties, our new son in law's friends, still wearing their wedding suits and sitting on the edge of their seats as keen as mustard that this game played out to a conclusion. Chas was about our age, fit looking, also wearing a suit, I was beginning to think that he was engineering this little scenario and suspected that he was no stranger to a little after hour's seduction.
Helen, mother of two married daughters, liked a bit of verbal jibing, fun and horseplay, would go topless on the beach in Spain, where everyone else did, but had never been in a situation like this. She had fought to lose weight for the wedding and looked well in a Channel style, little black dress, that was a little short for her and for which she was just a little heavy. Like the others I was wearing a suit and like at least four other people in the room I was enjoying what was happening and what might happen. I was and am an avid literotica story reader, especially Loving Wives, and smelled an opportunity for fantasy and reality to merge, I didn't want to blow the chance but I wasn't about to wreck my marriage by taking a lead. Everyone had had plenty to drink but no one was falling down drunk.
Elsa, who appeared to be the expert continued, "Us girls don't lose our tights until we lose our second shoe, that's fair, isn't it Helen."
Helen said, "I don't know about my tights, I only want to take my shoes off." This caused a roar of laughter all around and Helen was laughing with the best of them.
Elsa said, "Don't worry you are winning and all it means is that when your second shoe comes off you take your tights off too, that will be even more comfortable."
We all laughed some more, everyone took a shoe or shoe and sock off. "Not you Helen!" yelled Chas as Helen bent down to undo her shoe, "Not until you lose a hand." More laughing and Chas started dealing again.
"Hey what about the clothes count," said Alf.
Elsa started us off chanting, "Two shoes, blouse, skirt, bra and pants that's six."
Then Chas, still dealing, "Two shoes, shirt, trousers, pants, five."
It was my turn, "Two shoes, shirt, trousers, pants that's five"
Next was Helen. "I want to take my shoes off," Everyone burst out laughing again.
Elsa leaned over to her and said, "No Helen you have to say it like this," and chanted, "two shoes, dress, bra and pants that's five," Helen burst out laughing again but managed to chant out as instructed.
"OK, ok two shoes, dress, bra and pants, that's five." Everyone, including me cheered.
Ben and Alf chanted out their five pieces each, Elsa went into immediate and intense negotiations with Alf, the outcome being that the girls started with one more piece of clothing each than the boys, because they had more to show, the minimum start was Helen with five pieces which meant the boys started with four. This meant that Helen having won a hand kept her five pieces, the boys who had all started with five but should have started with four and had lost a hand were all down to three and Elsa who should have started with five and lost a hand was down to four. Complicated, I thought so and Helen was mystified.
Elsa took charge, "Come on boys, shoes and socks off, and I've got to lose these tights." She stood, hiked her skirt up, to pull her tights down, so that her panties came into view and said, "Shit, I wish I had put my fuck me knickers on instead of these old things." She sat back down disentangling her tights from around her feet. I took my shoes and socks off, as did the others, Helen just sat there.
The cards from the last deal were all over the place; Chas collected them and started to deal again, handing them to Alf and Ben and throwing them into the lap of Elsa, Helen and I. The two boys were eagerly fanning their cards out, like their Christmas and birthday had come early, Elsa put hers' on the chair and asked, "Who wants another drink?" She took her own glass and Chas's off the mantelpiece, I handed her mine and she stood behind the sofa and said, "Helen, would you like a drink?"