"How about a card game?" Bobby asked looking around the table. There were seven of us seated around the large dining room table. I was sitting in the middle along one of the sides of the table. My wife, Karen was seated directly across from me. Bobby's live-in girlfriend, Amy, was seated to my left. To my right was Sarah. Sarah was Ted's wife.
Ted was sitting on Karen's right. Bobby sat on her left. Rick was sitting at one end of the table, with Ted on his left and Amy on his right. Rick was unattached on this particular evening. The chair at the other end of the table was empty.
"What kind of card game?" I asked.
"Strip poker!" Bobby replied.
"Bobby!" Amy sort of half shrieked.
"What?" Bobby said looking back across the table at her. "We've done this before." He looked around the table then said, "Well some of us have."
"But Rick wasn't there." Amy said. "And Karen and Jason are new to our group. They might not feel comfortable doing something like that."
"How about it, Jason?" Bobby asked looking at me.
"Uh, uh," I stammered. Finally, I managed, "uh how far does it go?" I glanced up at Karen hoping for some direction, but she was looking back with a total lack of expression. I couldn't tell if she was interested or repelled by Bobby's suggestion.
"Only as far as each player wants," Bobby answered. "If anyone feels uncomfortable at any time, they can drop out. Amy and I have played it before and it's a great way to loosen things up."
Finally, Karen spoke. "Is that right, Amy?"
Amy sort of blushed. "It does loosen things up," she admitted. "We've played once before with Ted and Sarah. We all got drunk and almost naked and had a great time. Didn't we?" She was looking directly across the table at Ted when she asked the question.
"To be perfectly honest, "Ted spoke. "I'm a guy, and, as a guy I like looking at naked girls. Sarah knows that. So, if drinking and looking at naked girls is considered having a good time, I guess I'm guilty of that."
"It's just a little naughty," his wife, Sarah, chimed in. "You feel like you're doing something that you're not supposed to, but your husband is there, so how bad can it be? It's not like you're cheating or anything. Safe and sexy."
"So you and Ted and Amy and Bobby have all seen each other naked?" Karen asked Sarah.
"Well. Not naked, actually," Sarah answered. "As I recall, Amy and I got down to our bras and panties. Ted and Bobby still had on their jockeys."
"Don't forget about Sandra!" Bobby spoke up.
"Sandra? Who is Sandra?" Rick asked.
"Oh, yeah," Amy answered. "Who could forget Sandra? She's a single girl who lives in the complex. She has really big boobs. She's kind of wild; I'd guess you'd say."
"Wild? Wild how?" I asked.
Amy said, "Well last time we played, the big question was, 'What happens if you lose and you are already naked?' Sandra said, 'There are ways to handle that. I played once where we had a 'forfeit list'. If you lost, but didn't have any clothes left, you had to do the next task on the 'forfeit list.'"
"What sort of things were on this 'forfeit list'"? Karen asked suspiciously.
"Don't know. Never got that far," Bobby replied. "Why don't we text, Sandra, and see if she wants to come down? That would make it four guys and four girls."
"And one of those girls would have really big tits," Amy chided her boyfriend.
That broke the ice all around the table. Everyone laughed.
"Ok, I'll text her," Amy said.
While Amy was texting Sandra, I texted Karen, "well?"
"U want 2, don't u, u naughty boy?" came the reply. I looked up and Karen was sort of smiling at me.
"Not if you're gonna be mad at me," I texted back.
The reply that came back was just an emoji of a pair of red lips.
Another text followed, "we quit when I say quit - ok?"
I looked up and shook my head 'yes'.
"Sandra's on her way," Amy announced. She looked at the table and thought for a moment. "Ted I'm going to ask you to sit at the empty end of the table, if that's ok. And Karen, if you and Bobby could shift one seat to your right, that will leave Bobby's seat open for Sandra when she get here. Sarah, you and I can swap seats."
I saw what she had done. We were now all boy-girl-boy-girl around the table. None of us were sitting next to our spouse or significant other.
After everyone had found their new spot, Bobby said, "I'm going to get the table ready. You guys can grab a beer or mixed drink and meet me back here."
I met up with Karen and followed her into the kitchen to get our refreshments.
She turned to me and pulled me in close for a hug. "Jason, we've never done anything like this in our nine years of marriage."
"Well we don't have to do it now, unless you want to," I whispered back.
"I think I'm ok with it for now," Karen said softly.
"'Ok is not good enough, darling," I responded, looking into her dark brown eyes. "You are going to have to say that you want to. I don't want this to be like it was only my idea."
"I want to," she said after a moment.
"Why?" I asked. I don't think she was ready for that.