Here we were. Two thirty-something couples about to venture into something so totally new and out of character for us. None of us had extensive sexual histories or experiences…more the typical one or two others before meeting our respective spouses. We'd been married for 12 years, Tom and Kristen for 8. We had four kids between us, ranging from 3 to 9, good jobs, community activities, responsibilities, and real lives.
Yet, here we sat, on the verge of something completely out of the ordinary for four exceedingly ordinary people. The conversations we'd had with each other over the past few weeks led us this room, this night, this moment. It was a typical businessman's suite at a downtown hotel. Two non-descript rooms. One with a king-sized bed with the standard polyester floral bedspread, extra pillows and view overlooking what counted for skyline in our small city; the other with a soft, blue padded sofa that I assumed folded out. The rose-colored carpet appeared to be new. The seal on the wet bar had been cracked long ago, supplemented by the two bottles of Domain Chandon, the first of which was nearly empty.
We were good friends, the four of us. We met 3 years ago when Kristen and Tom moved to town to work at the same company as Karen and I. We instantly clicked with them…similar interests, similar dreams, similar pasts, but different enough to find each other captivating and more than enjoyable to be around. We'd spent many evenings double dating, or having dinner or cookouts with the kids. There was even one semi-disastrous weekend camping in the mountains with all the kids last year…don't ever try to take a couple of 2-year olds on a two-day camping trip without packing in the right toys!
Our journey to this room had started innocently enough. We are a reasonably attractive pair of couples, in decent shape, though not a supermodel among us. Through the last couple of years there were, of course, the standard suggestive conversations, flirtatious innuendos, and gentle teasing that goes along with any close friendship. We'd never seen each other naked, though I know there were a few sneaked peaks when opportunities presented themselves. No one had gone much beyond the New Year's Eve kiss, which seemed to linger just a little longer each year, as we grew closer.
Karen and I often joked about taking on new partners, and Kristen and Tom were often the unspoken focus behind those conversations. Not that we ever intended to do anything about it…it just helped us tease each other a little before making love. But whenever our talk of sharing each other took on a more serious tone, we both quickly backed away, assuring ourselves that it would never happen. Tom and Kristen, we found out later, had discussed the same things in almost the same way, but had on occasion actually fantasized about us while they made love to each other.
Behind the scenes, though, there had been some private conversations moving us down the path to this suite tonight. Tom and Karen shared an office. During slow moments they often talked about more personal things. They'd talked about the routines of married life, things that happened during young love that don't happen as often anymore, even some things they wished might happen sometime down the road. They even confessed to a generic desire to experience someone else, though never wanting to cheat on their spouses.
Meanwhile, Kristen and I spent a week at a conference not long before tonight. Being good friends already, and not knowing many other folks in attendance, we spent a lot of time together. As the week went on, after having three meals a day together, drinks at night, and long soulful conversations, we grew more and more comfortable together, almost feeling like we were an old married couple. As a matter of fact, several of the other conference participants commented on how great it was that a married couple like us could work and travel together. By the end of the week, we weren't even trying to correct those folks.
During one of our late night bar conversations, I asked Kristen if she'd ever been really tempted to fool around, assuring her that this was not a proposition. She didn't take it as such, but said that of course she'd been attracted to others during the 8 years of her relationship with Tom, but she'd never acted on the impulse or the opportunities. She said that there's no way she could ever cheat, but that if Tom knew and approved, or better yet participated, then that would be entirely different. She smiled at me then, her silvery blue eyes sparkling in the dim bar lights, leaving the possibilities wide open.
Do you think you and Tom and Karen and I could ever get up the courage to try something like that, I asked. Tom really liked Karen, she said, and he often compared Karen's taller small-breasted figure to her own. It might have been the beer, but I told Kristen that I found her very attractive as well, probably for the very same reasons…the contrast of her larger breasts and smaller, shorter frame with the woman I'd grown so comfortable with.
We left our conversation in the bar at that, but from time to time after the conference we'd quietly ask each other if we thought it might ever happen, if we'd actually talked about it with Tom or Karen. And indeed, the conversations had begun in earnest in both our homes. I shared the idea with Karen and forced the conversation a bit, letting her know that this was a real possibility. Kristen, one night, told Tom that I would be willing to share Karen if we were all together. Tom and Karen, in turn, began talking among themselves about the possibilities.
Without the four of us ever talking as a group, we ended up here on the sixth floor with a view of the city and two bottles of California champagne. Tom had jumped at the chance when Kristen brought it up, almost too quickly Kristen later laughed. Karen, at first thinking it was more joking on my part, agreed only after steeling up the nerve to talk it over with Tom in the office. Kristen and I had talked and emailed each other for several days, gauging our own interests and comfort levels, our spouses growing excitement, and then finally, how to make it all happen. In the end, she reserved the room, I arranged for my sister to add our four kids to her three for the night, and we brought the champagne.
