Every month a few old friends of mine come over to my place for poker night. I've known Arnold, Ben, and Carl since college and we all ended up in the Bay Area together since that's where all the tech work is. My wife Zoe usually just spends poker night at her sister Terry's house to let us have a guy's night, so I was surprised when she came into the dining room as I was dealing the first hand.
"Hey, honey, aren't you heading over to Terry's tonight?" I asked in surprise.
Zoe looked at my friends gathered around the table with me nervously before answering. "Uh, no, I am going out for drinks with William from work," she said, touching her neck self-consciously.
"Drinks?" I asked, growing uneasy.
"Almost sounds like a date," chimed in Arnold giving me a lecherous grin.
"Quiet down, Arny," put in Ben primly.
"Well, yes, I suppose it is sort of like a date," admitted Zoe, looking down and nudging the carpet with her toe. She shot me a sharp glance and motioned toward the kitchen. "Maybe we should talk about this in the other room, dear."
"Oh, come on, Zoe, why I've know these guys for twenty years," I chuckled. "We've got nothing to hide from them. But I will say that I don't like Will very much. I don't like the way he looks at your boobs all the time."
"What's wrong with Zoe's boobs? They look good to me," laughed Arnold, staring pointedly at my wife's chest.
"Can it, Arny," said Carl. "Jeez! You can't joke around with another man's wife like that!"
Zoe covered her boobs self-consciously with her hands and laughed uneasily. "Yes, Will is pretty aggressive. He's always flirting with me and trying to get me to wear sexier outfits to work. I usually just turn him down when he asks me out for drinks, but he's sort of worn down my resistance and since you boys have poker night tonight, I agreed to go out with him. I'm sure he thinks of this is a date. That's why I wanted to talk to you in the other room." My wife gazed significantly toward the kitchen and motioned with her head in that direction.
"Come on, Zoe, don't be ridiculous," I said, putting more bravado into my voice than I felt. "Go ahead and have drinks with this guy if you want. I trust you."
"Yeah, but, you know, he is going to expect, well, you know," Zoe trailed off, her face blushing cutely.
"What are you talking about?" asked Carl, in surprise. "What's he going to expect? He knows you are married, right?" I nodded along in agreement, looking up at my wife quizzically.
"Believe me, Carl, Will doesn't care if I'm married or not. If I go out drinking with him, he's going to want to fool around a little," said my wife with a forced smile.
"Sounds pretty hot, how far are you going to let him go?" asked Arnold, wagging his eyebrows at Zoe.
Instead of laughing and slapping Arnold's shoulder as she usually does when he teases her, Zoe shrugged her shoulders and answered him, "That's just it, I don't know, Arny."
"Come on, now, what do you mean, you don't know?" I said hotly.
"Now settle down, Ed, settle down," said Ben. Ben is always the reasonable one. "Zoe is a good girl, I'm sure she won't do anything improper with this Will fellow."
"I'm not a girl anymore, Ben. I'm 43," said Zoe with a smile. "Of course I won't do anything improper, but you know, after I've had a few drinks and I'm feeling loose, well, it'll be sort of hard to say no to a really assertive guy like Will."
I just broke out laughing, but I felt like I was hyperventilating and soon I was gasping for breath. Carl patted me on the back with a concerned look on his face.
"Zoe, stop teasing your husband like that. A married woman can't go fooling around with other men," said Carl, glaring at my wife angrily.
"I would pop such a boner if my wife fooled around with another guy. Christ, that would be hot as fuck," muttered Arnold into his beer.
"My God! Are you serious, Arnold?" asked Ben in frank surprise.
"Sure I am," said Arnold. "Jeez, you guys, I've gotten to the point with my wife where the sex has sort of petered out and our marriage has started to turn platonic. Frankly it's hard for me to get it up for Sarah any more. I'll bet Ed and Zoe are the same."
"Ah, no comment," I said, ducking my head in embarrassment. Zoe just folded her arms and shook her head at Arnold, suppressing a smile.
"But look at Zoe, she's still got a great body, she's a beautiful woman. She's old news to Ed, but to Will, she's a fresh conquest waiting to happen," continued Arnold, gesturing excitedly.
"Conquest waiting to happen? I don't like the sound of that," I said uneasily, looking at my wife with trepidation. She just shrugged sheepishly but said nothing.
"You like to shoot your mouth off, Arny, but you are talking about breaking up a marriage here. That's nothing to joke about!" snapped Carl angrily. Carl was clearly still sensitive about his recent divorce that was caused by his wife's infidelity.
Arnold looked at Carl sadly for a moment, the wind taken from his sails. Ben patted Carl's arm in consolation.
"Look, Carl," said Arnold softly. "It doesn't have to be that way. If Ed knows about it and agrees to it, then Zoe and Will can have a little fun and no harm is done. Maybe Ed will feel a little prick of jealousy, maybe he will stop taking his sexy wife for granted." Arnold looked me in the eye. "What do you think, Ed, doesn't it turn you on a little bit to think of Zoe fooling around with another guy?"
I thought it over for a minute and then took a gulp of my beer. All eyes were on me and I could feel my pits growing damp with anxiety. I looked at my pretty wife, chewing her lip nervously as she waited to hear what I would say. "Do I really take you for granted, Zoe?" I asked.
"I don't know," she said, looking back down at her feet.
"Shit," I muttered. "But wait a minute, do you really want to fool around with this guy? I mean, Will is a real prick in my opinion."
Zoe ran her hands through her hair and gave a half-hearted chuckle. "Uh, what can I say? You're right, Will has a really dickish personality. But, it's flattering to be pursued so insistently. It's kind of exciting to be desired like that." Her eyes lit up with excitement as she talked and my stomach roiled with jealousy. But I could also feel my penis stirring slightly at the thought of my wife being with another man.
"Look at the gears turning," laughed Arnold, gesturing at me.
"I can't believe you are even considering this!" sputtered Carl indignantly.
"Now Carl, settle down," said Ben evenly, putting a hand on Carl's shoulder. "If you had worked out a consensual deal with Linda, you two might still be together."