Last night I visited my friends Dino and Donna.
That might not seem unusual: I have often visited them. The visits have followed a familiar pattern. Donna would cook her Italian recipes, and I would enjoy it. In return I pretended to flirt with her and make a public show of appreciating her good looks. Of course, I have never made a serious play for her. After all, she is my friend's wife!
After supper, Dino would take me to one side, and we would talk about football or boxing. Or politics.
Dino is a great guy in every point except one: when he gets going about political issues he is the world's greatest bore. He loves starting meandering discussions on pointless topics. Somehow he believes that the cause of every crisis is "the bandit American Army." Fortunately I am usually able to distract him into more interesting issues, but there are times that he will not budge.
That was the pattern till last night.
I really like Dino. Most of the time he is a natural guy, and his one flaw has always seemed harmless, if slightly infuriating to an American like myself.
Dino is the complete opposite to me. I am fit; he is quiet overweight. He is very much of a stay at home type; I love to party and meet women. He is strongly monogamous, and says that he does not even look at other women.
I think that he might even have a point there: Donna, his wife, is a stunning woman. Even I might settle down if I had a woman like her. Not only is she beautiful; she has a sweet sunny, personality that makes one feel good. When you meet her she certainly does not give the impression of anything but a good, devoted wife.
I don't let Dino dominate the conversation. I have my favorite topic too: I am not shy about talking about my girlfriends. I tell him how I work with women, what they look like without their clothes on, and exactly what we do in bed. Dino seems to enjoy listening to me: his eyes stretch at each new revelation.
I suppose I like Dino very much. He has been a great friend. I even met my present girlfriend, Holly, at his house.
I am sure that Dino is secretly more than a little envious of my conquests, but at the same time he is not always sure that I am not making things up. I know he thinks very carefully about my stories because he sometimes carefully questions me for weeks afterward trying to catch me out on some incorrect detail. For this reason I tell him nothing but the plain simple truth. I enjoy it each time he shakes his head in disbelief, having to concede that the story that I have told seems consistent and accurate.
In a sense my story started last week when I told Dino about my relationship with Holly: how we had sex the night we met at his house, how she moved into my place the next afternoon, and how good she is in bed. He quietly listened to it, shaking his head as usual. But when I told him that we have an open relationship, he could not credit it.
"Conrad, do you mean that Holly allows you to have sex with other women?" Dino asked, his voice shaking with shock. "How can that be? Isn't she jealous?"
"That's not a problem." I said glibly. "She has my permission to have sex with whoever she pleases, so neither of us get jealous."
Dino was dumbstruck. Several times he started talking, stopped in confusion, and then closed his mouth with another shake of his head.
"I think I understand your question," I ventured after a while. "We have agreed that while we really enjoy the sex, we are not ready to commit to one another. Holly knows my reputation, and so she understands that she would not be able to keep me from other women. An open relationship was her idea, but it suits me."
"I would never have thought that of her," Dino mused. He has only met Holly as a professional woman, and has seen her purely as a hard working, competitive manager with real steel. That she might have a sexual appetite to match her drive at work had never occurred to him. "But don't you get jealous?" he asked.
"Oh no," I answered lightly, "She tells me all about her boyfriends. It's quite a turn-on for me having a woman tell me about how she fucked another man. Hasn't any woman ever done that to you before?"
Dino's jaw moved up and down like a twig waving in the breeze, but he could not say a single word. I quickly changed the subject to motorcycle racing. It was about that time that Donna brought us our coffee, if I remember correctly.
* * *
I did not plan for last night's visit to be different. To be fair, I asked Holly, to go with me, but she said that she had taken some work home, and gave me a wink.
This surprised me: a wink is our code sign that we use when we are planning a seduction.
"Have fun," I said without any anger or jealousy. "Just tell me what you did in the morning."
"Certainly, lover," Holly replied graciously. "Remember that you must tell me what you were up to."
"I am going to visit Dino. It's unlikely that I'll get much joy there tonight," I said slightly testily.
"I know, dear," Holly answered softly. "Have you forgotten that you have had some fun at Dino's house in the past?"
"How could I forget?" I said passionately. "Still, if you won't be there, I doubt that it will be repeated."
"You never can tell," Holly chimed in cryptically with a blank expression.
Thinking nothing further of her words, I greeted Holly, wished her well and left.
Donna and Dino live only a few houses away, and I was able to walk the short distance to their house within a few minutes even though I was taking my time.
As soon as I knocked, Donna opened the door, and as usual her beauty almost knocked me over. I could have sworn that her smile was just a bit broader and more mischievous than before. She greeted me warmly. "Hello Conrad, it is so good to see you!"
She then took me totally by surprise by giving me a welcoming kiss. Her kiss was sweet, firm and straight on my mouth.
I returned the kiss, knowing that no woman who has kissed me like that has ever refused me. A moment later she drew back, just before Dino appeared at the door.
Dino did not seem to notice that we were both a little shaken from our greeting. "Hello Conrad," he boomed, "how are you this evening?"
"Fine, fine," I said, trying to be cool.
"Today I am very angry," he boomed once more, before interrupting himself. "Donna, please get the food onto the table, we are hungry."
Donna obediently moved to the kitchen whilst Dino continued. "Conrad, my friend, you have heard the news of that war the Americans are in? The Americans and wars." He shook his head sadly. "Today I wrote a letter to the newspaper, and maybe you will have some comment on it."
"Sure, Dino," I said, unable to add any enthusiasm. I wondered why Dino had to get into the topic that most irritated me. I tried to deflect him, but he would have none of it. He gave me a full description of the reasons for his letter and where he had gotten his information and how clever it was.
After a while, Donna came in, carrying some things for the table. As I looked up, she winked at me. The table was behind Dino, and she knew that he could not see her. As she put the things down, she blew me a kiss.
For the next few minutes, I did not know what to do. Dino insisting on going to his computer and printing out a copy of his letter. He read it to me with gusto. "I denounce the outright imperialism of the American nation," he began pompously. "Their continued attacks on the rest of the world must no longer be tolerated."
He continued in this vein, darting fervent looks at me to make sure that he was indeed making his point. My growing antagonism to my friend's views were nicely counterbalanced by my increased attention to his wife. Unknown to him, she had seated herself behind him and was giving me fine views of her legs. I tried not to look, but it was all in vain.
