On Tuesday we went out with a charming, attractive, and hilarious couple from Europe, but walking in we had modest expectations. Our most common reaction to dates is: “That was okay. They are okay.” Few dates are outright dreadful but few are transcendent.

On this date, though, we all warmed up to each other quickly, with talk about backgrounds, jobs, life experiences, and of course mutual interests. Adam and Tricia were full of stories about the many countries in which they’d lived, as well as a few of the Killing Kittens parties they’d attended. I think they’ve had other adventures, some at surprisingly early ages.

Many of the specifics of the conversation have faded from memory, but the warm glow of what seemed to be mutual admiration remains. We bounced from the first bar, which was too noisy for C, to a much quieter bar where we could speak and flirt more easily. There, I was thinking about what might conceivably happen next.

“Might:” C is usually not a first-night hookup person, but everyone was getting on, so I discreetly (or not so discreetly? It’s hard to tell sometimes, particularly whilst drinking) asked if she wanted to go back with Adam and Tricia. C said no. I was disappointed but held the disappointment back; it’s not all that often that both of us like both people in another couple, but to make this sort of thing work everyone must have a total veto at any time, for any reason or not reason. So I told Adam and Tricia I couldn’t go back because of some minor conjunctivitis (which was true but not important) and we parted ways, tipsy and horny.

As we walked home I said that I’d thought C liked both Adam and Tricia. She said she did but didn’t want to invite them back because the apartment is a mess — pretty much anywhere C lives is a mess — and I pointed out that we would’ve gone to their hotel, not our apartment. Who wants to go to an apartment when there’s a swank hotel room available? Hotel Tonight is popular among non-monogamists for a reason.

C stopped dead and said, “What? Why didn’t you tell me that?” I told her I had and she said, “Then why didn’t we do that?” I told her that she’d said no. She was like, “I didn’t realise we were going to go with them!” and I was like, “Were you listening at all?” The answer was mostly “no,” because she’d felt somewhat blown out by the noisy first bar. We debated turning around and changing our minds, but I figured once the conjunctivitis card had been played it couldn’t be effectively withdrawn.

C went on about how surprised she was and how she couldn’t tell if they liked her. I was like, “It was obvious they liked you.” C has a bit of an inferiority complex about her looks, for reasons not obvious to me; I find her very hot and so do millions of people online. C felt bad about “ruining” the evening, and I told her that she hadn’t.

It’s true that I wanted to go back and see what was underneath Tricia’s tight black dress, but we settled for going home, where I was filled with erotic energy and nowhere to discharge it, so I began de-cluttering. C eventually offered a blowjob that I assumed was a half-hearted apology, so I verbally half-heartedly accepted and kept doing what I was doing. Some say a reluctant blowjob is better than none, but I’m not so sure. Then C grabbed me and demonstrated her seriousness — and the fact that I was not the only one consumed with erotic energy, as the blowjob turned into powerful, satisfying sex, both of us thinking about what might have been and what might later be.

Something very similar has happened before: one time, a pair of our friends (who you’ve pictured on Tumblr) had us over for dinner or drinks, and C got a little buzzed, then said we should leave. I was disappointed that night but left with her. In the car home she changed her mind and announced that Cynthia was incredibly hot and suddenly C wanted to hook up. I got out my phone to say we were turning around and coming back, if they’d have us, but C stopped me and said she didn’t want to look indecisive. Which is pretty funny, but it’s what she’d said. Later Cynthia and her husband confirmed that they would’ve loved to have us back. By the time I learned that a few days later, though, it was too late. The stars had aligned but we’d missed the moment. Capricousness sometimes holds us back.

On that Tuesday, after sex, C texted Adam to say that we’d had a great time at the bar and that we’d like to see them again Thursday. I sent a follow-up email the next morning as well, to both Adam and Tricia, reiterating the Thursday drink offer at their hotel. Adam didn’t reply till midday Wednesday, and when he did he also said that we were the first couple they’d been on a date with. How cute! It’s likely been a long time since either C or I have been anyone’s first.

Thursday came round and we met for a drink in a swish bar where some model group or agency or coven was having a shindig, so we were surrounded by skinny yet Amazonian women and sexually androgynous men. I arrived and plopped my heavy backpack next to my seat. All four of us were electrified by the knowledge that we were all up for it, without entirely knowing how it would go down. Or if it would: to make these things work, anyone must be able to pull the emergency brake at any time.

So we got a drink, and Adam was about to order a second one when I told him that I’d brought a bottle of fizz, and perhaps we could sample it upstairs. He said yes. Tricia said yes. C said yes. We settled the bill, gathered ourselves, and went up. Their room had a beautiful view, but I was mostly focused on the view inside. We’d discussed enough erotic adventures to know about Adam and Tricia’s predilections, but not so much as to totally know where things would go. Tricia’s personality is similar to C’s, in that both have cat-like elements; they like to be approached a little slant-wise.

I opened the fizz and we enjoyed some. I asked if Tricia liked to be spanked or paddled, since C certainly does. Tricia said she didn’t know.

Did she want to find out?

She wasn’t sure at first and wanted to know: What had I brought with me?

I opened my bag and pulled out a paddle. So: did she want to try?

She said yes but remained standing. Adam bent her over the bed. I grabbed her and positioned her, so I could deliver a couple light paddles and some warm-up spanking. After each strike I checked her face for flush and arousal. Check and check. It was a little sudden to blindfold her, but the moment felt right, so I did.

Here things get fuzzy. I traded off the paddle among me, Adam, and C, and we took turns on Tricia, who could sometimes guess the person perpetrating and sometimes not. Sometimes Adam and I played with C as well. Adam unzipped Tricia’s dress and shucked it off, showing us her black bra, thong, and stockings. Her body is fantastic but her tits in particular stood out to me; I have pictures but no permission to show them, and permission is everything, so you will have to imagine a woman built not unlike C. I stripped C and blindfolded her. With both girls, I kept up rhythmic spanking, sometimes pulling my hand back from their asses, as if to spank them but not going through. Each time they flinched and then giggled. Expectation is beautiful but so is breaking it.

Sometimes too I ran a hand lightly along the back, letting the tickle contrast with the pain. During one such wander I began to unhook Tricia’s bra. I looked to Adam and he nodded. She is so busty that her bra had three clasps, but even in a state of high arousal I opened them, pulling off her bra, then playing with her tits while C used the paddle.

Somehow things changed again; C became nude. Tricia’s last remaining clothes came off. So did her blindfold, though it would come back later. Tricia and I took turns kissing C’s neck. I stripped or was stripped. Adam was ready to go. I think the girls went down on him for a while. Then they turned their attention to me and I closed my eyes while both girls took turns on me, or went together, the feel of their lips and tongues moving from my cock to brain to back again. Quickly I lost track of who was active and who wasn’t. During this I think Adam started fucking Tricia.

I became ready to go and Tricia said, to C, one of the hottest things I’ve ever heard: “Can Adam have you?” C said yes. They began fucking. I grabbed Tricia and pulled her to the foot of the bed. She was on her back with her legs spread while I was standing, almost looming over her, as she later told me. I used my fingers on her then entered to the sound of the sweetest moan. It took incredible control not to come immediately. Somehow I didn’t.

C and Adam were busy, but I was too busy moving Tricia’s legs and feeling her grip my cock to attend to them. I watched her tits bounce while I fucked her and eventually put a hand round her neck. Did she like that? Yes. Her neck felt very solid and developed, and as I choked her blood rushed to her face. I directed one of her hands to her clit, and she kept rubbing herself while we fucked. At some point C and Tricia were next to each other, both getting fucked and rubbing each other’s clits.

I don’t remember who came in what order, but I do remember flipping Tricia over and taking her doggystyle, with her facing Adam and C, who were fucking. I knotted her hair in my fist, making her watch the show whenever her eyes were open, until the pleasure of her body overwhelmed me and I finished.

It took me a minute to reconstitute, and then I went back to the bag for an Njoy Pure Wand. Two, actually, one for each girl, and I got the second one because I saw it on deep discount somewhere online. An excellent choice. Tricia was apprehensive of such an alien-looking artifact at first. I think Adam finished somewhere in this neighborhood, because I believe I used the wand on either Tricia or C, but I don’t know who got it first. But it is a powerful tool, if used correctly, and I have lots of practice talking to the girl and using it to find her g-spot. Adam used the wand on one girl while I used it on the other. Tricia came first, or finished coming before C did (I think she’s one of those girls who can have bundles of orgasms).

At one point I was using the wand on C while Tricia choked her lightly, then more heavily. I saw C’s blindfold coming off and pointed and gestured to the blindfold. Tricia misunderstood and put two fingers near C’s mouth, which C eagerly began to suck on. Have I mentioned her oral fixation? It’s an excellent feature. Tricia made an excellent move. I gave her a thumbs up but also gestured again to the eye mask, which she slid down, making C giggle cutely (another excellent feature).

At some point, I don’t remember if it was while we were all having sex or during an interregnum, Tricia said that C and I work really well together. We said thanks, but her comment got me thinking. Sometimes I say that sex is more fun as a team sport. But that metaphor isn’t perfect because in most sports someone must lose, and in group sex that’s not true. I think it’s more accurate to say that it’s useful to look at the players on the field, so to speak, and then do whatever seems most useful given the configuration and status of each player.

Sometimes that means straight-up penetrative sex. Sometimes it means giving a blowjob or cunnilingus. Sometimes that means receiving a blowjob or cunnilingus. Sometimes it means pulling out the wand and using that. Sometimes it means grabbing the camera while the other players are busy. Sometimes it means taking but often it means giving, secure that others will give in the right moment.

I’ve begun to carry a whole bag full of goodies with me: floggers and paddles and cuffs and collars, knowing that depending on the situation they may be called for. It’s like that scene in the Stephen King book On Writing, when King describes going with his uncle (or someone like it) to mend a windowsill or something simple. I’m recalling from memory, but the uncle lugged a huge, heavy toolbox but only used a single small tool. King asked, “Why bring the whole toolbox,” and the uncle said, “You never know what you’re going to need.”

Yup. The bag of goodies comes because you never know what you’re going to need. It’s also not uncommon to have “failure to launch” challenges of various kinds. Some women come very fast and have to stop, or can’t come at all and have to stop. Some guys come very fast and have to stop to recharge. Some guys get overstimulated and can’t get it up, immediately or sometimes at all. I’ve had both challenges. So it’s nice to have backup, so to speak, as an auxiliary or a complement to the usual sex activities.

And that’s what I was doing, and that’s why I take the toys and tools with me, then offer them, as I did to Tricia. She could easily have turned them down, but her last word on the pure wand was, “We are getting one of those.”

I bet she is.

For round two we (mostly) returned to our original partners, although I didn’t get immediately hard; the night before, C had some home late and horny while I was asleep. She’d found me, as she later put it, “cute” and “vulnerable” to her predations, so she snuck under the covers and began giving me a sweet, slow, sensuous blowjob. In that half-dream state, her already great skill became even more potent. She kept going and I began moaning. One of us, maybe, threw the covers off, but I’d entered that sex world in which nothing happens except the pleasure. She’d made me hard and then she grabbed a little lube, readied herself, and sank herself deeply on me. As watchers of our sex tapes know, I’m usually on top, dominating and directing, but this time roles were reversed, as C was the main driver. We had sex for what seemed to be a long, satisfying time. Eventually we both got off in the dark, only feeling each other’s bodies and seeing the dimmest of shapes in the dark, during the urgent sex. After we spooned for a minute, but in the aftermath both of us were happy to collapse.

That was a delicious moment, but the length and intensity of the sex with C meant that the second round with Tricia was harder for me. This is definitely contextualization, not complaint: hot sex should be enjoyed and indulged whenever one is moved by the moment. It’s hard to remember everything that happened but easy to remember the emotional contours of the evening. Eventually, Adam and Tricia began having sex. C began going down on me, but I wasn’t immediately getting hard, so Tricia began going down on C. In C’s later words, “She was great.” Eventually I did get hard and we began having sex too. There was more swapping. Everything became hazy. We’d met them at 8:00 p.m. and didn’t notice the time until 2:00 a.m. I think that, if it had been a weekend, we might’ve stayed even later, but I had absolutely nothing left in me and at least two of us needed to be up the next day.

If there’s a lesson in our travails it may be, “Seize the moment.” If you like someone, make something happen. But you probably already knew that.

The next day, Friday, we went to work and recovered. The day after, Saturday, was Wonderland, but C woke up with a cold, so she couldn’t go. I went with some friends, including Zena and another couple who are just getting into sex parties but who now seem fully invested. Adam said that Tricia had food poisoning or similar, so they weren’t going to come. Eventually they texted me, after I’d been at the party for a while, saying that they were going to come after all!

They arrived a few minutes after the doors officially closed but got in; I checked the entrance to make sure they’d get in okay. The party was fun but it was not my night, as C was ill, Adam and Tricia never went for the full experience, if you know what I mean. Some other familiar candidates bowed out. Which is okay: one should go to parties with an openness to experience, rather than the expectation that a certain suite of activities must take place. This may not be the sexiest way to end the story, but it is true that sometimes illness scuppers sex plans. I’d hoped for a repeat of the Thursday night quartet, but in this trip it was not to be. At Wonderland I did meet some friends, old and new, who confirmed that they’re attending our private sex party next weekend. I feel good about that. It’s been an incredible week, and finding the right people is still an incredible experience.

I’m writing this in a coffee shop, where I can’t concentrate on my book because images from Thursday keep recurring. So I decided to give in and write about what happened.