That Dinner Between Two Couples Was Not Just a Dinner

The night had only just begun and the air was already charged. From the moment Lucía and I crossed the threshold of that house, desire hung in every corner, sometimes hinted at and sometimes so explicit it was hard to breathe. Far from making me uncomfortable, it pushed me closer and closer to the edge. We had met Nadia that same week at the beach, and her invitation to dinner with her family turned out to be anything but a formal meal.

I moved toward the sofa where Lucía was reclined over Esteban, still flushed from the caresses she had just received. I took her gently by the shoulders, sat her up, and kissed her with a tenderness that contrasted with everything else.

—Okay? —I asked her in her ear.

—Incredible. I didn’t think it would be so easy to let go with them —she murmured, and I noticed her voice trembling.

Nadia, who had heard everything, sat up and kissed Lucía too, slowly, unhurriedly, staking her claim.

—Look at you, sweetheart, how worked up we’ve got you —she said, pulling back barely an inch—. Isn’t that right, Hugo?

—Absolutely —he answered from the other end of the living room, his breathing ragged—. I’m right on the edge myself.

—Mom —Nadia went on, turning to Marina with a smile that was anything but innocent—, didn’t you say you wanted him? Look how poor thing is doing.

Marina came over without taking her eyes off me. She was a decisive woman, the kind who keeps control of every situation without raising her voice, and I immediately understood where her daughter got her boldness. She leaned over me and slid her hand over the fabric of my trousers, slowly, measuring my reaction.

I wasn’t going to hold out much longer at this pace.

—Come on, let me give you a little once-over before dinner —she said, and without further preamble she knelt in front of Hugo and me. She made us both sit on the sofa and freed us from our clothes with a ease that made my skin prickle.

—Lucía, come help me —she said—. There’s enough here for two.

Lucía looked to me as if asking permission, and I nodded. She came closer, still uncertain, but the atmosphere dragged her in. Marina tended to us, alternating between Hugo and me, with slow licks and calculated pauses, while Lucía learned from her, imitating every gesture with a mix of shyness and new hunger.

I was somewhere else, watching both scenes at once, not knowing where to look. None of us had gotten anywhere yet when Marina suddenly stood up, leaving us all halfway there.

—All right, dinner —she announced, fixing her hair as if nothing had happened—. Save those urges for later, let them keep the tension going. The night’s going to be long.

—Nadia, come get these boys looking a little more presentable —she added—. So they can pull themselves together before we go out to the garden.

—I’m going —Nadia said—, but give me a second, because Dad... I mean, because these two are looking at me with sad faces.

She bent down, gave us one last caress that tasted like a promise, and a quick kiss on the mouth to each of us.

—Come on, Lucía —she went on—, my mother’ll lend you something. You can’t have dinner like that.

—I didn’t think we were going to change clothes —Lucía laughed—. I didn’t bring anything.

—That’s what we’re here for —Marina replied.

***

The three of them disappeared into the room. From the living room I could hear laughter and the rustle of clothing. When they came back, they looked like three goddesses just descended from somewhere better than this. Lucía wore a fitted skirt and a loose T-shirt slipping off one shoulder; she later confessed she had turned down an even shorter dress. Marina had put it on her herself, cinched to the absolute limit. Nadia wore cut-off jeans and the top of a tiny bikini.

—I almost would’ve preferred staying naked —Lucía admitted as she came over—, but I was embarrassed. And I swear I’d never liked women until tonight.

Marina turned her face with two fingers and kissed her deeply, with no witnesses worth mentioning.

—I ruined your lipstick again —she said—, but that’s the sweetest thing anyone’s said to me in a long time.

Esteban and I had set the table in the garden while they got dressed. Soft lights, a couple of candles, and the scent of jasmine and night-blooming flowers drifting in from the corners, around a small pool with a little hydro-massage nook. Nothing ostentatious, but everything chosen with a taste I immediately recognized as Marina’s handiwork.

—What a beautiful garden —Lucía said, running to hug me.

—Our hosts have good taste —I told her, lowering my voice—. How was it in there?

—They’re both lovely —she whispered—. They’re making me feel things I didn’t know I had inside me.

—Then enjoy it. This looks like it’s only just getting started.

—Shall we open a bottle of champagne? —Esteban suggested loudly—. And toast to our new friends.

—Yes! And I propose a game —Nadia jumped in, hanging from Hugo’s neck—. The boys have been having too much fun with Lucía, and that’s unfair. We want the same attention.

—Sounds perfect to me —Marina said, glancing at me out of the corner of her eye, biting her lip—, but first I’m hungry. And not just for you. Let’s serve up, it’s all finger food.

We filled the glasses. Esteban put on something soft in the background and we toasted.

—To this couple Nadia brought us —he said—. May they enjoy the night, and may it not be their last.

We drank long gulps, the cold champagne sliding down throats that the earlier heat had dried out.

***

The temperature was perfect after the beach day. With the glass in hand, Nadia explained the rules.

—The game, as you can imagine, is a little daring —she said, looking at Lucía and me, still wrapped around each other—. Are you in?

—I am —I answered—. I don’t want to miss a thing. What do you say, Lucía? —and as I spoke I slid my hand through the opening of her T-shirt and stroked a nipple that was already hard.

—Yes —she gasped—. I’m not going to be the one to ruin a night like this.

—Then listen up. There are two groups of five straws: the orange ones for the girls, the blue ones for the boys. Each group has one short one. With your eyes closed, each person draws one. Whoever gets the short one has to feed one of these canapés to whoever they choose, however they want. And the person receiving the bite does it blindfolded.

We started. Nadia volunteered to draw first to get things going, then her mother, and finally Lucía, so her shyness could slowly melt away. Hugo held the straws.

—Close your eyes and pick one —he told Nadia.

She drew a long blue one. Hugo drew another blue, also long. And then Marina drew the short orange one. We all clapped. It was her turn to choose the diner, and she let her gaze drift over the table with a calm that made anyone nervous.

—I don’t know, I don’t know who to pick... —she said, while I kept caressing Lucía, who confessed in my ear that she was a little embarrassed—. I choose Lucía. But I’ll be good.

She tied a scarf over Lucía’s eyes. She took a canapé with a pale cream, bared one breast, and smeared a little over the nipple. First she brought the bite to Lucía’s lips, stroking them with her thumb before letting her bite into it. Lucía shivered.

—There’s a second bite —Marina said—. Do you want it, or is that too much to start?

—I want it —Lucía replied, and I heard something like disappointment in her voice that it wasn’t bolder.

Marina brushed her lips again with her thumb, slipped it inside slowly so she could taste it, and then pulled it back out. Lucía made a protesting face: she was enjoying it. Then Marina brought her the cream-smeared nipple.

We all fell silent. The reaction was immediate. Lucía started shyly, and the applause encouraged her; Marina closed her eyes to focus on what she was feeling. Spurred by her own desire and by everyone else’s encouragement, Lucía licked, sucked, and caressed that breast with a new boldness. Marina held her by the nape, drawing her closer, while with her other hand she sought out the breast still left free. The two of them moaned, first softly, then louder, as the cream disappeared.

Meanwhile, Hugo had Nadia perched on his hips and was kissing her neck, while she didn’t miss a single detail of the scene. At one point she turned to him.

—Bring those two over here —she asked him.

She lifted her mother’s dress from behind and stroked between her legs, wetting her fingers. With a wicked little gesture she brought them to Hugo, who licked them without shame. Then she repeated the move with Lucía, who under the borrowed skirt wasn’t wearing anything, and again let her man taste her before cleaning her own fingers with her tongue.

Esteban and I only drank. The scene was so charged that it had dried out our throats again, and I, without realizing it, kept pinching Lucía’s nipple harder and harder. She moaned, caught between everything at once: Marina’s mouth, the two hands on her breast, and Nadia’s unexpected touch on her intimacy, which sent a shiver through her.

When the cream had disappeared completely, Marina took Lucía’s face in both hands, released her breast, and kissed her with a passion Lucía received completely surrendered. By then there was no trace left in her of the shyness from the beginning.

—New round —Nadia announced, giving her mother a slap on the hip—. Your turn, Daniel.

***

When we managed to pull ourselves together, we filled the glasses again. I drew my straw with my eyes closed. It came out blue, but Marina swapped it for an orange one, the short one, of course. Later I would learn there had been a bet between her and Nadia: which of the two would make me decide which way my desire leaned that night.

When I opened my eyes, I was left thinking. Lucía, still pressed against me, spoke in my ear with a smile I didn’t know anymore.

—Don’t be stupid and enjoy it —she told me—. I think tonight we’re going to try everything, my love.