I crossed to the door pretty quickly and as I opened it I could feel my mind slipping into that blank of thought but hyper-aware state I spent most of my adventures in. This time it was only Luke who half rose from his seat but all three pairs of eyes were on me quite intensely. I felt my nipples stiffen immediately and I didn’t have to look down to know how prominent they would now be in this dress.
“What do you think? This isn’t, er, what I’d wear everyday, but then I think it’s more the sort of thing you were thinking of, isn’t it?”
“You look perfect.” Luke smiled his approval and then held out an arm, indicating I should step more into the middle of the room. I was happy to oblige.
“Yes, you do look, er, amazing.” Colin also sounded happy while Geoff was content to just look. He had the slightly aloof air he’d often had during the poker game.
I found myself tugging at the hemline which sat about an inch below my butt cheeks, I was half genuinely trying to arrange it better and half just giving the men the excuse to look.
“I’m not sure about this one, really. I bought it without trying it on, so this is the first time I’m seeing it as well.”
I could see Tom’s dad smiling at me encouragingly but he didn’t have anything to add, so I carried on saying whatever popped into my head.
“I had to take my bra off, obviously, but I think my breasts are maybe a bit too big for it.”
I looked up but he didn’t take the bait, still happy to just stare and listen to my airheaded monologue.
“I kept my panties on, though. I think you can probably see them, can you?”
This time he dutifully let his eyes run down my body. I turned again to make sure he could check thoroughly.
“Yes, you can make them out I think.”
“It’s not a problem, I don’t see how you could avoid it in that dress.” Luke also joined in the conversation.
The male gaze was working its magic on me and I didn’t hesitate.
“Well, I did wonder if I should have taken them off, but it’s maybe a bit late for that now.”
Geoff obviously knew where I was going and stepped in.
“That’s great, Claire, and you do look amazing, but I think we should leave things now until the next time, yes? When everything is in place properly.”
“Oh, yes, we should tell you the plan.” Tom’s dad sounded just as eager as his son could be sometimes.
Luke looked more disappointed, but waved a hand to say that he agreed. I looked expectantly at Geoff.
“You’ve heard of the neighbourhood party in a few days?”
“Er, yes, I think my parents said something about it last week.” It was an unexpected development and I’m sure that showed in my voice.
“Well, we’ll all be there and it’s at Luke’s house, so we thought maybe you’d like to attend and then, at a certain point, join us in a more private part of the premises.”
I looked around the room again quite surprised.
“You want me to model for you during a party?”
Geoff shrugged, “why not?”
“Because there will be so many other people about.” I said it with a little incredulity in my voice, but I already knew that the idea appealed to me, even if I had no idea how it could work.
“Not where we’ll be.”
“We’ll have the perfect excuse to all be there together, and the perfect alibi.” Luke seemed even more pleased with the idea then Geoff. I surmised it was likely his.
“Yes, but won’t your wife be there? What if she finds us?”
“All our wives will be there, but I’m sure we can be discreet. I’m not sure about the parties you teenagers go to these days, but at these sorts of gathering then people are quite unlikely to start wandering around the house freely.”
“I guess.”
The more I thought about it the more I wanted it. The idea of turning up somewhere and interacting with people, some of whom knew what I was about to do for them and some of whom had no idea was incredibly exciting. I also couldn’t stop thinking about the idea of talking to Geoff and his wife and dropping hints that she wouldn’t pick up on, but Geoff would. Maybe I could even do the same to Colin in front of Tom’s mum. It stirred up emotions about exhibitionism that I don’t think even I had explored thoroughly.
I realised I’d let the conversation drift. The men had taken my silence for agreement and gone back to staring at me in my dress. I took a moment to find myself slightly again, and then tried to come back more confidently. I had already internally more than accepted the plan but it felt worth exploring a little more.
“If you’re all are enjoying the view, can I just ask what we’re going to say was happening while we’re away from the party? I mean, my parents aren’t going, I don’t think, so I’m not even sure why I’d be there in the first place?”
Colin spoke up after everyone thought for a moment. “Tom’s going. You could say you’re there to meet him.”
“Oh, is he?” I again tried not to let my immediate reaction show. If anything Tom being there was likely to complicate matters quite a bit. I took the opportunity to sit back down and give myself time to think. I made sure to hold onto the hemline to make sure the dress stayed just about decent. I crossed my legs I’m sure flashing my knickers to them all. I considered it a free preview. That along with the acres of inner thigh I was now showing them.
“We, er, don’t know one another that well, really, so I’m not sure if.”
“You just need an excuse to use. If you avoided him for a short while I’m sure we’d kick off proceedings fairly quickly, and then it wouldn’t matter.” Luke was again sure it wasn’t a problem.
“I guess.” It seemed incredibly risky but I could hardly explain to them why.
Geoff smiled at me with perhaps a knowing edge, but carried on in the same general calming manner as Luke.
“And it’s well established that I, Luke and a few others prefer to spend some of our time talking in private at these sorts of thing. I’m not really a party person, a small intimate gathering is much more fun. I’m sure you know what I mean.”
There was definitely a knowing edge to that last comment, but I obviously opted not to pick up on it. I nodded, I did have one more general question that had occurred to me earlier.
“About our arrangement, though. I guess I know what you’re getting out of it,” at which point I couldn’t help but glance down my body and notice Luke doing similarly. He smiled at me and I continued. “And I guess I get to keep the clothes, but I don’t really need that many new outfits, so.”
“A very fair point, Claire, but one I think we’ve anticipated. You’ll find that with all our gifts will be a receipt, and if you were to return to the stores it might comfort you to know they’ll have been bought with cash.”
“It’s much more practical from our side of things if that’s the case, as well. For, er, obvious reasons.” Luke looked at me with an ever so slightly sheepish air.
“You wife handles the credit card bills, does she?”
He shrugged. “One can never be too careful.”
“So, is that all in order?” Geoff was clapping his hands together and seeming to usher Luke and Colin out.
“Yes, I think it is.” Luke started to rise. “The delightful Claire just needs to turn up and we’ll bring the rest.”