Robert stood up and started to clear away the plates whilst Catherine moved back into the kitchen to finish off the cooking and start serving up.

“Do you want a hand?” asked Alice.

“No, no, you stay seated; it won’t take long to plate up, Robert will help. Besides which, you are our guest tonight,” replied Catherine

Charles watched her arse as she turned and walked into the kitchen, moving behind the breakfast bar area. Catherine had been wrong when she thought nobody had seen her husband feel her up under the table; Charles had. Whilst he had not been able to see everything due to the angle of the table, he had been able to guess where Robert had put his hand, and felt certain that he had been playing with her pussy judging by her reaction. The thought of Robert fingering his wife at the table had certainly turned Charles on and he was getting hard just thinking about it. He wondered if he could try the same with Alice.

Catherine and Robert brought the main course to the table and soon everybody was eating again, complimenting the hosts on their excellent cooking, and the wine continued to flow. Michael and Lucy joined Charles and Alice in alternating their glasses of wine with a soft drink, whilst Michelle and Richard were somehow managing to make one glass last an hour or more, so there was no danger of them getting falling-down drunk. Catherine and Robert were so busy making sure the dinner party went smoothly that they hardly had time to drink. Catherine looked across the table and smiled; everybody was getting on well and clearly all felt comfortable.

Michael and Alice were deep in conversation about books. “I am trying to read the classics,” said Michael. “I realised a few years ago, that everybody knows the plots of the likes of 'David Copperfield' or 'Pride and Prejudice', but have you ever read them? I know I haven’t, and so I decided that I would slowly pick them off. Some can be quite heavy going so I sprinkle them in amongst my lighter reading. I have a Kindle and most of the classics can be downloaded for free.”

“I have a Kindle,” said Alice. “I know everybody goes on about real books, but we were starting to run out of room and the Kindle allows us to be a bit freer with what we choose; I hate throwing books away once I have read them”

“I am the same,” responded Michael.

“How are you finding the classics, then?” Alice asked. “What are you reading at the moment?”

“Well the last book I read was Gulliver’s Travels and I have downloaded ready to go Tale of Two Cities. But first I am reading one of the Terry Pratchett Discworld novels for a bit of light relief. I will be honest and say I didn’t enjoy Swift, but Dickins is usually a far easier read. What about you, what are you reading?”

Alice blushed slightly and lowered her voice. “Fifty Shades of Grey.”

“Oh, I have read that,” said Lucy rather loudly. “Terrible writing, especially the dialogue, and the sex scene started to become a bit similar and boring, but for some reason I just couldn’t put it down.”

The mention of sex had got the attention of the table.

“What you talking about?” asked Catherine from the other end of the table. “Please tell us more about this bland sex you mention.”

Michael answered first. “We were talking about books we have read and Alice happened to mention Fifty Shades; anybody else read it? Both me and Lucy have.”

Catherine nodded, “Ah that makes sense; you are right it is not the best novel in the world, but it has certainly brought a hidden world to the mainstream. We went in Ann Summers when the film came out and there were loads of things that had suddenly developed a 'Fifty Shades' theme.”

“Did you succumb and buy something?” questioned Richard.

“Of course,” laughed Catherine. “Some handcuffs, a blindfold and a whip.”

“Kinky,” said Richard.

“Not kinky at all. Do you want us to show you?” said Catherine with a soft and sexy voice.

“Not before dessert, surely,” laughed Richard.

“Pity we don’t have a Red Room to take you to,” smiled Catherine.

“But we do have a lovely magnolia bedroom,” chipped in Robert.

Lucy was listening intently to the conversation and joined the conversation now, “What is in your magnolia bedroom?”

"Oh no,” winked Catherine, “if you want to see it, as in the book you would have to sign a contract agreeing to give yourself totally to us.”

“Where do I sign, and do we both have to sign?” Lucy was laughing, but the others felt that she was earnestly serious and would have signed a contract there and then had one been presented to her.

Robert decided to push things a little further. “Does anybody else have any fantasies they would like to confide to the rest of the group?”

“No, I don’t think so,” said Michelle, looking down.

“Oh come on, everybody has fantasies, surely! What turns you on?” asked Robert.

Michelle remained quiet for a moment before replying, “Well, yes I have fantasies, but they are not for others to hear.”

“I can understand that, but would you ever act on those fantasies?” probed Catherine. There was a longer pause from Michelle, “She is thinking about it,” said Catherine, wide-eyed. “This could be interesting.”

“What about the others?” said Richard, quickly trying to deflect the conversation; he could tell his wife was uncomfortable with the way things were developing. He knew what those fantasies were and he hoped that eventually she would be prepared to act on them. Looking around the room, he thought and these might just be the couples to do it with.

Nobody else spoke to begin with but Catherine didn’t want to let the moment pass. This was perfect; when she and Robert planned this party they'd never dreamed that things would get to this stage before the end of the second course. “Well, we certainly have fantasies.”

“And…?” chorused everybody.

“And what?” asked Catherine.

“Are you going to tell us what they are?” quizzed Lucy.

Catherine thought for a minute and then said slowly, “I will if you will. Why don’t we all tell the rest of the group a sexual fantasy? Everybody must be part of this or it is unfair, are we all in agreement?” She looked around the group all of them nodded except Michelle, who continued to look down at the table. She then seemed to pluck up the courage and, looking straight at Catherine, nodded.

“Well, it seems we are all happy to proceed; why don’t we take the time it takes us to prepare and have dessert to think about what fantasy we are happy to divulge and then afterwards, over a coffee back in the lounge, we will confess our deepest and darkest fantasies.” With that Catherine jumped up and headed off to the kitchen area.

Robert cleared away the plates and walked up behind Catherine. He whispered in her ear as he stood behind her filling the dishwasher. “What do you think you are doing?”

“What do you think I am doing?” she whispered back. “We organised this dinner party to find some new playmates and the conversation just took a natural turn. I thought we couldn’t afford to waste such a perfect opportunity. Look, we fancy all of the other couples and we chose to invite them because we thought they all had naughty streaks in them, and it looks like we were right. I'll admit that Michelle seems a bit quiet and shy, but did you see the way she looked at me when she finally agreed to play along?”

“Well, just go easy, okay? We don’t want to frighten any of them off; after all, we all live in the same block and will still have to see these people afterwards. I always felt it was a dangerous game to pick people so close to home; we dropped lucky when we met John and Gwen in that club and have enjoyed some great nights together, but not everybody is as open-minded as we are. Pity they couldn’t come tonight, it would have helped. As I said earlier, just take it slow, okay.”

“Okay, spoilsport,” scowled Catherine, “but if I have my way I am fucking at least one of them tonight; male or female, I am not fussed at the moment, just very horny.”

Robert tapped her arse, “Well, don’t go banking on it; we are both going to have to work extra hard for the next half hour or so to keep the atmosphere light and a conversation going, I suspect there are going to be a few nervous people out there.”

Robert was wrong; it seemed as if everybody was keen to not think about it, and random conversations about the cinema and sport and such flourished, thanks to Charles and Alice having just moved into the local area. Time flew as everybody ate their desserts. Once the last spoon was placed back in the empty bowls, however, there was a clear change in atmosphere. Everybody shuffled in their seats and the couples exchanged nervous glances between themselves, unsure at what their partner was going to say.

Charles looked at Alice and smiled encouragingly at her. He knew what their bedroom fantasies were but just how far was she prepared to admit them to what were, to them, strangers. He really wanted to take Alice to one side and check with her, but it was plain that Catherine was determined to move as quickly as she could to the coffee and fantasies; clearly, she worried that if the other guests were left too long to think about things they might get cold feet and back out.

“Right, who wants coffee?” asked Catherine.

“Yes, please,” said Charles. “Think I will want a clear head for this.”

The rest of the table nodded and soon everybody was sitting in the lounge nursing cups of coffee. Charles was sat on one of the leather sofas with Alice sitting on the floor between his legs; next to him sat Michael, with Lucy sitting on the floor. On the three-piece sofa to the right of them sat Richard, Michelle and Robert, perched on the arm of the sofa with her arm draped over Robert was Catherine, her long legs stretched out in front of her crossed at the ankles. Charles admired them from the other side of the room whilst everybody waited for somebody to start.

It was Catherine who, having taken on the mantle of ringmaster, spoke first. “Does anybody have any preference for how this should proceed? Do we go around the room in a clockwise order, or as people feel happy to speak?”

“I am happy to get things going,” said Charles. He had decided that it was probably better to go first and get it over with, that way it would hopefully be forgotten by what came after him.

“Good idea,” said Catherine, and everybody agreed to this, pleased that somebody had taken control. “Over to you, Charles.”

Charles took a deep breath, “Well, I have always fancied watching another couple fuck and for others to watch me and Alice.” He said it rather quickly as if to get it over with, then he looked at Alice, who had been holding her breath when he spoke. She knew that there were other fantasies that they talked about and she knew it could have been a lot worse.

Charles looked around the room, wondering what everybody else was thinking, then Lucy piped up, “We have that fantasy too, it makes us very horny”.

Catherine inwardly smiled; good old Lucy, whether she realised it or not she was certainly helping out here. There were a few more nods and murmur around the group.

“Well that certainly seems a popular fantasy and I would imagine not all that difficult to arrange,” the words were left hanging. “Who wants to go next?”

Lucy put her hand up.

Catherine laughed, “Lucy, we are not at school so there was no need for you to put your hand up; please tell us your fantasy.”

Again, the room went quiet as Lucy composed herself. “I have always wanted to be a slave for the day.” There were lots of puzzled looks around the room.

“And do what, exactly?” asked Alice.

“Anything,” replied Lucy. “I quite fancy coming into the room and my owner telling me to strip and kneel in the centre of the room, hands behind my back and looking at the floor.”

Alice, much like the rest of the group, did not know where this fantasy was going.

“Once I am in the subservient position," continued Lucy, "my owner can do whatever he wants with me and I cannot object.”

“What, anything?” asked Richard, who clearly had some ideas of what he would like to have her doing.

Lucy looked straight at Richard. “Pretty much, yes; obviously, there are some things I don’t want to do and I won’t do, but we would agree on limits beforehand so once in the kneeling position yes... anything.”

“Well how about next Saturday at ours, you can clean the apartment. I have always fancied having a naked cleaner,” said Charles.

Everybody laughed. “You have said your fantasy, you can’t have another go,” said Catherine.

“I wasn’t, I was offering to help out a fellow guest with their fantasy,” grinned Charles.

“We could all help Lucy out with that fantasy,” said Robert. “Who’s next?”

Richard decided to go next. He knew Michelle would be the last to speak and wanted to make sure that he and Michelle were not both going to be last. “Right, my fantasy would be for me and Michelle to be joined by another woman in a threesome.”

“Oh, I like that,” said Lucy, who seemed to be up for everything.

“What is it about men and seeing two women together,” asked Catherine. “Still, it is a very sexy image, I for one would love to be the other women - anybody else?” she continued looking at Lucy and Alice. “Think we know Lucy’s answer, but what about you, Alice, would you like to be with another woman?”

Alice thought about it and then said, “Yes, but if we are going to do my fantasy I think I would rather it was another guy.”

“Oh wow, what do you think about that Charles?”

“I knew,” was all that Charles said.

“It is another easy fantasy to fulfil,” said Catherine adding quickly, “If you want to. So, who is left to go? Michael, Michelle, Robert and me. I don’t think there has been any earth-shattering revelation so far. Shall we take a break to refill our glasses?”

After the break, everybody returned to the lounge and resumed their positions; now that half the group had spoken the atmosphere was more relaxed. Catherine and Robert had still to go, however, they were quite happy to tell their fantasies so the only two nervous faces left in the group were Michael and Michelle. When they had been in the kitchen area alone Robert and Catherine had agreed that Robert would go first and then they would let Michael go before Catherine. Both had a feeling that Michelle would leave it till the last minute before speaking up.

“Right I will go next,” said Robert. “My fantasy is…” he paused for dramatic effect, “is a good old-fashioned orgy, lots of couples all playing on a big bed, loads of arms and legs, sweaty bodies as the action heats up.”

“What's old and fashionable about that?” asked Lucy, “You make it sound like you do it all the time.”

Robert smiled and said nothing.

“I for one think that sounds wild and hot,” said Michael, “and I think it must be my turn.”

“By all means, Michael, you have the floor,” said Catherine.

“I have always fancied getting a private dance, you know, the lap dancing kind.”

“Would Lucy be with you?” said Robert

“Absolutely,” nodded Michael, “maybe things would get hot and the other lady would join us in a bit of fun. Whilst the dance was going on we would be running our hands over one another, maybe a blowjob and a bit of fingering.”

“An excellent fantasy,” said Catherine. “Right, that just leave me and Michelle; do you want to go next, Michelle, or shall I?”

“You go next,” said Michelle. Although she still looked nervous she had clearly decided what she was going to say when it was her turn.

Catherine looked around the group and thought about what she and Robert had already done and decided to go for the shock factor. “I would like to try DP.”

There was a long silence before Michelle spoke, “Sorry, I might be being stupid, but what is DP?”

“It stands for double penetration. I would love to try one in my pussy and another in my arse - you know, two guys. Hell, why not three and then I can have one in my mouth as well,” laughed Catherine.

“Think that might be a little bit too hardcore for me,” said Alice, “but it is your fantasy after all and I am not going to judge.”

“So now we only have one person left and that is you, Michelle; make it a good one,” said Catherine turning to Michelle.

“Okay, I don’t know if you will think it is a good one after yours but here goes. My sexual fantasy is to be blindfolded, spanked a little then tied to the bed and taken by a stranger.”

“Ohh, you are a dark horse,” said Lucy, “I thought you were going to say something like having sex on the beach or something else tame.”

“Well I would like to do that too,” said Michelle, blushing, “but having heard everybody else I felt that it needed to be a bit riskier, and besides, I have already been with a woman...” Michelle stopped at that point as she realised that the wine was talking and she was saying more than she wanted to.

“Tell us more,” screamed Lucy. “Don’t stop there.”

“No, no it was something I did at Uni and I have never repeated it,” said Michelle waving her arms in front of her.

“Did you enjoy it?” continued Lucy, seemingly oblivious to Michelle’s obvious discomfort.

Michael hushed his wife at this point.

“Well I don’t know about the rest of you but I have enjoyed tonight,” interjected Charles. “Don’t think that I quite expected to be so open about things, but I can honestly say it has been fun.”

The others all agreed that they had enjoyed the night and then Catherine spoke, “So do any of you think you will eventually live out your fantasies?”

“Don’t really know, perhaps; only time will tell, I think,” said Michael.

“Would you like to start?” fired back Catherine.

“What do you have in mind?” asked Michael, the rest of the group listening intently.

“We have all heard one another’s fantasies and I am pretty sure that a lot of the fantasies told were also on others list, and if not they might have now gone on their list, so I was thinking now that we know them why don’t we as a group act upon them?”

“Oh, I am not so sure about that,” said Alice, “they are fantasies, we never said we actually wanted to do them.”

“Why not, you only live once.” continued Catherine. “I am not asking for a decision here and now as your answer may be clouded by the alcohol. Why don’t we all go home and talk about it... well after you have jumped your partner's bones, because all this fantasy talk has certainly got me horny. Then let either me or Robert know during the week if you are in or out. That way nobody else needs to know what you have decided. If it is a no, then it will be never mentioned again and you will never know what the others decide to do and if some of us play out some of the fantasies heard tonight. How does that sound?”

There was lots of whispering between partners and then they all nodded their agreement.

“Right, so that is settled; over the next couple of days have a think about what we have talked about, and if you want to live out some of your fantasies let either Robert or me know before Friday. If we don’t hear either way from you by Friday, then we will assume that you have decided not to participate,” finished Catherine with a flourish.

With a clear decision having been made, everyone started to drift off to their own apartments to mull over what had been discussed.

After the last couple had left Robert turned to Catherine. “That went really well; I thought we were going too fast for them and that they might suspect something. I think the shock, embarrassment and clear sexual tension took their minds away from us having planned it all along. What do you think, do you think any of them will say yes?”

“Definitely, Lucy is a wild one so she and Michael will certainly join in,” replied Catherine. She continued, “If I had to say one way or the other then I do think that Alice and Charles will join us. I'm not convinced that Michelle and Richard will agree to it; if it was Richard on his own then yes, but not Michelle. Having said that, Michelle’s fantasy at the end was a hot one and I certainly was not expecting her to come out with something like that.”

“If any of them say yes, which fantasy are we going to do first?” asked Robert.

“Think that depends on who decides to join us. Think it should be relatively tame one so that everybody can get used to the idea. I somehow I think my fantasy would scare them all away if we said that was the one that we were going to do first.”

“Well, we shall have to wait and see what answers they come back with; things might look different to them in the clear light of day.”

“I am sure they will, but in the meantime, are you going to get your arse into that bedroom and shag me?” said Catherine walking over to Robert and slapping him hard on his behind.

“Lead the way, lead the way,” said Robert.