We called it Quadtrimony. We didn't come up with that name on the weekend retreat that started it all. We came up with it a week later, when we met back up and agreed that what the four of us had discovered that weekend was so much more than just a fluke. There is a distinct separation of our lives before that retreat and after.

People may think it is only a sex thing, but it is much more than that as well, and it all started with the art. Actually, it was a marriage of sex and art that opened us up to relationships that had lain dormant beneath a surface of feigned propriety.

It was in late February when our friends Maria and Jeff invited us to the lake house Maria had inherited the year before.

From the moment we sat down to dinner at our favorite place for tacos and margs, both my wife, Kate, and I could tell they were anxious about something. We’d known them for about three years already by that point, having met at a multimedia photography class and realized our tastes and passions for art aligned so well. Since then, we’d seen each other almost weekly and had come to share more and more with each other.

“The long weekend and the house. You’re going to adore it.” Maria was always saying  ‘adore’. “Almost as much as you’ll positively adore my idea for my next series.”

“What’s the project?” Kate asked before I could.

I was a little slow to reply because it was one of those times when I could've sworn that Maria’s bright emerald eyes had a hunger in them when she looked at me. Her right eyebrow raised ever so slightly, too. I’d always admonished myself internally moments later as being too eager to read too much into my good friend’s flirtatious nature.

“It’s another mixed-media photography project,” Jeff interjected. “But we don’t want to tell you about it until then or it could spoil it.”

Kate and I exchanged glances.

“You’ll just have to trust us. You’ll love it, I promise,” Maria said. “Greg, you’re the pro with your full-frame and the lighting. We need your help if we’re going to manifest our vision.”

By the end of the evening, the plan was set for Labor Day weekend. I’d been especially eager to see their lake house ever since we’d learned of it. Neither Kate nor I had ever had family with money. We were the typical hungry artists – barely able to scrape out a living and occasionally taking jobs as baristas to make ends meet. Jeff and Maria were those rare trust fund kids who rebelled by choosing art as their profession and using gallery owner connections to support the standard of living they’d been accustomed to since their nannies were changing their diapers. This was actually a big part of what made us so great together as artists. We legitimized each other.

September started with a heat wave, so we were especially eager to head up north from Chicago to the top of Wisconsin.

Jeff and Maria were already up there in order to get settled, they said, and prepare our bedroom.

The car drive took most of the day, so we were tired and ready for a shower when we arrived.

Maria greeted us at the door. She was glowing with excitement that I’d rarely seen on her. Those beautiful eyes were wide and, I thought, as hungry as ever. She was wearing a white lacy top that I had not seen on her before. It supported her grapefruit-sized breasts better than most anything she’d worn in my presence before. She was wearing cut-off shorts too. I’d seen her in some before, but when she turned around to give us a quick tour, I could not help but notice these seemed tighter than her usual.

Both Jeff and Maria were more fit than we were. They grew up excelling in various sports, and they were always trying some sort of adventurous challenge ‘to push their art farther’.

I felt less guilty for ogling Maria’s outfit next to Kate when Jeff came in wearing a white T-shirt two sizes too small and 80s-style five-inch shorts. I followed Kate’s eyes, counting down his six pack to his bulge. I gave her a nudge and a smirk. His legs were pretty impressive, too. You could almost see why they call them quads. We’d commented on how attractive they are many times.

Kate and I worked out fairly often, too, but we have a thin layer of cushion no matter what we do. We’re just heavier set and have a little more to hold on to.  Kate's ass is full, but round, and her breasts get a lot of looks from other guys.

After the tour, unpacking, and a shower, Kate and I got dressed to join them for dinner and a bonfire.

I remember noticing that Kate had put on her black tight-fitting top that revealed cleavage. Kate has light brown hair that flows to her shoulders and double-D breasts that I was pretty sure I’d caught Jeff staring at once or twice when she’d worn that very top. Kate’s eyes are soft blue. I always said she put the sexy in the ‘girl next door’ look.

Not sure if it’s all in my head, but for a man not in as good shape as Jeff or any other athletic type, my jawline and dark features sometimes garners long looks from girls, and it doesn’t hurt that I don’t skip leg day. Kate says my ass is my best feature, second only to my jawline. Who am I to argue?

The food and the wine were as luxurious as the accommodations. Jeff was always a good cook.

When I couldn’t wait any longer, I finally asked. “So, what’s the project?”

“Orgasms,” Maria said. She said it breathily but matter-of-factly.

I almost did a spit-take.

“Close up sexual orgasms and facial expressions, clenched fists,” Jeff said. “All with jungle or other natural elements painted on or near them.”

“Entwined branches and powerful human embraces at the peak of ecstasy,” Maria said. “What could be more perfect?”

Kate crossed her legs and grabbed my hand where I was sitting next to her at the dining table. Her look seemed to suggest she was getting uncomfortable.

“Black and white with featured colors popping out in contrast,” Paul said.

I cleared my throat and looked Jeff straight in his blue eyes. “This isn’t some kind of swingers thing, is it?”

He leaned back and laughed. He sounded sincere when he said, “Do you think if we were swingers we would have waited this long to let you know it?” He sounded sincere. He put both hands on the table, palm down. He looked first at me and then at Kate in the eye and said, “You’re just the only people we thought we could ask that might be willing, let alone able, to help us.”

Maria grabbed my left hand across from her on the table. She’s briefly grabbed my hand before, but it sent a shock through my body that time. The light from a fire we’d set when the evening had turned chilly lit her soft oval face with licks of amber.  She let go of my hand after the briefest of seconds as she said, “You don’t have to touch us or anything like that, only assist with the lighting and taking the shots at the right moment.”

Maria looked into Kate's eyes. “No funny business. We’re serious. You don’t even have to paint us if you don’t want to,” Maria said. She had admitted on more than one occasion that Kate was a better artist with body paint than she was. Maria does more sculpture and drawing than actual painting.

I couldn’t speak right then. My mind was trying to picture Maria’s legs spread out before me. She had a couple of tattoos. One of which I’d only seen the bottom edge of, beneath the hem of those shorts.

Maria saved me from the awkward pause. “We’re honored, but what if we say no?”

“Of course you don’t have to help. We can do something else while you’re here and we’ll try on our own,” Jeff said.

Maria completed his thought. “If you were to help, you’d share credit in what we think could be groundbreaking.”

“What gallery would…?“ I asked.

“We already have two in mind. And we know some potential buyers, too,” Jeff answered.

Maria was just drinking her wine and watching us at that point.

We promised to think about it and excused ourselves to freshen up.

When we joined them again, they were lounging on the enormous semi-circle plush couch in front of the fireplace. The temperature had really dropped and rain could be heard pelting the windows and ceiling.

I had a hard time not trying to picture the photo shoot with Maria. I'd imagined they’d make quite an exciting image together.

Kate and I had only agreed that we didn’t want to turn them down or seem prudish, but we had not agreed to say yes at that point.

We talked and laughed for a while. Eventually, we got them to tell us more about some of the images they were wanting.

One example was the vulva in black and white with the pink pearl revealed, surrounded on each side by pink flowers in ivy, painted in a watercolor style like the one my wife had perfected on her own hands and arm from time to time.

We promised we were still considering it and would give our answer in the morning when we said good night. We were both pretty tired and didn’t want to decide anything yet.

When we were just about to fall asleep, moans and the sound of a bed being rocked in the bedroom next to ours were unmistakable.

We giggled for a second. Then I saw the hunger in Kate’s eyes.

When I reached my hand into Kate’s loose pajama pants, I found she’d remembered to shave. And just beneath her little heart-shaped mound of hair, she was sopping wet already.

“You’ve been excited for a while,” I teased.

She just moaned in reply. I reached under her ass. I cupped her ass and pushed my thumb inside her.

Kate’s moans blended with Maria’s as I threw off the covers and began devouring her juices.

Kate interrupted me by rolling halfway over suddenly. She handed me a towel that had been on a pile on the bedside table.

“Go for it,” she said.

I was glad for the towel when her juices poured freely minutes later. I didn’t last long after entering her later, either.

Our sounds soon drowned theirs out.

We had not fucked that hard in months. We had been going through quite a dry spell, actually.

After we rolled over and caught our breath, Maria looked me in the eye and asked, “We’re doing it, aren’t we?”

The next morning, there were a lot of ‘knowing’ glances. Jeff and Kate were as thrilled as we’d expected that we had said yes.

We spent the day enjoying the outdoors before we began setting up for the project.

We planned the shots with rough sketches. We figured out the lighting. There was a large study in the back that was perfect for the shoot.

We had set up digital cameras beside our full frame film cameras so we could check the shot before the dark room.

We were all set to go, and the sun was just starting to set when it was time for them to get undressed and get going.

We could tell that we were all still a bit nervous so we decided to go to the couch first and have a glass of wine beforehand.

“I think it’s harder because we love you so much,” Maria said after her second sip. She was wearing bright red lipstick already that had been chosen as the pop of color for receiving Jeff’s pre-cum.

“Well, harder is good,” Kate joked.

After a short laugh, I said, “That’s totally it. If we didn’t love you, maybe this would feel more… procedural… or clinical.”

“We’ve talked about it so calmly, but now when I’m going to undress before you, I feel almost like a schoolgirl,” Maria said.

Jeff and I nodded, and we all took another sip. We were sitting fairly close to each other. Kate was on my right, and Maria was on my left with Jeff right beside her, farther to my left.

It’s cliché to say the air was electric, but that’s what it felt like. As though the connection and the anticipation of the four of us making something great together filled the room and opened us up.

I’ll never forget how surprised I was when Kate said, “I bet if we all just started making out now, we could all get undressed together and it would feel more natural.”

“Sounds amazing,” Jeff said. He grabbed Maria’s face and began to kiss her passionately.

Kate nudged me, and as soon as I turned to her, we were kissing like our lives depended on it.

Kate’s eyes widened. She motioned with her head for me to turn back and look at Maria and Jeff.

Jeff had pushed the tight black top Maria had been wearing down and his hand was cupping her left breast. When he reached to bring down the other side while kissing her neck, her pencil eraser hard nipple was exposed. 

Kate pressed herself into my neck and began nibbling. My cock had already been halfway hard most of the afternoon, and it wasted no time getting harder now.

It may seem obvious now, but I had really not expected it to start off like this when we’d suggested undressing before the shoot.

Kate was stroking me through my shorts when I started freeing her breasts. She stopped me again when Jeff was standing up and dropping his shorts. His cock stood straight out. Not quite as thick as mine, but possibly an inch longer. Uncut, in contrast to mine, but the bulbous head was exposed.

“Should we go to the study now?” he asked, grinning ear to ear. “Seems like we’re not feeling shy at this moment.”

Maria reached out, grabbed his ass. She looked like she was about to go down on him right away, but then stopped herself. She looked back at me and Kate. “You don’t mind if we do that bit next time and just enjoy this here, do you?”

“I don’t mind if you don’t,” Kate asked me.

There was no way I was saying no at that point. Kate pulled me further away from them along the semicircle so we could see them more easily as we lay beside each other and continued to undress each other.

I caught Maria looking at my cock even as she nursed Jeff’s while he stood in front of her, groaning softly. The smile in her eyes told me she liked looking at me. She looked right at me as I finished stepping out of my shorts and as she traced the underside of his mushroom head and down across the fold of his pulled-back foreskin.

Kate pulled me on top of her. I started to kiss my way down, but she grabbed me. “Just fuck me,” she commanded.

From our positions on the couch, we could watch each other fucking. Maria’s half-Brazilian mocha cream legs straddled Jeff now as he was sitting facing us.

Without saying a word more, we all started watching each other as we fucked. All our senses were amplified by the thrill of sharing each other in this way.

The smell of the potpourri on the coffee table mingled with the smell of sex. The sounds of each other in passion mingled with the rain that had returned for a second night. Then there was the feel of my wife’s vaginal muscles clenching in her first orgasm.

I had to think of my camera’s f-stops and whether we should set up in here in order to keep from cumming in those first few seconds.

As our rhythms crescendoed, a crack of lightning and thunder shook the whole house, and the power went out.

Jeff had been in the process of rolling Maria onto the couch to take her missionary style. He almost dropped her in surprise. The fear that there was damage to the house and the sheer deafening nature of the storm at that point had killed the mood literally in a flash.

The moment was shattered like glass. It took us a while, Jeff and I stumbling around with all of our blood in our cocks, finding the flashlights and candles. Maria and Kate were sitting next to each other, stark naked, just holding hands and whispering now and then.

Finally, Jeff and I were able to sit down. We brought the largest blanket we could find and threw it over ourselves.

It had just so happened that I had sat down next to Maria. She took my left hand in her soft and slender right hand. It trembled slightly, and so I squeezed it slightly and stroked my thumb across her index finger.

We sat there for a few moments as the storm started to quiet and move away, leaving a steady rain. I realized that Jeff was holding Kate’s hand on the opposite side of us and it didn’t phase me.

I honestly don’t remember what was said in the next few minutes because I started focusing on Maria’s lips and eyes and then her tits as the blanket fell beneath them. I’m sure Kate’s breasts became exposed again at around the same time.

The candle-light threw their flattering licks of amber against us again as the fireplace had the night before. The senses were possibly even more amplified at the point that Maria and I began kissing.

I saw Jeff kiss my Katie and it made me even more excited. When he reached for Kate’s breasts, bent down and took one in his mouth, I noticed, but it hardly registered. Kate’s hand was now under the blanket, wrapping around my quickly hardening cock.

There was some small part of me thinking ‘is this really happening right now?’ but I ignored it.

Maria whispered in my ear, “You’re so thick and beautiful, can I have you?”

Jeff was kneeling in front of my wife and spread her legs open when my wife gave me a quick nod of approval. I returned the nod.

When she slid down my shaft, the feel was exhilarating. She held me down now with her left hand and rocked back and forth, moving her hips on me like my wife had not in ages. I thrust up to meet her and matched her rhythm.

I wanted this to last, so after a moment, when Jeff and Kate were switching for him to take her in missionary, I encouraged Maria to lay down so I could kiss my way down her stomach.

I barely noticed the floral tattoo on her thigh that had been the subject of my speculation. Her pussy blossomed before me. Where Kate’s is all pink with little in the way of labia against her alabaster skin, Maria’s is rich mocha with slightly engorged labia that opens to reveal a bright pink interior.

I savored the smell and the taste of her as I worked my way from the bottom of it, just above her taint, and all of the way to her clit, which instantly brought a loud moan. Then I fucked her with my tongue twice before she quoted Kate from earlier. “Just fuck me.”

Everything was too much to bear for all of us, apparently, because I had barely entered Maria when I heard Kate’s familiar big orgasm followed immediately by Jeff’s groan that I recalled having heard the night before from their room.

When I was about to cum a few strokes later, she locked her legs around me and held me in. I had known she was on the pill, so I assumed she didn’t mind, and she seemed to enjoy it filling her.

At some point, I swear to you, Kate actually said, “So yeah, that just happened.”

The next day, the power was back and there was a new ease and familiarity amongst us. It was not awkward. In the few moments between painting and prepping for the shoot, we talked about how it was surprisingly comfortable.

In fact, I was beginning to notice that Kate and Maria seemed even closer. They were talking a lot while Jeff and I were busy.

The photo shoot went smoothly, without any awkwardness as we were comfortable - aroused, but relaxed - while Jeff and Kate fucked before us.

Finally, after Jeff and Maria had just finished making love, while Kate and I finished capturing the shots of her vision while we were developing the full-frame pictures, Kate whispered to me that Maria had suggested she had still been afraid to ask me to do one more thing.

“What could she possibly be nervous about asking now?” I asked. Kate just laughed and shrugged.

“Maria, what’s your other idea?”

After a teasing look at Kate, Maria said, “Double penetration.”

Kate laughed hard then. “You just wanted to do this whole thing so you could try that.”

“No,” she protested.

“Just kidding,” Kate said. “Ok. But I call next.”

“Actually,” Jeff said, “we should have a variety of subjects to make this exhibit complete. We should cover all the bases.”

“All sex is beautiful. Even the parts of it many people consider ‘gross’,” Maria added.

It was hours later when we thought we’d go ahead and try it.

It didn’t start out as planned, though.

We started out similar to the night before, sitting next to each other on the long-pile rug in front of our cameras and lights. We let the heat from the lights warm our naked bodies.

We were pretty wiped out from the work of the day so we decided to relax and talk for a while.

The women were next to each other on one end, and Jeff and I were next to each other on the other. I was next to Jeff. We were all only wearing shorts.

“Time for truth or dare,” Maria said.

“Oh, you’re funny,” Kate said. “You serious?”

“Yeah, sure,” Jeff said. “Why not? What’s left?”

“Oh, be careful, Jeff. You’re first,” Maria quipped.

“Fine. Truth. I need a moment before any dare," he said.

“Ok. Truth – have you ever been with anyone of the same sex?”

Jeff propped himself on one side to get a better look at Maria and threw her eye darts. “Yes.” He grinned and lay back down. “Greg next, same question.”

I wasn’t really surprised. Jeff seemed like he might try everything. At that moment, it didn’t occur to me to feel threatened by it. I just didn’t know what I would say if they probed further into my fantasies.

Because she knows me so well, Kate interjected before I could answer. “If you haven’t but you have fantasized about it more than once, you have to say so.”

It was my turn to throw eye darts. I didn’t even have to answer.

“Well, it’s far more normal than most hetero men admit,” Jeff said. That was totally on-brand for the psych double-major.

“Yeah, I bet that’s right,” I said. “Maria, same question.”

“Of course!” Maria exclaimed it as if it were a given. “Kate’s turn.”

“No, I haven’t,” Kate said. “But anyway, it’s called truth OR dare, and I get to choose. I choose dare.”

“Fine,” I said. “I dare you to kiss Maria. Full mouth. Real deal.”

Jeff and I watched and waited for it to end. It just kept going, though. To this day, I don’t know where it came from. But the more we watched, wide-eyed, the further they went.

Maria’s hand slid down, under the elastic of the gym shorts Kate was wearing. Kate spread her legs. You could see from the movement underneath that Maria had begun to finger my wife. Meanwhile, her mouth moved to devour Kate’s right breast as she kneaded it in her right hand.

Before we knew it, Jeff and I were stroking ourselves watching Maria go down on Kate.

We had the wherewithal to take some carefully placed shots as Maria finger-fucked my wife and circled her clit with her tongue. Just tongue and clit in one shot. Just a finger with moisture dripping from beneath the hole in another.

As Kate’s orgasms increased in intensity, leading to the finale, Jeff nudged me and asked if I’d like him to suck me off. My head was swimming with the excitement of watching Maria go down on Kate, so all I could do was give a gentle nod.

His mouth was warmer and firmer than any I’d felt. Looking at him lick and suck me as I stood beside my wife’s first sapphic experience was yet another level of excitement that made the room spin.

Maria's ass was in the air as she was on her knees now, having removed Kate’s shorts. The mound of her flesh peeked from beneath her round heart-shaped ass with little hints of bright pink within her folds. 

I was afraid I might cum in Jeff’s mouth so I motioned for him to look at the display before me. I wanted to be there. 

“She needs to be fucked while she does that,” Jeff said.

I wanted to taste Maria again, so I lay underneath her and began licking her as Jeff slid his cock inside her. I didn't mind that his balls were moving right above my chin as he fucked her firmly but slowly. He was careful not to let them get in my way.

Then, his cock slid out and landed on my tongue. The head was supple but firm. I let my tongue swirl along the smooth frenulum as he repositioned. He moaned before repositioning to slide back into Maria. Then, when it happened again, I took the head of his cock in my mouth. My occasional fantasy of doing this with the right man had been right all along. I enjoyed it. I felt like he was probably the only man I ever could do this with.

It didn't last long as his thrusting got harder. Kate came hard, and Jeff rolled Maria over to finish fucking her. 

I moved over to Kate and fucked her. She grabbed my ass harder than ever as I pounded her and we finished last, having been barely aware of the screams of ecstasy coming from beside us.

That night, we went to bed early. Kate turned to me and asked, “Do we need to talk about us? Are we okay?”

I thought about it a second and said, “I’m okay if you are.”

She nodded and rested her head on the pillow beside me.

I could see a bit of concern still in her eyes.

“If anything, I love you more,” I added. “And they would never change the fact that I want to spend my life with you. If it were a choice, it is always you.”

She kissed me. “What if we don’t stop wanting them, though?”

“Would that be so bad?” I kissed her again. We held each other for a while talking about how our fantasies were all coming true. 

The next day was our last full day there, and the big event was our DP photo shoots. The rest of the day was a blur, but at lunch the four of us talked at length. We all felt that what we had found together was more than dabbling in swinging or just a wife-swap. Not only did we feel it was romantic, but that it went in all directions and between all four of us. 

After that talk, when we were ready to prepare our final masterpieces, we did so with sincerity and passion. 

The feel of Jeff’s cock in first Kate’s and then Maria’s ass while I thrust inside their vaginas was spectacular. It was added pressure and a slight extra friction that amplified an already smooth and tight embrace. 

A few times, we had to stop for a moment to get the light or angle right, but it actually prolonged the pleasure.

Afterward, both of the women lost control and just collapsed after our rounds. Their bodies quaked with waves of release.

We ended the trip agreeing to wait to talk or see each other again for at least a full week and then to check back to make sure we all were clear-headed before committing to anything right away, but we were pretty well sold that we needed to live together and not let the weekend be a fluke. 

The art exhibits were as successful as we reasonably could have hoped. They were both provocative and evocative. They made guests talkative and most certainly horny. The proceeds couldn’t live up to the fantastical expectations that Maria had had for them, but we made enough money on sales to help us with some renovations to the Lake house , converting the second bedroom into a second primary suite. Also, to reupholster the couch.