It was just another party at our next door neighbors house. The kind of party that floats from house to house in the neighborhood on any given weekend. This one was a little different though; a new couple had moved into the neighborhood and this party was a welcoming bash for them. He, his name was Sam, seemed like a nice enough guy and in talking to him I found out we both had an interest in old cars. He was restoring a 65' Mustang, and I was trying to figure out how best to turn a 29' Ford pickup into a street rod. She, however, was something else. Janine was tall - 5'9" at least, long jet black hair that hung almost to her waist, green eyes, the face of an angel and a body that would drive a Saint mad with lust - narrow waist, slim hips, high up-thrust breasts and a superior ass. I could not keep my eyes off her; they followed her around the room as she moved from group to group meeting her new neighbors. A voice from behind me said:

"You're drooling. Should I get you a bib?" I turned to find Carol, my wife of fifteen years. "It's obvious that you want a taste of that" she said, "Why don't you take a chance - try your luck?"

I grinned at her and said, "Oh no, you have to be first."

Carol and I have a unique relationship. It is totally open and each of us has given the other permission to step outside the bonds of holy matrimony, only neither of us ever had. Carol is a walking wet dream and she has men goggle eyed wherever she goes. She's had more passes thrown at her than all the wide receivers in the NFL, but she has never tried to catch one. It has always been my fondest wish to watch Carol in bed with another man, and she has always said that some day she will do it for me. In fact, she had one day shown me a list of who she was going to do and in what order she was going to do them. But she has steadfastly refused to be the first one to break our marriage vows. If it ever happens, it will have to be because I was the first to have sex outside our marriage. The trouble is that I have absolutely no interest in having sex with anyone other than Carol, so a couple of thousand guys never got a chance at Carol because I won't put my dick in another woman. It's amazing - she wants to but won't unless I do it first and I want her to, but I don't want anyone else so neither of us gets what we both really want - a real Catch 22.

"This could be your chance baby. Nail her and get your wish" teased Carol.

"Yeah. Right!" I said.

I had to admit, however, that if there was a woman who could cause me to stray from Carol it was probably Janine. But how to do it? Five years of going steady with Carol, followed by fifteen years of marriage had killed off whatever pickup skills I might have once had, and I'd never in my life tried to seduce a married woman. As if reading my mind Carol said:

"Don't worry lover, I'll help you."

True to her word, Carol set out to help get me in Janine's pants. When I came home from work the following Tuesday it was to find Carol and Janine in the kitchen sipping vodka martinis.

"Sam is out of town on business so I invited Janine over for dinner" Carol said, "You go on and wash up for dinner and I'll have it on the table when you come back down."

So began a friendship between Carol and Janine that grew to the point where each became the other's closest confidant. And what did this mean in my pursuit of the lovely Janine? Nothing at all. I could never find an opening or an opportunity to make a move on her, or if there had been, I missed it. What's more, Janine seemed to show no interest in any man other than Sam. Sam and I became closer though not as close as Carol and Janine. Weekends would find the two of us working on his car or mine, sipping beer and watching football, or playing double pinochle with our wives.