The two special poker parties I had attended had been sizzling hot. There was only one more to go. Oh, GOD, was I ever fired up for the last one. I already had a hard-on when I got to Tom's house, but he was too weirded out to even notice it when he opened the door.

I poked his arm with my fist and said, "Hang in there. The rest of us did it, you can too."

"You don't know Karen," he whispered. "She would never dream of doing anything like this. Please go easy on her."

I put my arm on his shoulder, and looked into his eyes. "I'll watch out for her, Tom, really, I will. You can count on me."

"Thanks, buddy," he said as he took my other hand in both of his. "Can I say something about putting her in your hands when I leave?"

"Sure, no problem."

Oh, fuck, was this going to be hot. He just handed me the key to her pussy.

Once everyone had arrived, Tom led us though the archway from the living room to the dining room behind it. We knew from past sessions that we would be playing on their oak dining table. It already had a liberal scattering of coasters, as hints that they wouldn't want us spilling beer on the wood surface.

We seated ourselves around the table and Tom called to Karen. She came through the swinging door from the kitchen carrying four bottles of beer, and greeted us pleasantly. Then she went back and brought a large bowl of Chex mix to go with the beer. She disappeared back into the kitchen as we started our game.

After a couple of hands we heard the phone ring and grinned at Tom. Sure enough, Karen popped her head out of the kitchen to tell Tom it was for him. He took it in the living room, and soon came back with the "bad news." He called Karen out from the kitchen and told her he was going to have to handle an emergency in the office.

Karen nearly panicked when he told her that. She whispered something frantically in his ear, but he hugged her and assured her it would be OK.

Then he turned to me, still holding her, and said, "Dick, Karen's not sure it's proper for her to be alone with you three guys, but I told her we should let you finish playing, like we always do, and that I knew I could trust you. So you will see to it that there are no problems, won't you?"

"Of course," I nodded, "you can count on me. It's really nice of you guys to let us go ahead and play."

"Karen," I added, turning to her, "if anything is bothering you, anything at all, please tell me, and I'll take care of it. OK?"

She nodded, and whispered, "Thanks."

Then she kissed Tom, and said, "You need to get to work. Don't worry about me."

He nodded, gave me a final look, and was out the door.

As soon as the door closed behind him Karen started biting her lip and wringing her hands.

"Karen," I said, "something is bothering you. Let's talk about it."

"I'm sorry, Dick, it's just me. Ignore me."

"No, I promised Tom that if anything was bothering you I would take care of it. I can't take care of it if I don't know what it is."

"I ... this feels so wrong ... being here with you three guys. I've never been alone in a house with guys before, not even with Tom, until we were married."

My god! A virgin on her wedding night, and still a total innocent. I had no idea women like this still existed.

"Of course," I nodded, "I understand. I have a suggestion. Why don't you take a book, or something, and go back to your bedroom. I'll bet there's a lock on your bedroom door, right?"

"Yeah, I think so, but we never use it. I don't know where the key is."

"I'm sure you won't need the key. There has to be a button or knob on the inside that you can push or turn to lock it. You go in the bedroom and lock the door, and then it will be like you have your own private house back there, with no one else in it. Does that sound good?"

"Oh, yes. Thank you," she shuddered. "I know I'm just being silly, and I'm sorry, but I hope you'll forgive me."

We all assured her that we understood.

"Thanks, guys. I'm going, now."

"OK," I said to her back as she started toward the hall, "we won't bother you unless we need something."

The living room, dining room, and kitchen were lined up on the right side of their house. On the left side was a garage in the front with a bathroom and bedrooms behind it. The hall ran back between the dining room side and the bedroom side. We could only see a bit of the hall through an open doorway from its side into the dining room.

She disappeared around the corner, and we waited until we heard her walk down the hall and into a bedroom.

"Damn!" Bob grumbled after we heard her door latch. "Talk about a total bust!"

"What the fuck were you doing?" Pete accused me. "You were fucking encouraging her to lock her goddamn ass where we can't even touch it!"

"Peace, guys," I tried to calm them. "You don't want her to hear you. Besides, I've got a plan."

"This I gotta hear," Bob said suspiciously.

"First, think about it. The gal's a total innocent, and nervous as a virgin with a gun at her back. What do you think that means?"

"I guess it means we never had a chance, anyway," Bob shrugged.

Pete's mouth dropped open. "Fuck, no! What it means is she's feeling horny, and she's fucking scared to death of what she's feeling."

"Bingo," I grinned at Pete. "That's the way I figured it, too. I think we've got a good chance of seducing her, but the first step was that she had to trust us, or at least one of us."

"So who elected you?"

"Tom did, actually. Besides, I was the first one to figure things out."

"So, what's the second step?"

"We play poker for a while and let her calm down. Meanwhile, let's try to finish up the Chex mix as quickly as we can."

Stuffing our faces with the mix was a thirsty job, and we had mostly drained our bottles by the end of three hands. I looked around, said something like, "Trusty Dick to the rescue," and went out to the kitchen for more. As I expected, I found plenty of bottles in the refrigerator, and brought out three.

We played two more hands before we got to the bottom of the snack bowl. I looked at it and said, "Time for the next step."

Then I intentionally tipped over my beer bottle, letting the liquid form a puddle in the middle of the table.

"OH SHIT!" the other two guys jumped up and started frantically trying to clean up the mess. We had some napkins, but they didn't help much.

For my part, I calmly walked to the hall and down to what I judged was the bedroom door Karen was hiding behind.

I knocked, and called, "Karen, we've got a problem! Can you help?"

I heard her walk to the door, fiddle with the lock, and then look out.

"I'm so sorry, Karen, I spilled some beer on the table."

"Oh, no," she said dashing down the hall. "I'll get a cloth."

I followed her back to the dining room and saw her glance at the table then continue her dash into the kitchen. She came out shortly with a roll of paper towels, a wet dish cloth, and a dish towel. I stood beside her and grabbed paper towels out of her hand once they had sopped up their share of the beer. It only took her a minute or so to get the spill cleaned up and the table washed and wiped dry.

"I have another confession to make," I told Karen. "We wanted some more beer, and we didn't want to bother you, so I found it myself in the refrigerator.

"Now I wish I hadn't," I added, as I handed her the wad of wet paper towels.

"Please, don't worry about it, Dick. It was easy to clean up. And I'm glad you felt you could get the beer yourself."

She gave me a sidelong look. "You're being very kind to me. Much more than I deserve."

I looked her straight in the eye. "You deserve it, Karen. You're a very special person."

That certainly flustered her, and she ducked out to the kitchen to get rid of the things she had in her hands. It didn't seem like she was going to come right back, so we sat down and dealt another hand. But she did return, with three more beers, before we started bidding. She first stepped to the corner of the table between Bob and Pete, and set their beers down on coasters. While she was doing that, she caught my eye and gave me a shy smile. Then she came to my side of the table and, to my amazement, pressed her body against mine as she set my beer down.

I turned my face up with what I hoped was a fond, but not lascivious, look, and said, "Thanks, Karen."

"You're welcome," she whispered.

Keeping my eyes locked to hers, I said, "Oh, we wouldn't bother you, but since you're here, we do love that Chex mix. Do you have more?"

She tore her eyes away from mine to look at the bowl.

"Oh! Of course. I knew you would want more. I was going to make another batch while you were playing, but then ... well ... my plans got changed."

She looked directly down at me as she said, "I'm sorry, it's going to take a while. I wish I hadn't forgotten. I'm so ashamed..."

"Stop that, Karen. You have nothing to be ashamed of. Look ... would it go faster if you had some help?"

"Oh, I couldn't. I mean, yes, it would, but that's silly. You guys go ahead and play."

"Ah, but I want munchies more than I want poker," I grinned up at her. "I'd love to help you. Please let me."

"Well, I guess." She looked at Bob and Pete, "but what about you guys? I could use one helper, but not three."

"No problem," Bob tossed out. "I've been dying to take Pete on in some Gin Rummy."

"Shi-, I mean sure, I'll f- ... I'll clean you out, you patsy," Pete managed to get out.

I nearly laughed out loud at the effort he was making to keep his mouth clean, but I controlled myself.

"Well, come on, then," Karen said, starting into the kitchen.

I followed her, but turned and grinned at the guys before I went through the door. Bob gave me a thumbs-up. Pete gave me a finger.

"OK, I'm going to let you in on my secret ingredient," Karen explained once I joined her in the kitchen. "I use chopped dates, but they have to be chopped so finely that no one even realizes they are there. That takes a while. Do you think you could do it?"

"I can sure try. Can I wash my hands at the sink, first?"

She looked at me, shaking her head in amazement. "You are something else. Tom would have just grabbed a knife and started in. I would have had to yell at him to wash up first."

She blushed and looked down as she went on, "I was standing here trying to figure how to tell you to wash without yelling at you. Oh, Dick, you're too good to be true!"

"Now, now, let's not have any flattery," I said from the sink as I started washing my hands. "Get it through your head; you don't have to butter me up to get me to help you."

I turned and looked at her as I rubbed with a hand towel. "I really want to help you. OK?"

"And I really think you are too good to be true," she said, blushing deeply, but managing to hold eye contact this time.

I turned to hang up the towel, and she turned at the same time to get the dates out of the refrigerator. When I turned back around she was still blushing, but not looking at me, as she took them to the cutting board and got out a knife.

"Only about half a dozen, but very, very fine," she managed to croak.

While I worked on that she got out all the other ingredients, then started the butter melting as she pulled out Worcestershire Sauce and some spices. Soon she was stirring the butter and adding sauce and spices to it. The cutting board was right next to the stove, so we were working very close to each other. The atmosphere was electric, but we didn't look at each other, or even touch, quite.

"OK, I'm ready for the dates," she finally said softly. "Oh, that's very good, but let me do just a little more."

She scooted over against me and reached out and took the knife from my hand. I stood very close to her watching as she finished chopping. She didn't take long, so I guess I had done a fairly good job.

I continued watching as she tossed everything together and popped it into the microwave. Then she turned and gave me another smile, not so shy this time.

"Oh, Dick, I really, really, ... I mean ... it was so nice of you to help me out. I can't believe how fast it went. You were wonderful."

"Working beside you was wonderful for me, Karen. My wife always chases me out of the kitchen, so I never get a chance at what you and I just did together."

"My husband won't come close to the kitchen unless I force him to, so what we did was great for me, too ... You have no idea how much..."

"I think maybe I do, too. Was it this much?"

I reached for her waist with both hands, pulled her close, and kissed her gently on the mouth. She moaned and melted against me.

I didn't let the kiss go on too long, but pulled back and said very softly, "It was at least that much for me, Karen."