“So,” Cassie asked, peering over her coffee cup, “Any more ‘adventures’?”

I could hear the air quotes around “adventures” and I knew exactly what kind of “adventures” she was asking about.

“Well…” I began. She put her cup down and leant forwards. “But I’m not sure I should tell you.”

“You should! You should!” she urged.

I laughed, wanting to hold out on her for a little longer but unable to in the face of her obvious interest.

“Okay, okay!” I paused for effect and sipped my coffee. It felt incredibly mischievous to be talking about these things in the middle of a crowded café at this time of day.

“Tell me!” Cassie instructed earnestly. Or perhaps pleaded is more the word I should use.

“After that first time,” I began.

“With the boots.”

“I’m glad you remember.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever forget, and I wasn’t even there.” I smiled: I’d never forget.

“Anyway, after the first time, it was as if nothing had happened.”

“You mean you didn’t talk about it?” I shook my head.

“Ellie seemed so embarrassed after we’d had sex and she was splayed out on the floor with those thigh-high boots on. I didn’t want to bring it up.”

“Your relationship is weird,” Cassie said, “If I want something, I just tell Amber. ‘Touch me here.’ ‘Lick me there.’ etc. You get the picture.”

I was lost in thought for a second; I very much got the picture.

“I can’t imagine all the things you two are repressing,” she continued, “Or perhaps, maybe I can, now that we’ve seen this side to Ellie.”

“Do you want to hear what happened or not?”

“Sorry! Very much so.” She mimed a zipping motion over her mouth, but I had a better chance of ending up in bed with her than I had of keeping her quiet when sex was the topic of conversation.

“So, we were going to go out, and I had trousers and a shirt on.”

“Good effort.”

“Thank you.”

“And Ellie?”

“She was nowhere near ready. But she was standing in front of the wardrobe, completely starkers again, but wearing those little stilettoes you said you like.”

“Oh yes. They’re gorgeous. And Ellie has great legs.” I smiled: I knew that very well.

“But that’s not like Ellie, just to stand around in the nude while I’m in the room.”

“Oh, right. For me it’s pretty normal. Not you, obviously. Amber.” I’d love to see that, but the chance of it was pretty much zero.

“Well, it’s not normal for Ellie. And she was staring into the wardrobe, just her earrings sparkling and her skin glowing.”

“And instead of going out you banged her right there and then?”

“You know, if that was all that happened do you think it would make an interesting story.”

“Perhaps not. But it’s what I’d do.”

“It crossed my mind, I tell you. And I was sat on the edge of the bed looking at her, and my trousers were feeling a bit tight by then…”

“I have no interest in the contents of your trousers, neither for the purposes of this story nor for any other purposes.”

“Yeah, I know…” It sounded more wistful than I intended. I remembered a long time back when I’d made an inept attempt at a pass at Cassie, and she’d said something along the lines of being so not interested that she could feel her fanny shrinking just at the thought of it. I never tried again.

“So,” Cassie continued, brushing aside the awkward moment as she always had so easily, “What did you do?”

“It was more what Ellie did,” I said.

“And?”

“Well… she was staring into the wardrobe, as I said, and she asked me what I thought she should wear.” I paused and Cassie stared at me, waiting for me to continue. “So I just ‘you look pretty great like that’.”

“I bet she did.”

“She really did. And she turned and looked at me and said ‘only pretty good?’ And I said ‘okay, pretty amazing’.” She really did look amazing.

“‘That’s slightly better’ she said, ‘But I’m not sure the restaurant would let me in like this.’ And I was lost for words for a minute, because Ellie’s not really the flirting type.”

“Unfortunately, she never has been. No matter how hard I’ve tried,” Cassie said, now also looking wistful.

“‘Or maybe they’d let us off the bill?’ I suggested,” continuing the story, “And Ellie looked at me with an arched eyebrow and said ‘Is that all my body is to you? Just a way to get a free meal?'”

“She’s a sharp girl.”

I grinned: she really was.

“And then she said. ‘I’d bet you’d be more uncomfortable if I walked in there naked than I would.'”

“Ellie said that?” Cassie’s eyes were wide again. I nodded.

“‘I’m willing to try if you are,’ I told her. Although my trousers were now really uncomfortable.” Cassie held up a hand to stop me from going into any more detail again. Although it was difficult to put out of my mind, because I was getting hard just telling her about it. I definitely would not be telling her that, though.

“And that was it?” Cassie asked.

“Not quite. She just said ‘We’ll see about that’, and she reached into the wardrobe and pulled out this tiny dress.”

“The light blue one?” I nodded. “I love that dress, but Ellie’s always wearing trousers underneath it.”

“Not that night she didn’t. She dropped it over her shoulders, and you know it’s got those tied shoulder straps, and it just looked like it was barely hanging over her body.”

“No underwear or anything?” Cassie asked. I shook my head. “I wished I’d been there.”

“She looked good enough to eat.”

“So you banged her-” I put my hand up to stop her.

“No. I stood up, as best I could anyway, and Ellie grabbed her purse and we went out.”

“I think I’ve only ever seen Ellie’s legs twice, when she’s worn shorts,” Cassie said.

“She doesn’t show them often. I wish she would.”

“So do I,” Cassie agreed.

I smiled, realising I was quite lucky that I could relive all this by telling Cassie, knowing that she was getting as much pleasure out of it as I was.

“Anyway,” I continued, “We went to the restaurant, and I felt like the luckiest man alive.”

“I think you might have been, just then.”

“But the problem was, as we ate all I could think about was that Ellie’s body was right there, covered by the thinnest and smallest piece of clothing possible.”

“And now it’s all I can think about, thank you very much.”

“You’re welcome. So anyway, it was even more of distraction that Ellie would keep fiddling with those shoulder ties, and I thought to myself that all it would take would be a gentle tug and the whole thing would just disappear.”

“And did you say anything?”

“What, like, how do you feel about getting naked right now?”

“Well, maybe not those exact words, but, you know…”

“Of course not.” Cassie rolled her eyes. “But after dessert Ellie was sat leant forward, and I was too, and I couldn’t help but stare at the way her dress fell from her body. I mean: she’d never even worn that dress without trousers before, let alone with no underwear.”

“Next time this happens, can you call me up?” Cassie asked. “I would travel from anywhere in the world to see it.” I think she meant it.

“Not a chance,” I said, also meaning it, “But the waiter brought the bill, and it was, shall we say, not cheap.”

“Way to break the mood.”

“Well, I didn’t say anything, but Ellie looked at it and she said, ‘Maybe you’re theory about getting a free meal is worth trying out.’ And that was the last thing I’d ever expect Ellie to say.”

Cassie leant further forward and her eyes glazed over as she imagined the scene.

“And without knowing, I found myself staring at the little knots in her shoulder straps,” I continued, “And Ellie said ‘You’re so predictable’.” And I reached a hand out and gripped one of the ends and gave it just enough of a tug to feel the knot and said ‘Would it be predictable if I pulled a little harder?” And I was expecting Ellie to laugh and slap my hand away, but she just leant a bit closer and said ‘You wouldn’t dare’.”

“And you did?” Cassie asked eagerly, “Tell me that you did.”

I let out a sigh and shook my head. “Of course not! She didn’t mean it.”

“How do you know!” She sat back in her chair in exasperation.

“Because I know my wife!”

“On the evidence of the past few weeks, I beg to differ!” She had a point.

“Anyway, I said ‘Just you wait until we get home.’ And Ellie said ‘If I must’.”

“God! I wish I had the chances you had! She’d have been naked before you could say ‘Waiter, order us a cab home’.” I mulled over the idea, but Cassie’s idea of how the evening could have gone seemed very far-fetched.

“Well, I didn’t, and we walked home instead. And I asked Ellie if she wasn’t a little cool, since she was wearing barely anything, and she said ‘If anything, I’m a little on the hot side’.”

“As I am now,” Cassie interjected, “And it didn’t occur to you that she was basically saying ‘Strip me! Strip me now!’?”

“Of course it didn’t!” This was Ellie we were talking about. Cassie shook her head in disbelief. “We just carried on home, and once we were through the door we… well, you can guess.”

“And was it worth the wait?”

I smiled. “It was really nice.”

“But it could have been great.”

Cassie was right: maybe it could have been great, as by the time we had gotten home it did seem as if Ellie’s libido had cooled a little. Maybe next time I’d call her bluff and prove Cassie wrong. I doubted there’d be a next time, though.