The Red Shoes - Alison's Story (Erotic Romance) (The Naughty Nights House Party Series) (2 page)

Chapter 3

Alison
arrived early for their lunch date in the five star restaurant of the hotel
where Dominic was staying. She sat primly with her handbag on her lap on a
comfortable sofa in the bar area and, when the waiter came over, ordered a
glass of wine. She was nervous; what if he’d changed his mind and regretted
asking her.  

But
right on time Dominic strolled into the hotel bar where they had arranged to
meet, looking extraordinarily handsome in a pair of well-cut stonewashed jeans,
highly polished black brogues and a deep blue sweater with the sleeves casually
pushed up his forearms. His dark hair was still slightly damp.

Wow,
she thought, he looks so hot! Alison wondered what he saw in her; he could have
taken his pick from any of the beautiful young things eyeing him appreciatively
as he walked over to her; but she wasn’t complaining…

“Hi,”
he said smiling broadly, “You look lovely, I’m so glad you could come. Can I
get you another drink?”

“A
glass of red wine would be good thanks.”

Dominic
called the waiter over and asked for the wine list.  After a brief look he ordered
a bottle of Côtes-du-Rhône. He seemed to know about wine so Alison was happy to
let him choose.

Alison
didn’t remember an awful lot about the lunch they ate but she did remember
drinking rather a lot of that very good wine. She also remembered laughing a lot
and having a wonderful afternoon; the time had passed so quickly. It was the
first time she had been out with a man since Andrew died and, as she had
enjoyed herself so much, she really hoped it wasn’t going to be the last.

But,
she thought ruefully as she sat in the taxi on the way home, next time she
would go easy on the wine.

The
next morning she was dragged reluctantly from a vivid dream of wild sex with
Dominic by the insistent ringing of the phone by her bed. 

“Hello,”
she croaked into the receiver as the dogs leapt onto the bed and showered her
with enthusiastic wet kisses.

“Hi
Alison, how are you this morning?”

Alison
felt the embarrassment flushing her cheeks as she realised it was Dominic. A
look at the clock told her it was 8.30am; she had slept for 12 hours.

“Fine
thanks,” she lied pushing the excited dogs away. “And you?”

“Great.
I was just calling to check you got home OK and do you need a lift to come and
pick up your car?” he said, sounding full of the joys of spring. “I’m off to a
meeting this morning but I could pick you up at lunchtime.”

Sensibly
she had left her car in the hotel car park, took a taxi home and had gone
straight to bed – at 8pm.

“No
it’s fine thanks; the walk will do me good, it’ll help clear my head. Red wine
always makes me feel a bit woolly headed the morning after”

“OK
then, if you’re sure, I’ll pick you up at 6 on Friday, it will take about an
hour to get there,” he said, “I had a great lunch by the way. See you Friday” With
that he hung up, obviously not expecting a reply.

She
sat bolt upright in her bed as she remembered that she had enthusiastically
agreed to go with him to a party. Then, with horror it slowly dawned on her that
it was ‘a party with a difference’ – a Swingers party.

Oh
God what have I done; how on earth can I get out of this now without making a
complete idiot of myself.

Alison
got out of bed, cleaned her teeth vigorously, trying to remove the stale taste
in her mouth, ran a brush through her shoulder length hair and went downstairs
to make herself a cup of strong coffee.

After
opening the kitchen door so her two dogs could go out into the garden, she sat
on one of the high stools at the breakfast bar waiting for the coffee machine
to do its stuff. While she waited she threw a couple of analgesic tablets down
her throat to ward off the headache she could feel coming on. She was not sure if
it was a hangover headache or a stress headache as she struggled to think of a
way out of her rash promise.

As
she sat there with her head in her hands, she remembered that Dominic had told
her that after his divorce, he had tried online dating but after several very
boring dates had come across a website called
Naughty Nights
House
Parties
advertising ‘House Parties for the Liberal Minded’. He had called
the number to find out more and, after a conversation with Jenny who was the
organiser, decided to go along. She also remembered trying hard to appear blasé
about the idea of swapping partners for the night but in reality, she was really
shocked that someone as gorgeous as Dominic would need to get his thrills this
way.

When
she asked him why he went he said he had heard that online dating was a great
way to avoid having to sit round in bars chatting to boring people just in case
a prospective date happened to come along. He had no time for that. So he had
joined an online dating site and after going on a couple of unsuccessful dates,
decided it wasn’t for him. He had only come across the house parties by
accident.

The
parties, he told her, were something he had only tried once before and he would
love to give it another go. It seemed that the parties were held in large
houses around the country once a month. Some of the houses were rented for the
weekend by the organisers, others were private houses where the owners enjoyed
being part of the party scene.

He
had told Alison that she would be welcome to come with him to see what it was
like. She vaguely recalled agreeing enthusiastically to be his partner for the
evening at the next party which was this coming Friday.

He
was so classically beautiful and interesting she thought she would have agreed
to anything at that moment just to gaze into his brown eyes again; mountain
climbing, deep sea diving, freefall parachuting, hang gliding; anything!

What
a fool I am, she thought, a swingers party is something I would never have
considered without the best part of a bottle of that good red wine inside me. Now
I know why alcohol is sometimes referred to as ‘the demon drink’!

After
two mugs of strong coffee and a lot of soul searching, Alison had decided that
her life had become staid and unexciting, she needed some fun. What had she got
to lose by going to the party? Maybe it was just what she needed to spice up
her life a bit. No-one need ever know except the two of them.

“Right,
that’s it, decision made,” she said to Patty and Penny, her pretty fawn whippets,
“I’m off to a party.” The girls wagged their tails enthusiastically hoping for
a treat.

Now
the decision had been made, she realised that she needed something to wear. She
had not bought any new clothes since Andrew had died so took another day off
work and, after the dog walker had picked up Patty and Penny, headed into
Manchester to look for a suitable outfit. But what was suitable for these parties,
was it casual, formal - what?

She
wished she could have taken one of her daughters along on the shopping trip for
moral support and an honest opinion, but she was on her own. Her girls would
have been horrified that their mother would even consider going to
any
sort of party with a man she didn’t really know all that much about. If they
had known it was a swingers party – well, it didn’t bear thinking about.

She
had no idea what to buy but, after a long search, decided on a simple black dress
with thin spaghetti straps and a very sexy (and expensive) pair of red patent
leather stilettos with matching red bag. She also bought some chunky costume
jewellery; a necklace with large red gemstones and a pair of matching earrings
with smaller red gemstones along with a thin red patent leather belt to
complete the look.

Satisfied
she had something good to wear; Alison went to the hotel to pick up her car
before heading home to try on her new, sexy outfit.

Standing
in front of the full length mirror she pulled the black dress over her head and
smoothed it down over her body. Then she slipped her feet into the outrageous
red shoes that had cost more than the dress. She looked at herself from all
angles. I don’t look too bad for a widowed mother of two grownup daughters, she
thought, wondering what they would say if they saw her now.

To
make sure she looked and felt her best, Alison rang the hairdresser and made an
appointment for Friday to have her roots done; it wouldn’t do to have even a
tiny strand of grey hair showing.

Right,
I’m all organised now, she thought, still nervous about the outing.

The
next couple of days were filled with indecision, should she ring Dominic and
cancel or should she just ‘bite the bullet’ and go?

She
spent a lot of time putting a case together for both options but before she
knew it she was at the hairdressers having her hair done and Dominic would be
picking her up in two hours.

Dominic knocked on the door at five to six
but Alison been ready for ages and, she thought, looking rather spectacular for
a middle aged woman, although she could have done with a bit more practice
walking in her new red shoes. She had worn them a couple of times round the
house, but they had much higher heels than her normal sensible shoes. She just
hoped the evening didn’t include a visit to an emergency department after
breaking her ankle falling off her shoes.

“Wow,”
he said as she opened the door, “You look amazing!”

“Why
thank you kind sir,” she said flippantly, “you don’t look too shabby yourself.”
In fact he looked absolutely gorgeous in dark trousers and a crisp, white open
neck shirt, but Alison was too shy to say so.

Thankfully
Dominic took her arm as they walked down the path to his car. He opened the
door for her and waited until she was seated comfortably before taking his place
behind the wheel of the big black Mercedes.

Alison
settled back in her seat for the hour long drive to their destination.

“Are
you absolutely sure you want to do this?” asked Dominic.

“No,
but I’m going to anyway,” she said with more confidence than she felt. “Just
don’t leave without me.”

“Of
course I won’t.”

They
made good time and in less than an hour they were pulling into the courtyard
and parking at the end of a line of cars. One or two were very expensive but
generally they were run-of-the-mill family salon cars. 

Dominic
got out and ran round to open Alison’s door. How very chivalrous thought Alison,
it’s a shame he can’t be my partner for the night; I’m not sure I really want
to swap.

Chapter
4

After
Jenny had left them to answer the door they each picked up a glass of red wine from
the silver tray set on the long hall table. Dominic took Alison’s hand and led
her into a large drawing room. They stood together sipping their wine just
inside the door; she thought it was the perfect place to check out the other
guests without seeming too obvious.

More
people were arriving and the elegant room was filling up quickly, although it
wasn’t yet too crowded.

Alison
scanned the intimately lit room quickly hoping no-one noticed she was checking
them out. As she had not known what to expect, she was interested to see that
everyone looked normal; just like the people she saw going into the local wine
bar when she was on her way to the highlight of her social life, the monthly
book club evening.

They
were not rolling about on the floor naked nor were they dressed head to toe in
leather, carrying whips, bottom beaters or bondage stuff. There were no
handcuffs or chains peeping out from handbags or pockets and no-one wore a
leather mask. If you had just wandered in you would never have known why all
these people were here. It looked just like a casual cocktail party – if there
was such a thing.

But
maybe they were all staying the weekend and had that sort of stuff packed in
their overnight bags or possibly she was suffering from an over active
imagination and it was just straight sex that people came for. It made her
smile to think how ridiculous she would look in a figure hugging leather
bodysuit and thigh high leather boots; she was definitely not joining that
club!

One
of the two comfy looking sofas placed either side of the large marble fireplace
had four people squashed onto it who were chatting easily to each other. The
other was occupied by just one couple, their body language suggesting they
weren’t entirely comfortable with the situation. Alison thought maybe it was
their first time too because they looked just like she felt; embarrassed,
unsure and nervous.

The
eight chairs round the highly polished oval table at the far end of the large
room were already occupied by a variety of people who were busy drinking wine
and gossiping like old friends. Interestingly there were five women and three
men.

So,
thought Alison, it is not just couples who come to these events, I really have
led a very sheltered life.

It
was vaguely unsettling because she had been under the impression that everyone
simply exchanged partners. Wasn’t a swingers party just another name for wife
swapping? Obviously, thought Alison, things have moved on since I first heard
of wife swapping parties.

The
heavy damask curtains were drawn together across the large window to shut out
the light of the warm summer evening, making the room glow with the dimmed
lighting and scented candles dotted around the room.

There
were four more people by the grand piano in front of the window. One couple
looked a bit uncomfortable; obviously new to the scene. The other couple, who
were standing close, seemed to be enjoying themselves as the woman threw back
her head and howled with laughter at something her partner had said. Feeling a
bit paranoid, Alison wondered if they might be laughing at her. Maybe her
carefully chosen black dress was too ‘housewifey’; maybe her bright red stilettos
were too conspicuous or perhaps she just looked as scared as a rabbit in a
headlight.

Occasionally
a couple or sometimes three people would drift out of the room and disappear
out of the door together making Alison even more nervous. She really hoped she
wasn’t expected to take part in anything other than straight sex; the thought
terrified her. It wasn’t her sort of thing and never would be – or would it?

As
Alison surveyed the scene unfolding before her, she couldn’t help but wonder yet
again, what she was doing here.  Why on earth had she allowed herself to be
persuaded that this was a good idea?

Alison
could see Dominic was very deliberately checking out everyone in the room. No
nerves there, she thought. She just wished she felt as confident as he
obviously was. It made her nervous just wondering what was coming next; what
was expected of her.  She felt Dominic looking at her, he must have realised
that she was on the verge of making a run for it and took hold of her free hand
squeezing it gently.

“There
really is nothing to be worried about,” he whispered into her ear, “everyone is
here for the same reason; to have a bit of fun. So far everyone looks really
nice, maybe even a few possibilities – what do you think? We don’t have to stay
if you’d rather not”

Alison
didn’t know what to say although she had spotted one or two very attractive
men. But she was here and decided to get into the spirit of the evening.

“Maybe
some possibilities…” she whispered trying to appear nonchalant.

They
stood there a little while longer not saying much when a stunningly beautiful woman
who, from a distance, looked to be little more than a teenager, and her very
handsome partner who had been sitting at the dining table, made their way over
to where they were standing.

Oh
God, am I really going to do this, what do I say, what do I do?