"We really did that, discuss!"

Outside it was cold enough to freeze your tits off. Inside, in front of the gas log fire, it was warm enough to get them out as the unexpected game of strip cards rolled along. Eddie had braved the cold to come for dinner. He had grown up in the same town as Evie, my wife and his former wife, Lorraine. When I came along, I was accepted into the group and was even the best man at Eddie and Lorraine's wedding. Eddie and I had nice line in banter going between us, always taking the mickey out of each other, and being horrified whenever we agreed with each other, which was often, but we would never admit to it. Then Lorraine, who Evie more than once had told had her demons behind a friendly façade, disappeared from our lives. It's a mystery that remains unsolved, except for the few emails we received saying that she was no longer in love with Eddie, she had another life to live, and would we please look after him. Which we did, and we were doing this night of the big tits freeze. Every second Friday night was Eddie night, come hell, high water or big snow. Eddie arrived with his usual bonhomie and bottles of wine. Evie - who was always home early on Friday nights once the weekend paper she edited had hit the presses - and I had worked together in the kitchen to come up with something suitable for the middle of winter. Beef ragout, and then lots of wine, and then the usual retirement, at this time of year, to in front of the fire.

Sometimes it was for idle chat and wine, sometimes it was games like Scrabble ... and wine. Tonight, it was cards and yes, wine. Good wine, the sort that intoxicates you with its aromas as much as with its alcohol, that makes you feel, as John Sebastian would say, "happy like an old-time movie". Flickering behind us a bit later as we sat on the floor in front of the fire on the new flat-screen Evie and I had bought was a new time movie, well newish, it was made in 1990. I had put the television on to show off our new toy to Eddie, and as we became absorbed in the cards, hadn't bothered to turn it off, something that would lead to us all being very turned on as the night progressed. At first, we played Euchre, straight, no stripping yet. Euchre is a simple enough game that allowed us to jaw away at the same time, but it soon became a bit repetitive. "Next game," Evie said, "or shall we just give up on games tonight, while you ponder that, I will get another bottle of wine." That would be our third, so mellow was the mood.

When she returned with a new bottle of expensive chardonnay, one of ones Eddie had brought with him, she put it on the floor and went to pick up the empty one. I said: "Leave it, it might come in handy for the game Eddie and I suggested while you were in the kitchen."

Evie gave me bemused look: "Oh no, not spin the bottle, ha, haven't played that since ... well.: She stopped, yes we all thought it ... since that night of silliness with Lorraine and Eddie when we had a holiday at the beach. "Sorry," she said, "didn't mean to bring up the painful past."

But Eddie's face was beaming: "I don't remember it as too painful, sometimes I still fantasise about the big sloppy kisses you gave me that night, I seem to recall a bit of tongue."

"That was only because of the way Lorraine and Phil were carrying on when it was their turn," Evie said. "Anyway, there are only three of us now and I can't imagine you two wanting to kiss each other."

Then someone who sounded a lot like me said "but we could both take it in turns to kiss you, with you spinning the bottle". "No way," said Evie. "Oh well," said Eddie, "it was a nice thought while it lasted, back to the fantasising."

Another game of Euchre kind of started itself and Evie was euchred twice in a row, she pouted and asked if we were rigging the cards. "No way," I said. "But it's a good thing it's not strip Euchre or Eddie would be enjoying a lot more than a sloppy kiss from you."

"What do you mean?" Evie said.

I said: "Well you've lost enough hands to be naked, and then after naked comes the defaults."

"How come you know so much about the rules of strip cards but anyway, ha, in your dreams," said Evie. "Anyway, my luck will change soon."

"Wanna put a stake on that," I said.

"What do you mean?" she replied.

"Well if you're so confident, why don't we make it strip Euchre." I suppose I should have been thinking why do I want my wife naked in front of our best friend, but, well I didn't expect her to say yes, I just wanted to tease her a bit more?

"Ha, you think you're going to talk me into doing something I don't want to do by making it a challenge, eh," she said, her voice more than a little oinged, "just because you know I can't resist a challenge from you, ever."

"Not ever, but this time though, eh?" I said. Evie looked at Eddie, who was looking anywhere but at Evie.

"Is he making you uncomfortable," Evie said to Eddie. Then she cooed in mocking tones: "That nasty, nasty man, you come here to be looked after and Phil does that to you. Would it make you feel better if we did play strip Euchre?" How does Eddie answer that? He doesn't. "Where I come from, no comment means a yes," said Evie the newspaper editor, "start the game over again.

Remember Phil, you called this on, so where it ends, you're the one with the guilty conscience, not me, and certainly not Eddie." With that she returned her scoring cards to nil and we followed suit, to use a highly technical card playing term. "Well come on, let's see who deals first, first jack."

I dealt out the cards, aces, queens, 10's and then came the jack, of spades, in front of Evie. "See my luck has changed already," she triumphed. "Get ready to get naked boys, and I mean it now, you've upset me Phil."

She dealt, Eddie and I passed and she called spades as trumps. There in my hand was the very same jack of spades that had won her the deal, the right bower, more powerful than aces, kings and queens. She must have the left bower at least, I thought. She led with the seven of spades, no doubt wanting to draw out of the jack of spades from either me or Eddie. He could not follow suit, so just threw out some rubbish, a seven of hearts.

"I guess I am going to be among the first to lose some clothing," he said, not sounding all that disappointed. I reached for my cards and smiled inwardly. There next to my jack of spades was the nine of the very same suit. Without no hint of triumphalism, I placed it on top of Evie and Eddie's cards and hauled in the trick. My lead, what else has she got in spades apart from the left bower? Bugger it, go big, I thought and put down the right bower. Out came the eight of spades and some rubbish from Eddie. My trick again. Two hands to me. I led with the king of hearts, Evie jumped in with the 10 of spades, and again rubbish from Eddie. Then came the left bower, I had no more spades so put on it the same sort of rubbish that Eddie had been making an artform. One trick left, surely, she must have another spade. But no, she put out the king of diamonds. Praise be to the gods that I made that decision not to go with the ace of diamonds when I threw out the king of hearts. It was a fluke, but it was going to be a winning one. Where to now Miss Evie I thought, abandoning my poker face, or was it my Euchre one? I had no time to ponder that any further when as my card fell on top of the other two, I heard Evie say "bugger you!".

"How about as a gentlemanly act, of which I have done many for this fair maiden, I turn off the lights to allow you both to keep some modesty," I offered. "There's enough light from the fire and the television for us to see to keep playing, if some of us want to keep playing."

Evie gave me a look that would kill a brown dog, as the saying goes. "Of course, we're still playing, aren't we Eddie?" Eddie just raised his hands in a gesture of acceptance. "Shoes first," said Evie and Eddie complied as she removed her boots and I got up and turned off the lights.

Game on, and in the dimmed room, we played on, obliquely noticing that the movie Wild Orchid, the one starring Mickey Rourke, had started. I didn't win the next round, Evie did.

"Socks Eddie, shoes you," she said. Who's taking control here, I thought. Finally, Eddie won, euchring Evie again in the process.

"Hey, if you get euchred shouldn't it be like losing twice," I said.

"Ha," said Evie.

"I think I agree with Phil," said Eddie, surprising himself as much as Evie and me.

"I don't like being ganged up on," said Evie. "You can't change the rules mid-game, but I am happy to accept it from now on, as a gesture of my good will, after all it is Friday night, and a be kind to Eddie Friday night."

"Okay," said Eddie.

"Fine by me," I said, "but you still have to take something off now."

"So do you," barked Evie. Off came my shirt, bugger the socks, they were for losers. I think that shocked, or encouraged, Evie, who promptly took off her blouse. Unlike her I didn't have a bra on, but the one she was wearing, well it didn't leave a lot to the imagination, and a couple of imaginations were already working overtime. Maybe there was a third one in play, Evie's, her thinking: "I wonder how far I will go with this?" After all, think about, me being naked in front of Eddie and Evie was no big deal. Evie being naked in front of me, no big deal. Evie being naked in front of Eddie, this was very new territory, for Evie, for Eddie, for me! Maybe I would be the one to stop the game even before Evie.

"Deal Eddie," said Evie. Well that's ended that speculation for now I thought. Meanwhile, on the television, Mickey Rourke and Carre Otis had been getting it on in a sex scene from Wild Orchid.

Pass said I, pass said Evie. "I'm away," said Eddie. Foolishly I made it spades, only for Eddie to euchre me.

I retreated to the socks as Evie said: "Euchred mate, one more item to go. Your rules remember!"

It didn't bother me to pull off my jeans because as I was quick to remind her, she had lost too. "I know," she said and without hesitation stood up and removed her jeans. Her panties were just as see through as her bra. Eddie tried hard not to look, and other things might have been getting hard, too.

Meanwhile, Mickey Rourke and Carre Otis were bonking in another South American location on the big screen. "Not bad work for a bloke like him, isn't it," I said, "first it was Kim Basinger he got to bonk in 91/2 weeks, now it's Carre Otis."

"They don't really bonk though," said Evie.

"They reckon they actually did it in this movie," said Eddie, the movie buff.

"I read it was just made to look realistic," said Evie. "It was in a magazine in my hairdressers."

"Well that would be right then, you journalists never make anything up," I said. Brown dog look number two which I ignored. "Whose deal is it," I said?

Of course, it was still Eddie's, I should have remembered that after he de-pantsed me, while still all-but fully clothed, unlike me who was dangerously close to all butt. That was a reminder of what might be coming next with Evie and I, well exposed, if Eddie won again. Thankfully I did, well I don't think Evie was thankful. Debate about Eddie's gratitude was open, he had lost his shirt, but those titties of Evie's which had been barely concealed by her silky bra were about to come on full display ... if she kept going.

"I know you're both wondering," she said. "Will I, or won't I? I can read you blokes like a book. You want to see my tits. I know if I back out now you two won't ever let me hear the end of it. Anyway, you're probably more interested in perving on Carre Otis' tits than mine."

Silence, before I swiftly kicked in: "This time no comment doesn't mean yes."

"Same for me," said Eddie.

"Okay then, bugger it," and she put her hands behind her back, un-clipped her bra and without any attempt to cover her tits, dropped it on to the floor.

"I am not sure if I am allowed to say this Phil, or Evie, too, but they are kinda nice." I wanted to make some clever remark about it being a worry that Eddie and I agreed on something but thought better of it.

"Are we stopping or playing on, there must be some 'nice' things for me to see coming up soon," Evie said.

Coming up was probably more correct than she knew, or perhaps she did know and wanted to perv on my dick, or Eddie's dick. Now I began thinking that thought I should have had a long time ago, do I really want us to play strip poker and for my wife to be naked in front of another man, albeit it our best friend? The answer must have been yes because I dealt. I got a handful ... all these double entendre - if you will forgive my French - were by now running around in my head ... of diamonds. Evie passed, so did Eddie, who was looking less and less sheepish and looking more and more at Evie.

"Diamonds," I said, "so dearly bought for ladies."

"Naked or clothed," said Evie with a little smile breaking across her face. She's enjoying this, I thought.

"Either way," I said, "but the way you look right now would make any man rush out and buy you diamonds."

"So, if I go all the way, can I have lots of diamonds," said Evie cheekily?

"Might depend on what you mean by all the way," I said, not really thinking of what that met in current company. "How about we settle on one and I will settle on the four I've got in my hand in the time-being."

"And what about Eddie, is it a diamond-studded view you've been enjoying," said Evie.

"I've already told you how nice they are. You can't blame a man for looking, can you. I often wondered what lay underneath your bikini when we went on holidays to the beach with Lorraine and me before ... well before ... anyway, I am halfway to the answer and liking what I see already."

"I can resist flattery almost as easily as I can a challenge," Evie said wickedly. "So, lead away Phil and see if we can get Eddie everywhere and end his wondering."

Everywhere? It was obvious that Evie wanted to be naked in front of Eddie, and strangely, I noticed without really noticing it that I had no problem with it. Well I didn't say stop, did I? I knew by now Evie would never have let me hear the end of it if I was the one to pile. Around this time Mickey Rourke and Carre Otis began bonking away in the background again.

"You're right," said Evie as an aside, "that does look like it's real."

I led the jack of diamonds, right bower. Evie put out the seven of spades, she was done already, nakedness would soon be upon her. She made no move to stop the game though. Eddie had the queen of diamonds. I played the left bower. Evie just threw away a card and looked at the television. Eddie had no more diamonds by now. I laid down the rest of my hand. Eddie took of his jeans, joining me in my jocks. There sat three people in their underpants, but only one of them was to be made to remove them in this hand. Suddenly I had a thought, well I'd been having a few but this one was the most chivalrous.

"How about, we all remove our underpants at the same time," I said.

"Don't do it just for me," said Evie, "I agreed to play this game."

"I agree with Phil," said Eddie, "and that's another time tonight, and that's starting to worry me, but yeah, let's make it a three-way tie in the strip bit and then see who wins the game from here, I don't mind sitting around naked, if you don't."

It was then we realised that since everyone was so focussed on who was taking off clothes no one had really bothered to update their scoring cards. It was also then that Evie looked at the television and said "yeah, that looks pretty real to me".

Eddie, remember he's the movie buff, and soon to be in the buff, it seemed, said whether this scene was real or not, the directors shoot the naked actors at all sorts of angles to make it look like it's real.

"If his penis is not inside her now where is it then," inquired Evie with a laugh?

Eddie explained that it was probably taped down and there would also be merkins to cover Otis's vagina and his penis so, even if Rourke got an erection, that would prevent penetration.

"They've been kissing for real though, tongue and all, how could he not get an erection," I asked? "A little bit of tongue always to get me going, and then some."

Evie gave me the dead brown dog look.

"They say the actors are concentrating so hard that they don't get turned on," said Eddie," but for the third time tonight Phil, I do have to agree with you, kissing really gets me going downstairs."

"Did I get you going then the night we played spin the bottle," said Evie with the sweetest of voices?

No comment came from Eddie.

"Oh really," said Evie, "and no doubt you were fully erect too when Lorraine was deep throating you, Phil. True confessions just made and so on." Who was I to blow against the wind? Faithful Phil, honest truth, all these years, but, you know, a little bit of danger now and then ...

"So, if you were in a movie sex scene, you'd lose concentration on your acting and get an erection," said Evie.

"How would I know, I am not Mickey Rourke," I snapped.

"We could find out," said Eddie.

"What," said Evie.

What said Phil, yeah that Phil, me. Eddie perving on my soon to be naked wife, I was okay with, just, having sex with her, real or otherwise, with Eddie watching, no way ... or maybe that little bit of danger thingie again ... no, no way.

"It was just a thought," said Eddie the movie buff. "I've got my own new toy this week, a video camera. It's in the car. Hey, we could try to get the angles right so it looked real, and even see for ourselves if we were getting it right by playing it back on that big new television screen of yours."

"Whoaaaaaaaaaaaa," said Evie. "Eddie where is all this coming from?

"It was just a thought, looks like it's back to fantasising again," he said, in a whisper that did nothing to hide his disappointment.

"Hey, wait a moment, this is your fantasy, watching Phil and I have sex," said Evie.

"Only pretend sex it would be, look it was just a thought as we were talking about movies and sex scenes, and all that stuff, I am sorry, I have embarrassed everyone and ruined a fun night. I will just go home."

"That's not going to happen, it's been snowing since you got here, so there's now way you're driving home in that," said Evie.

"Yeah, no way," I said.

"Eddie, you haven't ruined a fun night, for all you know it might have just begun, I never thought I would, well I doubt I ever thought about it at all, but it's kinda nice have two men looking at my naked body," said Evie. "Hey Phil, if Eddie is stuck here, and it is an Eddie Friday Night, why not have a bit more of this fun? I don't think the snow's so bad you can't get to your car and get that camera, be quick about it because you'll freeze your balls off in just your undies, and we wouldn't want that, and you need to be quick too Phil, start learning your lines."

"What," I yelled. "Where's this going Evie?"

"Oh, shut up Phil, stop being the party pooper and get some more wine."

"Hold that thought," said Eddie, "I'm off to the car." He was back in a flash, which in his undies he really would have done to any neighbour who happened to be looking out the window at the time.

"Before we go any further," said Evie, "the three-way tie, undies off, I will go first since I was really the loser."

"But you're going to need a merkin," said Eddie, "and we need to find something to keep Phil's little mate out of the way."

"We're not really going to do this are we," I said, not sure of what answer I wanted.

"Shut up Phil," said Evie, "and do what our director says.

"Our director," I thought. Oh, what the heck, it would just be me and Evie making out, which I am not averse to at any time, then Eddie no doubt going home when the snow was gone and jerking off watching us acting out in his debut as movie director.