Leah lay back. Her breasts flattened, although her dark nipples rose and fell with her rapid breathing.
“Relax, sweetheart.” Mark clasped her hand, and she calmed down immediately.
Brooke rattled the bag of poker chips to get our attention. “Red is a player,” she explained again. “White just watches this round.”
We all nodded, even Leah.
“At the end of two minutes, the contestant—”
“Just call her Leah,” I suggested. “And we’re the lickers.”
“Yeah, sorry. I’m thinking in terms of engineering again.”
“That’s okay. You fall back on habit. Anyway, keep going.”
“Thanks. So… Lickers go down for two minutes. Then Leah guesses man or woman. I had to do it that way to get enough points. Otherwise we’d have an issue with ceiling effect.” She automatically answered Christy’s frown, “It’s math. Statistics, but you know what I mean. Anyway, Leah gets a point if she’s right, but I added a twist.”
I scanned the group and made sure everyone was paying attention. They were buzzed but seemed to be following.
“She can get a bonus point if she guesses who,” Brooke continued. “Correctly, I mean. Well, duh, of course ‘correctly.’ Sorry, I explain things when I’m nervous.”
“We all do,” Mark said with a smile. “But you’re doing fine.”
“Thanks. So, Leah can score a maximum of six points if she guesses everyone correctly.”
“Sounds good,” Trip said. “Let’s get this Licker Lottery started.”
We all drew chips. I pulled a red one, along with Wren and Mark.
“Aw, dude,” Trip complained. “I wanted to go first.”
“No talking,” Wren warned.
“Will you give it a rest?” he said.
I expected her to flare angrily, but she looked hurt instead.
He softened his tone. “Babe, this isn’t the World Series. It’s just a pick-up game in the park.”
“I know. But—”
“Sometimes ya gotta play for the fun of it and forget about the score.”
“I know. I just want you to win this time.”
“Yeah, I know. And thanks. But let’s just relax and have fun.”
She nodded, suitably chastened.
“S’why I love you,” he said. He folded her in a hug and kissed the top of her head.
“I know,” she said. “I’m sorry.”
He channeled Freddie DeFeo with a perfect, “Fuggedaboutit,” and Wren laughed. “Anyway,” he said to the rest of us without releasing her, “let’s play ball. Who’s up first?”
Mark and I held up our red chips, and Trip belatedly remembered that Wren had drawn one too.
“Babe,” he said in a low voice, “you’re up. Come on, have fun. Do your thing.”
I unsnapped my watch and handed it to Brooke.
“Okay, Leah,” she said, “get ready for your first licker.”
“Let’s pull up a chair,” Mark suggested, “so she’ll have somewhere to put her feet.”
“Good idea. I should’ve thought of that.”
“Nah, it’s cool. You thought of everything else.”
Mark moved the chair into position and guided Leah’s feet to its arms. Then he tapped her calf and lifted her leg so Wren could slide into the seat.
“Okay, let’s do this,” Leah said with a little tremor in her voice.
“You’re gonna love it,” Mark told her.
“Licker ready?” Brooke said, and Wren nodded. “On your mark… get set… go!”
Leah and Wren were both a little self-conscious at first, but they quickly forgot about the rest of us. Wren’s tongue and fingers worked their magic, and Leah’s breathing deepened with excitement instead of nerves.
“Time!” Brooke called. “Sorry.”
“Don’t apologize,” Erin told her quietly. “You’re in charge.”
“Thanks. So… Leah? Was it a man or a woman?”
“God, this is hard.” She chewed her lip for a moment. “A man?”
“No, sorry,” Brooke said.
Mark spoke up, “She can still guess who, right?”
“Sure, of course!”
“I… don’t know,” Leah stalled. “Um… Christy, maybe?”
“No, it was me,” Wren said.
“She doesn’t know your voice,” Christy said, exactly the way Brooke had said it to her.
“Oh, sorry. It was me, Wren.” She held up her chip and looked at Brooke. “So, I get to keep this?”
“Damn! I forgot about that. No, sorry,” Brooke said, “we need to use it for the next round.”
“How do we tell who won?” Trip said. “Never mind. Fuck it. We’re just here to have fun, right?”
“Right!” we agreed.
“Okay, who’s next?” Brooke said, and I held up my own chip.
Mark grinned and gestured toward the chair.
“Um… get ready,” Brooke said.
Leah lifted her leg and waited until she felt me slide into position.
“Licker ready?” Brooke said. “On your mark… get set… go.”
I started by planting a couple of kisses on Leah’s soft inner thighs. Then I teased her damp opening with two fingers. After a moment I slid them inside and began licking in earnest. She tasted tangy and salty, with just a hint of chlorine from earlier. I tried to be gentle and lick her like a woman would have, and I was pretty sure I fooled her. I was just getting into it when Brooke called time.
“That was a guy,” Leah said immediately. “Paul. For sure.”
“What the—?” I blurted. “I did everything like a woman!”
“Oh, Paul,” Wren said, fond instead of biting. “No woman is ever going to think you’re one of us. You’re a hundred percent guy.”
“She’s right,” Christy said. “Sorry. Don’t get me wrong, I love when you try, but…” She shrugged apologetically.
I laughed it off. “Ah, well. Trip’s right, we’re just here to have fun.”
“Sorry, dude,” he said, “you can’t win ’em all.”
I lifted Leah’s leg, ducked under it, and held it for Mark to take my place.
“Ready?” Brooke said. “On your mark— Okay,” she laughed.
Mark had already buried his face between Leah’s thighs. She gasped and then sighed, and her chest heaved as her breathing grew erratic in a matter of seconds.
Everyone was paying attention to them, so I used the distraction to move close to Christy.
“Having fun?” I asked quietly.
She nodded. “Thank you for making Brooke feel comfortable. It’s what you do, I know, but I appreciate it. So does she.”
“She likes being a swinger?”
“Oh my gosh, yes! She’s wanted it all along, but she’s been too scared. Only, now she isn’t. I told her, but… She had to see for herself. You know how she is.”
I nodded, and we watched her for a moment as she divided her attention between the watch and Leah.
“Time!” she called. “Sorry.”
“Seriously,” Erin laughed, “you don’t need to apologize.”
“She’s right,” Wren agreed. “This is your game.”
Brooke blushed and thanked them with a shy smile. Then she remembered that she was, in fact, in charge.
“Okay, Leah… who do you think it was? Man or woman?”
“A woman, I think.”
“No, sorry.”
“Oh. Then it was Mark.”
He laughed easily and kissed her smooth, dark labia. “She knows my style.”
“That’s not all she knows,” Erin joked.
Leah sat up and pulled off the blindfold. “You’ve been spending too much time with my dad,” she said. “You’re starting to sound like him.”
“Am not.”
“Are too.”
“Now you sound like your mothers,” I told them.
Erin glowered defiantly. “We’re nothing like them.”
“Keep thinking that. Now, let’s get back to the game. Brooke, who’s next?”
“I guess… um… Chris?”
“What?” Leah craned her neck and looked around. “Is he here?”
Brooke frowned. “He? He who?”
“Her dad,” Erin said. Then she answered Leah, “And no, he isn’t. That’s what Brooke calls Christy, remember?”