Reading the invitational email for the umpteenth time, I asked Layla: “Do we really want to go to this thing?”

My significant other — and partner in crime — shrugged and replied, “I just don’t know. Maybe. You getting the butterflies, too?”

“Yeah. It’s tempting. But I dunno either,” I admitted.

The “thing” was a long weekend of sexual indulgence in California, quite remote from our home in the Great Midwest. Layla and I have been in the lifestyle for a few years now. But with every playdate, it seemed we wound up reinventing the wheel. Apparently, new experiences bring new dilemmas.

We’d been approached for this four-day bacchanal by Joseph and Karla, the couple we’ve been most involved with in our swinging career. They were planning a meetup with Al and Yvonne, and they’d extended the invitation to us as well. Yet another couple was also already onboard: Jack and Brittany.

It sounded like one big, amazing pleasure party, but there were a lot of unknowns. We knew squat about anyone involved, other than Joseph and Karla. We would have to fly out there, rent a car and find someone to dog-sit for us. We were game, but we were cautious, too.

“Let’s have another look at those pictures,” Layla suggested. She came to the desk and sat beside me.

There were shots of the venue where the gathering was to happen, in addition to photos of the couples who planned to gather. Joseph and Karla were going to rent out a large house in a resort town not far from San Jose, and everyone who joined in would be contributing something to pay for it. The place seemed to be quite posh, and it was reputed to be extremely swinger-friendly. There were six bedrooms, four baths and a sprawling, hedged-in backyard with a pool, hot tub and plenty of space for cavorting outside in the altogether. The fact that we could get sexy in the great outdoors was part of the destination’s allure, but it also gave us anxiety pangs. What about mosquitos? Sunburn on sensitive body parts? Nosy neighbors?

Then there were the pictures of the participants who were new to us. But first, let me describe Joseph and Karla. They, like Layla and me, are in their mid-30s. When we first met them, we referred to them as the “compact couple.” He’s about five-foot-six, and she’s a little shorter. He’s a dark-complected, hairy guy, and she’s a tiny bombshell of a blonde, who’s perfectly smooth down below. I’ve always loved sinking my dick into that shaved pussy of hers, while watching my Layla — long-legged, freckled, with honey-colored hair — ride Joseph’s rigid rod.

Now for the other couples.

Al and Yvonne are an interracial pairing. He’s white; she’s black. Their G-rated photo showed a tall, burly guy in his early-to-mid 40s and his toned and curvaceous wife, who appeared to be a bit younger than her mate and had a devilish smile.

Jack and Brittany were especially interesting. They seemed considerably younger than the others. Late 20s, I guessed. Scruffy and muscled Jack didn’t seem particularly tall. He looked like he might have been a jock when he was younger — a wrestler, maybe? Brittany was fair-skinned and voluptuous, with large breasts and a formidable ass. Some might have called her big-boned. That was fine by me. As Layla well knows, I’ve always had a thing for thick women. Not a fetish, really. Just a strong attraction.

As Layla pointed to Brittany’s pic, she teasingly said, “You’ll go for this one, won’t you, Pete?”

“She’s hot. Can’t deny that.”

“And he’s not exactly yesterday’s cat food.” She sighed. “Oh, well. Let’s not flake out. We don’t want to force them to have to find somebody else to help pay for the space.”

“You’re thinking about what’s in Jack’s boardshorts, aren’t you?”

“Don’t be crude,” she said. “Just email them back and say we’ll be there.”

The locale for our decadent get-together turned out to be bigger, more remote and more of a “wow” than the pictures had suggested. The house would qualify as a mansion in most people’s books. The huge yard behind it — maybe a couple of acres — had gardens and fruit trees and a big lawn area for playing volleyball and badminton, not to mention the deck, pool and hot tub. The place was like the Garden of Eden — minus the snakes. Well, at least we hoped there’d be no snakes.

On the morning we arrived, Joseph and Karla and Jack and Brittany were already there, casually clad in swimwear, shorts and tees. They’d let us know via text that they’d all be in the “back 40” and that we should find our way there when we arrived. The gals were lounging on the deck, and the guys were on the bright, green lawn, on opposite sides of the badminton court, lobbing a shuttlecock back and forth.

Squealing Karla leapt up from her chair and hugged the hell out of Layla, kissing her on the lips. I nodded to sexy Brittany, who smiled shyly and nodded back. Then Joseph and Jack came over, and everybody got introduced properly.

God, Brittany was a doll — prettier and a little flashier than I’d expected. I thought about what it would be like to wrap my arms and legs around her glorious curves, and I felt a twinge as my dick perked up.

Take it easy, boy, I thought. It’s still early in the day!

“You’re just in time,” said Karla. “I was about to refresh everyone’s Bloody Marys. You guys like ’em spicy?”

“We like ’em spicy and then some,” Layla answered, her voice ringing with innuendo.

As the ladies fixed our drinks, Joseph and Jack helped me lug our stuff to a second-floor bedroom. The house was truly magnificent. We marveled at the main living area, which could have been a ballroom, and the bedroom for Layla and me went way beyond my expectations.

Joseph stuffed some of our bags in a corner as he said, “Dudes, every bedroom in this house is the perfect orgy room.”

“If they’re all this great, yeah!” I said.

“I know one thing for sure,” Jack replied. “All this fancy shit makes me as horny as fuck. Brittany, too. She’s ready to jump all our bones.”

That piece of news made my cock perk up another notch. The way she and I had smiled at each down on the deck had me convinced that I’d soon be dipping my dick into her juicy cooch. I literally pinched myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. But if it was a dream, I didn’t want to wake up!

When we got back downstairs, the women had been joined by the final couple to arrive, Al and Yvonne. Everybody was enjoying a Bloody Mary or a screwdriver.

Yvonne was cuter than hell — kind of a pixie. Al was very tall and stocky, and he had a kind of smile that suggested he had some private joke he couldn’t stop thinking about. When we got to our second round of drinks — or third round for some of us — it was clear we all just wanted to start fucking then and there. But nobody seemed to want to get things rolling.

Finally, the always dependable — and perpetually horny — Joseph and Karla came to the rescue. He was lying back in a deck chair when she went over to him and began giving him a lap dance. She was wearing a cotton robe over a two-piece bathing suit. But before long, she was stripped down to the bikini bottom, her tanned breasts getting even more sun. She proceeded to unbutton Joseph’s garish Hawaiian shirt, all the way to his navel.

We all watched our Compact Couple continue to get naked as we sipped our drinks. Jack, Yvonne, and I had been splashing around in the shallow end of the pool. Now we waded over to the edge and watched Joe and Karla put on a show.

“All right, people!” Karla yelled. “The fucking ice is broken, so take your damn clothes off and follow me!”

Soon we were all fully nude, standing beside our respective partners on the lawn, chatting and getting playful. Joseph was immediately on his knees, munching on Karla’s cute little snatch. Layla had her hand on my erection, teasing my come-hole. Jack stood behind voluptuous Brittany with his love-prong pressed against her asscrack. His arms were encircling her bountiful figure as his hands idly played with her nipples.

Yvonne and Al stood off to the side, watching everyone. Suddenly, Al slapped his neck.

“Goddamn it! Mosquitos this early in the day?”

“Don’t worry about it, guys,” said Joseph. “Follow me.”

He led us to the far end of the yard to a small covered patio, on which were two queen-size mattresses.

“Just stand here, and hold on a sec,” Joseph said.

He went inside the greenhouse, which abutted the patio, and flipped some kind of switch. Three curtain-like walls made of fine netting descended from the roof of the lean-to, creating an outdoor cage that kept out flying critters.

“Holy crap, this place has everything, doesn’t it?” Yvonne said with a cute giggle.

“If anybody wants to go get drinks or play inside the house instead, just exit through the greenhouse,” Joe said.

I was fine with staying outdoors for a while. My eye, of course, was on entrancing Brittany. And I could tell Layla was taken with her, too. But she was also keeping watch on sturdily built Jack.

Brittany and Jack soon parked their bods on the mattress where Karla and Joseph were rolling about. So, Layla and I wound up sharing the other mattress with Al and Yvonne. We stayed with our own mates for 10 minutes or so, indulging in all sorts of foreplay. I was hovering above Layla with my butt sticking out, and I’d begun licking and kissing her beautiful nipples. All of a sudden, I felt a finger running down my asscrack, pausing at my puckered bunghole.

“Hello!” I said. “Someone’s knocking at my backdoor.”

“Is that OK?” Yvonne asked. “I have a weakness for handsome men’s booties.”

“No problem.”

“Great!” she said. “Mind if I treat your heinous anus to a little tongue?”

Her brazen words really turned me on.

“Just a sec.” I kissed Layla on the mouth. “Honey, mind if I leave you to your own devices for a bit?”

“Go for it, Pete,” said my girl. “There are plenty of good ‘devices’ to keep me busy right now.”

I lay back and threw my legs over my head, so Yvonne would have easy access to my hole. Immediately, she was flicking her tongue against my exposed rosebud while I groaned in appreciation. I hadn’t always enjoyed having my salad tossed, but Yvonne had a unique technique that tickled my fancy as well as my fanny. Meanwhile, right beside us, Big Al was on his belly, his mouth devouring Layla’s beautiful pussy. I glanced at the action on the other mattress, but all I could see was a tangle of writhing limbs.

What followed in the next half hour or so was a kaleidoscope of carnality. At some point the two mattresses got pushed together, so that all eight of us were playing on the same surface. Then I was on my knees, my hard dick enjoying the mouth and throat of petite Karla. I’d loved her dexterity as a fellatrix during our earlier encounters, and she was in great form that day.

“Damn, girl,” I said. “You don’t have any gag reflex at all, do you?”

She managed to approximate a vocalized “nuh-uh” response, despite the fact that my crown was all but grazing her tonsils. Just then, I felt a soft hand on my shoulder, and there she was, delectably buxom Brittany! Her face was all pinkened up from the noontime heat. The slightly woozy smile on her face had clearly been fueled by vodka and lust.

“Hey, there. May I kiss you?” she asked.

My lips met hers, and we made out tenderly — even a bit tentatively at first. Yvonne quickly intuited that the moment was shifting from wanton to intimate. She removed her mouth from my boner and went off to find new cocks to suck and some pussies to feast on, leaving me in a clinch with heavenly Brittany.

She and I settled on one corner of the mega mattress. I couldn’t get enough of her ginormous breasts with their big, dusty rose-colored areolas. There was so much of Brittany, and I was attracted to every bit of her. We rolled around — touching and licking, nuzzling and caressing — for what must have been a half hour, patiently putting off the ecstasy of actual screwing. But we weren’t entirely oblivious to what was going on around us because Joseph and Karla are noisy fuckers. It was clear from their loud exclamations that they’d both reached orgasm through somebody — or one another’s — valiant efforts.

The midday summer temperature was beginning to make the air in the patio cage somewhat sticky. Al and Yvonne, who — like Joseph and Karla — had already climaxed, exited through the greenhouse and were now back on the deck, hydrating and snacking as they took a breather from the sexcapades. Brittany and I paused our makeout session to assess the situation.

Still with us on the patio, on the far side of the other mattress, were my lovely Layla and her hunky playmate Jack. This guy had been to the gym for a minute, that’s for sure. I was envious of his build. His torso and legs were bronzed, unlike his white, hairless butt. Layla had her long, honey-colored coils of hair tied back with a band and was sucking his thick dick. His face was red with passion.

“How’s it going, honey?” I asked Layla. She responded with a guttural sound, assuring me that all was copacetic.

“She’s doing fine by me,” said Jack, with a goofy grin on his face.

Layla came up for air, gripping his dong in one hand as she said, “It’s too hot out here now. Why don’t we go inside? I could use some AC. We can continue this in our room, Pete. The four of us.”

“What do you say, Brittany?” I asked.

“Yes. That’s good. The four of us. That’s what I want.”

We went out through the super humid greenhouse, which was filled with large, exotic-looking flowering plants and the pleasant aroma of loamy soil. We picked up our discarded clothes on the deck and hung our heads in faux embarrassment with big dopey smiles on our faces. It was like we were mimicking college freshmen parading on the “walk of shame” after a night of dorm-room fucking. Our fellow sex crusaders — who were either sipping drinks at the table or cooling off in the pool — tsk-tsked, laughed and gave us knowing looks.

“God, it’s hot today!” Layla said, stating the obvious.

“Yeah, you are,” Joseph answered.

“We’re gonna go in for a while, where it’s cooler,” I said.

“I’m afraid it’s gonna be hot wherever y’all go,” quipped Yvonne. “My goodness, those freak flags of yours are still flying at full staff.”

Indeed, the break from the action had done nothing to deflate my excitement — or Jack’s. Our hard-ons pointed the way as the four of us retreated to the cool of the elegant mansion.

“See ya later, fornicators!” Yvonne called out cheekily.

It turned out Layla and Jack had taken things just as languidly as me and Brittany had out in the yard. It had been a long stretch of foreplay for all four of us. Jack had yet to treat his dick to my wife’s sweet cunt, just as Brittany and I had not yet gone all the way. Still, when we revved up again, we began in the familiar arms of our respective mates.

We pulled back the zillion thread-count sheets on the king-size bed — anticipating some fine old-school boning. After some preliminary touching and canoodling, things moved fast. Layla and I started going at it in missionary, while Brittany and Jack embraced each other and looked on. Then they took their place beside us on the bed, also going the missionary route. It was as if they were mirroring us. It was pretty cool.

As we all fucked, the two women clasped hands. They were enjoying our pummeling dicks, but they were also now in the mood for a sapphic interlude. So, Jack and I sat back. We watched the ladies tangle in a 69, giving one another’s clits and cunts a workout with their talented tongues. Jack massaged one of Layla’s feet. He briefly nibbled on her tiniest of toes. I scooted over toward Brittany and took in the sight of her plush tits mashed against my wife. God, I was so aroused. I felt a trickle of pre-come run down my rigid shaft.

The coolness of the room had given us a new blast of energy. Jack and I were mesmerized by the lesbian action, but we were eager to seriously sample the charms of each other’s partner. Out came the condoms. Jack finished strapping on his before I did. He got on his back and took hold of his hard pecker as Layla carefully eased her twat down onto its length. When I was rubbered up, I mounted Brittany, doggy-style. God, her pussy was wet. Layla had really primed her new BFF’s pump with her tongue.

I began thrusting my cock into Brittany’s gushing cunt at an increasingly accelerated pace. I didn’t want to shoot too soon. But it wasn’t long before the orgasmic cries of Jack and Layla at the other end of the mattress took me to the point of no return. With a loud, involuntary grunt, I felt my stream of man-cream surrender itself to Brittany’s warm and willing snatch.

Then a half minute later, our four bodies lay limp on the big bed, sapped by a couple hours’ worth of vigorous carnal exertion.

“So this is what heaven’s like,” I said.

“Yeah,” Layla agreed. “And we’ve got on three more days and nights to look forward to!”

Yes, there were memorable moments ahead for all eight of us on this sexiest of getaways. One group encounter would involve an elaborate set of silk blindfolds and scarves. Then there was the big Sunday afternoon encounter in which Joseph, Al, Jack and I gangbanged my Layla, while Brittany, Karla and Yvonne masturbated together and urged us on with nasty talk.

All those newly formed memories will stay with my wife and me. Still, our foursome on the huge bed with Brittany and Jack will, undisputedly, count as my most incredible lay.

Needless to say, my most incredible Layla and I now laugh and shake our heads when we think back on those moments when we’d nearly talked ourselves into staying home that weekend. Talk about a close call!