He Said: Welcome to the House of Love

When Jeannie and I began this journey, a lot of our energy was focused on how she’d experience it. Jeannie had more concerns over how this could negatively impact our relationship, but she was also seeking something to help her reach her sexual potential that we both knew was in her and waiting to be tapped. Make no mistake, I’m seeking a lot from this journey as well, but at least going into it, I had fewer doubts, and wasn’t in search of anything specific other than increased fun and pleasure for us both. It was very important that Jeannie have both a positive experience and get the attention she deserve as this began. And so far, Jeannie has had the starring role.

Be careful what you wish for!

We’ve reached the point in this journey that there is no doubt Jeannie has had both a positive experience and gotten the attention she deserves. In fact, what I’ve now come to learn is that Jeannie has tapped into a power that I love to witness, and also now want to achieve for myself. While not foolproof by any means, Jeannie has the power to seduce. She has the power to attract. She has the power of feminine pleasure. This was on full display for me to witness as we attended the House of Love party last night. And this was the first time I was seeing this happen in real time.

Quick detour in this story…

House of Love is basically a “soft” fetish party.  I say soft because a full fetish party has a bit of a singular focus (with many flavors) and provides all the settings and tools for various fetishes. House of Love is more of a house party with a fetish theme. It’s more about dressing up (or down) and exploring roles in a very high energy, friendly, safe, party environment. Full fetish parties don’t typically have aerial performers, banging DJs, a dedicated dance floor, or even a bar. House of Love certainly does. And where this link is the actual event description, here’s a press write-up of the event for a little more color.

OK, Back to our story…

Jeannie had already attended a House of Love party with her friend Gigi and they had a great experience. Jeannie went in pretty nervous, but came back with stories of several sexy encounters, and a few phone numbers for follow up dates. As mentioned earlier, she truly relished the attention that she got, and in an environment where you are expected to try new things, but also must ask for permission for everything, she was totally in control of her journey. Well, at least as in control as she’d want to be – sometimes consenting to relinquish control is the pleasure!

Attire? More skin!

So now it was my turn and Gigi was coming along with us as well. The theme was “Amore: Threads of Red” so, obviously, red costumes were strongly encouraged. You are expected to either dress in fetish attire or dress to impress. I went with the latter in black slacks, a black button down shirt, a red and black paisley vest and a red fedora to match. I looked great! But Gigi was quick to point out that “more skin” is the way to go at the events. I later agreed, but being new to this, I was OK with being a bit more conservative.

We arrived and explored the venue as there are several rooms and then used the bathroom before getting a round of drinks. My first taste of the “anything but vanilla” vibe was walking up to a urinal and noticing a very hot woman peeing at the next urinal. Only it wasn’t a woman, it was a cross-dresser. We left the restroom together and I mildly regret having not talked to this person.

As it was early (a little after 11pm and the party lasts till 4am) it wasn’t very crowded, but it also felt more intimate than it would as the hours passed. I only interacted directly with our threesome and two other women that Jeannie knew during this time. Another regret as I truly thought the intimacy would get stronger, not weaker, as the night progressed.

Do all women have a super power of attraction? Or just some of them?

Jeannie, Gigi, and I made our way to the dance floor and danced together for a while. I started dancing closely with Jeannie and she commented, “you won’t meet anyone else dancing like this with me!” It was lighthearted, but I was kind of thrown by the comment and backed off a bit. I didn’t tell Jeannie something I should have at the time – that a guy with a woman somehow seems more likely to attract the attention of other women. Plus, I just wanted to dance with her at this point. Chalk this up to learning how we handle ourselves in all these new scenarios.

This is all research to learn what we truly desire… and to have fun learning! -Gigi

As Jeannie and I danced less together, her attraction vibe went out and soon a guy named Andy was dancing with her. They seemed to make a connection, so I slowly extricated myself, realizing that I actually did need to start my own journey anyway. I moved all around the dance floor for the next hour or so… sometimes alone, sometimes with someone, sometimes with groups. It was everything that I love about dancing at a rave, but without the uncertainty of who does or doesn’t want to dance with me… because at House of Yes, nearly everyone wants to share, and discussion will ensue either way if they want more, or less.

Throughout the evening there were various performances: Silks, Shibari, Acrobatics, etc. I was lucky enough to twice be in position to watch up close when one of these took place. The Shibari performance had me totally enthralled (this is already something I know I want to explore in the future) and when it was over, I had a bit of a downer moment. It was now about 1am and compared to the stories Jeannie shared from last time, and my desires for the night, I wasn’t really making progress. Further, the vibe was shifting and many people seemed to have found their “others” – be it one or many – so my opportunities were dwindling. This was when I realized that the early hours are actually a better time to open up and get involved with new people. (RESEARCH!)

Create your own vibe. Create your own space.

The DJ from 12-2 (who I’d later meet briefly and learn was Whitney Fierce) was really terrific and this managed to keep me going despite my dip in energy based on where the night was going. I made the decision, that if nothing else, I’d just dance the night away and that would be just as good as any night at a “vanilla” club! No sooner had my mood began to shift back to the fun did I find myself dancing with two very sexy women. No words were exchanged, but there was lots of eye contact, smiles, and a really great energy. Right, wrong, or otherwise, I decided that I wanted (needed?) that energy, so rather than risk breaking it by asking permission to touch or kiss them, I just kept dancing. One of them pulled out a bunch of glow sticks and handed one to her friend, one to me, and one to another guy that I’m pretty sure she came in with. We all found places in our attire to display the glow sticks and kept dancing.

Then glow stick girl leans over to the other woman and whispers something in her ear. The other woman then nods enthusiastically and they begin to make out passionately. It was then I realized that they probably just met (if they were there together, she probably would have had implied consent already) and that I was probably not a welcome addition to their exploration. Even so, I stuck around and enjoyed the show as they kissed, touched, and danced together intimately. At some point the glow stick girl turns to me as she’s getting her neck kissed and breast fondled. She says, “do you want to join us?” Well, of course I want to join them! But I did manage to keep my cool and simply say, “Yes,” in a level voice. She responds, “Well, you can’t. But you should definitely keep watching.”

It was then that I really (really) recognized that I’m a voyeur.

I did as I was told. And while I’m not against playing the role of the sub, in this case I felt that I was playing the role of enthusiastic voyeur. As noted, of course I’d have liked to join them, but there was something really exciting about being so clearly included in their turn on. It had me smoldering and I definitely enjoyed both what I was doing for them, and what they were doing for me. It was some of the sexual energy I was looking for in this event.

Around 2:30 I had just returned to the dance floor after getting a drink and I was dancing alone, continuing my voyeurism as I watched the various displays around me. It was probably a full five minutes before I discovered that I was dancing next to Jeannie and Andy. And when I spoke to Jeannie, she didn’t seem to have noticed until that moment either. The three of us danced together for awhile and then I told Jeannie that I did want some time with her soon. She politely extracted herself from Andy shortly thereafter and we danced and discussed a bit of the evening.

I had a great time dancing with Jeannie for the next half hour or so. We were more relaxed into each other and Jeannie seemed more willing to let me dance with her instead of just nearby. There was a lot to unpack, and we did some of it on the dance floor, as I gave her an abbreviated rundown of my emotional swings through the evening.

While the evening didn’t deliver my specific desires, I really did enjoy it.

It was a delicate conversation as we promised each other open honesty even when that can be painful. And Jeannie did feel that she may have caused me some pain. While I did experience some pretty strong emotional swings through the event, I really did have an amazing time. And Jeannie did nothing wrong, nothing disrespectful, and nothing that violated any expectations we had set. We did agree that we may need to set more expectations in the future, but, again, that’s the research! And if this is my homework, I’ll gladly keep studying. Oh, and feel free to put a few tests in front of me as well.

School has never been this much fun!

Lastly, Jeannie and I wandered over to the “dungeon” corner where a woman was getting spanked. We had watched Gigi get spanked by this same guy early in the night, and while that was hot, this went to another level. The woman was clearly asking for the spanker to push her boundaries and he was hitting her with a paddle in single, hard swats. After each, he draped his body over her back and held her torso tightly. It was very intimate, and it was clear that she was walking that pleasure/pain line fantastically. Then another woman came up and got in front of this woman, embraced her, and started kissing her while the spanking and bear hugs continued. We left soon after this and that visual carried with me through the ride home. (Did I mention that I’m a voyeur?!?)