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businessclass

 

NOTICE: This story contains explicit descriptions of sexual
activity between consenting adults. If you are not of legal age
to read such material, or if you find it offensive, then stop
reading now.

This story is (c) Copyright 2001 by Wiseguy and may not be
reposted on any for-profit system. Posting on a noncommercial
site is normally okay, but check with me first and do not alter
the story in any way.

The full text of this and all Wiseguy stories is available for
download (text or PDF) or for on-line viewing (HTTP) at my web
site, http://www.asstr.org/~Wiseguy.

I welcome all comments from readers (wiseguy35@hotmail.com).


Business Class

(c) Copyright 2001 by Wiseguy
Inspired by the real-life erotic hypnosis book _Look
Into My Eyes_ by Peter Masters.

It was her smile that first drew his attention -- a
subtle, secret smile that showed more in her eyes than
on her lips. When the smile was followed immediately
by a furtive glance in his direction, he pretended not
to notice.

But he was hooked. He had to know what she was
reading.

He shifted his laptop slightly on the table in front
of him, the better to covertly observe the woman
across the aisle. She seemed to be of medium height
and slender -- one might even say slight -- build.
Her hair was dark brown, long and curvy but carefully
arranged to frame an attractive, woman-next-door face.

She was reading what looked like a soft cover
textbook. It was fairly thin, maybe 150 pages. A
paper jacket, of the kind school children make from
grocery bags, concealed the cover. She studied it
intently, every now and again letting that hint of a
smile creep across her face and then catching herself.

A door opened and closed behind him. She looked up at
the sound; his eyes darted back to his laptop screen,
hoping she hadn't caught him studying her. In his
peripheral vision he saw her close the book, marking
her place with the inside flap of the homemade book
jacket, and lay it on the seat beside her.

"Your ticket, please?"

She gave a genuine smile to the conductor, who punched
her ticket and returned the stub. "The café car is
the next one up," the conductor explained. "Non-
alcoholic beverages are complimentary for business
class passengers; just show him your ticket stub."

"Thank you," she said sweetly. Her voice was a little
rough -- she'd be taking advantage of that offer soon,
her observer guessed.

Sure enough, a few moments later she stood up and
headed toward the café car. Her eyes met his for just
a moment as she passed, then moved on innocently. The
conductor followed, having finished his job for the
time being.

His curiosity would permit no further delays; with a
quick peek at the other passengers, he casually stood
up and eased across the aisle. He leaned over the
woman's seat, gently opened the book to the spot she'd
marked, and read the title from the top margin of the
page:

EROTIC HYPNOSIS: A Beginner's Guide
by Eric Milton.

His book.

His head dropped with a sigh that was half amusement,
half disbelief. Fate laughs at probabilities, he
thought to himself. He put the book down carefully,
making sure to leave it exactly as he'd found it, and
returned to his seat.

He was back in his seat, staring into his laptop
screen, when she passed him again in a whish of navy
blue cloth. He noted the Diet Sprite in her hand,
already open and sweating. She settled back into her
seat with her book, and he made a serious effort to
apply himself to his work.

It had been almost a year since he'd finished the
first draft of the book his traveling companion was
now reading, an entry-level guide to sexual hypnosis.
Sales had exceeded expectations enough that his New
York publishing house had just agreed to pay him an
advance for the sequel. Which means, he scolded
himself as he forced his gaze back from the reader's
legs to the unfinished chapter of that sequel on his
computer screen, that you'd better get your mind back
on business!

His hands hovered over the keyboard for a moment,
waiting. His brain responded, and the words began to
flow.

Fantasy #4: Sex at Sea

This fantasy may be particularly effective during a
summer holiday at the beach, or by the pool,
especially if your partner is already in a bathing
suit or less. Place your partner in trance and deepen
as much as you can -- the deeper the trance, the more
vivid the fantasy will be for her.

(Spoken to the subject)
We're on vacation in the Caribbean, just the two of
us. We've rented a boat for the afternoon, and are
cruising in a secluded cove. You feel the sun warming
you as you lie out on the deck in your skimpiest
swimsuit. You have plenty of sunscreen on, so you
don't have to worry about burning, and your favorite
sunglasses are protecting your eyes from the glare.

The gentle thrumming of the boat's engine is soothing
to you as you lie there on the deck. The sun's rays
are warm, so warm that even in your skimpiest swimsuit
you can feel tiny beads of sweat starting to form
underneath your suit. (Pause for a few moments to let
the feelings sink in.)

Still you lie there, enjoying the feel of the sun on
your bare skin, but getting warmer and warmer. You
decide to take off your swimsuit because it's just too
warm to be wearing it. Slowly, easily, using the
least amount of energy necessary, you take off your
swimsuit and leave it lying on the floor next to you.
Your skin can breathe now, and it feels so much better
now that it's all exposed to the sea air and sunshine.
(Again, pause a few moments to let her enjoy the
sensation.)
His eyes stole another glance across the aisle: the
woman sat upright, legs crossed, holding the book
close to her face. Her eyes scanned the pages in
front of them slowly and methodically while her lower
lip seemed to recede into her mouth. Between pages,
her left hand toyed idly with the top button on her
blouse. Her visage merged with his thought stream
until the mental picture in his mind was of her lying
naked on the bow of a sailboat. His cock tingled and
stiffened as the fantasy formed in his mind and
energized his fingers.
As you lie there in the nude, so comfortable, you
realize that there are parts of your body that don't
have sun block on them -- the parts that were covered
by your swimsuit. You certainly don't want sunburn on
those sensitive parts; you pick up your bottle of sun
block and squeeze a generous amount of it onto your
hand. It feels cool against the palm of your hand.
Now, using your hand, you wipe the lotion onto your
breasts, working it in to make sure every exposed part
of your breasts is protected. As you rub the lotion
in, you find yourself enjoying the sensation of your
hand caressing yourself, sliding so smoothly over your
soft skin. Your nipples become erect, and you play
with them as you rub the lotion into them, enjoying
the arousing feelings you get when your fingers touch
them. You are feeling very sexy and aroused now, and
it feels very good to indulge yourself. (Another
pause. Depending on her trance depth, your partner
may begin caressing herself as the fantasy plays out
in her mind.)

Now you remember that your crotch is also exposed to
the sun. You apply some more lotion to your fingers,
and with a smooth, easy motion you begin spreading
that lotion over your bikini area. You start with
your mound, letting your fingers run easily through
your pubic hair as you spread the lotion over the skin
beneath. You open your legs slightly and slide your
fingers between your thighs. As you rub the lotion up
and down over your slit, your finger accidentally
brushes your clit and a sudden wave of pleasure rushes
over you. You caress yourself more, and soon you feel
much more wetness in your center than just the lotion.
You slip a finger inside your vagina and fantasize
that you are having sex with me, letting your finger
stand in for my penis. It slides in and out, and you
feel a growing sexual arousal, an urgent need that
must be satisfied.

You hear a sound and sense a shadow falling over you.
Your eyes open and you see me standing over you,
watching you fondle yourself. You can see by the
bulge in my swim trunks that I am very aroused. I
push my trunks down, and seeing the size of my
erection gets you even more aroused than you already
are because you know that I want you.

You don't resist as I spread your legs apart and
settle down between them. You take my penis in your
hand and guide it into your vagina. It feels so good
as I penetrate you, filling you up and pressing
against all the sensitive spots inside you. You feel
your hips moving up and down on their own, working my
length in and out, and bringing you closer and closer
to orgasm.
"Oh, shit!"

She hadn't said it loudly, but the sudden outburst was
enough to break his concentration. He looked up to
see her kneeling on her seat, leaning over the one
beside her, a grimace on her face. She fumbled with
something unseen for a moment, then hustled up the
aisle toward the café car again. The dripping wet
napkin and empty can in her hands told the story.

She returned with the conductor, who carried an
oversized sponge. "It's not a problem," he assured
her as he dabbed at the seat and floor. "All the
fabrics are treated. In half an hour you won't be
able to tell anything happened."

"I'm really sorry," the lady replied. "I didn't
realize it was that close to the edge."

The conductor's friendly smile didn't waver. "Not to
worry, ma'am. It happens a lot." He continued
dabbing at the spill while the lady passenger fretted
over the mess.

The writer watched from his seat, then on an impulse
slid out and walked through to the café car. A simple
snack bar took up most of the space; the rest was
dotted with round tables and stools, all of which were
bolted to the floor. The snack bar attendant greeted
his new customer with a friendly, professional smile.
"How can I help you, sir?"

"Root beer and a Diet Sprite." The writer held up his
Business Class ticket stub.

The attendant nodded and place two ice-filled plastic
cups and two cans of soda on the counter. "Anything
else?"

"This'll do for now." With an answering smile of his
own, the writer gathered his drinks and returned to
the business class car. He set the drinks down on the
table by his laptop and, with a tentative clearing of
his throat, addressed the lady in the aisle. "Excuse
me." When she didn't respond, he reached out a
forefinger and touched her elbow. "Excuse me," he
repeated.

Her head turned at his touch, her eyes darting first
to the intruding finger, then to his face.

"There's plenty of space over here," he offered,
pointing to the table where his laptop sat. "The
table is level, too. Why don't you join me?"

He could see the doubt passing over her face. He put
on his best innocuous smile and lifted the new Diet
Sprite he'd bought. "See? I've even got a new drink
for you -- you wouldn't want that to go to waste,
would you?"

The smile worked -- she broke into one of her own,
chuckling slightly. "I suppose not," she agreed.
"But I hope that laptop is insured against moisture
damage."

"I'm willing to risk it. My name is Eric, by the
way." He put down the soda can and extended his hand.

Her handshake was well-practiced: firm and
businesslike, but not so much so that an insecure man
might feel challenged. "I'm Patty," she replied.

"Welcome to the big table, Patty." He winked at her
and then slid back into his seat, moving the laptop
closer to give her as much room as possible.

Patty took the seat diagonally across the conference
table from him, opened her soda and poured some into
the plastic cup. "This is much nicer than the fold-up
tray," she said, running a hand over the mini
conference table between them.

Eric nodded. "Most business class cars have one of
these tables at each end; I try to sit at one whenever
I can. The extra elbow room is always nice, and my
drink doesn't slide off the edge."

"That's exactly what happened to me," Patty said. "I
set the cup down in the middle of the tray, and the
next thing I knew it was face down on the seat."

"Is this your first train trip?"

"Yes," she answered, her eyebrows rising. "How'd you
guess?"

He shrugged innocently. "Just a hunch."

"I usually fly to DC on the shuttle," she offered,
"but with all the papers talking about a possible
strike this week, I didn't want to get stranded."

"A smart move. I take the train for economy -- a
business class train ticket costs a lot less than
flying coach, but look at the service and the
amenities. I can eat or drink what I want to, when I
want to; I can get up and walk around without being in
anyone's way; I can plug my laptop into the AC outlet
right here and write for the whole trip if I want to.
What airline can match that?"

"So you're a writer?"

He paused a moment to admire the smooth movement of
her throat as she swallowed some more Sprite. "Yes,"
he confirmed, feeling the small rush of pride that
usually came from answering that question. Go ahead,
a little voice inside of him urged. Tell her. He
thought about how to say it, how she might react --
after all, she clearly didn't want people to see that
she was reading an erotic hypnosis book. He needed to
be careful.

The moment passed. "That's nice," she said politely.
"I'm a technical trainer; I teach people to use my
company's software."

"That must be interesting," he replied, feeling his
chance slipping away.

She smiled and opened her book. "It has its moments,"
she remarked, and then turned her attention to the
book.

Eric watched her for as long as courtesy would allow,
then took the hint and addressed his laptop again.
The image of Patty, naked and writhing on the deck of
the boat, came again to the front of his mind and he
resumed his writing.

You don't resist as I spread your legs apart and
settle down between them. You take my penis in your
hand and guide it into your vagina. It feels so good
as I penetrate you, filling you up and pressing
against all the sensitive spots inside you. You feel
your hips moving up and down on their own, working my
length in and out, and bringing you closer and closer
to orgasm.

You sense my penis quivering slightly and you squeeze
down with your pelvic muscles, doubling the erotic
sensations for both of us. The pleasure pulses
through your entire body; you are only seconds away
from a wonderful orgasm. You look up into my face and
see my eyes roll upwards, and you know that I am
coming right now inside you. It pleases you to know
you've made me come, and that knowledge triggers your
orgasm.

(Watch for the physical signs of orgasm before
continuing.) The pleasure sweeps over you as you
come, so that you feel it in every part of your body
all at the same time. The orgasm lasts as long as you
want it to last; it is completely satisfying and
leaves you with a wonderful, happy feeling all over.
(Repeat the last line every few seconds until her
climax appears to be over.)

And now, you are no longer on the deck of a rented
boat. You are back (state your real location) with
me, where we have just shared a nice hypnotic fantasy.
When I count to three you will awaken, feeling
contented and peaceful. (Conclude with a three count
and make sure she is fully awake.)
Eric stopped and saved his work. The erotic charge
hung over him like static electricity; he could feel
it everywhere from his tingling scalp to his throbbing
cock. His toes curled and straightened nervously
inside his shoes. It was normal for him to get worked
up writing these fantasies, but doing it with a
specific person in mind -- a person who was sitting
not three feet away, totally oblivious to it -- had
added a whole new dimension.

Patty, meanwhile, seemed to be enjoying her book. Her
skin was flushed, her nostrils flared, and every few
moments her hips would shift slightly on their own in
a subtle, unconscious rhythm.

Above their heads the PA system clicked. "We will be
arriving in Philadelphia in about 3 minutes," a
nondescript voice announced. "Passengers leaving the
train in Philadelphia, please check around your seats
now and gather your personal belongings. Also, please
use caution when exiting as there will be a slight gap
between the doorway of the train and the platform."

Patty glanced briefly up the aisle at the
announcement, then continued with her reading. Eric
watched out of the corner of his eye, wondering. What
fantasy was she reading? What lover was she picturing
in her mind?

The train lurched slightly on the way into the
Philadelphia station. Patty felt the movement,
snapped the book shut and hid it in her lap under the
table. She sat upright as a few passengers filed out
past her. There was only a short delay before the
train moved on, starting out slowly and picking up
speed once clear of the station.

Eric looked at Patty and smiled. "I think the coast
is clear now," he remarked.

She blushed a little. "Was I that obvious?"

"It's okay," he joked. "Lots of professional women
read romance novels."

"Not this one," she replied, shaking her head slowly.
"Not today, anyway."

Eric played along, looking more closely at the paper-
covered book. "It's too small to be hiding a nudie
magazine," he mused. "It must be some kind of
perverted sex manual."

"No." Patty tensed up immediately and withdrew into
her seat. The sparkle faded from her eyes and was
replaced by a tense wariness.

For a moment, Eric feared she would get up and leave.
"I'm sorry," he said quickly. "I was way out of line.
I get a little too flippant for my own good
sometimes." He watched Patty's eyes anxiously, and
was relieved to see her relax a little bit. "Let me
make it up to you," he suggested. "How would you like
to see the book I'm working on right now?"

Patty blinked. "You mean, the one you're still
writing?"

"The very one. Usually I'd rather have root canal
than show someone a rough draft. But I owe you
something for that last crack, and I have a feeling
you might like this. Are you interested?"

Patty searched his eyes for a moment, considering.
"Okay. But you really don't have to."

Eric smiled, and was pleased to see her smile back.
"Maybe not, but I'd like to anyway. Here you go." He
pulled up the file with the book's title page, turned
the machine around to face his companion, and scooted
back to get a good look at her face.

Patty tilted the screen to improve her viewing angle
and saw the title page:

EROTIC HYPNOSIS: Tips, Tricks, and Fantasies
by Eric Milton

He was not disappointed. Patty's jaw dropped and her
eyes opened wide. The book slipped out of her hand
and hit the floor near her feet, but Patty didn't move
-- she simply stared at the title on the screen.

"It's a sequel, sort of," Eric explained haltingly.
"For people who've finished the first book. It'll
have some new inductions, suggestions for cool
posthypnotic suggestions that lovers can use, and
ideas on how to create more vivid fantasies. I'm also
going to include a companion CD with some recorded
goodies."

Patty looked at the laptop without reading while Eric
mentally crossed his fingers and waited for her
reaction. "You knew," she finally said, in the voice
of a child caught in a lie. "How did you know?"

Now it was his turn to blush a bit. "Curiosity," he
explained. "It's one of my vices. When I first saw
you sitting over there, you were clearly absorbed in
what you were reading; I had to know what it was. So
when you went to the café car for a drink, I peeked.
And boy, was I surprised."

"Is that why you invited me over here?" she asked
skeptically. "So you could play 'I Know Your Secret'
with me?"

"No no no no no," he protested. "Well, okay, maybe.
But not just for that. Sure, I wanted to tell you
that I wrote the book you're reading, and maybe even
find out how you like it. I mean, I've never met
anyone who's read it before -- anyone outside the
publishing staff, anyway, and the couple of friends
who looked at the proofs. You look like an
interesting person, and I just thought it would be
cool to meet you even before I saw what you were
reading."

Patty saw the anxiety in his face and smiled, relaxing
a little. "How do I know you're really Eric Milton?"
she teased. "You could have made up that cover page
while I was reading."

Eric saw the smile and the slight twinkle in her eye,
and a wave of relief swept through him. "You're
playing with me now. Okay, fine -- ask me a question
about the book."

Patty bent over and retrieved the fallen book. "All
right. What's on page 83?"

"You're kidding me -- how am I supposed to remember
one page, by number? At least tell me what chapter
it's in."

She let him sweat for a second before agreeing. "Fair
enough. It's in Chapter 5, and it's the third page in
the chapter."

Eric frowned. "You're determined to make this
difficult, aren't you?"

Her smile grew broader. "You started this, and you
admitted peeking."

He chuckled and shook his head. "So be it. Let's
see, the fifth chapter would be ..." He ticked off the
chapters in his memory. "Posthypnotic Suggestions.
It starts out talking about what a posthypnotic
suggestion is and what kinds of things are possible.
There are a couple of anecdotes about suggestions that
will and won't work. By the third page, you should be
into the Do and Don't list for effective suggestions."

"So far, so good," Patty confirmed, looking into the
book. "What are some of the items on the Do list?"

"Do be specific: use precise language, and don't
leave out any detail, like opening the eyes. Do
repeat the suggestion several times, and make sure it
is okay with the person. Do make sure the suggestion
has definite limits and parameters to avoid unintended
results. And do cancel every suggestion that isn't
meant to be permanent. Convinced?"

"Convinced." She snapped the book shut and laid it on
the table. Her eyes met his and paused there for a
long moment. "Now what do we do?"

Eric made an exaggerated gulp. "Well, I suppose you
could tell me what you think of the book."

"I haven't finished it yet." A faint smile hovered
over her lips.

"But you must have some impression."

Seeing his anxious look, she sighed and let the smile
show through. "I've read my share of hypnosis books -
- at least six or seven, ranging from Jung to Hypnosis
for Dummies. Some of them are so simple and
generalized that all they really seem intended to do
is send people to a professional with a few less
questions to ask. Others are so full of jargon that
you have to be a shrink to understand them. Yours is
the first one that's struck me as something normal
people can use."

"Thank you," he said. "I write from experience.
Everything in that book is something I've done in real
life -- most of them several times." He winked and
added, "Research is important, you know."

She laughed lightly. "I'm sure it must be."

"Have you tried anything from the book yet?"

"Oh, no," she said, shaking her head gently. "I don't
even know if I can be hypnotized."

Eric's eyebrows rose in surprise. "All that reading,
and you've never actually tried it?"

"Nope," she confirmed. "I did try self-hypnosis, just
to see what it was like. I put a little red dot on
the ceiling above my bed and stared at it while I told
myself to relax."

"And?"

She shrugged. "I relaxed, all right -- right to
sleep."

Eric looked around the car: there were about eight
other passengers, most of them toward the back end of
the car, all of them either engrossed in a book,
staring into a laptop, or sleeping. "Would you like
to try again?"

She thought about it for a moment. "You mean here?
Now? Can you do that?"

Eric nodded reassuringly. "Yes, here and now. I've
worked with people under worse conditions than a
moving train; if you really want to experience a
trance, I can get you there."

Her eyes focused on a point in space while she
contemplated. "Do we have time? First sessions
usually take a while, don't they?"

Eric kept his head very still, his voice even.
"What's your final station?"

Patty checked the ticket stub in her blazer pocket.
"Alexandria."

"That's the stop after mine. We have a good two hours
to work with; plenty of time, if you want it."
Holding Patty's gaze, Eric could see desire sparring
with hesitation. He waited quietly while the duel
played itself out in the arena behind her eyes.

Desire won. "I want it," she said quietly.

"Okay. Why don't you go to the lavatory now so we
don't have to interrupt the session later, and I'll
get things ready here?"

While Patty was away Eric saved his work, closed the
laptop and set it aside. He pulled the curtain over
the window and cleared the table of excess debris from
their drinks. His root beer was gone, so he refilled
the can with fresh water from a dispenser near the end
of the car. His mouth felt dry; half the water was
gone before he realized it. Steady, Eric, he told
himself, taking a deep breath and letting it out
slowly. Calm and confident.

He was standing in the aisle waiting when she returned
from the lav. "Right here," he said, motioning toward
the seat she had already been in before getting up; an
unnecessary instruction, he knew, but one that helped
to establish their new roles in both of their minds.
"Go ahead and get comfortable," he told her before she
could do so on her own. "Find a position that feels
right, and that you can maintain for a while."

"Can I recline?"

"A little bit, if you need to. Not more than a few
degrees." He waited until she had settled in before
sitting down himself. He slid over to the window seat
so that he could observe his subject without being
directly in front of her.

"Now what?"

Eric smiled. She was already ceding control of the
situation to him -- an excellent sign. And was that
an extra touch of pink in her cheeks? "We're just
about ready to begin," he explained. "Since there are
a lot of visible distractions, I'll take you into
hypnosis by having you close your eyes and imagine an
hourglass filled with different colors of sand. As
you envision the sand slowly draining from the top of
the hourglass to the bottom, you'll find yourself
relaxing and falling just as easily into trance. Once
you've achieved a workable depth, we'll do a few tests
to show you that you really are under hypnosis, and
then see how much deeper you can go. I don't like to
get too ambitious with a first session, but if things
go very well we'll do a couple of simple, G-rated
posthypnotic suggestions. You'll feel yourself
responding to them without thinking, and that will
prove how good a hypnotic subject you are." He paused
a moment to let his predictions sink in. "Are you
ready?"

She licked her lips and met his gaze directly.
"Ready."

"Then close your eyes," he instructed, letting his
voice drop into a low, soothing tone. "Close them
now, and imagine that you are staring at an old-
fashioned hourglass. See the wooden frame, the shiny
glass, and millions of tiny grains of sand inside it.
The upper half of the hourglass is completely full,
the bottom empty; but as you watch, you can see that
the sand has already begun streaming out of the upper
half of the hourglass into the lower half. See the
sand, Patty. Concentrate on the sand so that you see
every grain of sand in that hourglass; nothing else
that comes to your mind matters. Let any other
thoughts and idea just fall away; they're not
important right now. Focus your mind until the only
things you are aware of are the sand in the hourglass
and the sound of my voice.

"Focus on the hourglass, and you'll find that as the
sand flows smoothly, easily, and inevitably from the
upper half to the lower, your body and your mind will
relax just as smoothly, easily, and inevitably.
You'll feel all of the tension in your muscles fading
away with the flow of the sand, leaving you nice and
relaxed and comfortable. Each breath you take, each
slow and easy breath, will help the sand flow and help
your mind and body relax."

Eric continued his monologue in a smooth, even, well-
practiced voice, watching Patty for the first signs of
physical relaxation. When her face went slack and her
head began to sag several minutes earlier than
expected, he felt the familiar, delicious thrill rush
through his body. It's been way too long, he thought
to himself.

Seeing Patty's body respond, he shifted into the
present tense. "Your head is feeling heavy," he said,
carefully masking the growing excitement within
himself. "It's okay to let your head fall gently
forward, letting it rest, letting those tired neck
muscles relax. Your arms and legs feel limp and
heavy, as if your whole body was turning into a big
rag doll. And with every breath, you feel yourself
relaxing more and more, watching the sand flow through
the hourglass, taking you into hypnosis.

"Keep watching the hourglass, Patty, and listening to
my voice. As more and more sand flows into the bottom
half, you feel yourself floating deeper and deeper
into a nice, relaxing trance. My voice is here to
guide you; listening to my voice takes you deeper and
deeper into trance, gently and easily going deeper and
deeper into trance. You listen to my voice, and you
find yourself responding to everything I say.

"The hourglass top is almost empty now, Patty. Empty,
like your mind is becoming empty of all unnecessary
thoughts. My words help to clear your mind, and my
voice takes the place of your thoughts. You are now
in a deep, relaxing trance and you will respond
totally to everything I say."

And she was deep, he observed, noting the change in
skin tone and the tiny movements of her eyes below the
closed eyelids. Plenty deep enough for the few simple
tests he'd promised her.

"In a moment, Patty, I'm going to lift your arm to see
how relaxed you are. I want you to keep watching the
last bits of sand drain out of the top of the
hourglass, and pay no attention at all to my touch.
When I let go of your arm you will let it fall back to
your lap, and when it does you'll relax even more and
go deeper into your trance." Moving carefully so as
not to jostle her or brush against her relaxed,
extended legs, he got up and walked around the table
to her side. Her right arm was totally limp and felt
heavy in his grasp as he lifted it gently and hefted
it. "This is excellent, Patty," he commended his
subject. "Feel how very relaxed your arm is. You've
gone into a very deep, satisfying trance. Now I'm
going to put your arm down so that you can go even
deeper." He lowered the arm until it was just above
her lap, then let go and let it drop. She seemed to
sink just a little deeper into the seat.

"I'm going to touch you in a few more places now,
Patty," he said. "On your neck, and on your face.
Each touch will send you deeper into trance."
Slipping off his wristwatch, he placed an index finger
against the side of her throat and counted the pulse
beats in 15 seconds. Her heart rate was very slow but
steady. The skin of her face had a slightly clammy
feel, evidence of reduced circulation.

"Patty, in a moment I am going to count to three. On
the count of three, I want you to lift your head and
open your eyes. I do not want you to wake up; just
lift your head and open your eyes. I don't want you
look at anything in particular or try to focus your
eyes on anything, either. Just let them open and look
straight ahead. One, two, three."

Eric watched with satisfaction as Patty's head rose
slowly from her chest. When she was facing straight
forward, her eyes slowly opened. The still, unfocused
stare he saw in them sent another rush of excitement
through Eric's body. A first-class subject, he
thought to himself. Even better than Kelly was. For
a second or two he pictured Kelly's face with that
same blank stare. How long had it been since they'd
ended it -- six months? Eight months? Too long,
certainly.

Stop it, he scolded himself. This is not a sexual
encounter. His cock seemed unconvinced, standing at
half-mast. For all I know, she's married. One look
at her left hand suggested not. She's probably got
someone back home, he tried.

Ask her out, an inner voice suggested. If she's
attached, she'll say so.

"Close your eyes now, Patty, but leave your head
upright." He watched as her eyes closed, then slid
back into his seat opposite her. "Now, Patty, I want
you to imagine a thermometer. This one is different
from most thermometers, though, because it is your
trance thermometer. Its numbers run from zero to 100;
zero means you are not in a trance at all, and 100
means that you are in the deepest trance you think you
can reach. I want you to imagine your trance
thermometer now, and on the count of three I want you
to tell me what number it is showing. You can speak
clearly and distinctly to answer me, and it will not
disturb your trance state. One, two, three."

Patty's lips parted slowly. "Sixty two," she said in
a sleepy monotone.

His eyebrows rose -- Patty was turning out to be a
surprisingly good subject. If only they were in a
quiet, private place ...

No, Eric thought, mentally tying a tourniquet around
his swelling cock. This is not a seduction.

But you wish it was, the inner voice taunted. You
know you want her.

Yes, I do, he argued back. But I can't break trust
again. That's how I lost Kelly.

The voice had no answer for that one.

Eric jerked his mind back to the present. Patty had
passed her tests easily, and was clearly deep enough
to accept a posthypnotic suggestion or two. Time to
get back to the plan.

"Patty," he said, "you have done very well with the
tests. You know now that you are a very good hypnotic
subject; you have no difficulty at all following my
suggestions while in trance. Because you are such a
good subject, we are going to do some posthypnotic
suggestions now. You will listen to my suggestions,
and you will follow them to the best of your ability;
you are such a good subject that you will always obey
my suggestions. Let your head relax again now,
sinking back to your chest, and listen to my
suggestions."

He waited for her head to settle back onto her chest
before continuing. "Your first suggestion is your
trance trigger. Whenever we are together, if I hold
one of your hands and snap my fingers you will go
immediately back into trance. You won't think about
it; you'll forget about whatever you might be saying,
doing, or thinking at the time and just let go into a
nice, deep trance, deeper even than the one you are in
now. You will go into trance only if I snap my
fingers while holding one of your hands, Patty; if I
just snap my fingers, or just grab your hand, it will
mean nothing special. If, when I hold your hand and
snap my fingers, you strongly do not want to go into
trance, you will say 'No' and tell me why you do not
want to. Otherwise, you will always respond by going
immediately into trance whenever I hold your hand and
snap my fingers.

"Your second suggestion is a test, to show you how
powerful my suggestions are to you. Sometime after
you awaken, I am going to say the words 'animal
magnetism' to you. When I say 'animal magnetism',
your hands will feel a powerful magnetic force pulling
them upward towards the roof of the train. The force
will be irresistible; the harder you try to keep your
hands down, the stronger will be the force pulling
them up. Your hands will rise until your arms are
pointing straight up at the ceiling, and they will
remain that way despite any efforts you make to bring
them down again. The force will not be strong enough
to lift you out of your seat, or make you
uncomfortable in any way, but your arms will continue
pointing straight up until I clap my hands once. When
I clap my hands once, the magnetic force will go away;
you will once again have full control of your arms,
and this suggestion will be completely cancelled."

Eric repeated his suggestions, reinforcing them in
Patty's subconscious mind, until he judged she had
absorbed them fully. "In a few moments, it will be
time to wake up. I'm going to count from one to ten,
and with each number I count you will find yourself
slowly rising out of your trance. When I reach the
number ten, you will be fully awake, alert, and
feeling refreshed." He counted up slowly, giving
Patty plenty of time to rouse herself in response to
his commands. When he reached ten, her eyes fluttered
open.

"How do you feel?" he asked.

She considered for a long moment before answering.
"Wow," she finally said. "I feel good. Refreshed,
like you said I would. It was weird, though. I
remember everything, but it's like I wasn't really
paying attention. Does that make sense?"

"Sure it does. A lot of people get that disconnected
feeling when they're in a trance. For me, it's like
my body responds to the hypnotist on its own while my
mind just sits back and watches."

"Was I really that deep?"

"It looked that way. You could have gone a lot
deeper, too, according to the depth test we did."

"Sixty two," she said with wonder on her face. "Sixty
two out of a hundred. I wonder what a hundred feels
like."

"Practice, and you'll find out."

"Speaking of finding things out," she countered.
"Aren't you supposed to say something pretty soon?"

He grinned. "You mean, some kind of remark about
animal magnetism?"

Patty let out a soft gasp as her hands rose quickly
above the table. "Wow!" she exclaimed. Her face
flushed red; Eric could see the concentration in her
eyes as she fought the imaginary force. Her arms
quivered with the effort, but succeeded only in
slowing their ascent. "I ... can't ... stop it ...
arghhh!" She growled and gave up; her hands, already
at eye level, shot up the rest of the way and remained
aloft, pointing to the ceiling of the train car.

"Surprised?" Eric asked, seeing the tiny beads of
sweat that had formed during her effort.

"I shouldn't be, I guess," she replied. "You told me
it would be like this. I thought I'd be able to fight
it for a few minutes, though. Jesus! It's a good
thing you didn't tell me to strip."

I could, the inner voice piped up. He choked it off.
"That might have worked," he said instead, "but
probably not the same way. Unless you're accustomed
to being nude in public, your mind would have found a
way around the suggestion. You might have gone into
the lavatory and stripped there in private, then put
your clothes back on to come back here and tell me
off. Or your mind might have just postponed following
the suggestion until you found yourself in a place
where you felt comfortable taking them off. Either
way, you'd have good reason not to let me hypnotize
you again."

"Can I help you, Miss?" Neither of them had noticed
the conductor entering the car.

"No, thanks," she replied, thinking quickly, looking
at her arms. "Just stretching a bit."

"Okay, Miss."

Eric clapped his hands lightly as the conductor walked
by. Patty made a point of visibly stretching, then
brought her arms to her sides and rested them on the
table. She and Eric shared a conspiratorial giggle.
Overhead, the PA system announced their imminent
arrival in Wilmington, Delaware.

"Nice thinking," Eric remarked as the train pulled out
of the Wilmington station. He held out his hand
across the table.

"Thanks," she said, unconsciously taking his offered
hand. "It seemed like a--" The rest of her sentence
vanished unspoken from her mind as Eric snapped the
fingers of his free hand. Her eyes glazed over and
lost focus, then closed down as her body slumped back
in the seat.

"Very good," Eric said, watching her settle into the
seat. "Your subconscious remembers and responds to
your trigger. Every time I hold your hand and snap my
fingers, you will fall more easily and quickly into
trance, and go deeper than the time before. Let
yourself go now, and sink deeper and deeper. Imagine
your trance thermometer, Patty; as you sink deeper and
deeper into trance, you will see the indicator on the
thermometer go to higher and higher numbers. When the
indicator reaches 75, I want you to squeeze my hand
once."

He didn't have to wait more than a minute for the
squeeze. "Very good," he told her. "You are now at
75 on your trance thermometer. I'm going to count to
10 again, and as I'm counting you will wake up. When
I reach ten, you will be completely awake but unable
to let go of my hand. Nothing you do will enable you
to let go of my hand until I tell you that you can."
He counted to ten again, enjoying the sight of her
eyes fluttering open.

As soon as her eyes focused again, Eric saw her left
shoulder begin to flex. "It's working," she
confirmed, her eyebrows crinkling up in concentration.
"I'm trying to pull my hand away, but the muscles
won't work. I can't do it."

Eric grinned. "Of course not. I told you, you're a
very good subject." Before she could reply, he
snapped his fingers again and she slumped back into
the chair. "That's good," he said. "Deeper and
deeper, deeper than before. See your trance
thermometer, and when you reach 80 you will squeeze my
hand."

It took only a few seconds, then he felt the pressure
around his hand. "Excellent, Patty. Now, on the
count of three, I want you to open your eyes and act
as though you are completely awake. I don't want you
to wake up; you will remain in a deep trance, but you
will sit up and move around and talk to me as though
you were awake, all the while obeying my every
instruction. One, two, three."

Her eyes snapped open and she sat up in the seat. "I
still can't pull my hand away," she observed.

"True -- I haven't cancelled that suggestion yet. How
do you feel?"

"Fine," she said. "A little spacey, maybe, from all
the passing out and waking up."

"Not dizzy at all?"

She looked puzzled. "No."

"Yes, you are," Eric said, watching her face. "You
are becoming very dizzy, as if you were very drunk.
The entire train feels as though it is spinning
around."

The puzzled look quickly faded into a slack-jawed,
disoriented expression. "Holy shit," she said. "I am
dizzy. What the hell is going on? Why is everything
spinning around?"

"It's not," he replied. "Even now, the dizziness is
passing. Everything looks normal again, and you feel
fine."

Patty looked around her and nodded wonderingly. "Yes,
I do. I'm fine again. This is amazing."

"This is hypnosis," Eric told her. "You are in what's
called a waking trance; able to act as if awake, but
your subconscious is still in control -- and I control
your subconscious."

"Wow ... how long are you going to keep me like this?"

"Not much longer. It's an advanced trick, especially
for a first session. I wouldn't even have tried it if
you hadn't responded so well to the other
suggestions."

"You are very good at this, aren't you?"

He smiled. "Pretty good. But it's you doing most of
the work. Do you have any requests before we end the
session?"

She looked thoughtful. "Requests. Do you mean,
suggestions to try?"

"Sure."

She flushed a little bit. "I'd like to try something
a little more ... risqué. Something from the book."

"Really?" Eric was surprised, and aroused. "You
mean, like one of the fantasies?"

"God, no," she said quickly. "I'm pretty loud when
I'm ... you know. The whole train would know what I
was doing. I was thinking about the switch trick from
Chapter Five; you know, 'Switch On' and 'Switch Off'?"

Eric worked hard to contain his excitement; meanwhile,
his cock sprang to full attention. "We can do that,
certainly. On the count of three, you will close your
eyes and return to your deep, relaxed trance state.
One, two, three." On command, she slumped back in her
seat again. "Patty, I want you to let yourself drift
deeper and deeper into trance. Watch your trance
thermometer, and squeeze my hand when you get to 85."

He waited, repeating his mantra of "deeper and
deeper," until he felt the squeeze. "Patty, you've
read the chapter in my book on posthypnotic
suggestions. From now on, whenever I say the words
'Switch On' to you, you will become extremely aroused,
sexy and horny. The foremost thought in your mind
will be having sex at the first available opportunity,
and the longer you have to wait for that opportunity
the stronger that sexual desire will become. Your
sexual need will continue to grow until you actually
have sex, or until I say the words 'Switch Off'. When
I say 'Switch Off', any sexual feelings that have been
caused by a 'Switch On' command will be negated, and
you will have complete control over your sexual
thoughts and feelings again."

After reinforcing the suggestion several times, he
woke Patty one more time. "How do you feel now?"

"Good," she answered. "A little anxious; I can't wait
to find out what being switched on feels like."

"Switch on, then," Eric replied with a smile.

Patty shuddered, and her eyes opened wide. "Oh, God,"
she gulped, her free hand pulling instinctively to her
gut. She stared at Eric as if seeing him for the
first time, studying every aspect of his face. "Do
you have any idea what this feels like?"

"A little bit," he said, grinning openly. "I know
what it feels like when I'm the one being switched
on."

"This is such a rush," she said. "I've never been so
out-and-out horny in my life as I am right this
minute." As she spoke, her free hand crept upward and
cupped a breast.

Overhead, the PA system crackled to life again.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we are approaching Baltimore
station. Baltimore station in about two minutes."

"Had enough?" Eric asked.

She squirmed in the seat and grunted softly. "Yes,"
she said, nodding vigorously.

"Switch off."

She blinked, took a deep breath and let it out with a
long sigh. "Whew," she said, fanning herself with her
free hand. "Somebody turn up the air conditioning for
a few minutes, please."

"Okay." Eric snapped his fingers one more time and
Patty dropped back into the seat. He coached her back
down to 85 on her depth meter, then gave Patty her
final commands. "On the count of ten, you will wake
up and be completely alert and refreshed. Your body
will feel completely comfortable, neither too warm nor
too cold, and all of my hypnotic suggestions to you
will be cancelled--" an idea struck him and he changed
his mind. "Except for your trance trigger. You will
still go immediately into a deep trance whenever I
snap my fingers while holding your hand, but none of
the other suggestions I've given you today will affect
you after you wake up this time."

The train was stopping -- they had reached Baltimore.
He counted her up much more quickly than usual; Patty
struggled a bit to open her eyes. "Wow," she said,
slowly pulling her hand out of his. "That was a
trip."

"I know," Eric replied, willing his cock to settle
down again. "You'd like to do that again sometime,
wouldn't you?" It was a suggestion disguised as a
question.

"Absolutely," Patty replied automatically.

"Good. Did you have any plans for this evening?"

"Nothing -- just check into the hotel, have dinner
somewhere, read some more, and go to sleep. My work
doesn't start until tomorrow morning."

"Let me take you to dinner," he suggested, suppressing
a wince as his conscience flogged him.

"Sure," she agreed, seemingly a little surprised at
the speed of her own answer.

They sat together making pleasant small talk while the
train wound through Baltimore. It stopped at BWI
airport, and again in New Carrolton, Maryland.

"That's my cue," Eric said as the train pulled out of
New Carrolton. "Next stop, Union Station. Alexandria
comes after that."

"Where are we going for dinner?" she asked. "I didn't
bring anything very dressy."

"I know a nice place in Springfield," he said. "Good
service, a nice, casual atmosphere, and succulent
prime rib."

"Sold," she said with a smile.

Pulling a notepad from his laptop case, he jotted down
her hotel name and phone number. "I'll pick you up at
seven, okay?"

"That's fine."

He gathered his things together as the PA system
announced their imminent arrival at Union Station.
"By the way," he said with nonchalance. "Do you have
a CD player with you? Something you can listen to
while in your hotel room?"

"Not with me," she replied. "Why?"

"Just an idea," he told her. "I've done some audio
recordings for the new book, and if you had a player I
thought it might be fun to have you try them out. I
haven't had a chance to test them yet."

She shrugged. "Sorry. I'd love to, but I don't have
anything to play them on here."

The train slowed and stopped. "It's okay. I'll see
you again soon."

"Seven," she repeated. "I'll be in the lobby."

They exchanged smiles. Eric watched the train pull
away from the platform and sighed, feeling excited and
guilty at the same time.


Patty was waiting in the hotel lobby when Eric arrived
at 6:55. She had changed into a lightweight blue
dress and heels. She took his offered hand without
thinking, then suddenly tensed; her eyes met his and
she paused for a breathless second, part of her
wanting him to snap his fingers and part wanting to
pull the hand away before he could.

Eric saw all of this flash across her face and smiled
reassuringly. "Ready to go?" he asked, releasing her
hand.

She nodded and followed him to his car. They headed
west on the Capital Beltway toward Springfield and
stopped at Kilroy's, a cozy restaurant/pub tucked into
a shopping center off Braddock Road. A pretty hostess
led them to a corner booth with high walls.

"Nice place," Patty remarked, looking at the wartime
memorabilia covering the walls of the booth.

"I like it," Eric replied. "It's comfortable, there's
a lot of privacy, and the food really is splendid.
Wait till you taste the honey-buttered biscuits they
serve here." He reached toward her for a menu and was
amused to see that flash of conflict cross her face
again.

"When you took my hand in the lobby, Eric, it felt
like ... I mean, I thought you were going to ..."

"I know," he said, keeping his voice light.
"Occupational hazard. When I'm with someone I've
hypnotized several times, I have to be careful to keep
my voice from slipping too low -- if it gets too close
to my hypnotist's tone, they tend to fade out on me."

Their waitress brought them tall glasses of iced tea.
"Ready to order?"

Eric looked at Patty, who squirmed a little in her
seat. "Can you give us a few more minutes?" she asked
the waitress.

"Sure," she said, and retreated with a smile.

Patty became clearly uncomfortable. "Eric," she
began, looking at anything and everything in the booth
except Eric. "Before you get the wrong idea, I really
need to tell you something."

Eric waited, a lump growing in the pit of his stomach.

Patty drew a deep breath and let it out. "I'm sort of
engaged."

He let it hang there for a few moments. Calm and
confident, he reminded himself. When she gathered the
courage to meet his eye, he was ready. "Sort of
engaged? Is that anything like 'sort of' pregnant?"

"Sort of," she replied, flashing a weak smile at her
feeble joke. "Craig is a great guy. We've been
together for about three years. We live together, in
my apartment on Staten Island, and we're going to get
married eventually. Right now we're just waiting for
his next promotion, and then we'll make it official."

Eric kept his voice light and casual. "Are you happy
with him?"

"Of course," she answered quickly. "We have our off
days, but so does every other couple in the world. We
have a lot invested in this relationship. I haven't
even thought about anyone else since I met Craig. I'm
not even sure why I'm here with you now, Eric. I
really shouldn't be, it's not fair to either of us."

"It's all right," Eric lied. "I wasn't looking for a
life partner on that train. I asked you out because I
like you, because I knew you'd probably be free, being
away from home and all, and because I'd like to ask
you a favor. As for why you accepted ..." Eric
cleared his throat. "I have a good idea, and I feel
pretty guilty about it."

"What did you do?" she asked, surprise and suspicion
creeping into her voice. "Did you use a hypnotic
suggestion to get me to go out with you?"

"No, no, no," he said. "Nothing that underhanded.
What I did do was take advantage of a side affect of
deep hypnosis. When you come out of a good trance, it
takes a while before the critical thinking facility
comes fully back into play. During that time, which
varies with the subject, you're still very susceptible
to suggestions -- especially from the person who
helped put you into the hypnotic state to begin with.
Therapists take advantage of that phenomenon to help
reinforce their suggestions even after the patient is
awake; they call it 'waking suggestion'. I took
advantage of it to ask you out at a time when I knew
you'd be strongly predisposed to agree." He let his
head drop. "I shouldn't have done that, and I'm
sorry."

Patty waited for him to look up again before
answering. "I'm sorry, too," she replied, meeting his
eyes. "Sorry that I didn't tell you on the train that
I'm not available. I think it would have been fun and
exciting to date you, Eric. But as it is, I should
probably go."

"Don't," he insisted, reaching across the table for a
hand. "You don't have to go. You still need to eat,
and this is a good place to do it. So we're not on a
date; that doesn't mean we can't have a good time and
just be friends." Inwardly he winced at the cliché.

"I suppose not," she mused. "As long as there are no
false expectations, I guess it wouldn't hurt."

"I think we've both put our cards on the table. That
is, unless you're secretly a man or something."

The joke was just funny enough to break the tension.
"Not the last time I checked," she replied in kind.
Some time later, Patty slid into the passenger seat of
Eric's car and let out a contented sigh. "That was
delicious," she said. "Thank you, Eric."

Eric smiled and looked into her eyes, wondering.

Patty picked up on the look. "What?"

"We've been sitting together talking and eating for
over an hour," he observed. "In that time, you
haven't said a word about your fiancée."

Patty flushed a bit and became very interested in the
handle of her purse. "I didn't think you'd want to
hear about him."

"But I do," he said. "I'm interested. In writing my
book and doing erotic hypnosis seminars, I've met a
lot of couples; I enjoy hearing about successful
relationships."

His earnest look overcame her initial suspicion.
"Craig's a great guy," she told him. "Confident,
outgoing, just a bit of a tease. Fun to be around."

"Does he know about the book?"

Patty shook her head. "I haven't shown it to him yet;
I wanted to read it first, see if it was really
something I thought we could do. He won't have a
problem with it, though -- as a rule, he'll go for any
activity that ends with us in bed."
They shared a soft chuckle, which subsided quickly.
Patty stared out the window at the Beltway traffic
while Eric contemplated his next move.

She gave him his opening. "You said at the restaurant
that you wanted to ask me a favor," she said. "Do you
still?"

Eric wanted to grin; he limited himself to a friendly
smile instead. "Yes, if you're willing."

"What did you have in mind?"

He popped open the armrest storage bin, removed a
small cardboard box, and handed it to Patty. She
opened the top flap to find a Rio Volt, a pair of
good-quality headphones with a long cord, and a CDR
disk. Eric cleared his throat and explained. "My
publisher thought it would be helpful if the second
book included a CD with some sample sessions on it, so
people can hear what an experienced hypnotist sounds
like. She thinks it will boost sales; I don't know,
maybe it will. So I recorded a long induction, a
short induction, a couple of deepeners, and a few of
the fantasy sessions. The problem is, there's too
much material there for a regular CD -- I had to
convert the tracks to MP3 format to fit them all on
one disk. I need someone to listen to what's there
and tell me which ones work the best, so we can put
the best stuff on an audio CD."

"And you want me to help you with that?"

Eric nodded. "You're such a good subject that it
isn't really a fair test; things that work well for
you might not work at all for someone less skilled at
going into trance. But I need someone other than
myself to bounce these off of, and I hoped you'd give
it a try."

Patty examined the Volt with interest. "I will have a
lot of free time this week," she remarked. "This
would certainly be a relaxing way to spend some of
it."

"You'll do it?"

"Sure. How do I work this thing?"

Eric let himself sigh. "The instruction book for the
Volt is in the box. It's pretty simple, really; I put
a paper list of the tracks in there for you. You can
program the Volt to play an induction, a deepener, and
then one or more of the other tracks for you. There's
a wake-up track to finish off with. All I ask is that
you try each track at least once and rate them for me
with how well they worked for you."

She nodded. "And how do I get this back to you at the
end of the week?"

"My phone number is on the sheet. Give me a call and
I'll come pick up the Volt. Keep the disc if you want
-- you can use it on your home computer. I'll even
give you a ride to the train station if you want."

Patty eyed him appraisingly. "You're making it very
easy to say yes to you."

Eric gave her an innocent shrug. "It would help me a
lot," he explained. "I'm not seeing anybody right
now, so I have nobody to test this stuff on. In fact,
if Craig is interested, I'd love to have you and him
try some of the material from the new book. I go up
to New York every month or so to meet with the
publisher anyway; we could get together and exchange
notes."

"One step at a time," Patty said, giggling softly.
"He doesn't even know about this particular kink of
mine yet. But I'll be happy to be your guinea pig
while I'm in town, at least."

The car came to a stop in front of Patty's hotel.
Eric held his hand out. "That's good enough for me,"
he said. "Thank you."

Patty took his hand and shook it. Then, on impulse,
she leaned over and kissed his cheek. "I'll call you
on Friday."

Eric watched Patty until she was inside the lobby and
out of sight, then sighed and pulled away. On the way
home, he found himself singing along with the Black
Crowes.

Action speaks louder than words
And I'm a man of great experience.
I know you've got another man,
But I can love you better than him ...

Patty sat in the armchair in her hotel room. The Rio
Volt lay on the table beside her, the headphones in
her hand. For the fifth or sixth time, she raised
them to eye level and then put them back down. Her
stomach felt queasy, her knees weak and shaky. Why am
I so nervous? she asked herself.

Because this is powerful stuff, her conscience
answered. You got a taste of how powerful it is on
the train.

Yes, she argued with herself. But it's still just
hypnosis -- it can't make me do anything I don't want
to do.

Oh, really? Are you saying you wouldn't have
willingly jumped Eric right there on the train if he
hadn't given you the switch off command?

She paused, the memory of the experience flooding
through her, bringing a tingle to her erogenous zones.
He'd said, "Switch on," and in that moment every nerve
and fiber in her being had only one desire -- sex, hot
and wet and reckless and right away. If, instead of
"switch off," he'd said "Fuck me," would she have done
it?

In a heartbeat, she realized. Craig or no Craig,
privacy or no privacy, she'd have given him anything
he asked at that moment, done anything to satisfy the
sexual need brought on by the hypnotic trigger. That
was scary.

And titillating.

Patty stared into space, daydreaming. In her
imagination, Craig was sitting on the bed nearby,
smiling. "Switch on," he said to her. She saw
herself moaning, ripping off her clothes, bowling
Craig over onto the bed. A raw, animal lust drove her
as she forced down his pants and took his thick, rigid
cock into her mouth ...

She shivered at the image. Powerful, she thought.

This time she actually put the headphones on. She'd
skimmed the Volt instruction manual; it wasn't too
hard to use, for all the features it had. She worked
the buttons to program a sequence of tracks. Just an
introduction, she told herself, and hit the Play
button.

Eric's voice filled her mind almost immediately. The
quality surprised Patty; there was none of the usual
hiss or background noise she was accustomed to
hearing, just Eric, speaking as if from within her own
mind, telling her to get comfortable and relax. He
told her to find something to focus her eyes on,
either a spot on the wall or a favorite object,
something she would enjoy looking at intently.
Patty's eye settled on her own reflection in the
dressing mirror across the room. She looked deeply
into her own eyes and, on Eric's cue, took a series of
long, deep, slow breaths. As Eric's voice droned on,
Patty became increasingly aware of every detail of her
face as reflected by the mirror: how her eyes had
those tiny flecks of gray in them, how her nose seemed
to flare out as she exhaled, and how very sleepy and
relaxed she looked. Her eyes wanted to close; it
wasn't time yet, she knew -- Eric had only just said
that her eyes would begin to feel heavy and tired soon
-- but holding them open was just too much effort.
The lids dropped, and her head sank down onto her
chest.

Eric sat in the makeshift study of his Dupont Circle
home. The laptop was open on the desk, but his
fingers couldn't find the will to type. His mind
kept returning to the image of Patty, deep in trance;
Patty, eyes open, staring blankly ahead; Patty, in
switched-on mode, radiating sexual desire with her
every move and look.

Patty, at the restaurant, saying, "I'm sort of
engaged."

He let out a deep, unhappy sigh. The good ones always
are, he thought to himself.

Why are you so stuck on this woman? a voice inside
him asked. Just because she's so hypnotizable?

Of course not, he answered. Because she's pretty and
smart and shares my interests. She's classy but still
approachable, easy to talk to, with a really nice
smile.

In other words, the voice remarked sarcastically,
she's just like Kelly.

He had no comeback for that one. It didn't matter
anyway, he reasoned, since Patty was engaged. He'd
see her one more time, to retrieve the Volt and get
her feedback on the recordings, and that would be it.

In his mind, he pictured himself knocking on a hotel
room door. Patty answered, in a silky bathrobe and
slippers, looking surprised to see him. "Switch on,"
he said to her, and watched the wariness in her face
turn to unfettered desire. In seconds the robe came
off, revealing Patty's trim body adorned in a lacy,
see-through bra and panties. He stood still, watching
with interest while she stripped off her underwear and
posed for him, trying her best to be sexy for him. He
smiled as he pictured himself going down on her,
driving her to the edge of incoherence before finally
sinking his cock inside her...

No way, the inner voice proclaimed, breaking his
daydream. Not gonna happen.

Frustrated, and sporting a half hard-on, Eric grabbed
his spare headphones from the desk drawer and plugged
them into his laptop. He pulled up Winamp, pointed it
to a saved play list of old WAV recordings, and hit
Play.

A rich, smooth female voice came through the
headphones. "Relax for me, Eric," it said, and even
though it had been months since he'd heard Kelly's
voice it melted him instantly. Eric let go and
allowed himself to slide out of consciousness,
floating along in the silky smoothness of Kelly's
voice as it guided him into fantasy.

"We're at a party," she told him, "a semi-formal
affair full of people we don't know, arranged by the
publisher. You didn't really want to go, but felt
obligated. To make things a little more pleasant for
you, I'm wearing my pink dress -- the one with the
spaghetti straps and the scooped back, the one that
always seems to grab your eyes and pull them directly
to my cleavage, the one that you love seeing me in
almost as much as you love getting me out of it.

"You've already suggested once that we leave, but
we've been there less than an hour so I tell you we
have to stay and mingle a while longer. You sigh and
we drift apart, working the room. You find yourself
talking to one of the senior editors, saying all the
right things, with half your mind idle and wanting to
take me home and get me out of that dress. You spot
me across the room talking with your editor and his
wife; our eyes make contact, and a playful, impish
thought comes into your mind.

"The next time you see me looking at you, you touch
your left earlobe. It's my trigger, the one that
makes me so incredibly horny I can barely concentrate
on anything except how much I want your hard cock
inside me. You watch with satisfaction when you see
me react to my trigger: my eyes get wide, and my
breath catches. You see me trying to dissemble, to
explain away the sudden change to you publisher and
his wife, all the while being unable to keep my eyes
from searching you out and staring at your crotch.

"You tease me for a while, working the room, letting
the various VIP's draw you into short conversations,
knowing that I'm getting hornier and more distracted
with every passing minute. Finally you come up to me
alone, and ask if I'm ready to go yet.

"You can smell my arousal just standing next to me,
and knowing how desperately I want you arouses you as
well. Taking my hand, you lead me to a nearby office
and shut the door. I wrap my arms around your neck
and kiss you with all the built-up passion in my body.
You lift my dress up and stick a finger inside my
panties; they're soaking wet, and the feel of your
finger against my slit makes me latch onto you even
harder. You pull my panties down, lift me up, and sit
me on the edge of the desk.

"I wave my arms back, pushing desk accessories and
paperwork out of the way, and lie back on the desk for
you. You pull the spaghetti straps off my shoulders
and roll my dress down. My nipples are stiff and
hard, and when you caress them with your hand I can't
help but moan loudly. You can see that I'm ready to
come, and knowing what you've done to me makes you so
hard and ready that you don't want to wait any longer.
You drop your pants and underwear and thrust your cock
deep inside me. I'm so wet that it slides in easily,
all the way, until you can feel yourself pressing
against the end.

"The pleasure is too much for me. I start squealing
and moaning, getting very loud. You know how loud I
can get when I'm excited, so you give me something
soft to bite down on -- a little cloth beanbag, the
kind people squeeze to help relieve stress. I put
that in my mouth and bite down hard on it, muffling my
screams of ecstasy. You thrust your cock in and out,
getting us both so aroused, so ready, so needing to
come.

"Finally, you feel my muscles clamp down on you as I
scream into the stress ball. I'm coming, and knowing
that you've made me come like this feels so good that
you can't hold back any longer. You come, pumping
inside me while I squeal and pant. It is the longest,
best orgasm you can remember having.

"Some time later, our breathing returns to normal.
You withdraw yourself from me and pull your pants back
up. I'm too exhausted to move right away, so you kiss
my thighs and wipe me off with a cloth napkin you
pocketed from the party earlier."

A few minutes later, Kelly's voice counted up and Eric
opened his eyes. He was dazed and a little
disoriented. A wet, sticky stain was spreading across
the front of his pants and a vivid memory of something
that had never actually happened was haunting his
heart.

You had Kelly, the inner voice taunted him, and you
blew it.

I know.


Patty opened her eyes at the count of ten. She
shifted in the chair, stretched and yawned. A good
ride, she judged. She'd set the Volt to play back the
long induction, followed by a deepener, then another
deepener, and then the wake-up track. Her watch told
her that she'd been under for slightly under an hour,
which agreed with the play times on the tracks. She
felt refreshed, calm, content, and a little excited.

See, she scolded herself lightly. No adverse effects.
I'm not suddenly, uncontrollably lusting for Eric.

The voice quieted, she undressed and went to bed.


ii
Patty's smile lit up the lobby of the stuffy
Alexandria law firm. Eric noticed it immediately.
"You look relaxed," he remarked, taking her small
suitcase and leading her out to his car.

Patty waited until they were out of the lobby before
responding. "I've been getting plenty of rest," she
told him. "A lot more than your CD player has. I
should probably buy you some fresh batteries."

"Not to worry," he replied, unlocking the door for
her. "They're rechargeable."

The car eased out into traffic. "So," Eric opened,
"it sounds as though you tried out a few of the tracks
on the CD." And looks it, he thought to himself,
remembering the relaxed, well-laid smile she'd flashed
him in the lobby. A fantasy image came into his mind
of Patty lying on a hotel bed with her eyes closed and
headphones on, pulling at her clothing and writhing in
ecstasy to his words. It was a vivid image that had
been haunting the edges of his imagination the entire
week; it took an effort of will to dismiss it.

"I think I've heard them all at least once," she
replied. "A couple, more than once."

"Well?"

Patty felt the color rising in her cheeks as she
recalled her night sessions with the hypnotic CD.
"The inductions worked. The long one was too slow for
me, though; I kept having this feeling that I was
waiting for you to catch up. The short induction
actually worked better for me."

Eric nodded. "Not a huge surprise, considering how
good a subject you are. Most people will need the
longer one to get into a useable light trance state.
After a few sessions, they can start using the short
one to save some time."

"The deepeners were nice. A couple of times I strung
two or three of them together and totally zoned out --
I think a bomb could have gone off in the room next
door and I wouldn't have noticed or cared."

Eric nodded, making mental notes. "And the
fantasies?"

"Effective," Patty snapped, feeling the heat building
up under her collar. Holy shit, were they effective,
she thought. I've had more orgasms this week than I
had last month!

"I'm sorry," Eric said in a low voice. "I didn't mean
to embarrass you. I just need to know if they ... if
you ... you know."

"I know," she replied. "And they did. You could
probably sell the CD alone under the title Who Needs a
Man?"

"Enough said," Eric agreed, smiling to himself. The
fantasy image floated through his mind again, and he
imagined what Patty might look like in the throes of
an orgasm.

"We're here," Patty pointed out, breaking Eric's
pleasant meditation. He pulled up to the curb in
front of the train station and stopped. "Your
player," she said, handing him the Volt and
headphones.

Eric checked the Volt. "You remembered to keep the
CD," he noted. "Enjoy it." He held out his hand.

"Thanks." Without thinking, she took his hand and
shook it. When Eric snapped his fingers, her face had
a split second to register surprise before her eyes
fell shut and her body slumped against the seat.

Eric watched her face as she slipped into trance.
"It's okay, Patty," he reassured her. "I'm not trying
to take advantage of you. You can trust me and relax.
Just relax and let yourself sink down into a nice,
deep trance, just like you did on the train, just like
you do when you listen to my voice on your CD.
Squeeze my hand when your trance meter reads 70." He
waited for the squeeze, which came after a minute or
so.

"Among other things, hypnosis can be used to improve
memory," he told her. "I'm going to tell you my phone
number in a moment, and when I do your subconscious
will record it carefully so that you will always be
able to remember it. I want you to know that you can
call me any time you want, for any reason, and I will
always be happy to talk to you." He recited his phone
number twice, then woke Patty from her trance.

Her eyes fluttered open, and she shook her head to
clear it. "You didn't have to do that," she said,
smiling. "I've already programmed your number into my
cell phone."

"Oops." Eric managed a sheepish shrug. "Would you
like me to remove the trance trigger before you go?"

She thought about it for a second. "No, don't. It
might come in handy some day."

Eric watched while Patty wheeled her travel bag into
the train station, then he headed home. He drove
mechanically, most of his mind still occupied with
fantasies about Patty. She kept the trance trigger,
he thought to himself. It was an encouraging thought.

There were two conference tables in the business class
car, as there had been on the ride down, but they were
both occupied by serious-looking men who, by the way
their things were spread across the table, did not
want company. Patty took the hint and settled into a
window seat a few rows deep.

She opened the discreetly-covered copy of Eric's book,
hardly touched since the ride down, and began to read.
She read with renewed interest, having experienced for
herself some of the scenarios described in the book.
At times she could almost hear Eric's voice in the
back of her mind, reading the book to her; other times
it was her own voice she heard, imagining herself
giving suggestions to Craig. It would be so nice to
feel his hands on her body again. More than once she
drifted off into a half daydream, scarcely noticing
when the train stopped along the way.

She was almost to the end of the book and the ride
when her cell phone chirped. Patty struggled back to
reality, digging the phone out of her handbag just in
time to answer. "Hello?"

The voice was deep and slightly strained, working hard
to be heard over loud, chaotic background noises.
"Hi, honey."

Patty's face brightened. "Craig! Are you at Penn
Station already?"

The slight hesitation telegraphed his answer. "Uh,
no. That's what I'm calling about. I forgot I was
supposed to play racquetball with the guys tonight.
I'm still at the gym. Do you still need a ride home?"

Patty took a deep breath and let it out before
answering. "Yes," she said, being careful to keep her
voice from showing annoyance. "I was counting on you
to get me home."

"I might be a little late. I have to shower and
change, and we left my car back at the office. Where
should I look for you?"

The hand holding the phone dropped to Patty's lap as
her eyes turned skyward, silently pleading her case.
She brought the phone back up to her face. "Never
mind, I'll just get a cab. You finish your game and
I'll see you at home."

"That's cool," he replied. "Hey, listen -- the other
guys were talking about going out for a beer
afterwards. I could be kinda late getting home."

Patty sighed again. "Have a good time, then," she
said, resigned.

"Thanks, hon. Bye!"

Patty glared at the phone in her hand. Gone almost a
week, she argued silently. Would it have killed you
to meet me at the station? She was still fuming
inside when, during the cab ride home, she spotted an
electronics store. On an impulse, she knocked on the
safety partition to get the driver's attention. "Can
we stop there for a few minutes, please?"

The driver shrugged. "Meter stays on."

"That's fine," she agreed.

The cab driver executed a deft maneuver, crossing
three lanes of traffic and zipping into an alley near
the store. Patty jumped out and hurried into the
store. She found what she wanted quickly: a Rio
Volt. She grabbed one and a package of batteries off
the shelf, found the shortest checkout line, and was
back in her cab quickly enough to draw an approving
look from the driver.

A dark, disheveled apartment greeted Patty when she
opened the door. She tried her best not to look at
the kitchen as she dragged her suitcase into the
bedroom. She straightened up the bed enough to be
usable and sat on it with a heavy sigh. There would
be a lot of cleaning up to do in the morning.

The Volt sat in its plastic bag beside her. She
removed it, inserted a battery, and plugged in the
headphones. Who needs a man? she thought, looking
around at the unkempt room. Not me, I guess.

Setting the Volt aside, she retrieved Eric's CD from
her bag and loaded it into the player. The CD whirred
and spun for a few seconds, then the Volt's navigation
menu appeared. Patty programmed a short playlist and
set the unit down on the night stand. Her mind
replayed the first time she'd listened to one of the
hypnotic fantasies on the CD. She'd sat down in the
easy chair, just like the first night, and programmed
the tracks she'd wanted to hear: the short induction,
two deepeners, and the first fantasy. She remembered
her eyes closing, recalled imagining herself
descending down a winding staircase, and then a vivid
experience of making love with a masked man in the
cloakroom at a costume ball. She'd awakened suddenly
to find herself almost out of the chair, with her
clothing twisted around, half undone, and sopping wet
near the crotch. That experience had taught her to
prepare a little before indulging.

She stripped naked, putting her clothes in the hamper,
and grabbed an extra towel from the bathroom. She
stretched out on the bed, placing the towel underneath
her bottom to catch the juices she knew would flow
soon, and then put on the headphones and got
comfortable. There was a chance, she realized, that
Craig would come home and find her laid out like this,
having dream sex. So let him, she decided. Serves
him right for not being here. She fingered the Volt's
wired remote and pushed Play.

Eric's recorded voice filled her ears and her mind.
Soon she was drifting off into a blissful trance,
following Eric's voice down the spiral staircase
deeper and deeper into herself. She'd programmed
three deepeners into this sequence, but reached an
almost coma-like state during the first one. Patty's
body lay on the bed totally passive, completely
unmoving, until the fantasy sequence began.

Patty saw herself entering a photography studio. She
was going on a dare, she explained to the girl at the
front desk; she wanted to have some very sexy pictures
of herself taken to give to her lover. The
receptionist smiled and led her back to one of the
studio rooms.

There she found herself changing into a provocative,
sexy lingerie that revealed more than it hid. An
expert did her hair and makeup in record time, leaving
her looking and feeling like the sexiest woman alive.
As she approached the photographer, she could feel his
eyes wandering all over her body, trying not to stare
while still peeking through the layers of sheer fabric
and lace. He led her to a huge bed made up with satin
sheets and pillowcases, sinfully smooth to the touch,
and explained to Patty that she should pretend the
camera was her lover and do her best to seduce it.

The session began. Patty focused herself on the
camera, pretending her lover was looking through it.
Each pose was a little more intimate than the one
before; each made her feel bolder and sexier. The
photographer encouraged her, his smooth, mellow voice
urging her to feel her own sexual power, to show her
lover how incredibly desirable she really was. Pose
after pose, camera flash after camera flash, Patty
felt herself growing more and more aroused, more and
more in touch with her sexual side. Soon it wasn't
enough to turn and bend and allow the lingerie to
reveal a glimpse here and there; she found herself
doing a strip tease, slowly, sensually removing layer
after layer and flinging the unneeded garments aside.

The photographer moved in closer as Patty bared more
and more skin, and she noticed that he had a raging
hard-on. She let her hands glide over herself,
feeling herself, letting herself become wet and warm
all over. The photographer had stopped talking to her
so she began talking to him,
telling him how sexy she felt, how much she wanted his
rock-hard cock inside of her, how she longed to feel
him come. Patty didn't know the man, but she had
become so aroused by the posing that she no longer
cared -- she would have him.

Totally nude, she continued posing, drawing the
photographer closer. He was practically standing over
now, the camera recording every rise and fall of her
breast. "You know you want me," she told him, letting
her hand reach out and stroke the bulge in the front
of his jeans. "You're getting so hard, so horny, it
must be almost impossible to concentrate."

The photographer stopped moving at her touch. She
could sense him struggling with himself, wanting her
so badly but being constrained by professional rules.
Patty didn't care about his rules; before he could
pull away, she undid his pants and freed his cock. It
sprang out at her, fully erect and ready, as she
jerked his pants down. She pumped the shaft with one
hand, kissing the head, and enjoyed hearing the
photographer groan in sweet agony. In seconds the
camera fell to the bed beside her and the
photographer's finger was inside her dripping center,
probing for the spot that would send her into ecstasy.
He found it and stroked the sides of her button,
sending shockwaves of pleasure through Patty and
leaving her panting on the bed.

But he wasn't done. While Patty recovered, the
photographer stripped off his remaining clothes and
climbed on top of her. His thick cock found the sweet
spot and plunged inside, filling her easily. His
rhythmic stroking in and out brought Patty back to the
edge and when he grunted and came she came with him,
crying out with the pleasure of it.
Patty's eyes opened to the sound of Eric's voice
finishing its ten count. A thin coating of sweat
covered most of her body; the towel was sticky and
damp in the middle, as expected. I really should take
a shower, she thought to herself, but it seemed like
too much exertion. She took the headphones off,
closed her eyes, and went to sleep.
A low whistle broke the silence of the night. "All
right," Craig murmured appreciatively.

Patty heard the quiet clinking sounds of her man
undressing and started to wake up. She had rolled
over in her sleep and was comfortably settled onto a
nest of extra pillows; not awake enough to move yet,
she just wrenched her eyes open and stared into space.

A heavy, rough-skinned hand touched her bottom and
squeezed a little bit, then headed quickly north. Her
body responded out of habit, lifting a shoulder and
turning her face to accept the kiss that she knew was
coming. Their lips met as his hand slid around and
cupped her breast, then his lips parted and the taste
of beer and smoked sausage crept into her mouth.

Craig lowered himself onto the bed, letting his
already-stiff cock rub against her rear end. His hand
played with her breast like a resin bag, squeezing and
releasing quickly, then moved swiftly down to find the
furry patch at her center. When he found moisture
there, he broke off the kissing and whispered into
Patty's ear. "Feels like you're as ready for this as
I am," he observed. "Just relax and let me do the
work."

Patty felt the weight shifting on the mattress as
Craig got up on all fours and then to his knees,
pushing her legs apart to kneel between them. His
hands grabbed her hips and lifted. She rose to her
hands and knees and pushed back to meet him, reaching
back with a hand to guide his rod into position. She
ran the tip up and down her slit a few times, taking
advantage of the residual moisture from her CD
session, and then took him inside her.

Craig's member was on the short side of average
length-wise, but made up for it in girth; Patty felt
inner walls straining a little as he pushed his way
inside firmly. Craig heard her groan softly and took
that as a signal to begin working himself in and out
like a piston, hard and fast. Patty winced a little
and tried to relax, feeling for her own clit with a
fingertip to get some more lubrication flowing. Soon
her body responded and the sensations became much more
pleasant.

Then Craig grunted and pushed hard against her. Patty
felt his cock quiver and spit as he came, his hands
clenching her hips with all of his strength. The
pulsing slowed and then stopped, and Craig's rapidly
dwindling cock slipped out. "Wow," he said softly,
patting her gently on the butt.

Before Patty could respond, he flopped over onto the
bed beside her. "Welcome home, honey," he said
contentedly, looking adoringly into her eyes.

She kissed him once, then settled back down into her
pillow nest. Within minutes he was blissfully asleep.
Patty watched him for a while, then rolled over and
went back to sleep herself.

The tantalizing scent of bacon and eggs drifted into
Patty's nose, waking her and inducing a pleasant
feeling of being home. She dropped the towel, now dry
and stiff in a few places, in the hamper and slipped
on a short silky robe, belting it loosely around her
waist.

She found Craig in the kitchen, busily stirring the
eggs with one hand and keeping the bacon moving around
in the skillet with the other. He wore a pair of gray
running shorts and a tank shirt that, in better days,
had been white. He looked so adorable, standing there
cooking her favorite breakfast, that Patty forgave him
for the night before. Walking up behind him, she put
her arms around him and rested her chin lightly on his
muscular shoulder. "Good morning."

He turned his head enough for a quick peck. "Morning,
babe."

"What can I do?"

He nodded toward the side counter, where a fresh bag
of English muffins sat ready. "Man the toaster?"

"Aye aye," she replied, squeezing his solid stomach
one more time.

They ate hungrily, without talking. Craig's eye
alternated between the kitchen clock, the Sports
section of the newspaper, and the opening in the
center of Patty's robe. Sensing an opportunity, Patty
surreptitiously loosened the belt a bit. The
newspaper's share of Craig's attention dwindled as the
gap increased.

When they were finished eating, Patty stood up slowly,
pushing up from the table in a way that flashed plenty
of nipple. "So," she asked, giving Craig another
generous eyeful as she gathered up the dishes, "how
shall we spend our day?"

"You're probably tired from your trip," he began.
Patty liked the sound of that; she turned and leaned
back against the counter, trying to strike an enticing
pose. "So why don't you rest up today? The red Sox
are in town for a day/night doubleheader with the
Yankees, and Joe got box seats to both games."

Patty's jaw dropped, and she found herself fighting to
suppress a frustrated growl. Instead, she put on her
best come-hither look and dropped the robe completely,
letting it fall away as she approached Craig and
buried his face between her breasts. "Wouldn't you
rather do something together?" she purred. "I was
gone soooo looooong."

Craig's hands wandered over her naked body for a few
seconds. He stood up and kissed her, and Patty
thought for a second that she'd won.

But only for a second. "Love to, hon," he replied,
"but I'm supposed to be at Joe's in half an hour and I
need a shower. I'll take a rain check, okay?"


Eric stood over Patty's inert form, his rich voice
coaxing her deeper and deeper into trance. As he
talked, his fingers methodically opened the buttons
that ran down the front of her dress.

"Your lover is here with you," he told her. "Even
now, as you let yourself drift more deeply into
hypnosis, he is unbuttoning your dress. The sight of
your body arouses him, and knowing that he is looking
at you, undressing you, planning to make love to you
while you sleep, arouses you more than anything you've
ever experienced before. You feel your body
responding, becoming so warm, so ready to make love,
so willing to give yourself to your lover in every
way."

The final button on the dress gave way to his fingers.
He laid the dress open, exposing Patty's body in just
bra and panties, and let his hand hover just above her
stomach for a moment. "Your entire body is now an
erogenous zone, Patty. Any touch anywhere on your
body will feel as arousing, as pleasurable, as the
most erotic touch of your clitoris. No matter where
you lover touches you, you will respond with
increasing pleasure and desire for him." Very slowly,
very gently, he let his hand come to rest on Patty's
belly. Her sudden moan and gasp at the moment of
contact brought a smile to Eric's face and a surge to
his groin. He rubbed her belly in a circular motion,
maintaining gentle but firm contact, and enjoyed
listening to her moan with pleasure at his touch.
"That's it," he coached her. "Every square inch of
skin a pleasure point, responding to my touch. The
places on your body that are normally pleasure zones
are now ten times more sensitive, ten time more
arousing when they are touched and stroked, ten times
more pleasurable when I touch them or kiss them or
lick them or suck them."

Moving deliberately, he opened the front clasp on her
bra and lifted the cups out of the way, exposing erect
nipples. Patty's chest rose as she took in a deep
breath, perhaps anticipating his touch. He waited,
imagined he saw her breast straining to reach the hand
that hovered just above it. Then he laid his hand on
her breast, squeezing gently and fondling the nipple
with his thumb. Patty's back arched with the
electricity of his touch and a long, hungry moan
escaped her lips. Pleased with his results, Eric
leaned over and kissed the other breast, letting the
nipple poke between his lips for a quick nibble.

Patty cried out in gasps as an orgasm rocked through
her body. Eric prolonged it by sucking on her breast
and running his hand over her body, relishing the
sounds and sights and feelings of a woman in near-
continuous orgasm.

Finally, he'd had enough -- or, more accurately, he
judged Patty had had enough and was ready for the main
event. Spreading her legs slightly, he slid the
soaking wet panties down her legs and dropped them on
the floor. He admired the view of her glistening
center for a moment, then peeled off his own clothes.

His cock felt like tempered steel in his hand as he
climbed up between Patti's heavy legs. She moaned
anew at his touch as he kissed his way up her thigh,
the scent of her inflaming him even more as he drew
closer.

Suddenly a hand grasped the back of his head and
jerked it sharply upward. He found himself face-to-
face with Kelly -- a sad, disappointed-looking Kelly.
"You're not Craig," she said, shaking her head slowly.
"Haven't you learned anything?"

Eric cried out. His body jumped out of bed and landed
on the floor next to it, the sheets tangled up in his
legs. Sunlight streamed in through the bedroom
windows.

He was alone.

It took a few minutes for his pulse to quit racing and
his breathing to return to normal. Holy shit, he
thought to himself.


Craig crept quietly through the door to the dark
apartment. The second game of his doubleheader had
gone five and a half hours, so it was very late at
night. Or very early in the morning, he corrected
himself, looking at the clock. Patty's gonna be
pissed.

Even at this late hour, though, Craig wasn't sleepy.
He took a look around for the rest of the newspaper he
hadn't finished reading, but couldn't find it.

He looked in on Patty. She was asleep, wearing what
he thought of as her chastity gown: a very unsexy
cotton nightgown with a cloth-covered button every
half inch from throat to ankle. Don't even think
about it, he told himself, and went back to looking
silently for the paper.

He searched the bedroom as best he could in the dark,
then turned to the bathroom. A second sweep of the
living/dining room and kitchen area turned up nothing,
not even an old magazine. He took one more look
around the bedroom and was about to give up when he
spotted a paperback book in a grocery-bag cover
sitting on the nightstand next to Patty's side of the
bed. Something about the anonymous, plain-brown-
wrapper look of the book grabbed his eye even in the
dim light from the hallway, which was the most he
dared have on. He picked up the book and peeked
inside at the title:

EROTIC HYPNOSIS: A Beginner's Guide
by Eric Milton.

Intrigued, he took the book back to the living room
and started to read.


Eric sat in his home office, typing away on the
ThinkPad. As usual, he wrote in a light trance state,
his concentration focused on this own thoughts rather
than on his fingers. And also as usual, at least of
late, his thoughts were dominated by images of himself
and Patty acting out the material as he wrote it.

Thanks to the chance encounter on the train, Eric was
well ahead of schedule on the new book. His agent, a
pugnacious Brooklyn-born lady named Eleanor who
normally had to prod him at least twice a week to stay
focused, had called to express amazement at his sudden
burst of productivity. "There's something about a
train that's magic," he'd explained cryptically,
grinning to himself as he imagined the puzzled look on
her face.

His concentration was broken by the ringing of the
telephone. Giving himself a quick three-count, he
picked up the handset. "Hello?"

"Eric?"

He recognized the voice immediately -- the voice that
had been starring in his fantasies for over a month
now. Be cool, he warned himself. Calm and confident.
"Speaking."

"It's Patty. From the train, remember?"

"Of course I do," he said warmly, flushing a little at
the gross understatement. "How are you?"

"I'm good, very good. How's the book coming?"

"Great! I've been on a tear lately. If I keep up
this pace, I'll finish it a good month ahead of my
deadline."

"Wow! Your publisher must be happy."

"Not sure on that front yet. I'm coming up to New
York next week to meet with them; I'll find out then
how happy they are."

There was a slight pause before Patty replied. "Oh ...
so you'll be in New York next week?"

Something in her voice caused Eric's eyebrows to rise.
"Yes, that's right. I'm taking the train up Monday
morning and staying overnight." He weighed his
options and decided to go for broke. "Did you want to
get together while I'm in town?"

Another pause. "Actually, that's not a bad idea," she
said. "I'd like to pick your brain a little bit, and
it might be easier in person than over the phone."

"I'm intrigued. Pick my brain about what?"

"About hypnosis," she replied. "You see, Craig found
my copy of your book after I got home, and he read
through it."

Eric's mouth went dry. Could it be this easy? he
wondered. "What happened?"

"He was a little freaked out at first," she explained.
"But when he got to the section on fantasies and
suggestions, he got interested. When I told him about
what you and I did on the train, he thought it was the
hottest thing he'd ever heard. I let him put me under
a few times, and ... well, he's had a good time with
it."

"That's great," Eric said, carefully masking his
disappointment. "What can I do?"

"Well, things so far have been one-sided. I've tried
to hypnotize Craig a few times, and I can't seem to
get it to work. I was hoping you could give me some
pointers, or maybe recommend a class."

"I know a few good people in New York," Eric replied.
"But I owe you a favor anyway for helping me test the
CD. I could come over Monday evening and give you a
lesson, if you and Craig are free."

"You'd do that?"

"Sure," he said. "It's the least I can do."


Eric took a taxi from his Manhattan hotel to the
address Patty had given him on Staten Island. This is
a teaching situation, he kept reminding himself. I am
not doing this just to size up the fiancé. By the
time the cab stopped in front of Patty's building, he
almost believed it himself.

Almost.

He pulled out his wallet to pay the driver, but the
heavyset man behind the wheel shook his head. "It's
already covered, Doc," he said. "Phone charge,
through the dispatcher."

"Oh. Thanks," Eric replied. He tipped the driver in
cash and watched him pull away.

There was a standard-issue security system on the
building door; he punched in Patty's apartment number,
and after a short delay something approximating her
voice crackled through the cheap speaker. "Yes?"

"It's Eric."

"Great! Come on up." There was a loud buzz and the
door clicked, allowing Eric to open it and come
through. He took the elevator to the fourth floor
and found Patty waiting for him in the hallway. She
was wearing a cream-colored wrap-style dress and
pumps, and looked genuinely pleased to see him.

"Thanks for coming," she told him, flashing that smile
and meeting his eye as he took her offered hand.
"It's right around the corner." She led him down the
hall, took a sharp right, and gestured toward an open
doorway.

The living area was nicely furnished in blonde woods,
with lots of glass and light-colored accessories
complemented by a rich honey-colored carpet. A maple
bar occupied the corner opposite the door. Standing
by the bar was Craig. "Hey there," he said, crossing
the room with purposeful strides to shake Eric's hand.

Eric took Craig's hand and tried not to wince visibly
at the powerful grip while he sized up the
competition. Craig stood a little below average in
height, but had the broad chest and shoulders of a
fullback. He wore a plain white polo shirt and
khakis. The face that examined Eric felt sincerely
friendly.

"Good to meet you," Eric said, willing himself to mean
it. Calm and confident, he reminded himself.
Especially confident.

Craig was heading back toward the bar already. "Wanna
beer?"

"Sure," Eric replied with a broad smile, automatically
starting to establish rapport with his subject.

Craig reached behind the bar and pulled out three
bottles of generic domestic beer. "This do?"

"Long as it's cold." Eric saw a flash of approval in
Craig's eyes; he'd guessed right, apparently.

Patty stood by on one end of the sofa, sipping her
beer and watching the men interact. After a few
minutes, she felt the knot in her stomach easing.
She'd had qualms about putting these two together --
Craig's competitive streak tended to come out in the
presence of other men -- but Eric had done a masterful
job of establishing himself as someone Craig could
accept.

Craig surprised Patty by being the first to mention
the real reason for the visit. "I read through your
book," he said to Eric. "Did you do all of that
stuff?"

Eric nodded, grinning. "Had to test it all
thoroughly."

"I can't believe it. You must have this harem full of
women at home."

"No, just one," Eric replied. "But she was very
adventurous. Like Patty, in a lot of ways -- she went
under very easily and deeply, and could do just about
anything without disturbing her trance state."

"Patty really zones out," he agreed. "It's kind of
fun doing it to her, too." An idea seemed to strike
Craig; he looked over at Patty. "Hey honey, you wanna
show him one of the tricks we can do?"

"I don't know if --" As she spoke, Craig clapped his
hands twice quickly and Patty came to a sudden stop.
Her body simply froze in position, mouth partially
open, eyes staring forward.

Craig bounded out of his seat and over to his frozen
fiancée. "Isn't this cool?"

"Chapter 6," Eric cited. "The time stop trick."

"You got it -- only I changed the trigger to a double
clap, like that thing they sell on TV. You know, clap
on, clap off?"

Eric nodded, admiring the way Patty managed to remain
perfectly still, even as her body continued to make
the usual minute adjustments needed to maintain
balance. Then he saw Craig get down on his knees and
reach up underneath Patty's dress. "What are you
doing?"

Craig looked over and grinned. "Having a little fun,"
he said with impish glee. In a few seconds his hands
reappeared, along with Patty's panties and hose.

"Bad idea," Eric warned.

"Nah, this is fun. Watch." Craig rolled the hose
down to her ankles, then carefully off each foot,
removing and replacing the shoes as he went.

Eric watched in silence. You'll regret this, Craig,
he predicted silently. I know -- I've been there.

Craig finished replacing Patty's shoes, crept back to
his chair and dropped the panty hose on the floor
behind him. He clapped his hands again twice and
Patty came back to life.

"... that's really necessary," she finished.

"Okay, hon," Craig said, twirling her panties on his
finger. "Whatever you say."

Seeing the underwear in Craig's hands made Patty
suddenly aware of where it had come from. She blushed
deeply, unconsciously gathering the skirt around
herself for a moment before marching across the room
and taking the panties back. "Excuse me a moment,
please," she said to Eric, and retreated to the
bedroom.

She slipped her panties back on and sat down in front
of her vanity for a few minutes to collect herself.
It was fun the first time, she mused, remembering the
night Craig had clapped his hands just as they got
home from a dinner date and all of her clothing had
vanished, as if by magic. It was amusing a few days
later, when she had been sitting at the kitchen table
fully clothed going over a new product guide, only to
hear a noise and suddenly find herself stark naked and
holding a Chippendale's calendar. But when she'd
started to open the door for his friend Joe in a T-
shirt and jeans and finished opening it in just her
underwear, she thought she'd made it clear that he was
not to do that again without her permission. He's got
a lot of payback coming when I finally get him under,
she vowed.

She took a few deep breaths and tried to relax. No
point making a scene in front of Eric, she told
herself. She wondered for a moment how much he'd
seen, and whether he'd tried to stop Craig. Then she
consigned the whole incident to the back of her mind
and rejoined the men in the living room.

Eric saw her return and noted the firmness in her jaw,
the forced nonchalance in her face. She's got a
right to be angry, he thought. I'll bet that's not
the first time he's pulled something like that. Then
he became aware that Craig was asking him a question.
"I'm sorry?"

"I said, have you ever had someone you just couldn't
put under?"

"Oh, sure," Eric answered. "Going into hypnosis is a
talent, like playing football. Some people are just
naturally good at it, like Patty; most people can
learn to do it reasonably well with practice. A few
just can't get the hang of it no matter how hard they
try." He noted the faint glimmer of satisfaction in
Craig's eyes, as if he had just seen an out, so he
continued. "Normally, though, I've found that anybody
who really wants to go into hypnosis can get there."

"It's probably my technique," Patty volunteered. "I
have a hard time telling when things are working and
when they aren't."

"It's hard to say without seeing you in action," he
replied. "Which leads us to the first step --
observing your technique."

Craig sat a little more upright. "Are you going to
watch her try to put me under?"

Eric paused a moment and smiled. "No," he countered.
"You're going to watch while Patty hypnotizes me."
Both of his companions looked at him in surprise.
"Trust me," he assured them. "I know what I'm doing."

"But do I?" Patty questioned.

"We'll know soon."

In a few minutes, they had the environment arranged to
Eric's liking. He settled himself into Craig's
favorite chair, a padded lounge chair with leg
support, almost like a very comfortable dentist's
chair, that reclined by rocking forward or back on a
fixed base. He kept it mostly upright so that Patty
would be able to watch his face easily, and see when
his head began to tip forward. They dimmed the lights
slightly, and Eric pronounced himself ready.

Craig observed from the couch, a good distance away.
Patty sat on an ottoman near Eric's side so she could
watch him without being directly in front of him.
"Which induction do you like best?" she asked.

"Remember the hourglass induction I used with you on
the train?"

Patty nodded. "Close your eyes, then," she said,
letting her voice drop to a low, soothing tone, "and
picture in your mind a large, ornate hourglass..."

Eric pictured the hourglass in his mind, the sand
slowly falling from top to bottom. She has such a
nice voice, he thought to himself. Smooth, flowing,
easy to listen to. He listened intently while she
told him, using the future tense, how he would soon
find his body relaxing as the sand ran out of the top
of the hourglass. He continued listening, and noticed
after a while that she was now using the present
tense. "You feel your jaw beginning to loosen up,
your head beginning to tip forward ever so slightly
..." She's right, he realized. She caught the
transition before I did. He felt his body sinking
deeper into the chair, and let go to the sensation.

" ... Eight, feeling the alertness creeping back into
your limbs ... Nine, eyes opening, taking a deep
breath ... And ten, fully awake and alert."

The first thing Eric noticed when his eyes focused
again was that the room was much darker than it had
been just a moment or two ago, when he'd first sat
down. The second thing he noticed was Patty's face,
looking intently into his. Her eyes gleamed at him,
her nostrils were flared, and she was licking her lips
slowly as she watched. He knew exactly what she must
be feeling -- he'd felt it himself, countless times.
The feeling of power, the erotic rush of seeing
someone surrender totally, could be more seductive
than sex itself.

"How did I do?" she was asking, looking deeply into
his eyes for the answer.

Eric smiled. "You did fabulously," he assured her.
"I should get you to record a few tracks for the new
book's companion CD."

"How much do you remember?" Eric was slightly
startled by Craig's voice; he'd half forgotten about
him.

"Nothing after the induction started," he said. "That
happens a lot with me, though. It'll come back as I
need it -- unless Patty told me otherwise, anyway."
He looked the question at her, and was intrigued at
her coy look back.

"Let's try a test," she said, standing up and walking
over to the bar area. "A simple matter of animal
magnetism."

Eric felt the pull immediately, but the direction
surprised him. Instead of lifting toward the ceiling,
his arms went to the armrests of the chair. His body
rose of its own volition from the chair and approached
Patty at the bar. Before Eric could think of what to
say, his arms were wrapped around her in a tight
embrace.

Craig let it go on for a few seconds, chuckling at the
look of consternation on Eric's face. "Hey!" he
called out, "that's my woman you're groping, pal.
Break it up."

Eric tried to take his arms off Patty and failed
miserably. The harder he tried to pry himself loose,
the more powerfully he seemed to stick to her.

"Enough already," Craig said, his voice becoming a
little edgy.

Eric struggled one more time to escape,
unsuccessfully. "I think you've made your point," he
said.

Patty laughed and snapped her fingers. As soon as he
heard the sound, Eric felt the magnetic pull of
Patty's body subside; he quickly broke the embrace and
stepped back several feet. Recovering his wits, he
plopped down on a chair and looked at both of them.
"I think we can safely say that Patty's technique is
not the problem," he announced.

"So what happens next?" Craig asked.

"We switch places," Eric replied. "You take the comfy
chair, while I sit back and observe."

A look of reluctance came over Craig's face, then
vanished. "Okay, I'll try."

Eric nodded. "Let's get you as comfortable as
possible. Why don't you use the bathroom, take off
your shoes, that sort of thing?"

"Sure."

As Craig left the room, Eric turned to Patty. "What
inductions have you tried with him so far?"

"The hourglass, mostly," Patty replied. "Also the
sunset at the beach one. Neither one worked. Craig's
a very concrete guy; I think he has a hard time
getting detailed mental pictures."

"That's a possibility. Have you tried a fixation
induction?"

"You mean eye contact? I thought you said that was a
bad one to use for beginners."

"It usually is," Eric agreed. "It requires supreme
confidence on your part, and the ability to keep
staring into his eyes for as long as it takes. I was
thinking more of a fixation object, like a pendant or
a shiny paperweight."

Patty thought for a minute. "I think I know just the
thing." She slipped down the hallway to the back of
the apartment and returned with a desk toy. It
featured a pair of parallel bars made of plastic,
between which were suspended five metal balls. The
balls were secured to each bar with a piece of nylon
line, and spaced so that they just touched one
another.

Eric recognized the toy immediately. "Yes," he
agreed, "that should do very nicely. I've used
something similar myself once or twice."

They set the toy on an end table next to the lounge
chair, pulling the table out a bit to give Craig a
better viewing angle. Patty steadied the balls,
angling the toy so that the shiny metal spheres caught
the ambient room light and reflected it back in
multiple directions. As she finished arranging the
toy Craig returned, looking a little apprehensive.

"We're ready for you," Patty said, waving him to the
chair.

Craig nodded and took his position in the lounge
chair. "Okay," Eric said, dropping partially into his
induction voice. "You saw how easily Patty was able
to guide me into a deep hypnotic state. If you
concentrate just on her voice and do exactly as she
tells you, nothing can prevent you from entering a
deep hypnotic trance just as I did. Since this will
be your first time, we won't try any posthypnotic
suggestions; Patty will just take you into trance, let
you feel what it's like for a few minutes, and then
wake you up again. Ready?"

Craig looked at them both. "I guess."

Eric's and Patty's eyes met. You can do this, he said
inwardly, willing his gaze to telegraph his conviction
to her.

Patty felt his confidence. Bolstered by that, and by
her success in hypnotizing Eric earlier, she felt
relaxed and ready. This is going to work, she thought
to herself. I can really do this. She lifted a hand
and caught Craig's eye with it. "I want you to watch
very closely right here," she said, using her hand to
guide Craig's gaze to the desk toy. She pulled back
on the rightmost silver ball, lifting it high and wide
of the parallel bars, and let it go. As designed, the
ball came back and struck the next one squarely; the
force of the blow was transmitted through the three
middle balls to the opposite side and sent the end
ball swinging widely to the left. That ball swung
out, then came back in and struck its neighbor,
sending the rightmost ball swinging away again. A
rhythm was established, the middle balls appearing to
sit still while the outer two took turns flying
outward and then slamming back into the middle.

Craig watched the toy with interest while Patty began
speaking. "I want you to focus all of your attention
on the balls in the middle," she told him. "Just
relax and watch those middle balls. See how the light
shines off them. Notice how still they seem to be,
even while the outer balls are swinging and bouncing
against them. Study those middle balls, becoming
aware of every detail, every reflection, every hint of
movement. Let your mind and body become as still as
those middle balls, resting comfortably and quietly
while around you the world keeps moving and clicking.
And while you're watching the balls, notice how smooth
and steady and rhythmic the clicking sound is as the
outer balls swing back and forth, each in turn. Let
that rhythm take you, let the clicking happen inside
your mind as well as outside, so that you become one
with the rhythm."

Eric watched and listened, fascinated. She's ad-
libbing, he realized. Using the properties of the
object to enhance the script -- very impressive.

"And as you listen," Patty continued, "you may notice
that the rhythm of the balls becomes just a hair
slower. The energy that moves those outer balls is
slowly depleting itself, causing the whole system to
slow down little by little. And as you observe this,
you'll notice that your own system will also slowing
little by little, relaxing more and more, slowing down
as the balls slow down."

As Eric watched, Craig's eyes appeared to glass over,
the lids tending to blink more often. Patty caught
the same signs and adjusted accordingly. "Slowing
down now, your mind and body relaxing and slowing
down, your eyes growing tired and heavy, wanting to
close, wanting to rest. Don't let it happen yet,
Craig; keep your eyes focused on those middle balls,
letting yourself experience every detail. You eyes
will remain open until the outer balls come to a
complete stop; you will not close your eyes and slip
into a deep, satisfying, safe sleep until the balls
come to rest."

Patty's words, along with the steady pattern of motion
and sound from the toy, were having their desired
effect. Craig's eyes fluttered, struggling to stay
open, as his body seemed to sink deeper and deeper
into the chair. Patty continued in the same vein,
talking him deeper as the toy slowed, watching with
growing excitement as he succumbed. Soon the toy's
momentum was spent, the steady clicking sound
deteriorating into a soft buzz. "Sleep now," Patty
said with authority, and Craig's eyes dropped shut.
His head dipped forward, and Patty felt that rush of
raw erotic power once again.

Then, in an instant, it was gone. Craig's head bobbed
up and his eyes popped open. "Did it work?"

Patty felt the air rushing out of her, like a balloon
with a fast leak. She looked to Eric, who had a grim
expression on his face. "Almost," he answered for
her. "How do you feel?"

"Fine," he said. "A little spacey, maybe."

"You're awake now," Patty said, following Eric's
instructions from the book. "Wide awake."

"I know, hon," Craig replied. "It was a nice try,
though."

Eric cleared his throat. "What was the last thing
that went through your mind? Right then, just before
you opened your eyes?"

Craig looked into space. "I don't know," he said. "I
just kinda perked up, I guess."

They tried several more times, both with Patty as the
hypnotist and with Eric, but had no better results.
Each time Craig appeared to be slipping into trance,
he would
suddenly cough or laugh or otherwise jolt back to
wakefulness. Eric could see the growing frustration
in Patty's face. Craig, on the other hand, seemed
more at ease as the evening wore on.

Finally Eric saw no alternative but to give up. "I'm
sorry," he said, addressing himself to Craig. "You
must be one of the rare people who just can't reach
the hypnotic state."

Craig's face took on a look of hopelessness. "That
really sucks. Are you sure, Doc?"

"That's how it looks," Eric responded flatly.

Craig accepted his sentence with a sigh. "Sorry,
honey," he said to Patty. I'll just bet, Eric
remarked to himself.

Patty sighed back. "It's okay," she said. Then, to
Eric, she added, "It's late; instead of waiting for a
cab, why don't you let me drive you back to your
hotel?"

There was a clear message in her eyes as well. Eric
responded to that as much as the stated offer.
"Either way is fine with me. Are you sure you don't
mind driving back alone this late?"

"We're in a pretty good neighborhood," she replied.
"After all you've done here, it's the least I can do."

Eric endured Craig's hearty handshake one more time.
"Don't blame yourself, Doc," he said. "Like you said,
some people just don't go under."

"Thanks," Eric replied, not feeling at all thankful.

Patty was quiet as she led Eric through the well-lit
parking garage below her building to her gray Saturn.
She remained silent and thoughtful for most of the
trip. Eric let her be, not sure exactly how much to
say. The silence grew thick and electric before Patty
finally broke it.

"What do you really think, Eric?"

Be damned careful, Eric, his inner voice warned.
"About what?"

Patty shot him a sideways you-know-exactly-what-I-mean
look. "About Craig. Do you really think he's not
hypnotizable, or were you just being diplomatic?"

Eric weighed his quickly. I could tell her, he
thought, and risk looking like a jealous suitor trying
to sabotage the relationship. Or I could bullshit her
and risk getting caught at it. He took a deep breath
before answering.

"It's a possibility," he said cautiously. "I couldn't
rule it out offhand."

"You're talking like a lawyer," she admonished him.
"I don't need that. I need someone to tell me what
I'm doing wrong."

"It's not you," he replied with certainty. "Your
technique is fine. You showed great instincts in that
first induction, and you nearly had him. You
definitely had me."

"Why did you do that, anyway? Be my subject, I mean.
And don't say to observe my technique -- you could
have done that better by watching."

Eric smiled. "A large part of being a hypnotist is
confidence. You have to believe that you can get
people into trance, and so does your subject. I knew
you'd have no problem with me -- I was prepared to
self-induce if I had to, but I didn't have to -- so
what better way to help build that confidence? And it
worked. You seemed positive that you could get Craig
into trance after that."

"I was positive," she agreed. "I'd swear he was under
at least once, maybe two or three times, but then he
just suddenly shook it off at the critical moment.
What happened?"

Feeling the eggshells beneath his feet, Eric tried
again. "Some people are mentally capable of hypnosis,
but have a hard time letting go. Maybe they have
control issues, maybe there's a certain fear factor,
or not quite enough trust. I've seen people before
who would start to enter a trance, realize it, and
unconsciously snap themselves back to alertness
without fully understanding why themselves."

Patty nodded, her mouth turning into a grim line.
"That's what I'm thinking. Either he doesn't trust
me, or he's afraid to give up control, which is really
the same thing. But what can I do about it?"

His inner voice screamed at him not to say it, but
Eric did anyway. "Often times, the answer to this
kind of issue lies in the relationship itself. How
are you and Craig getting along?"

Her brow wrinkled. "Fine," she said. "Perfectly
fine."

Eric was not about to challenge that assertion, so an
uncomfortable silence settled on them again. Soon
Patty pulled up into the service lane in front of
Eric's hotel. There was a short-tem parking space
near the entrance, so she pulled into it and put the
transmission in Park.

"Thanks for coming," she said. "I'm sorry for being
so sullen on the way over here."

"It's okay," he replied, offering his hand. "Good
luck."

As soon as she took his offered hand, Eric snapped his
fingers. Patty's body went limp and sunk into the
seat; Eric caught her head and gently set it against
the headrest. "That's good, Patty," he said. "Slide
way down, deep into trance, relaxing and letting go of
all the tension in your body. When your trance
thermometer gets to 90, I want you to squeeze my
hand." He continued to relax and deepen her for about
a minute and a half before he felt the squeeze. "Very
good. Now Patty, I want you to listen carefully. You
do not have to respond to any posthypnotic trigger
that would cause you to feel uncomfortable or
embarrassed, whether that trigger comes from Craig or
from me or from anyone. Any time he tries to place
you into trance, or use a trigger, that trigger will
only be effective if you are in a safe, private
environment and you feel completely safe and
comfortable allowing it to work. You know this, but I
want you to be extra aware from now on. You can
always refuse a suggestion if you don't want to
comply. Do you understand?"

"Yes," she replied hazily.

"Good. Now, on three, you'll be completely awake and
alert again. One ... two ... three."

Her eyes opened and focused on his face. "Thanks,"
she said sincerely, with her first true smile of the
evening. "I needed that."

"You're welcome," he said, smiling back.

Patty leaned toward and kissed him softly on the
cheek, then whispered into his ear: "Sleep for me
now, Eric." His conscious mind barely registered the
words before the blackness enveloped him and his body
slumped into Patty's waiting arms. "That's it, deeper
and deeper, letting go, trusting me completely. Count
yourself down from twenty now, Eric, and when you've
reached your deepest trance I want you to squeeze my
hand." She waited, letting the erotic thrill wash
over her one more time, until she felt the slow, easy
squeeze on her hand. "Now, Eric," she continued,
"Here is what is going to happen when you get to your
room..."
Eric waved as Patty pulled away, the memory of that
quick kiss tingling on his cheek. With a melancholy
sigh, he turned and trudged into the hotel.

He closed the door to his room and leaned against it
for a moment, eyes closed, wondering what might have
been. Then he flipped on the light and stopped dead
in his tracks.

Before him, sitting on the easy chair across from the
door, was a woman. She was dressed in a silk robe and
wore a veil over most of her face. Only a pair of
powerful, mesmerizing eyes showed above the veil, and
those eyes captured him instantly, leaving him
transfixed. "Hello, Eric," she said softly, in a
voice both familiar and strange. "I've been waiting
for you."

Eric stood still, not thinking, not speaking, unable
to break free of those captivating eyes.

"You feel my power already," she remarked. "That's
good, very good. Look deeply into my eyes, Eric, and
let me take you into that sweet, blissful sleep you so
love. Surrender your will to me, and I will bring you
ecstasy. Sleep, Eric. Sleep..."

Eric's world narrowed until he found himself lost in
those eyes, floating away on soft, gentle waves of the
woman's voice. The next thing he knew, he was naked
and lying on his bed while a sweet voice whispered
things into his ear -- things he didn't quite hear,
but which set his every nerve on overload and made his
cock stand up like a rocket on the launch pad. Warm,
loving hands caressed his body, and a pair of velvety
lips brushed against his face, his chest, his cock.
With great effort, he wrenched his eyes open in time
to see the mysterious woman, naked now except for her
veil, straddling him. The sight of her nakedness
enticed him and aroused him even more, and when she
slid on top of his throbbing cock and enveloped him he
felt the electricity throughout his body. Still she
whispered to him, her words taking him higher into
bliss, until the smooth rhythm of them began to break
down as she approached her climax. Eric felt the
tension around his cock as she gasped and came, and
the knowledge pushed him over the edge as well. A
valve turned in his mind and his cock gushed, every
nerve and muscle in his body participating in the
orgasm. The woman rode him, her words now prolonging
his climax, until he no longer had the energy to move.
Only then, as he struggled to keep his eyes open
another few seconds, did she move the veil and reveal
her face.

"Sleep now, Eric," Patty said. "And thank you."

The apartment was dark when Patty returned. She
flipped on the living room light and spotted Craig
sitting in the lounge chair, naked.

"Hi, honey," he said. "Surprise!"

"You shouldn't have," she replied, meaning it.

"But look, honey," he insisted with a wink. "The one-
eyed viper is calling your name."

Patty blinked twice as the posthypnotic suggestion
took hold. In a flash she had a visceral,
irresistible need to kneel down and suck Craig's cock
until it flooded her mouth. Then, just as quickly,
the desire vanished. "No thanks, Craig," she said.
"I'm too tired for games."

Craig's jaw dropped. "But the one-eyed viper is
calling your name," he repeated.

This time Patty only felt a quick twinge of desire,
which passed before she even fully acknowledged it.
"The one-eyed viper has called my name three times
this week," she told him. "At this point, I don't
care if it stands up and serenades. I didn't buy that
book so you could get blowjobs at will, Craig."

Craig sighed and crossed his arms. "Then why did you
buy it?"

Patty felt her patience fading away. "I bought it
because it looked like something we could do
together," she explained. "Something that might add a
little life and interest that's been lacking around
here for a while. But obviously I was wrong."

"That's not my fault," he began, then gave up as Patty
stomped out of the room and slammed the bedroom door
behind her. "Fuck," he said, looking down at his
semi-erect penis. "Looks like you're outta luck
tonight, pal."

Patty took a long shower, more for the quiet and
privacy than any real need to wash. While the water
ran over her body, she thought about her going-away
present for Eric. I wonder what woman his imagination
conjured up for him, she thought idly. She pictured
him lying naked on his bed, giving in to the imaginary
ministrations of a dream lover. She imagined herself
as that lover, caressing him, kissing him, getting him
so aroused and so ready for her, taking him inside of
her. As she pictured the scene, her fingers wandered
over her own body's sensitive places. The stroking
became more insistent, more urgent, and when in her
mind Eric came, she came with him, biting on a
washcloth to keep herself from crying out loud.

Craig was either asleep or pretending to be when she
came to bed. She didn't care which, as long as he
kept doing it.



iii
Eric sat in the business class car at his favorite
conference table seat. His Thinkpad was open in front of
him and his fingers danced on the keys.
Fantasy #11 -- Hypnotized and Seduced

(Written for a male subject and a female hypnotist,
but can be easily modified for any combination.
Highly effective for partners with a submissive
streak, or who find the hypnosis itself to be
erotic.)

You are out of town on business, and have been for
several days. You are unlocking the door of your
hotel room, tired and bored and missing your lover's
touch, resigned to spending another evening alone.
As the door closes behind you, however, you become
aware of a presence in the room. Across from the
door, sitting and watching, is a mysterious stranger
-- a woman, dressed in a silk gown and a heavy veil
that hides almost all of her face.

You find yourself approaching the woman, not
speaking, wondering who she is and how she got into
your room. "I've been waiting for you," she says,
her voice silky smooth and compelling.

It's then that you notice her eyes. They are deep
and shining, and seem to look right through you. You
feel yourself being captured by her eyes, fascinated,
unable to look away. She stands up and comes closer.
You think about backing up, running away, doing
anything, but all you can do is stand still and lose
yourself in those mesmerizing, powerful eyes. You
are falling into a trance, you know it, and you also
know that there is nothing you can do to prevent it.
Your whole body becomes heavy and sleepy. You take
one more deep breath and the scent of her perfume
wraps itself around your mind, taking you into a
deep, blissful hypnotic trance. Down you go, deeper
and deeper, unable to resist the woman's power, not
really wanting to. (Look for signs of deepening
hypnosis as your subject imagines the trance within
the trance, and reinforce these if possible.)

The mysterious woman whispers to you. Your mind
cannot hold on to the words long enough to decipher
them, but your subconscious feels their effects and
responds for you. Your body begins to feel warm,
itchy, constricted. Your skin begs to breathe, to
feel the air, to be free. It has its wish -- you
feel hands, your own plus another's, gently easing
the clothing off your body until you are naked. It
feels so much better this way, so much more relaxing,
so comfortable.

So arousing. Yes, as the woman continues whispering,
you feel yourself becoming more and more aroused by
her words, by her presence, by her complete control
over your body and mind. You feel soft fingers
caressing your most intimate places, gentle kisses
igniting your body's need for passion. (Ad lib here,
mentioning your partner's favorite specific places to
be touched or kissed or stroked. You should see
physical signs of arousal; keep it up until your
partner appears ready to orgasm.)

Your eyes open, and you find yourself lying on the
bed with the mysterious woman above you. She is
naked now except for her veil, and the sight of her
body hovering above yours, ready to take you inside
her, increases your arousal tenfold. Your body
screams its desire to come, but you know that you
can't until she does. She teases you, rubbing her
body against yours until you want to beg her to just
take you, just do it, but your mouth won't open and
your limbs won't move. Finally she rises up and
guides your iron-hard cock into her, settling down on
you. You penetrate her fully, feeling yourself
pressing against her cervix. She speaks, and your
hips start moving with her, up and down. You feel
the pressure building inside you, and you can tell
she is almost ready.

She moans, then straightens up and looks straight
into your eyes. You feel her body shudder as her
orgasm starts, and you see her throw her head back as
she gives in to the pleasure. Your eyes close and
the pressure releases: you come, harder and longer
and stronger than you've ever come before. (Allow
some time for your partner to experience and enjoy
the orgasm.)

As your body collapses, exhausted from the effort,
the mysterious woman speaks two more words: "Sleep
now." You relax and slide into sleep, happy to have
served her so well.

(Conclude with standard wake-up procedure.)
He paused, remembering with a slight shiver the sensations
he'd experienced the night before. The details were hazy,
but he'd awakened naked on his bed with half-dried semen
all over him and the image of a mysterious, hypnotic woman
in the back of his mind. He'd taken himself back into a
light trance, probing to remember Patty's instructions,
and was so impressed by their effectiveness that he'd
decided to add one more example to the chapter of
fantasies.

His mind wandered to Patty, and to Craig. What a piece of
work, he thought. She gives him the key to her mind, and
he uses it to play childish pranks. What a prick.

That's right, his inner voice mocked him. You'd never
break trust with someone you loved, would you, old buddy?
Oh, wait a minute -- you did!

The image of Kelly rose unbidden to his mind. Kelly,
coming home late again, the stress and frustration showing
in every line of her face. Kelly's voice on the phone:
"Sorry, honey, but I've got to stay until I can get this
paperwork done." Kelly's face, blank and staring ahead,
while he poured suggestions into her ear: "It's okay to
leave some things for the next day," he'd told her. "Time
at home is just as important as time in the office."
Kelly, hurt and frustrated, telling him how she'd been
passed over for promotion because she'd let key, time-
critical details slip and become perceived as unwilling to
put in the extra effort when needed.

Kelly, wounded and furious, slapping him in the face when
he explained why and tried to apologize.

Yes, I did, he admitted, rubbing his cheek as if he could
still feel the sting. And I paid the price, and I've
learned from it. Now fuck off.


Craig and Patty sat in the kitchen, mugs of tepid coffee
sitting ignored on the table between them.

"I said I was sorry," Craig whined. "What more do you
want?"

"I don't know," Patty confessed. "I just know that 'I'm
sorry' isn't enough anymore."

"I don't get it. All this hypno crap was your idea to
start with, and you're blaming me for it."

"It's not just the triggers," she insisted. "What you did
was just an extension of how you are in general. You're a
little boy, Craig: sweet and loving when you want to be,
crude and insensitive and juvenile the rest of the time.
It was charming for a long time, but it's getting old. I
need a grown-up."

"You've already got one," he barked back. "That's not
what you want. You want some pussy-whipped houseboy
who'll do what you want, when you want, all the fucking
time. I'm sorry if it's inconvenient for you that I have
a life and friends outside this goddamn apartment, but I'm
not giving that up to sit here and worship your cunt."

Patty sighed, clenching the table. "You aren't listening
to me. I didn't say a goddamned thing about your friends
or your hobbies, although I damned well could if I wanted
to."

Craig grunted and got up from the table. "I don't need
this shit. Fuck you."

Patty looked daggers at his retreating back. "Not any
time soon, asshole."

"There you are!"

Patty opened her eyes and looked toward the unexpected
voice, using the minimum possible effort. Through the
steam in the sauna she made out a familiar face. "Hi,
Regina," she said in a dull voice, closing her eyes again.

Regina adjusted her towel and sat down by Patty's resting
head. "You know," she noted, "Most people go home when
they decide to take an afternoon off."

Patty moved nothing but her mouth. "This is much better
than home. This is my sanctuary."

Her friend clicked her tongue sympathetically. "I'm
catching a vibe here that the visit from your hypnotist
friend didn't go well."

That got Patty's attention. She lifted her head and made
another visual sweep of the sauna room. Satisfied that
she and Regina were alone, she sighed and laid her head
back again. "Craig pulled another one of his adolescent
tricks -- made my undies disappear, right in front of
Eric. And when I got back from taking Eric to his hotel,
Craig used the 'one-eyed viper' line on me again."

Regina let out a heavy sigh. "Unbelievable. Tell me you
made him earn it later."

"Better -- I felt the trigger hit, but then I just shook
it off and told him I wasn't interested. You should've
seen the look on his face."

"I didn't know you could do that. Ignore a hypnotic
command, I mean."

"You can, if you want to. I have a tendency to respond
first and think second, but Eric helped me there -- he put
me under and reminded me that I don't have to follow a
suggestion, from him or anybody else, if I don't want to."

"I like this guy," Regina remarked. "Did he help you get
Craig under your power?"

"He tried," Patty sighed, "but nothing happened. Every
time I thought we had him, Craig would giggle or hiccup or
something and snap right out of it. Eric stopped short of
saying so, but I think it was deliberate -- Craig just
doesn't want it."

"I could've told you that," her friend remarked. "He
likes his macho image too much. No way is Craig going to
let you into his head, even if it means getting laid. men
are like that."

"Eric isn't like that," Patty said. "He had me put him
under last night, in front of Craig, just to boost my
confidence."

Her friend perked up instantly. "Really? What was it
like?"

Patty hugged herself through the towel, remembering the
sensation. "It was a tremendous rush. Arousing,
exhilarating ... almost primal. It would be very easy to
get addicted to that feeling." She shook her head and
sighed again. "But, there's no danger of that. Not with
Craig, anyway."

"So dump him," Regina advised. "You're long overdue for
an upgrade anyway. Why not have a wild, passionate fling
with your hypnotist friend?"

Patty chuckled. "You never did like Craig."

"Honey, nobody likes Craig except you and that little band
of gym rats that he hangs out with. I sit up nights
wondering why you put up with his crap."

Staring into the distance, Patty answered slowly. "So do
I, sometimes. It wasn't always like this. For the first
year and some, things were good. Lately it just seems as
though I've grown up and Craig hasn't. But I have three
years invested in this relationship, Gina. It would be
stupid to toss that away just because we're not getting
along that well right now."

Regina shook her head vigorously. "What's stupid is
prolonging a relationship that's obviously in decline just
because you're afraid to admit the guy is a jerk."

"He's not a jerk," Patty protested. "He's just--"

"Stop it! Don't even defend the guy. If my Al pulled
that 'one-eyed viper' crap on me, he'd wake up in the
morning with his balls in a bear trap."

Patty laughed. "Come on, Gina, don't hold back. What do
you really think?"

"I told you what I think. The question is, what will you
do about it?"

Eric was taking a mental break, sitting back in his rec
room, watching Unbreakable on DVD. When the phone rang,
he paused his DVD to answer it.

"Eric? It's Patty."

The hypnotist straightened up in his chair. "Hi," he said
cheerily. "What's up?"

"I'm going to be back in Alexandria next week," she
replied, "doing some follow-up with the law firm. I
thought it would be nice to have dinner together one night
-- my treat this time."

Don't ask questions, his inner voice urged, just say Yes.

"That would be great," he agreed. "Do you need me to make
the reservations?"

"No, I've got it. Would you mind meeting me at the hotel?
Say, Monday at seven? Same hotel as before."

"I'll be there."


Patty's smile was warm when she greeted Eric in the lobby
of her hotel. She wore a gray business suit similar to
the blue one she'd worn on that first train ride. When
Eric offered his hand, she took it but pulled in closer
and kissed his cheek.

"Thanks for coming," she said sincerely.

Something's changed, Eric said to himself. "How's Craig?"

"Oh, he's fine. And you?"

"I'm good," he said, feeling encouraged. "Hungry, too.
Where are we going?"

"Actually, I thought the restaurant right here might be
nice. Is that okay with you?"

Eric shrugged. "Sure." He followed her into the hotel's
attached restaurant. It was a more upscale environment
than Kilroy's but still very comfortable and friendly. As
Patty took her seat in the booth, the top piece of her
suit gaped open obligingly, showing Eric a healthy dose of
cleavage and a glimpse of off-white lace.

The dinner conversation stayed light and friendly, keeping
clear of sensitive topics by tacit agreement. It wasn't
until the dishes were cleared and they were sipping the
last of their wine that Eric moved into the danger zone.
"The new book's been going splendidly," he said. "The
editor is loving it, and the cover art they've picked is
very nice. I only have a little bit more to write and the
CD to finalize."

"That's great."

Eric nodded. "If you don't mind, I'd like to name you on
the dedication page. You've had a lot to do with how well
this book is turning out -- more than you know."

Patty blushed and smiled. "I don't mind. In fact, I have
an idea for something that might be interesting to add to
your book."

Eric felt the heat rising in his cheeks. "Another
fantasy? The one you planted in my head that night in New
York is already in the new book. It, uh, really made an
impression."

"No, something different. A joint activity. It's hard to
describe, but I thought we might try it and see how it
works."

Do it! the inner voice shouted, but Eric paused. "I'd
love to; but what about Craig?"

There was an extra sparkle in her eye when Patty
responded. "He's in no position to object. Shall we?"

Eric saw the sparkle. I may regret this later, he
thought, but probably not much. "After you."

He followed Patty to her room on the ninth floor. She
waved him toward the corner, where two arm chairs were
arranged facing each other. "Why don't you get
comfortable?" she suggested. "Loosen your tie, take off
your shoes."

Eric smiled and took the advice. He slipped off his sport
coat and draped it over the back of a chair, then took off
his tie and undid the top two buttons on his dress shirt.
His shoes were comfortable black loafers, but he slipped
them off anyway and tucked them under the same chair.

Patty left her shoes on the floor of the closet and sat
down in the chair facing him. She had her copy of his
first book in hand. "You asked about Craig earlier," she
said. "I found the answer to our problem right here, in
your first book." She opened the book to an early page
and held it out to him. "The last paragraph on the page."
Eric took the book from her and saw that it was turned to
the Forward page. He reread the last paragraph:

And finally, I cannot stress enough that to use
erotic hypnosis effectively requires trust, openness,
and a willingness to share your innermost thoughts
and feelings with each other. If you and your
partner don't have that kind of relationship already,
the ideas and techniques in this book will not help
you to create that. In fact, couples who turn to
hypnosis to salvage a failing relationship often find
that it makes things worse instead of better. If
that's why you're reading this, please do everyone
concerned a favor and return this book for a refund.

Eric finished reading, looked over at Patty and the
understanding passed between them. "I didn't want to
admit it," she told him, "but you were right -- things
between me and Craig really haven't been that good for a
while. But instead of returning the book, I decided to
keep it."

"And Craig?"

"I go back home Wednesday afternoon," she explained. "I
gave him until then to move out. The lease is in my name.
I told the management and the security office that Craig
is now persona non grata; they'll keep an eye out to make
sure he doesn't do anything childish to the apartment,
then change the locks and cancel his door code Wednesday
morning for me."

Her words sank in slowly. "You're sure?" Eric finally
asked.

"Positive."

Eric saw the finality in her eyes and nodded. "There's no
way I can say this without it sounding self-serving, but I
think you made the right choice. He clearly doesn't
respect your feelings. I'd be surprised if he cared
enough to get overly upset."

"We'll see. He hates to lose at anything."

They looked at each other for a moment, letting the
subject die a silent death. Eric cleared his throat.
"Okay, my curiosity is now thoroughly aroused. What's
your idea?"

"Have you read Tart?"

"Tart," he said, thinking. "You mean, Charles Tart?
Altered States of Consciousness?"

She nodded.

"It's been a while, but I do remember reading it." He
paused for a moment, trying to remember the book. His
mind registered the positions they were sitting in, and he
had a flash of insight. "Mutual hypnosis," he said,
looking up and seeing the recognition in her face. "Two
subjects hypnotize each other, leading to enhanced rapport
and increased depth of trance. Is that your idea?"

Grinning, Patty nodded again. "I'd first read about it a
while ago. After that night at the apartment, I dug out
the book and read the chapter again. As well as we seem
to work together, I thought it would be interesting to see
if we could get similar results."

Eric let the idea roll around in his mind. "I've never
tried that," he mused. "As I recall, Tart's subjects had
some pretty vivid experiences. Bordering on the
paranormal, in some cases."

"We don't need to take it that far," she assured him.
"Are you game?"

"Sure."

"All right, then." Patty lowered her voice, made direct
eye contact with Eric, and began. "Sleep for me now,
Eric."

Eric felt a pleasant fading sensation as he let his eyes
close and his body relax. His mind floated down the
stream of Patty's voice, deeper and deeper, willing to go
wherever she might take him. Patty watched him sink into
the chair and gave herself a moment to enjoy the sensation
of power. This time it was tinged with an extra thrill,
knowing he would be doing the same to her. She took him
as deep as she could. "And now, Eric," she said, "I'm
going to count to three. When I reach three, I want you
to open your eyes and lift your head. I don't want you to
wake up, only to open your eyes and lift your head. You
will then hypnotize me and take me as deep as you can.
When you have me at 100 on my trance thermometer, I want
you to have me open my eyes and look into yours; we will
both look into each other's eyes then and go even deeper
still, until we are ready to wake up together. One ...
two ... three."

A shiver of anticipation walked down her spine as Eric
opened his eyes and looked at her. His arm came up and
reached toward her; Patty took his hand in hers, met his
gaze, and heard a snap.

She felt herself falling into a comfortable, familiar
blackness. Eric was with her, his voice guiding her
deeper into trance. She pictured herself with Eric,
riding downward in an old-fashioned elevator, watching the
floors roll past as they went deeper together. A
thermometer materialized in the air in front of Patty and
she watched as the red stripe climbed its glassy surface
past 80, past 90, to the very top markings.

"One hundred," she heard herself say.

"Good," Eric's voice replied, sounding distant and sleepy.
"Now, on the count of three, I want you to open your eyes
and look at me. I don't want you to wake up; I just want
you to open your eyes and look at me. Our eyes will meet,
and when they do we will both sink even deeper into
hypnosis than we are now. One ... two ... three."

Patty's eyes opened. Her head lifted, as if in slow
motion, and turned slightly as it sought Eric. Their eyes
met and locked together and the rest of the world
disappeared as each focused all attention exclusively on
the other's eyes. Patty felt an odd quivering, almost
like a mild electric shock, followed by the sensation of
sinking. "Yes," she heard herself saying, "that's it.
Deeper and deeper we go."

"Deeper and deeper," Eric echoed. "Our minds joining
together ..."

"Blending ..."

"Becoming one ..."

"Going deeper ..."

"And deeper ..."

"And deeper ..."

"Finding that special place ..."

"Where we can explore together ..."

"Our dream place ..."

A dark gray shadow passed over them. They blinked, and as
their eyes opened again a flood of brilliant, shimmering
color poured into them. It was too much to take in right
away, like walking out into the daylight from a darkened
movie theatre. They blinked again, looked around, and
became aware of their surroundings.

It looked like a train car -- their train car, the
business class car. Patty and Eric sat across from each
other, the small conference table between them, just as
they had at their first encounter. The car was moving
smoothly, so smoothly it felt as if they were flying
rather than riding on tracks. Everything in the car
seemed cleaner and brighter than the real thing.

Their eyes met again, and they shared a contented smile.
Yes, Eric thought, this is our place. It all started
here.

Patty reached across the table and took his hand. He
squeezed hers and they leaned over the table for a kiss.
Their lips met and a soothing, warm sensation spread
through them both. They stood up, pulling each other
closer, arms embracing one another atop the table, until
they cold tolerate the interference no longer.

They slid out into the aisle and embraced again, sharing
another long, hungry kiss. Eric felt the hunger growing
inside him and he pulled Patty closer, the energy in her
kisses telling him that she felt the same. They broke off
and looked around: their fellow passengers seemed
completely oblivious to their public display. Eric looked
at the conference table, and considered picking Patty up
and laying her down on it so he could pull off her skirt
and taste her. "Wait," Patty urged him. "Let's try the
café car."

She led him by the hand to the door at the end of the car.
It slid open for them automatically and they stepped into
a dark room on the other side. As soon as the door closed
the lights came on, and they found themselves in a
luxurious bedroom. A giant four-poster bed dominated the
room, its white satin sheets gleaming invitingly. The
carpet was thick and soft, the furniture exquisitely
carved and finished. Only the sight of trees and utility
poles rushing past the windows conveyed the idea that they
were still on the train.

Still holding Eric's hand, Patty pulled him gently over to
the side of the bed. Their eyes met again, and the
electricity flowed between them. "I'm ready," she said,
removing the top to her suit. "Are you?"

Eric was already pulling his shirt off. "I've been ready
since the day I first saw you."

They stripped each other, moving together in the timeless
presentation of self. She rubbed her hands across his
bare chest; he kissed her breasts as he removed her bra.
She closed a loving hand on his already-hard shaft as the
other worked his pants down to the floor; as he removed
her panties he buried his face in her mound and inhaled
deeply, filling himself with her scent. He placed his
hands on her hips and guided her to the bed, gently
pushing her down on it with her legs hanging off the side.
The satin sheets felt cool and decadently smooth against
her skin. Eric lovingly pushed her legs apart and began
kissing his way up her thighs, one side at a time.

Patty gasped sharply when she felt the first kisses at her
knees. His lips as they brushed her skin acted like
pebbles in a still pond, sending ripples of warmth and
arousal throughout her body with each touch. She came so
quickly that it took her by surprise, an intense flash of
light, joy, and energy exploding from her center, sending
shockwaves through her mind and soul. Relishing Patty's
taste on his lips and tongue, Eric didn't pause or even
slow down -- no sooner had Patty recovered her wits than a
second climax scrambled them again, sending her reeling.
Somewhere in the very back of her head, an impassioned
voice pleaded: Whatever you do, Patty, don't wake up now.

"Inside me, Eric," she panted, her mind barely processing
after the second orgasm. "I want you inside me right
now."

Eric stopped long enough to climb the rest of the way up
the bed. He kissed her mound, her stomach, her ribs, her
breasts. She grabbed him under the arms and twisted,
pulling him up and then dropping him down onto the bed
beside her. She climbed up on top of him immediately,
returning his kisses with some of her own as she teased
him with her body, rubbing up and down against him like a
stretching cat. His rigid shaft teased against her,
brushing against her outer lips, bringing her that much
closer. Soon she rose up, reached behind and guided him
inside her.

He filled her nicely, his tip pressing against her cervix
while his shaft rubbed the magic button on her upper wall.
Patty felt the electricity building again. She took his
arms and pulled him upward to a sitting position.

Their faces barely an inch apart, Patty and Eric looked
into each others' eyes one more time and felt the strength
of their bond growing. Their arms pulled one another
closer, until their upper bodies touched everywhere
possible: chest, stomach, groin, even their foreheads
made contact. They felt the power with themselves
joining, becoming one mass of warmth and desire and need.
And still their eyes remained locked together.

"We are one," Eric said.

"One," Patty agreed. "Joined in spirit."

"Giving completely."

"Coming together."

"One ..."

"Two ..."

"Three!"

There was a blinding flash of light as the power exploded
around them, bathing them in the heat of their own
emotions. Eric felt his orgasm rushing through him, an
enormous flow of energy running through his entire body,
flowing outward and into Patty. At the same time, Patty
felt the rush of energy flowing into Eric from herself.
We're exchanging souls, she thought deliriously, and felt
Eric agreeing with her. Time and place became meaningless
as their senses overloaded and their minds let go.


A loud buzzing sound rudely broke the silence. Patty
swatted blindly, her eyes closed and not wanting to open,
trying to make the intruder go away. A firm, gentle hand
caught hers and kissed it, and the sound stopped.

Patty slowly opened her eyes and peered at the fuzzy
figure standing over her. "Morning," Eric said gently.

Her senses slowly came back online, and Patty became aware
of the environment. She was lying on the bed in her hotel
room, nude. She felt relaxed, well-exercised, and
completely satiated. "Wow," she thought out loud. "No
wonder it felt so real."

"It was real," Eric concurred, "parts of it, at least.
Other parts I'm not so sure about. I remember being on
the train with you, kissing, getting up, heading for the
café car."

"And the café car turned into a luxurious bedroom," she
finished for him. "And we made love on a four-poster bed
with satin sheets, and counted ourselves up to the
climax."

"We really did connect," Eric concluded. "A shared
fantasy setting, acting as a backdrop to real physical
activity. I could do a whole other book on this."

"We'll need to do more research," Patty said with a sexy
wink. "Lots and lots of research."

"True." He glanced at the clock on the bedside table.
"It's 6:52. How much time do we have?"
"Plenty," she answered with a contented sigh. "I don't
have to be at the client's until nine." She yawned and
stretched lazily, presenting her body again for his -- for
their -- pleasure.

"Plenty of time for that," Eric countered, his cock
already rising in anticipation. "But we have a lot to
talk about besides."

"I guess we do," she agreed. "Distance relationships are
tough."

"Is that where we are now?" he questioned, his hopes
rising up in his chest. "In a relationship?"

"We can be," she answered, looking deeply into his eyes.
"If you want it."

His eyes took in the picture as Patty lay there, naked,
watching him, waiting for his response. He felt a
familiar turmoil within himself, the one he'd been living
with since meeting Patty on the train: desire sparring
with hesitation. The final round of the duel was intense,
but short.

"I want it," he said quietly, and joined her on the bed.

-wg
9/9/01
Many thanks to Lucky and Lynda for their input on this
final chapter.


 

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