Storiesonline.net
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                           Weight Loss Program
                                 by JiMC

Copyright© 2006 by JiMC


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Description: After her friend, Wendy, loses some weight thanks to a hypnotherapist, Shirley considers losing weight also. Jim offers to help.

Codes: MF Mult rom cons mc hypno het Mdom exhib oral
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Copyright©



This story is copyright (c) 2005. All rights are reserved by the author, including that of publication. Posting on-line is only allowed when permission is explicitly granted by the author, and then only for the complete story, including this disclaimer. Contact the author at <jimc-author at excite dot com> for more information, referring to this story ("Weight Loss Program").

I explicitly grant permission to post this story as a work in progress on StoriesOnline.net and asstr.org. Those two sites also have explicit permission to post the completed stories as well.

The following is a work of fiction and is just a fantasy. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead, is purely coincidental and entirely unintentional. There may be references to people in a historical context, but they are not really characters in this story.

This is a story that describes sexually explicit situations in a fictional universe that only vaguely seems similar to the one we live in. All of the characters in this story are above the age of twenty-one, as if that matters, really. The target audience is adults (people over the age of eighteen) with broad minds. If reading this kind of material is illegal where you are, then stop reading and finish doing your homework!



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Despite the tone of the story and the narrator's dismissal of the accuracy of erotic hypnosis stories, I am not an expert on clinical (or any other form of) hypnosis. I am, in fact, very cynical as to whether any form of erotic hypnosis story could possibly be true! This was written entirely as a fantasy, and I have no doubt that even what I describe is probably not possible. That's why it's fiction! People that know more about the subject should take this story with a very tiny grain of salt.



--JiMC

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Chapter 1: Helping Out a Friend


It was in January of this year when we had the big blizzard blast through our area overnight. I woke up to see the reports on the news telling me that just about every school was closed and shook my head. Despite the fact that I was single, all those school closings didn't bode well for traveling to work. As if to drive the point home, the news showed a local reporter standing outside in the city next to a snow drift that had to be about two feet high.

I sighed and went to my bathroom, looking out the window to confirm that where my driveway was supposed to be was a sheet of white. Steve's snow plow had come earlier and removed a lot of the snow, but there was still quite a lot of snow that gathered on top of and next to my car that would have to be cleared away.

It was still snowing outside as well, although not as much as I saw on the television. The wind was howling, though, driving the few flakes so as to look like they were horizontal.

I skipped breakfast and bundled myself up in layers to go outside and try to get my car ready to take me to work. It took about fifteen minutes; I was helped by the fact that the temperature was still in the teens, and the snow mostly brushed off my vehicle. I knew how lucky I was. Wet snow would have been the worst.

There was traffic on the way to work, of course. My normal commute of fifteen minutes took about forty that morning with a lot of stop and go activity.

I am not the sort of person who can work from home. The company I work for allows telecommuting, but I have found in the past that being in an office gives me the feeling that I'm "at work" without the temptation of goofing off while at home.

Luckily for me, the parking lot at the office had recently been plowed, and there were only a few cars parked in the main lot--quite a difference from the normal crowding of cars into the satellite lots on other days.

I smiled when I finally made it inside the building. The inside temperature was more than comfortable, especially considering all the extra clothing I was wearing. The place was mostly deserted as I pressed the call button for the elevator that would take me to my third floor office.

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My stomach growled a bit, reminding me that I hadn't eaten breakfast. I looked up from my computer and saw that it was a quarter past noon. I didn't pack a lunch that day, but we had a vending machine that had decent instant soup that I could heat up in the microwave in the break room.

Shirley was in the break room when I got there. She was a coworker whose cubicle was on the opposite side of the building. Although we worked in different departments, our groups did occasionally interact, and we knew each other's names.

"Hi, Shirley!" I said cheerily as I entered the break room.

Shirley gave me a cute smile, nodded, and said, "Hi, Jim. I think we're the only two people on the whole floor that came in this morning."

"I think most everybody else is working from home."

Shirley nodded.

There was a moment of silence, so I figured the dialog was over. I went to the vending machine, put in my money, and pulled out a packet that would provide me with chicken noodle soup.

"Instant soup?" Shirley asked with a smile.

Smiling back, I said, "Yeah, I didn't know how long it would take to clear off the car and get to work, so I skipped breakfast and didn't pack a lunch."

With a shake of her head, Shirley said, "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, you know."

I shrugged. Nutrition wasn't my strong suit. Although I was in my early thirties, I wasn't much overweight. I probably ate too much junk food, but I only ate in moderation when I did eat it. I guess I did have the start of a beer belly, but that never really worried me. As Shirley was a larger woman, I carefully avoided saying that I didn't think myself overweight. "Well, I had a cup of coffee when I got here."

Shirley had a Tupperware bowl. Its top was still on, but I could see through the translucent pink material that there was something light yellow or brown inside. "I have some egg salad and a couple of bulky rolls. Want to share?"

"Really?" I asked, surprised. Normally, Shirley and I didn't speak much to one another, and her offer surprised me. "I don't want to put you out."

"I always make too much," Shirley said. "Whatever you eat will be that much that won't go to my fanny."

As I mentioned before, Shirley was a larger woman, although she wasn't so large that I would call her fat. "If you really don't mind, that would be nice," I said, avoiding the one subject that I tended to avoid with females.

"Why don't you put another pot of coffee on?" Shirley said, turning toward the coffee unit. "That pot's been on since before I got in."

"Sure," I said, knowing that I probably had been the one to put the pot on earlier.

The two of us worked silently in the break room, and after a few minutes, we had two cups of coffee and a couple of egg salad rolls set up.

The egg salad was delicious, and appealed to my rumbling stomach. "So, why aren't you working at home?" I asked, making conversation.

"I don't live too far away," Shirley answered, smiling as she scooped the egg salad onto a bulky roll. "The condo had the parking lot plowed and the roads were mostly clear."

"That's convenient."

"So, why are you in the office today?"

"I don't like working at home. It's hard for me to get into the 'work' mindset unless I'm in the office."

Shirley looked at me a little strangely, and finally nodded. "I can understand that."

The egg salad tasted very nice, and I complimented Shirley on it. "The sandwich is great!"

"Thanks," Shirley said, smiling again. "As I said, I usually make too much."

Once we started talking, I began to feel a bit more comfortable with Shirley. She was a couple of years younger than me, most likely still in her twenties. I guess you would call her "big boned," as she probably wore a size 14 or 16, but she really didn't look fat. She had a natural smile to her cute face as well as a bubbly personality.

I normally take about a half hour for lunch, but the conversation with Shirley had me forgetting about the time. We first talked about our respective projects at work, but the conversation started to become a bit personal. I was intrigued when Shirley mentioned that she was thinking about seeing a therapist.

"What kind of therapist?" I asked.

"Oh, Wendy told me about Dr. Simons, and I think he's called a behavioral therapist, but I'm not sure."

Wendy was one of the people in Shirley's group.

"Why do you think you need to see a behavioral therapist?" I asked.

"Wendy said that she went to him a few months ago. Just one visit, and she was able to stay on a diet ever since. He hypnotized her, and made her think that fatty food tasted terrible."

"He did that in one visit?" I asked, incredulous.

"That's what Wendy said. Just one visit and, bam! You start to lose weight."

"That sounds too good to be true, actually."

Shirley looked at me, concerned. "Why do you say that?"

"First of all, hypnosis is just a short term therapy. It's impossible to hypnotize a person once and in that one session make any substantial changes in a person that would have an effect more than a few days or weeks. Certainly not years."

"Really?"

"I took a few courses in college," I explained. "Hypnosis is a recognized therapy, but there are usually better ones. It requires a lot of trust from the subject, and I truly doubt that Wendy's Dr. Simons would be able to establish that kind of trust in only one session. More likely, he's convinced her that he has done what he said he did, and Wendy is simply playing along. That's how stage hypnotists work, you know."

Shirley shook her head. "Wendy did lose weight. She's lost ten pounds so far."

I shook my head. "Of course, Dr. Simons is no longer around to see if his so-called therapy may have had any unintended consequences."

"What do you mean?"

"The classic example is a quick hypnosis session and convincing a person that, say, all cigarettes taste bad."

Shirley nodded. "I've heard of that. Many people have done that."

"The problem," I explained, "is that this does not address the addiction problem that most cigarette smokers have. The smoker is still addicted, but now doesn't have any outlet for that addiction. Take my father, for instance. He went to such a hypnotherapist, and it definitely stopped him from smoking, but he traded his nicotine addiction for an addiction to eating. He started gaining weight, going from 160 pounds in his thirties to over two hundred and fifty pounds. Not only that, but he still had the nicotine addiction, and he felt it every time somebody lit one up around him. He became a militant anti-smoker, and sometimes got into fights. He eventually died a couple of years ago from a heart attack, and I believe it's because he couldn't stop eating."

"Wow," was all Shirley could say.

"That's an example of how a hypnotherapist can do more harm than good. Now, it's not all bad! A proper therapist would take a few sessions to get to know the subject. The two would gradually build up a trust and then hypnosis might be used to try to reveal the source of the person's problem. Only when that source is identified can a therapist try to work on ways to address that particular problem. It could take a while, and therapy sessions are pretty expensive. Not too many insurance policies cover that sort of therapy. That's why I'm pretty leery of the claims that Wendy says of Dr. Simons."

"You seem to know quite a lot about hypnosis and behavioral therapy."

I shrugged. "As I said, I took a few courses in school. I was interested in hypnosis after it seemed to work on my father, but I found out how it could be misused, and then I realized what was happening to my dad. He died before he was properly cured. Sometimes, I blame the hypnotist that he visited. However, I figure that he just didn't realize the harm he could cause. After all, cigarette smoking is a good thing to 'cure, ' right?"

"I guess," Shirley said. She seemed much more subdued. "Do you think that Wendy..."

Shaking my head, I said, "Probably, Wendy is safe. With her, her eating is something more basic than cigarette smoking, which is a learned habit. Smoking is purely an external stimulus. Eating, on the other hand, is something that people do every day without fail. My prediction is that her mind will eventually overcome the silly command that fattening food tastes bad. So, she will eventually stop her diet and go back to her old eating habits, and will put this down as another failed diet attempt. On the other hand, there's a lower probability that Wendy might actually be changing her lifestyle and she'll start to get used to eating healthier food. If that's the case, then Wendy probably didn't need the hypnosis at all, but just needed an incentive to do this. However, she'll swear it was Dr. Simons that 'cured' her."

"Hmm," Shirley said, intrigued.

I smiled. "How much did Dr. Simons charge Wendy?"

"Five hundred dollars."

"I'm in the wrong racket," I said.

The two of us laughed.

Shirley looked up on the wall and noticed the time. "We've got to clean up and get back to work."

I shrugged, and the two of us cleaned up the table and left for our cubicles.

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A week or so later, Shirley came into my office right before I was ready to leave for the day.

"Hi, Shirley. What's up?"

"Remember our discussion last week about Wendy?"

I nodded. "What about it?"

"Wendy and I were talking about it. She tried an experiment, and went to Dunkin Donuts. She was able to eat part of a jelly donut!"

I laughed. "The effect faded so soon? I figured it might work a little longer than that."

Shirley shook her head. "No, she said it didn't taste as good as it used to, but she was able to eat part of it anyway."

"It probably wasn't a good idea to tell her it was a sham. Now she's probably mad at me..."

"No," Shirley said quickly. "I told her about what you said about changing her lifestyle, and she's still eating healthy foods."

"Oh, good," I said, not knowing if this really was good or not. I didn't know Shirley or Wendy very well, after all.

"You really seem to know a lot about hypnosis."

I shook my head. "Probably just enough to stay out of trouble. I've only did it with a few test subjects back in school."

"I was thinking..." Shirley let her words die off.

Oh, god. I knew what Shirley was leading up to... 

"Maybe you and I could, like... you know..."

"Shirley, I'm not a hypnotist. I'm just an office worker. I'm not licensed, and I haven't done anything like that in ten years!"

"Aw, come on!" Shirley said, determined. "It could be fun."

"It could also be dangerous," I said. "I told you what happened to my father."

"You seem to know the dangers. You said a proper hypnotist would take time. I'm willing to take the time. Let's say I buy you dinner and afterward in return, you do a session with me. We'll do it, like, once a week. We'll go slow."

"Why do you want this?" I asked.

Shirley put both hands on her stomach. "This is why! I've tried hundreds of diets. I want to try something that works. Dr. Simons charges five hundred dollars. A few meals will cost, like, a hundred dollars or so. I can afford that."

I sighed. "You're serious about this, aren't you?"

"Yes."

There was a determination in Shirley's voice and expression that told me this was true.

"Let's try it once," I suggested. "It might turn out that you can't be hypnotized." That would even let me off the hook, actually, I thought to myself.

"Are you busy tonight?" Shirley asked, obviously eager to get going.

I thought about that night and realized it was Wednesday. "Poker night," I said. "How's tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow evening it is," Shirley said. She picked up a Post-It pad on my desk and wrote her address on it. "Meet me at my place at six tomorrow."

"OK."

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I was pretty nervous about the whole idea. First, as I told Shirley, I hadn't even practiced hypnosis in a decade. Second, I would be working with Shirley on something that I knew very little about: the problems with overweight people.

I used Google to find some hypnosis reference sites. Not surprisingly, there were a lot of bad resources on the web. Luckily, I did have the knowledge from my college courses, and I could weed out the bad advice, and actually found a few good resources. There were a few sites that dealt with erotica based on hypnosis as well. The fact that there was such a specific genre of stories out there surprised me! Needless to say, I avoided those, since they would not help me with Shirley.

Next, I searched the web for resources on dieting. Again, there were quite a lot of these resources online. I decided to work from the official government sites like the FDA and other well known groups that had this information. After a couple of hours, I had a couple of good ideas of how hypnosis might actually be able to help Shirley.

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I showed up at Shirley's apartment precisely at six.

"Hi, Jim!" Shirley said after she opened the door.

Dinner was at a Thai restaurant that I never heard about before. I had a basil and chicken stir fry, and Shirley ordered a chicken curry dish.

During the meal, Shirley told me about her past history with fad diets, and how she never seemed to have the self-control to stay on many of them. The ones she was able to stay with were the ones that simply didn't work for her.

For my part, I let her talk and just listened. I had some questions of my own, but wanted to learn Shirley's own perceptions about her problems with eating from herself. I still wasn't completely certain that Shirley was going to go through with the hypnosis session, and I still didn't consider myself any kind of an expert on either hypnosis or dieting.

As promised, Shirley paid the check, and suggested that we go back to her place for the session. That was the first mention of it she made that evening, but I realized that she was still quite determined to go through with it.

As I drove Shirley back to her apartment, I finally broached the subject directly.

"I must warn you, Shirley, that not everybody can be hypnotized, so I don't want to get your hopes up on something that just might not be possible."

"I thought everybody can be hypnotized. I've seen movies where..."

I shook my head. "Movies are fiction, Shirley. Nobody has hypno-rays coming out of their eyes and you don't need to swing a shiny pendant. People don't wake up in hospitals able to get sexual favors from the nurses at night just because they suffered a head wound. Hypnotism is simply a state of intense relaxation, and it's not something that one person does to another person. It's something that you do to yourself, sometimes with somebody guiding you along."

"If you say so..." Shirley seemed doubtful.

"The first thing you need to do, Shirley, is to get rid of all those unreasonable expectations you have. As I told you last week at work, it should be a slow process. Even supposing that you can be hypnotized, you shouldn't expect anything to happen for the first session or so. Putting somebody under and then commanding them to do your bidding just doesn't happen. If I told you to kill your boss while you were under hypnosis you would be just as likely to go through with it as if I told you to do so right now. That is, your mind is much smarter than to simply do anything that somebody else suggests."

"But Wendy said that it just took one session..."

Again I interrupted. "And remember how effective the command for her to not like fattening food is right now. It's not. The mind is too complicated for such a simplistic thing to work effectively."

"If you say so."

As I turned into Shirley's parking lot, I found a visitor's spot and stopped the car. "Let's just find out how good a subject you are, Shirley. After that, we'll decide together how we'll go about with the process. OK?"

Shirley agreed and we entered her apartment.

Shirley's apartment had a nice comfortable sofa which would be perfect for relaxing.

I won't go into the specifics of the induction I used with Shirley. I was still rusty on the subject, and it took a little longer than it probably should have taken. I started off with one technique, but didn't get a reaction from Shirley. I carefully switched to another, and after about a half hour, Shirley finally did go under.

I performed a few tests to make sure that Shirley was indeed under. I had her stiffen her arm like a statue and I tried unsuccessfully to move it. It seemed like she really was hypnotized. There were many other ways that I would be able to tell if she was faking it during the entire session, so I was convinced that, despite the awkward start, this would be a good session.

"Shirley, can you hear my voice?"

"Umm, hmmm," Shirley answered, her voice very soft.

"You are now Trance Shirley. That is the Shirley that is in her hypnotic trance. Waking Shirley is the Shirley you are at all other times, wide awake. Waking Shirley is aware that you are in a trance and unless I tell you otherwise, she is aware of what happens in your trance. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"Tell me what you understand about what I just said."

Shirley intoned, "I am Trance Shirley, and Waking Shirley is aware of what is happening."

"That's right. Now, keep your eyes closed, and I want you to imagine that you are standing in a room. Shirley, can you see the room?"

"Um... a room... it has a desk and... um... a door."

"Describe the room to me."

This was a test that would tell me about how Shirley's imagination worked. The more creative her descriptions were, the more creative I could be with our session.

"It's a small office. There's a desk and a chair. I see a door, which is closed. I'm alone in an office."

"That's right, Shirley," I said, going with her description. "This is your office. It's not your office at work or at your home. It's in your mind, and in this office, you can look at the workings of your mind. Do you recognize the office now?"

"Yes!" Shirley exclaimed happily. "It's the office in my mind!"

I could see from Shirley's expression that she was really getting into this. This was one technique that I read on one of the web sites the previous night, and it seemed kind of interesting. It was a way to divide the mind into many rooms, each of which has a special purpose. The imagery was simple and it was easy to convey to just about anybody.

"OK. Now, I want you to think, Shirley. When you look in this room, you are looking into your own mind. Are you sure that you want to be in this room?"

Shirley's voice had some doubt. "I'm not sure."

"That's all right, Shirley," I said, assuring her. "It's in this room, and others like it, that we will be able to see the workings of your mind. It is here where we will be able to make some helpful changes."

"I understand." There was still some hesitation in Shirley's voice.

"You do want to make some changes, changes that will make you a better person, Shirley. Is that right?"

"Yes."

There was no hesitation in her voice or in her expression when answering that question. It was time to continue.

"You like being in this room. It's a comfortable room, and you can relax here. You are within your own mind, and you are relaxed and comfortable in your mind."

"Yes."

No hesitation at all.

"All right, Shirley. Let's open the door. It will open into a big hallway. Open the door, Shirley."

After a moment or two, Shirley said, "The door is open. You are right. There is a big hallway."

I smiled at Shirley's progress. "Very good, Shirley. Now I want you to walk down this hallway. You will see a lot of closed doors as you walk down this hallway. They lead to different parts of your mind. Why don't you walk down this hallway? As you pass each door, I want you to tell me where each door leads."

Shirley started to concentrate. "I... um... I am walking down the hallway. There's a door. I... um... I don't know where it goes!"

"Don't worry, Shirley. Just think. This door leads to a part of your mind. Which part does it go to?"

"Oh! I know! This is the door that says 'Happiness!'"

That was an interesting discovery. "The door has a sign on it?" I asked.

"Yes. It says, 'My Happiness.' It leads to my happiness!"

"Very nice, Shirley. Let's go further down the hallway. What does the next door say?"

Shirley concentrated again. She said, "OK. I see the next door. It says, 'Love.'"

Again, this was very interesting. I was starting to feel that sensation that I felt those years ago when I tried out hypnotism with other subjects. I felt a bit voyeuristic, and perhaps a bit uncomfortable. "Let's pass that door, too. Keep walking down the hall."

"The next door. It says, 'Friendship.'"

"Keep going..."

"The next one reads, 'Fun.'"

Shirley continued walking down that hall in her mind. One of those doors looked promising, 'Eating.' There was a door for worries, a door for health, and even a door for secrets.

"Those are all wonderful doors, Shirley. You are doing great. Now, you can look down the hall and see even more doors. Each one leads to a specific part of your mind. You can keep walking until you find the door you want. These are the doorways into your mind and you know where each and every one is. Isn't this great?"

"Yes. It's amazing!" The excitement in her voice was very evident.

I sighed. It was now time to do some of the parts that I didn't really like, but this was something I had to do. "Great work, Shirley. Now, I want you to see if you can find a specific door. I want you to find the door that has the word 'Truth' on it. Can you find that door?"

"I saw that one earlier!" Shirley exclaimed. "It's back over here next to the Secrets door. There it is. It says, 'Truth.' Is that the door you are looking for?"

Shirley hadn't mentioned that door before, but then she probably wasn't thinking of it when she was rattling off the signs on the doors.

"Yes, Shirley. I would like you to open that door and walk into that room. Can you do that?"

My coworker concentrated again, and then said, "I'm turning the knob... the door is opening. Do you want me to go into that room?"

"Yes, Shirley."

"OK. I'm in that room."

"Very good, Shirley," I said. "Now, in this room, only the truth is found. Do you realize that, Shirley?"

"Only truth can be found in this room."

"That's right. Now, I want you to look at me. You are sitting on your comfortable sofa in the Room of Truth. You see me sitting on your other chair in that room."

Shirley nodded, and looked at me. She had that "not there" look in her face, and I know that her brain was working to incorporate my physical presence into the image within her mind.

"I see you."

I smiled. "In the Room of Truth, you cannot lie. You do not have to answer any of my questions, but those that you do answer must be truthful. You know that, don't you?"

"Yes. I must be truthful in the Room of Truth. I don't have to answer questions if I don't want to."

"That's right."

I was glad this was now established. I'm one that appreciates limits, especially with something as basic as a person's mind. "Tell me why the two of us are here."

"I invited you over to help me with my weight problem."

"That's good."

"I had another reason, too."

There was a pause, and I realized that this was Shirley exercising her right not to answer questions... her mental version of taking the fifth amendment. I ignored this for now.

"Shirley, how much do you weigh?"

There was a moment of indecision, and Shirley finally said, "One hundred, seventy three pounds."

I wasn't sure if she would have answered that question. At least I now had a data point that could help us work on her problem.

I asked, "Do you know your ideal weight?"

"One hundred, twenty five." Nearly fifty pounds overweight. Another data point.

"Tell me why you think you are overweight."

"I eat the wrong foods. I like eating fatty foods, and I eat way too often. I don't exercise. I also eat when I'm emotional. You know... when I'm sad, I eat; and when I'm happy, I eat."

"That's fair," I said. "What do you think would be the easiest way for you to start losing weight?"

"I could exercise, but I am not reliable enough to do it on a regular basis. I've wanted to join a gym, but I don't look good in gym clothes."

"Ahh," I said, "what else can you do?"

"I could eat healthier food."

"What's healthier food?"

"Fruits, vegetables. Things that are low in fat and low in calories."

"That's very good." I think I had the basics of Shirley's problem pretty well defined now.

There was still another issue I needed to deal with. "Trance Shirley, until I say otherwise, from now on, Waking Shirley is unaware of what is happening. Is this all right with you?"

"Um... yes. Waking Shirley doesn't know what's happening now." Shirley's voice took on a decided monotone now.

"When Waking Shirley isn't aware of what's happening, then Trance Shirley doesn't have any decision to not answer questions in the Room of Truth. Do you realize this?"

"Yes."

"Earlier, you said you there was another reason why we're here tonight."

"Yes."

"What is that reason?"

"Waking Shirley has always had a fantasy of losing control. She would never do this; she never will allow herself to get drunk or use drugs. However, she thinks that you might be able to allow her to live out this fantasy in a little way."

"Oh? Give me an example of one of those fantasies."

"I cannot do that."

This confused me. "Why not?"

"I can only tell you in another room."

Intriguing! "Which room?"

"The Room of Secrets."

"Ah. Without Waking Shirley moving, I want Trance Shirley to leave the Room of Truth and go into the Room of Secrets. Tell me when you get there."

A slight pause. "OK. I am in the Room of Secrets."

"You can now tell me Waking Shirley's fantasy that she wanted to live out."

"Her most recent fantasies revolve about you hypnotizing her and making her do something embarrassing."

"Like what?"

"Last night, Shirley fantasized about you making her strip and taking sexual advantage of her. Unfortunately for her, she thinks you are too much of a gentleman to do that."

"Ah." It hadn't occurred to me that Shirley would have had that kind of fantasy. This was actually news; did girls really have fantasies of people taking advantage of them?

"If I were to take advantage of her, wouldn't she be angry?"

"She will pretend to be angry, but will secretly be aroused."

"I see."

"Do you really think Shirley would want me to take advantage of her?"

"She definitely would."

I nodded, and Shirley in her trance state didn't react. Finally, I said, "OK. Let's go back to the Room of Truth."

There was another pause before Shirley said, "We're back."

"All right, Trance Shirley. Here's something for you to remember. Whenever you're in a trance, and I say, 'Trance Shirley Only, ' Waking Shirley will fade away immediately and won't even be aware that anything is happening until I say, 'Waking Shirley is back.' When I say that, Waking Shirley will come back, and then you will blink your eyes twice to let me know that she's back. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"Waking Shirley is back."

Almost immediately, Shirley blinked her eyes twice.

"OK. I think we've done quite a lot for this session. Let's leave the Room of Truth, and leave the hallway of your mind. I'll help bring you out of your trance, and then we'll discuss what happened today. Is this all right with you?"

"Yes."

I slowly led Shirley out of her trance. I gave her a single post-hypnotic suggestion that would make it easier to bring her under the next time. I also gave her instructions that if I were to ask her to do something that she objected to, she would not get angry, but simply let me know.

Out of the trance, Shirley shook her head. "I feel wonderful! Why did you stop so soon?"

"I told you that tonight was just an exploratory session. I wanted to find out if you were a good subject. I wanted to see how you react under hypnosis. I also wanted you to see how this whole process works, and to decide for yourself if you want to continue doing this."

"I do!"

The two of us spent fifteen minutes discussing what happened during the trance. Shirley never mentioned anything about a loss of perceived time or the discussion in the Room of Secrets.

Shirley said, "I am surprised that I told you my weight. You better not tell anybody else!"

"Shirley, I will treat anything you tell me while you are under in confidence."

Nodding, Shirley said, "I trust you, Jim."

I knew that; she wouldn't have gone under so easily if she didn't. I wondered if her fantasy about my taking advantage of her had something to do with it.

Finally, it was time for me to go. I could see minor disappointment in Shirley's eyes, and I realized that I hadn't fulfilled her fantasy. However, Shirley didn't yet realize that I knew about her fantasy. I just needed some time to figure out what I wanted to do about it. After all, this involved me as well as her.

We made a "date" for Saturday afternoon to do another session.



-------

Chapter 2: Exercising Control


I must admit right here and now that I thought a lot about Shirley's fantasy. I thought about it on the drive back from her place and, somehow in my mind, her fantasy started to have a willing co-star... me.

At home, I spent some time online exploring those hypnosis erotica sites, reading some of the shorter stories. It turned out that the authors of most stories simply used the quite unlikely "I am your master and you must obey everything I say" theme. Such a thing could happen, but it required that the subject already be willing to submit their will to that of another person, and that takes quite a lot... not just a submissive tendency, but one so strong that they would desire to actually lose their own personality in the process. In my mind, it was only natural that this couldn't happen as often as portrayed in the online stories.

Those stories were fiction, however. The fact that they were fantasies meant that they didn't have to deal with the real world facts about hypnosis.

However, this didn't negate the fact that most of the activities mentioned in the stories were still quite erotic to me! I was simply amazed at the number of ideas that people had about using such a power. There was the classic "master and unwilling slave" motif, of course, but there were others. Unsurprisingly, there were a few ideas taken from "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever," in that people were able to regress to previous lives.

In some stories, the theme involved stage hypnotists having their volunteers meet them after the show for some extracurricular activity. I'd already mentioned that most stage hypnotists don't actually hypnotize people, so these were really fiction.

Another popular theme was having female victims treat a penis like a "cream filled Popsicle." Although it was an obvious male-oriented fantasy, and probably unrealistic, the idea did appeal to me.

The variations, of course, were as endless as there were authors to pen the stories.

As titillating as such stories were, few gave me any insight of how I could fulfill Shirley's fantasy. Trance Shirley didn't give me too much detail on what she actually wanted, so I would have to play it by ear.

Knowing that I wouldn't be able to come up with too many ideas ahead of time, I continued researching weight loss from reputable web sites, the ones that weren't trying to sell anything.

What I found, of course, was a repeat of my original research and Shirley's own analysis of her situation. Exercise seemed to be the key to losing weight and keeping it off.

On Saturday morning, I realized that I knew very little about a proper exercise program. Most of the reputable sites mentioned aerobic exercise, so I got the great idea to tune into the early morning exercise shows on TV... especially the ones that seemed tailored for women.

Now, I've occasionally seen these shows before, but considered them soft-core porn intended to arouse males more than they were intended to help housewives lose weight. The exercises were real, however. Apparently, they had to have some sort of use in order to keep up their pretense.

I watched girls squatting, doing leg lifts, and other healthy activities in exotic tropical locales. I saw some using gym equipment to accomplish their tasks. Some seemed to be serious, explaining activities that were especially suited for flattening the tummy and others for firming up flabby thighs.

As two o'clock approached, I came up with what looked like a low-impact workout that Shirley should be able to do based on my watching those shows. Using hypnosis, I could get Shirley to stick to these workouts three or four times a week, the recommended schedule I saw on the web sites.

The doorbell rang a little after two. It was Shirley. I saw her car parked in my driveway, and she was dressed in the same sort of outfit she normally wore to the office.

"Hi, Shirley!" I said, smiling as I opened the door.

"I'm sorry I'm a bit late. I went the wrong way down the street, and only noticed when I saw the house numbers moving up instead of down."

"Not a problem." I invited Shirley inside.

"Would you like a drink?" I asked.

Shirley shook her head. She seemed a bit nervous, though. "Can we... you know... start?"

"So soon?" I asked. "How about a glass of water? Water is supposed to be good for you and helps clean out your system."

"OK," Shirley said, reluctantly.

I led Shirley to the living room, and told her to put her jacket on the foot stool in front of my recliner. I left for the kitchen and filled an eight ounce glass of spring water.

As soon as I entered the living room, I said, "Sleep, Shirley. Sleep." This was Shirley's post-hypnotic suggestion to help quicken the entire hypnosis process.

Shirley looked a bit surprised, but her eyes quickly closed and I saw her breathing get deeper.

"Trance Shirley only," I said.

Shirley didn't react at all. However, if the commands from the last session held, Shirley would not be aware of what was happening at this point.

"Lead me to the Room of Secrets," I ordered.

There was a second's pause and Shirley said, "We are there."

"You told me last time that Waking Shirley desires me to take advantage of her."

"Yes."

I nodded. "Does she still have this desire?"

"She has been thinking of that over and over since we were put under."

"Oh?"

There was no response to this.

"Can you tell me what she fantasizes?"

"Shirley pretends that you tell her to undress. This is embarrassing, since she doesn't like the way she looks. Infrequently, she pretends that you have her do sexual things, make her perform oral sex and then have intercourse. She feels that she cannot resist your commands, and is helpless."

"Ahh," I said. This was interesting. It seemed to fit some of the plot lines of the erotic stories I was reading, actually. "Is there anything more?"

"Even before we talked during the snow storm, Shirley had fantasies of you and her dating. Unfortunately, she hasn't gone out on dates because she doesn't like her appearance."

"I see." After thinking for about a minute, I added, "Well, take me to the Room of Obedience."

A pause. "We're there."

"Trance Shirley, everything you are told to do while you are in this room, you know that you have to obey. Unlike Waking Shirley, you have no choice."

There was a longer pause. Apparently, this wasn't an easy thing for her to accept.

"Trance Shirley, you told me that Waking Shirley has fantasies about me taking advantage of her."

"That information is can be found in the Room of Secrets," Shirley admonished, surprising me with the first hint of emotion since she went under.

"I know that," I said. "However, if Waking Shirley desires this, then Trance Shirley should allow me to give her orders in the Room of Obedience."

Again there seemed to be an internal struggle. I was about to say something when Shirley said, "I accept that."

"So, everything I tell you to do in this room is something that you will be compelled to do. Is that correct?"

"Not everything," Shirley answered.

"What limits do you have?" I asked.

"Shirley will allow you to control me in an effort for losing weight. She also allows you to control her to fulfill her fantasy."

Sometimes, Trance Shirley's use of pronouns was a bit confusing, but I understood what she meant.

"Remember that I told Waking Shirley that if something is outside the limits you are willing to allow, tell me at once and not to get angry. If you do that, you won't be bound by the rules of this room for what you tell me is outside your limits."

"Shirley accepts that. We will obey all orders or tell you when we cannot."

I thought for a few minutes while Shirley stood in my living room. Suddenly, I had an idea of how to fulfill Shirley's fantasy.

"Here are your orders." I gave Shirley specific instructions and had her repeat them to me in her own words to confirm that she understood.

Finally, I said, "Take me to the Room of Weight Loss."

A slight pause, and then "We're there."

"Waking Shirley is back."

Almost immediately, Shirley blinked twice.

Without missing a beat, I said, "Shirley, today we are going to work on helping you lose weight. In order to do this, we will work on two of the things that you have suggested yourself. The first will be an exercise regimen. The second will be having you eat a more healthy diet."

Shirley said, "I've tried both and failed."

"This time," I said, "we'll try it together. I will work as your exercise coach, and also as your diet manager. I'm learning this as I'm working with you, but together we can probably succeed where you alone have not been able to. Will you help me try to help you?"

Shirley nodded. "All right."

I gave Shirley a few more simple orders that she would have no difficulty accepting in order to help her get herself in the right frame of mind.

Shirley agreed to them all.

I finally gave her a post-hypnotic suggestion. "Shirley, whenever I touch my right index finger to my nose and give you an order, you will consider that order. If you have no reason to disobey my order--in other words, if you don't find anything objectionable to my order, you will immediately obey it. If you do find something objectionable, you will immediately tell me 'No.' Do you understand and agree to this?"

There was a slight pause. "Yes."

I then led Shirley slowly out of her trance. I needed to draw it out a bit because I didn't want Shirley to notice that she had been under a bit longer than she might remember.

Of course, Shirley had no active memory of the other orders that I had given her in the Room of Obedience, but I knew that those orders, plus the index finger order, should make things a bit fun this afternoon.

Once out of her trance, Shirley shook her head. "That's it?" she asked.

"we're going to do this slowly," I reminded Shirley. "We need to establish our relationship of trust."

Inwardly, I knew the irony of my words, but didn't convey this to Shirley. The effect, however, mostly served to help reinforce the trust I had already started to build within her.

The tricky part, of course, would be to keep that trust and build upon it, while at the same time, fulfilling Shirley's fantasy. In order to do that successfully, I would need some help from Trance Shirley.

"So, what do we do now?" Shirley asked.

I put my finger to my nose and said, "You need to get prepared to start your first exercise workout."

Shirley had no idea that my request had any underlying effects, so she naturally obeyed that order without hesitation. This obedience, once granted, would have an interesting side effect.

"OK, Jim."

Immediately, I returned my finger to my nose. "Let's establish another part of our relationship. Call me 'Coach.'"

Shirley nodded, smiled, and said, "Yes, Coach."

Shirley slipped off her shoes, and placed them neatly next to the ottoman, where she had put her jacket earlier.

I watched Shirley go through her procedure, wondering how soon she would notice that something was awry.

Shirley looked at her legs, and realized that she wouldn't be able to exercise properly in stockings. She seemed to fight within herself, and finally started squirming. I was a bit surprised when I realized that she was wearing pantyhose.

"I can't exercise in those," Shirley said by way of explanation.

I didn't say anything.

Shirley looked at her skirt now, and came to the startling realization that she couldn't exercise in that, either.

"Um, Coach... I didn't bring any exercise clothes!"

I didn't answer her, but sat on my love seat and smiled.

Shirley looked at her skirt, and then at me. It took her a few seconds before she gave out a sigh and found the zipper on her side.

"Did you do this to me?" Shirley asked.

Again, I didn't answer.

Shirley took off her skirt, and her blouse hung down and partially hid her plain white panties. "Are you happy now?" Shirley asked.

Once again, I didn't answer. I didn't want to spoil the surprise.

Shirley looked away from me and down at her body. Her fingers moved to the top button of her blouse.

"Oh, fuck no!" Shirley cried. "What did you do to me?"

I figured that taking the fifth amendment was the best idea. If Shirley actually freaked, I could always stop the order that she was currently compelled to obey.

Shirley looked in horror as her errant hands continued to unbutton her shirt. "How are you doing this?" Shirley asked.

By the time her hands removed her blouse, I think Shirley was resigned to having me see her in her underwear. She folded it neatly and placed it with her skirt and jacket.

Shirley refused to look at me, and I could see the redness in her face. She was truly embarrassed at me seeing her in her underwear.

After a delay, Shirley's arms moved behind her and toward the middle of her back. "Shit! No! This isn't funny, Jim!"

I silently watched as her brassiere loosened and her hands pulled the straps down. It took only a few seconds for me to see her large but pale breasts. She turned away as she folded the garment neatly on top of her blouse.

Shirley turned to me, and I saw anger in her eyes. She was still embarrassed, but she was sputtering. "Why did you do that to me? I trusted you!"

As Shirley was yelling, her arms were once again busy. Her panties were nearly past her knees when Shirley realized what she was doing. "Jim! I said that this isn't funny!"

It was finally time for me to speak. I put my index finger to my nose and said, "If you can tell me truthfully that you hate what I'm doing, I'll make it stop. Otherwise, stop pretending to be angry."

Shirley looked at me, and started to speak. "I..." There was a pause. "I..." Another pause. Finally, Shirley cast her eyes down. "I'm sorry..."

I got up from the love seat and walked around Shirley. From my instructions in the Room of Obedience, Shirley was to simply stand and not hide her body until I told her otherwise.

Shirley's body was indeed large. However, I didn't see much of what you'd call fat on her body. She had a bit of a belly, but not as much as you'd think from the way she thought about herself. Her breasts were large, but not for her body. They sagged just a little unencumbered by her bra. Her aureoles were small--about the size of a nickel, and her nipples were dark pink points at their centers. The widest part of Shirley's body were her hips, and there was just a bit of a flair that indicated a female's body. Her fanny was a bit big, but again, it wasn't really too large. Her pubic hair was quite bushy; I don't think I've ever seen that much hair between a woman's legs before.

Naked, Shirley didn't really look bad at all. She wasn't a knockout, nor would she ever be confused with a supermodel, but I wouldn't be embarrassed to call her my girl friend. My erection told me that her body had sex appeal, and walking around her, I could smell the musk of her own arousal.

"You forgot to bring the correct gym outfit, Shirley," I finally said. "Therefore, in order to work out, you'll do it naked. Tomorrow, when you come back, try to find something appropriate or the penalty will be the same. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Coach."

I put my finger to my nose and said, "I will release you in a few moments, Shirley. However, while I am acting as Coach, you will obey all my instructions with regard to exercising. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Coach, but I don't want to allow you to touch me inappropriately, though."

"While you are exercising, I promise that I will not touch you, except to help you with a particular exercise, or unless you specifically ask me to do so."

"OK." Shirley looked a bit relieved, but seemed a bit wary. I had already demonstrated more control over her than she originally realized.

"Fine. Move onto the throw rug," I said, pointing to a lamb's wool rug that a friend of mine gave me after a trip to Australia. "I want you to lie on your left side, facing me."

"Yes, Coach."

The view of Shirley from that angle was nice. The pubic hair was distracting, but that was minor, actually.

"Our first exercise will be leg lifts. You will lift your right leg straight up as high as you can, and hold it in the air for ten seconds. You will count out every five lifts, and stop when you reach fifty."

"Yes, Coach."

Shirley lifted her leg. On her first try, she managed to create a forty-five to fifty degree angle. Although the girls on the television managed to lift their legs nearly vertically, I figured that they had plenty of practice. This was Shirley's first attempt, and I was impressed.

On her second lift, my eyes were once again attracted to her pubic hair. Despite the amount of hair she had, when she reached the top of her lift, I could see some of the pink skin. There was noticeable moistness there.

"Are you getting a good view, J... Coach?" Shirley asked.

"You could say that," I answered.

After fifty leg lifts, Shirley relaxed.

"On your right side, and continue facing me. Fifty more lifts, and count them as before."

Shirley nodded, and moved on the throw rug.

After the leg lifts, I instructed Shirley to do one hundred squats.

Shirley gave me a look that told me that she realized that every one of her exercises were going to be pretty revealing.

I had Shirley exercise for nearly half an hour. She developed a healthy sheen of sweat, and there was some very noticeable wetness between her legs which I suspected was due to the fact that she was living out her fantasy of losing control.

One of the exercises I planned, but had to modify was jumping jacks. After about twenty, Shirley stopped and begged me to lower the count from a hundred. Apparently, her large breasts, which were flopping in a very lovely fashion during this exercise, tended to hurt without anything to support them. I reluctantly agreed.

I called a break after the half hour and had Shirley sit cross legged on the throw rug. She stayed there as I went to the kitchen and came back with a sixteen ounce glass of spring water. "Drink this," I ordered.

Shirley drank up.

After a half hour of doing very revealing exercises, Shirley had stopped trying to hide her pubes from my view. Sitting cross-legged, Shirley gave me a good eyeful of the treasures that her hair previously hid.

Shirley put down the cup and said, "You seem to enjoy looking at me."

I answered, "I appreciate the loveliness of the female form."

Shirley was still commanded to remain sitting on the throw rug, and she remained there obediently.

From the bathroom, I went to my bedroom. I quickly undressed and put on a pair of gym shorts and a muscle shirt without any underwear.

When I came back, Shirley was still in her position. I sat myself behind her and instructed her to spread out her legs and lean on me. She lay down on my lap and looked up at me.

"We're in your rest period, Shirley. You can call me Jim now and talk freely."

"Thank you... Jim."

"What do you think of your first half hour?" I asked.

"First? How long are we doing this?"

"An hour at least," I said. "Now answer my question."

"I'm a bit tired. I'm exercising muscles that I haven't used in a while. I'm also a bit angry at you for making me undress!"

"Tell me the truth," I said, holding my index finger to my nose.

"OK. I'm not angry. How did you do that, anyway?"

I shrugged. "I just convinced you that you mustn't get your lovely outfit all sweaty as you exercise."

"I don't remember that."

"I also wanted to see what we were working with. You are asking me to help you lose weight. In order to do that, we're going to have to be a bit intimate." There was a look of shock on Shirley's face at that. I quickly added, "I don't mean we'll be having sex. I mean that you cannot hide your body from me if you want me to help you. Now, after your next half hour, we'll do another hypnosis session and you'll remember everything this time. We'll work on your eating habits."

"You promise, Jim?" Shirley asked. "Do you promise that I'll remember everything? I was surprised that you gave me orders without me knowing them."

"Well, I was surprised to find out that you had some ulterior motives in addition to simply wanting to lose weight, Shirley."

There was a pause. "Touché. I guess you got me good."

"Look, Shirley. I'm not going to make you bark like a dog in front of your friends or have you show up at work naked. I did have good reason to get you naked, and I didn't think you'd do it willingly. I noticed that you wanted to be taken advantage of--not too extreme, I hope! I decided to give you a little taste of that to let you figure out how far you want that to go."

My coworker looked up and apparently saw that I was telling her the truth. She simply shrugged and, in doing so, managed to snuggle her head against my lap. She seemed to enjoy laying on my lap.

I asked, "Do you mind if I hold you a bit?"

Shirley looked very contented. "Well, you did promise not to touch me inappropriately."

"Only during exercising, or if you give me specific permission."

There was a far-away look in Shirley's eyes. "Well, if you are going to touch me, you better kiss me first."

I smiled and bent down and planted a kiss on Shirley's forehead. She opened her eyes in surprise and disappointment and seemed to be ready to say something when I moved quickly and kissed her.

The kiss I received from her was smoldering. Her lips were warm, wet, and as inviting as hell. Our tongues touched and were exchanged.

I reached my hand to touch her right breast, feeling the softness of her skin. A moan from Shirley accompanied that.

I tried to pull away, but Shirley's arms were around me and held me securely. She moved her body so my fingers were touching her nipple.

Another moan, and I finally pulled myself away. "Shirley... I have to..."

"Please, Jim! I need it!" Shirley's hand grabbed mine and pulled it back to her breast.

The kiss lasted nearly five minutes. It was very enjoyable for me, and it seemed to be enjoyable to Shirley as well. Apparently, Shirley had extremely sensitive breasts, or she was truly wound up from her living out her fantasy.

-------

The second half hour's instruction seemed to go faster. Shirley seemed to have a renewed vigor in doing her exercises, and even suggested some exercises for herself to do, a few of them pretty revealing. One of them was for me to try to pull her elbows together as she tried to keep them apart against my strength. This had the two of us very close together and in order to perform the activity properly, I had to stare at her amble bosom.

We had our second rest break, and Shirley decided to turn the tables on me.

The two of us were laying as we did before, with Shirley's head on my lap. She looked up at me and said, "All right, Jim. I want to perform another exercise. You stay there and let me try this out."

Without any further warning, Shirley reached into my gym shorts and grabbed my erect penis. She then began to rub me up and down my shaft within my shorts.

"Hmm," Shirley said, "you've been seeing mine all day."

"You can pull them down if you want," I offered.

Shirley shook her head. "Uh, uh. You got me all hot and bothered before. It's my turn."

I took it like a man. I allowed Shirley to give me a hand job inside my shorts. Her hand was slow and exquisite; she obviously knew what she was doing.

It took only a couple of minutes before I felt that familiar sensation. "Um, Shirley..."

Shirley simply smiled in triumph and stopped, pulling her hand out of my shorts. "That serves you right for teasing me like you did before. We're even!"

"Hey!" I shouted.

"Are we done with the exercises?" Shirley asked, ignoring my protest.

I sighed. I wanted to do the second hypnosis session at this point, but I was pretty distracted at that point.

Shirley jumped up off my lap. "May I use your shower? I'm all sweaty."

"Um, of course. Up the stairs and first door on the right. There's a linen closet with a couple of towels."

"Thanks!" Shirley ran upstairs with me looking up at her, admiring the view.

After I heard the water running, I went upstairs. The door to the bathroom was open, and I wondered if Shirley left it open as an invitation to me. I decided against that and went into my own room. I got changed and took care of my case of blue balls.

After I was changed, I got out of my room. The door to the bathroom was still open, and Shirley had a towel wrapped around her head.

"I thought you'd join me," Shirley said.

I shook my head. "You didn't invite me."

Shirley looked a bit surprised and disappointed, but nodded. "I'll be downstairs in a minute."

"OK. I'll be in the living room."

As I went down the stairs, I wondered myself why I didn't take advantage of Shirley's obvious invitation.

A few minutes later, Shirley came down, still wearing a towel on her head. She sat down on the throw rug and crossed her legs.

I was curious. "Don't you want to get dressed?"

"Do you want me to get dressed?"

I shrugged. "I love looking at pretty naked ladies."

"Pretty? Ha!"

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder," I quoted.

"Well, my mother would be proud. I only got naked on the second date!"

We both laughed.

I put Shirley under and then gave Shirley her instructions. She was to drink at least eight ounces of water every hour that she was awake and with every meal. She would only eat three reasonable sized meals a day and limit her desserts this week to a small one after lunch and a slightly larger one after dinner. One or two glasses of wine or light beer a week, maximum, with exceptions allowed for special occasions. I also suggested carrots and celery for snacks.

After the hypnosis session, Shirley asked me about my diet plan. "I thought you'd have me eating vegetarian meals!"

I shrugged. "If that's what you want to eat, do it. Remember, the celery and carrots are 'free snacks, ' and you can eat them whenever. No dip, however!"

"But I thought you'd make me hate sweets!"

I shook my head. "Nope. Let's not punish you just because you like desserts. Instead, lets just have you try to start eating normally. If you get emotional and want to snack out, use the celery and carrots. I also want you to email me everyday with every bit of food that you had the previous day. I've also reinforced that with a hypnotic suggestion, as you know and agreed to."

Shirley frowned. "I wasn't too sure about that one..."

"Shirley, just like I had to get you to show me your body, I need to find out how well you are staying on your diet. If you tell me that you're eating perfectly and you aren't, then whatever I do won't be helping you, and that is what you asked me to do."

"You just like looking at naked girls."

I smiled. "Just the pretty ones," I reminded her.

Shirley looked at me curiously, and then beamed. "Thanks, Jim."

"We have another workout tomorrow. Remember to bring proper gym clothes!"

Shirley giggled.

I finally had Shirley get dressed, and we ended up going to a local Mexican eatery that specializes in fresh and healthy food. I wanted to show Shirley that it was possible to eat well without having to go on fad diets.

I was surprised. Eating out with Shirley was a truly enjoyable experience. It seemed like I was going to easily get used to having her in my life.



-------

Chapter 3: A New Development


Saturday night had me thinking a lot about Shirley. I'm not sure how Shirley had such a negative self-image about herself; this might be something I might want to check out with Trance Shirley.

Shirley turned out to be a good sport about the whole nudity thing. She even was precocious enough to get me back by stroking me inside my gym shorts, and seemed playful enough to invite me for a shower.

Somehow, the two of us just sort of clicked.

That night also had me thinking sexual thoughts about Shirley. It was easy to remember her big jugs and her hairy snatch. It was also easy for me to remember her big smile and that warm, sexy kiss we shared.

-------

On Sunday morning, I woke up and Shirley was once again on my mind. It reminded me of an old Henny Youngman joke. "Money is the last thing I think about... before going to bed every night," and applied it to Shirley. She was indeed the last thing I thought about and the first thing when I woke up!

Although I told the truth to Shirley about my reasons for having her naked, there was also the voyeuristic thing I had. I truly appreciated seeing any female naked, and knowing that she was powerless to stop because she was in my control was a bonus. Those stories on the Internet had fueled those desires, actually.

The two of us had another exercise session this day.

Shirley was going to expect another surprise like the nudity I tricked her into yesterday, but I wanted to go slowly. I had my own rule: I would not force Shirley to do anything she didn't want to do, and if we actually had sex together, I wanted to know that she wanted to do it on her own. That was a part of the erotic stories I didn't particularly like: having sex with unwilling participants. My idea of eroticism is getting your partner very willing!

My coworker showed up at 10am. I was surprised that she didn't have a gym bag with her.

"I figured you'd get me naked again anyway. Why try to fight it?" Shirley explained.

I shrugged and watched Shirley undress. This time, she was completely in control. Although I was a bit disappointed by that, I let Shirley have her way. It was obvious that Shirley preferred being in control, even if she had fantasies of losing it.

"Like what you see, Coach?" Shirley asked.

I was actually surprised. Shirley seemed to have trimmed her pussy hair.

Shirley saw where my attention was focused. "I saw your reaction yesterday," she explained. "I figured I'd do an early bikini trim. I didn't realize that I'd be presenting myself to you like that. I take it you approve."

"I didn't really mind..."

"Right," Shirley said, laughing. "And that tent in your gym shorts tells me otherwise."

It was time to get to business. "Sleep, Shirley. Sleep. Trance Shirley only."

Shirley froze.

"Take me to the Room of Truth."

"We are there."

"Does Waking Shirley want me to take advantage of her like I did yesterday?"

"She expects you to do something. That's why we're trying to cut you off at the pass."

"I see. She wants to make it a challenge, then."

No answer. I didn't phrase it as a question.

"OK. Let's go to the Room of Obedience."

"We are there."

"Waking Shirley is back."

Two blinks. "Shirley, we're going to do the same exercise regimen as we did yesterday. I don't remember the exact order but if you can help me, let me know what we need to do next."

"Sure."

"Thanks."

I led Shirley out of her trance, and started her again on leg lifts.

Since Shirley's pubes were trimmed, I had a much better view of her womanly folds. In fact, I found myself more distracted than the previous day.

After our first session, Shirley lay on my lap as she did on Saturday.

"Mind if I tease your breasts again?" I asked.

"Sure, but if you tease them, I'll tease you back like I did yesterday."

"Hmm," I said, pondering. I then bent down and started to lightly lick her left breast. The nipple immediately responded, and I licked around her aureole, moving closer but not quite touching her nipple. After a couple of minutes of this, I kissed her nipple, and started to suck.

Shirley moaned lightly as she caressed my head as I did this.

I moved from her left breast to her right, and gave it the same treatment before going back to the left.

After about fifteen minutes, I could smell the musk of Shirley's arousal. I brought my head up and said, "Rest break is over!"

"You fucking tease!" Shirley complained.

"I got your permission to do so," I explained.

The next half hour's workout went fine. Shirley had a determination in her eye that I didn't see yesterday. For instance, during her repeat of her leg lifts, she reached a bit wider--I think it was because she was shyer the previous day. However, all of her exercises looked a bit sharper and better defined.

At the end of the workout, I praised her. "You're actually looking pretty sharp!"

"Thank you," Shirley said.

I sat down behind Shirley, and instead of laying her head on my lab, she turned over until she was face down on my crotch. "You teased me. It's my turn."

Shirley pulled down my shorts and saw my now-erect cock. She grinned and then gave it a tentative lick. This was followed by another, and then another, up and down the shaft, never quite reaching the head of my cock.

I tried to move my crotch to get her to lick closer to the tip, but Shirley easily avoided it. After about five minutes of this maddening activity, Shirley pulled her head up and said "Rest break is over!"

It was apparent that Shirley was extremely pleased with herself.

Once again, Shirley asked permission to take a shower, and I gave it to her. She didn't ask me to join her, and in my frustrated state, it probably wouldn't be a good idea for me to do so anyway.

We ate dinner at a Chinese restaurant that evening, and Shirley insisted on picking up the check. I let her do so, and before we parted company, we kissed.

One thing I had to say about Shirley was that she was a great kisser. The kiss we shared lasted about five minutes.

When Shirley left for her apartment, I was once again hard as a rock.

I took care of my "problem" soon afterward.

-------

The next day, Shirley found me in my cubicle right before lunch.

"I have two turkey sandwiches," Shirley said. "Since I'm on a diet, I was wondering if you'd help me with the second one."

I said "Sure!" and didn't tell Shirley that I had my own lunch. I found that I was getting pretty used to Shirley's company.

We ate in the break room, where I insisted on purchasing two diet sodas--one for me--to accompany the meal.

The plan for us was for Shirley to come over on Tuesday for her next work out.

Shirley said, "I've been doing some research on the web about these workouts. If you don't mind, I have some suggestions for tomorrow night."

"That's great," I said, finishing my sandwich. "I'm not really an expert on exercise."

"I don't mind," Shirley said.

-------

Shirley did have some excellent suggestions for Tuesday night's workouts. She had me sit on her legs as she did some sit ups, which weren't easy for her. However, it was quite obvious that she was determined to succeed with her exercise plan.

During our rest periods, I didn't tease Shirley anymore. Instead, she simply lay on my lap and we kissed tenderly. It was obvious that our relationship was starting to blossom.

I never considered dating a coworker before. Everybody says that it's a bad idea, and they are probably right. However, I justified it by telling myself that I was simply trying to help her work out, but that didn't explain why we were always kissing each other. In addition, people helping each other out don't tease each other the way we did on Sunday.

For dinner, I cooked a spaghetti supper. Shirley had her first glass of wine that week, as did I.

I looked across the table, where Shirley was sitting with her towel wrapped around her head, and naked otherwise. "How's the sauce?"

"Extremely good," Shirley said. "I'd ask for seconds, but I'm on a diet."

"You can have seconds. You didn't eat much for your first helping."

"You sound like an Italian mama!" Shirley giggled.

"Well, my mother is Italian," I said, partly in defense.

"Is this her recipe?"

"It is, in fact."

"It's great!"

I changed the subject. "Are you going to insist on being naked all night?"

"Is that an invitation?" Shirley asked, a gleam in her eyes.

Uh, oh. "Shirley... I'm not sure..."

"Oh, I was just teasing. Any time you want, you can just hypnotize me into sleeping with you!"

"No I can not!" I said, almost shouting. I was hurt that Shirley would suggest such a thing!

"Oh! I'm sorry..."

"Shirley, I don't need to hypnotize girls to get them to sleep with me. The girls I sleep with are the ones I also want to wake up to in the morning. If I was to take advantage of somebody, I would not be able to wake up with myself in the morning!"

"I didn't mean..."

"Shirley, I know you have fantasies, but if you want me to 'make' you sleep with me, you are probably going to be disappointed."

Shirley did look disappointed. "You're right."

It was time to grab the bull by the horns. "Trance Shirley, sleep."

This was a new post-hypnotic suggestion I gave Shirley last weekend to have Shirley go into a trance and not have Waking Shirley around. It saved time. Shirley crossed her arms, which was a new signal we worked out for her to let me know that she was under as Trance Shirley.

"Take me to the Room of Fantasies."

"We are there."

"Tell me exactly what kind of fantasies that Shirley has regarding me and hypnosis."

Trance Shirley started reciting a very graphic fantasy involving the two of us. I stopped her and asked for just the main points.

The first fantasy was apparently one that Shirley was trying to live out. Whenever she spent any time in my house, she was to be naked at all times. That was to be an inviolate rule that she had, and enjoyed living with it. In fact, she was a bit nervous about what would happen if somebody else was to visit.

Apparently, Shirley was a bit of an exhibitionist, despite her low self-image of herself.

In addition, Shirley had quite a few fantasies involving hypnosis that I had apparently awakened in her. She wanted me to force her to do sexual acts. She wanted me to force her to exhibit herself in front of others. She wanted me to force her to become my slave.

In each case, Shirley used the word "force."

"Shirley, what do you mean by the word 'force?'"

"Shirley wants you to make her do these things, because she probably wouldn't have the nerve to do them herself."

"You don't seem to have any problem licking my dick."

"Shirley was getting even with you. She warned you about teasing her."

"Does Shirley want to sleep with me?"

"Yes, but she would enjoy it more if you made her do it."

"The only way I can force Shirley to do these types of things is to have her obey me without question regarding every thing I suggest."

"That's true."

Oh, shit. I really needed to think about this. I didn't mind the nudity thing, but this sounded like Shirley was asking for a master and slave relationship. Such a thing would probably require a lot of trust and confidence. I wasn't sure if I was capable of such a relationship myself.

"Take me to the Room of Obedience."

"We are there."

"All right. Let's make the nudity thing permanent. Whenever Shirley is in my house for more than a few minutes, she must be nude at all times unless I specifically tell her otherwise."

"Agreed."

"Shirley will not bring up making me force her to do things anymore. If I discuss the subject, that's fine. Otherwise, don't bring it up."

A pause. "Agreed."

That pause told me that she really, really wanted this. I knew I would have to think about this long and hard.

I gave Shirley the code word that brought her out of her trance.

Immediately, Shirley said, "I'm really sorry, Jim."

It took a few seconds for me to remember what we were talking about before Shirley entered her trance. Oh, yes! I was angry that she thought I would force her to do things!

"Apology accepted. Let's change the subject."

The rest of the evening went a bit more smoothly. We watched television with me sitting on the sofa and my nude house guest laying with her head on my lap.

When Shirley got dressed to leave for the evening, I realized that I really didn't want her to go. However, I had a lot to think about regarding her fantasies.

The kiss before she left made me really sad to see her go.

-------

You might ask me why I wouldn't jump at the opportunity to turn Shirley into a willing slave ready at my beck and call. Well, for one, she was a co-worker. Such a relationship would not go unnoticed at work, and this could have an adverse affect on her job or even my own.

In addition, while Shirley seemed to have given me a lot of trust in making that offer, I didn't know if I had it in me to act like a slave master. After all, my parents instilled in me at an early age to treat all women with respect. As a result, I was usually deferential with women, and now that I think about it, this could be a reason that none of my romantic relationships lasted that long.

Despite being a large woman, Shirley was cute. I enjoyed looking at her naked body exposed to me while she did her exercises, but I was also looking forward to just having her lay on my lap during the rest periods afterward. I was developing the beginnings of an emotional attachment to Shirley--maybe even love. I didn't want that growing relationship to be sidetracked. How could I love somebody who was, in effect, my slave?

Once again, I turned to the Internet erotic hypnosis sites, this time focusing on the master and slave stories. There were many, of course, and some of them were long.

Instead of just skimming them, this time I gave them closer scrutiny. Again, the hypnosis activities were obviously phony, but I saw something that I didn't suspect in a couple of stories.

Could it be true that an all-powerful master could actually love somebody who was forced to obey every command given to them?

Intrigued, I turned to some other sites that didn't focus on hypnosis, but on master and slave relationships. I learned about submissive people and found some places that tried to dispel the myths that a master/slave relationship couldn't be based on love.

-------

On Wednesday, Wendy appeared in my cubicle.

"Hi, Wendy. What's up?"

"Shirley and I were talking. She said you're helping her with her diet."

"As much as a friend can help. Shirley needs to actually do the hard part herself."

"I understand," Wendy said. She lowered her voice and said, "I went to a hypnotist myself. He never suggested exercise."

I shrugged. "Shirley told me. My opinion is that it's difficult to come up with something useful in a single session, but he's the expert, not me."

"I was wondering if... you know... I could exercise with Shirley. I asked her and she appeared a bit worried and asked me to clear it with you."

Ah. Shirley is finally learning that there may be a price to have her fantasy fulfilled!

"I see. How do you feel about it?"

Wendy looked around. "I don't think this is the right place to talk about this. Why don't we meet after work at Harold's?"

Harold's was a lounge that was about a half mile away.

"Sure. Five o'clock?"

"Five."

"It's a date."

-------

"I'd like you to hypnotize me... the way you did to Shirley."

Wendy and I were in a booth at Harold's. It was pretty secluded as most of the regulars were sitting at the bar.

"You were already hypnotized."

"I want you to help me stick to an exercise plan."

I was about to say that there was no guarantee that Wendy could be hypnotized, but I realized that was really not an issue.

"There may be some things that Shirley didn't tell you."

Wendy grinned. "Shirley and I are good friends. I know about her gym outfits. I think that's why she was apprehensive when I asked to join her. I'm probably giving away a secret, but she has a bit of a crush on you."

One thing I knew about Wendy was that she was notorious about not keeping secrets. If Shirley told Wendy about our workouts, it was just a matter of time before the entire office knew about them. This was not good.

"I know how Shirley feels about me," I said. "If I was to agree to this, you would have to agree that any rules that apply to Shirley will also have to apply to you. In addition, if there is anything romantic developing between Shirley and me, I don't want you causing any problems."

"Problems?" Wendy asked, a bit mystified.

"If word gets out around the office about what Shirley and I do, it could affect us and possibly our jobs."

"I wouldn't say anything..."

"Of course not, especially if you are also doing the same thing."

"Oh! I see what you mean."

"Tonight is poker night. It starts at 8pm. Why don't we go over there right now and I'll start the first session to get you into the right frame of mind."

"Right frame of mind?" Wendy asked, a bit suspicious.

"We have to establish trust, Wendy."

"I guess so."

-------

Wendy was accustomed to hypnosis procedures, having worked with a professional before. She went under quickly.

The first thing I did was check to see if there were any post-hypnotic triggers, and there was only the one that made fatty foods taste bad to her. Despite the fact that I thought this trigger was a bit cruel, I didn't remove it.

Wendy's trance state was mostly like that of Trance Shirley's, which told me that Dr. Simons had not worked with Wendy, but rather worked "at" Wendy. Since I had her at her unconscious level, I gave Wendy a couple of post-hypnotic commands. The first one was standard. Whenever I said, "Sleep, Trance Wendy," she would return to this state. The second one was that she would not reveal anything that goes on with regard to Shirley and our exercise sessions to anybody else unless I explicitly allow it.

I then brought Wendy's consciousness into play, and walked her through the "rooms within her mind" bit.

"Take me to the Room of Obedience."

"We're there."

"Wendy, from tomorrow on, whenever you are in my house, you must be nude."

"I'm not sure that I can obey that."

"You've agreed that you will follow any rules that apply to Shirley. That's one that she agreed to, just like I'm asking you. If you do not agree, then I will not help you with any exercise regimen, but simply get you to stick to one. You can join a gym instead."

There was a pause before Wendy said, "OK. I agree. I will follow all rules that apply to Shirley, including the nudity rule."

I needed to tell Wendy what those rules were. "You will stick to an exercise regimen for four days a week at my house."

"I agree."

"During the exercise periods, you will call me 'Coach, ' and obey everything that I tell you. If I tell you to do something that you object to, you will tell me immediately rather than get angry."

"OK."

"You will eat three and only three healthy meals a day. If you have a need to snack, you may eat celery and carrots, but no dips."

There was a pause. "OK."

"Take me to the Room of Truth."

"OK."

"How much do you weigh, and do you know your ideal weight?"

"One hundred thirty. I think my idea weight is one hundred and eight."

"Thank you. Trance Wendy only."

Wendy folded her arms like I told her to do.

I gave Wendy another important rule. "Shirley has been given much the same code phrases that you have, only with her own name. Anytime I bring her into her trance state, which is where you are right now, you will listen to what I say, but ignore anything unless I speak to you directly or until I bring her into a waking state."

"OK."

That was it. I brought Wendy out of her trance.

"Wow! That's different from Doc Simons. I don't remember what he did when he was doing it... if you know what I mean."

"Your doctor worked at your unconscious level. I prefer to work at the conscious level whenever possible. I want you to buy into the regimen, not force you into something that is repulsive to you. If I force you like that, you'll end up hating me and regretting everything you do. That will lead to an outright rejection of the entire regimen, no matter how useful it is."

"I'm not sure I can follow through on the nude thing."

"We'll see tomorrow."

"How does that help us lose weight?"

I told Wendy the same thing I told Shirley. "If you are to trust me, I need to know what I am working with. Shirley told me that she had a lot of flab, but when I saw her, I saw that it wasn't as much as she let on. I also get a kick out of seeing her nude, so it's sort of like my own way of receiving payment."

"Shirley says that you kiss each other. Is that her payment as well?"

"You said that Shirley has a bit of a crush on me, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well," I said, "that's between the two of us. You don't need to kiss me, and it probably will make Shirley jealous, so we'll avoid that."

Wendy smiled. "I can handle that."

Despite my stated lack of desire for Wendy, I must admit that I had an erection at this point. I couldn't help but try to imagine what Wendy looked like without her clothing, and the talk about Shirley and kissing also helped in that regard. My excited state did not go unnoticed by Wendy, who stared directly at my bulge and smirked.

It was getting close to eight. "I need to get set up for the poker game."

"Do you want help?" Wendy asked.

"Sure." I led her into the kitchen.

"I have tortilla chips and potato chips in that cupboard there," I said, indicating where my snacks were stashed. "Meanwhile, I need to get the beers from the garage."

Wendy shook her head. "For a diet coach, you don't follow your own guidelines."

I shrugged. "I'm not the one with the weight problem."

Wendy stuck out her tongue at me as I left to go to the garage. When I returned, I saw that she located my bowls and had the chips out.

"Any dip?" Wendy asked.

"Store made. In the fridge."

Wendy got the dip and helped me set the table. My friends started arriving as Wendy was just about to leave.

"Steve, this is Wendy. She was just leaving."

"Is this your new ball and chain?" Steve asked.

Wendy didn't answer, but stuck out her tongue at my friend.

"This is Chris," I said, indicating my other friend who was standing next to Steve.

Chris smiled. "You're as cute as Jim said you were."

Chris was an outright liar. I never described Wendy to anybody before in my life!

Wendy blushed a bit. "Thanks, Chris. I need to leave. Have fun, guys!"

After Wendy left, Steve said, "I thought you said her name was Shirley."

"Wendy is Shirley's friend."

"Oh? Dating the girlfriend so soon?"

I just laughed off Steve's crude comment.

Of course, this led to more comments about Wendy and Shirley, especially as the rest of the guys showed up. I tried to take their jests in stride; after all, it was just "guy talk." However, I found it most difficult when they prodded me about Shirley. Somehow, I felt defensive about her, and was worried that if any of them met her, they might start in with the overweight jokes. How would I handle that? How would she? Did this mean that I was thinking about her that way myself?

I've always been able to maintain a good poker face, and I forced myself to laugh along with the other guys, not making any big deal over the girls. Seeing little response to their remarks to me, the topic of conversation changed quickly to other wives and girlfriends and Poker Night progressed more or less normally.



-------

Chapter 4: Adding to the Fun


Shirley was a bit apprehensive at lunch on Thursday. "I'm nervous."

"About what?" I asked innocently.

"About tonight," Shirley said in a low voice.

"Ahh," I said. "Don't be."

I put my finger to my nose and said, "Drop it."

This order had no effect when Shirley wasn't exercising, but she understood my meaning. She changed the subject.

Later that evening, at five thirty, Shirley's car pulled into my driveway. She came into the house, disrobed immediately, and asked to use the bathroom.

"Sure," I said.

"I'm nervous as hell and I have to pee," Shirley explained.

"Stop talking and hurry, then!"

Wendy pulled up soon afterward. She came to the door where I was waiting for her. "Hi, Wendy."

"Hi."

Wendy came into the house, and like Shirley, started to disrobe. "Wow! I didn't realize..."

"Don't fight it," I suggested.

Despite my suggestion, Wendy did try to keep from taking off her clothes. It was almost comical.

"Where's Shirley?" Wendy asked as she was pulling off her skirt.

"Bathroom. I think it's a case of nerves."

"Good idea," Wendy said. She started to walk, but found she couldn't. "What's happening?"

"Your body is obeying my command to disrobe. Don't fight it."

With a sigh, Wendy gave up and finished undressing.

"Satisfied?" Wendy asked.

"Quite. I'll save the inspection for when the exercise period starts."

"Inspection?" Wendy asked.

I just grinned. "If you need to use the bathroom, there's one upstairs and to the right. Shirley is using the one downstairs."

Wendy went upstairs just as I heard the downstairs toilet flush.

A minute later, Shirley found me. "I'm very nervous."

"Want me to fix it?" I asked.

"You can?"

"Trance Shirley, sleep."

Shirley folded her arms.

"Take me to the Room of Obedience."

"We're there."

"You will have no apprehension about seeing Wendy nude or her seeing you nude. You are both women and you are both friends."

"OK."

"You will also have no jealousy over Wendy. She's simply here to exercise."

"OK."

Good. That might avoid a potential problem.

Finally, "Shirley, Wendy has been given the same code words for going into trances that you have been given, only with her own name. Anytime you hear me take her into the trance state, you will hear what I say but ignore it unless I address you directly. You will continue to ignore everything else I do until you hear me bring her out of hypnosis or when I bring Waking Wendy back. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"Take me to the Room of Worries."

"We're there."

"Waking Shirley is back."

Shirley blinked two times and then looked at her surroundings, as if to get her bearings. "Why are we here?" she asked, realizing that she was under hypnosis although she was conversational.

"Don't be nervous," I instructed her.

"Oh. OK."

I didn't know if this would actually work, since I never brought Shirley into this particular room before. However, I wanted her to know that I hypnotized her and asked her not to be nervous. The order I gave her in the trance state would actually work, but I wanted her to think that this was how I achieved it and not let her know about her other order about jealousy.

"Wakey, wakey." That was Shirley's code word to come out of her trance.

Shirley shook her head and said, "Thanks!"

"No problems."

-------

When Wendy came downstairs, she was the one that was nervous. Well, Shirley was also nervous her first day, so it was only fair that Wendy undergo the same treatment. I figured that the trance state would do the trick. Hopefully, her nervousness would fade just as Shirley's did that first time. If not, I could help her the same way I just helped Shirley.

"We're starting our first exercise half hour."

This was a signal to Wendy that she must now follow all my orders.

"Wendy, please hold your arms out and spread your legs and hold that position until I release you."

Wendy assumed the position.

I put my finger to my nose. "Shirley, let's give Wendy the once over together."

Wendy was cute in her own way, but I didn't like her hair style. She was a brunette and almost always kept her hair up. Like Shirley, she had blue eyes. Wendy also wore more makeup than Shirley did. Wendy was about an inch taller than Shirley, but her waist was trimmer, probably from that "fatty foods taste bad" command she had been given by her hypnosis treatment.

Wendy's breasts were smaller than Shirley's, but her nipples and aureoles were larger. Wendy's pussy was trimmed, and I figured she did it for the occasion, knowing she would be nude tonight. Wendy's ass was also a bit smaller and less full than Shirley's.

I'm not sure what Shirley was seeing in her friend as she moved around with me as I gave Wendy her inspection. I'm glad I had the foresight to have her not feel jealousy, because I was bound to give Wendy the majority of my attention tonight, as she was the "new kid."

"Alright, Wendy. You can put your arms down."

I then instructed the two girls to go on the throw rug and angle themselves on their sides so I could get a good view as they started their leg lifts.

Shirley was fine, but Wendy looked nervous. Shirley was able to get her leg higher than her friend. After the first five, I stopped them.

"Wendy, you need to keep up with Shirley."

"Sorry."

"No problem. Shirley, count out every one so Wendy gets the rhythm."

This time, the two girls were in perfect sync, and I got a good view of Wendy's treasures between her legs, and both of them made it to fifty easily. They then repositioned themselves and started the next fifty.

Shirley helped Wendy through her exercises, and it didn't take Wendy long to stop flinching whenever Shirley would touch her--she obviously realized that Shirley's only goal was to help her.

I was surprised when the first half hour was over.

Normally, Shirley's position was to simply lay down with her head on my lap while we sometimes kissed. How would this work with two girls?

My solution was to have Wendy lay on her side facing us as Shirley and I assumed our normal position. I kissed Shirley's forehead, and then decided to go ahead and kiss her. After all, Wendy already knew that we were more than friends.

I idly played with Shirley's breast as I kissed her. I didn't go so far as to get her to moan, which I thought would embarrass her (forgetting my order for her not to be apprehensive). I also made a quiet and solemn promise to myself not to tease Shirley too much anymore.

When Shirley and I broke our kiss, I was a bit surprised to see Wendy with a finger between her legs. She quickly pulled it away when she realized I saw.

This was interesting.

"Trance Wendy, sleep. Trance Shirley, sleep."

The two girls immediately folded their arms.

"Wendy, tell me what you felt as Shirley and I were kissing."

"I was a little jealous, but watching you made me horny."

"Playing with yourself is natural. Feel free to do it at any time during our rest periods and not feel embarrassed doing it."

"OK."

"Shirley?"

"Yes."

"Do you get excited when we play around during rest periods?"

"Yes."

I repeated the same order to Shirley that I just gave to Wendy.

"Yes."

"Wakey, wakey."

The two girls shook their heads a bit.

"Rest period is over. Shirley, lead Wendy through the next session."

I watched the two girls--again, focusing mostly on Wendy--go through their paces. During the sit ups, I had each girl sit on the other's legs as they did them. I started to get horny thinking of the two girls together, picturing them in sexual situations rather than simply doing exercises.

During the last rest period, Shirley once again rested her head on my lap, and noticed my very hard erection. She looked up at me and smiled, and softly asked, "May I kiss it?"

"In front of Wendy?"

Shirley shrugged. "She'll eventually see you nude."

I was curious. "Why do you say that?"

"Wendy told me what you were displaying in your pants when she visited the other night," Shirley said. "Naughty, naughty. You also put out fattening snacks and beer! Celery and carrots, honey."

That was the first term of endearment that Shirley ever used on me.

"So you think I should change my sinful ways?"

Shirley just smiled, and then pulled my turgid cock from its confines and placed her lips on the shaft. She then proceeded to give me a series of kisses on the shaft.

Wendy's moan startled me, and I opened my eyes to see her with her finger between her legs again. I smiled at her, and she smiled back.

It only took about five minutes for Wendy to reach orgasm. I looked down and saw that Shirley had been watching her friend as well, and had her own finger from her free hand buried between her legs.

These exercise sessions were going to make me the horniest gentleman in the world!

Although I enjoyed Shirley's kisses, I noticed that she didn't do anything to get me to completion.

After the second rest period, Shirley led Wendy upstairs.

"Let's shower together, Wendy. Party Pooper over there doesn't like to shower with me, and there's only room for two in the tub anyway."

I watched in disbelief as the two women went upstairs.

I remained downstairs as the two showered. I didn't hear any squeals or any moaning come from upstairs, and I don't know if it was because they weren't playing with each other or if I just couldn't hear it. In my mind, they were fingering each other, and I finished myself off in the downstairs bathroom.

After about fifteen minutes, Shirley and Wendy came downstairs. I had a simple meal set up, consisting of sauce from Shirley's and my pasta dinner the other night and some pasta shells that I had boiled earlier and reheated in the microwave.

The two girls came downstairs, both of them with towels only in their hair.

"Is pasta your only dish?" Shirley asked.

I shrugged. "I had leftover sauce, and the shells were simple."

"It smells good," Wendy complimented.

"It's obvious you need a female around to take care of you," Shirley said.

"Oh?"

"You've got, what? Three bedrooms..."

"Four. There's one behind the kitchen."

"Four bedrooms, two bathrooms..."

"Three," I corrected. There was one in the master bedroom, but Shirley probably didn't know about that one.

"Stop correcting me. This is a big house. You live here by yourself?"

"It was my parents'," I explained. "They moved to Tucson."

"Is there a downstairs?"

"Finished basement," I admitted. "Oh, yeah. Three and a half bathrooms. There's a toilet downstairs, too. I don't use it much."

"How much does it cost to heat this place?"

"Shirley," Wendy said softly. "What are you getting at?"

"I pay nearly a thousand a month and can't get a lease. The rent went up twice last year, and it's the best I can get. You live in the same complex, right? You're about the same price, right?"

Wendy nodded.

"Do you have a lease?"

"I sub-let."

"See?" Shirley said, looking triumphant.

"See what?" I finally asked.

"I could move in here, and you could have three healthy meals a day. What do you pay in rent?"

I shook my head. "Mortgage. It was from about twenty five years ago. One hundred fifty."

"Dollars?" Wendy asked, incredulous.

"That was back before the housing market skyrocketed. Mom and Dad had a second mortgage in the late seventies, but... That's not the point, though! I pay a fortune in heating in winter, and in air conditioning in summer. I pay twenty dollars every snowstorm for Steve to plow the driveway."

"Twenty dollars?" Shirley asked.

I shrugged. Shirley said, "You pay less than either of us, and you have the largest place."

Shaking my head, I said, carefully "Are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting?"

"The two of us could move in here," Shirley said, looking to Wendy for support. "We could car pool to work..."

"Hey, Shirley! Don't count me in on your silly plan!" Wendy said.

I sighed. I had a mental picture of stockings hanging in the shower, all my dressers filled with panties and bras. I felt my comfortable bachelor life ending... WAIT!

"It will never work," I said.

"Why not?" Shirley asked.

That mental image of women's clothing everywhere clinched it.

"What would you wear?"

"Huh?"

"I remember--it was your own suggestion, actually--that you requested..."

"Oh, shit!"

It was my turn to give Shirley a triumphant look.

"Oh, it would be great poker nights, though!" I laughed. "Steve, Chris, Terry, Mike... !"

"OK, OK," Shirley finally relented.

I was saved by Shirley's own hypnotic suggestion!

-------

Saturday's workout went smoother now that Wendy knew the routine.

During the first exercise period, I suggested that Wendy lay on my lap instead of Shirley.

To Shirley's surprised expression, I said, "I can't be showing favorites. You get the last rest period, OK?"

"I guess."

I kissed Wendy on the forehead, and played my fingers on her butt. As I did this, I felt a bit of a loss. Had I already gotten so used to Shirley that patting another girl on the butt would be a disappointment?

As I drummed my fingers, I felt Wendy moan and was surprised to find out that Wendy had started playing with herself again. I looked over at Shirley, and saw that she was watching Wendy intently.

As I didn't have a great view of Wendy's activity, I simply started to rub her ass. After all, Wendy didn't complain about me drumming on it lightly, and Shirley didn't look upset. I was surprised to see, after a few minutes, that Shirley was also starting to play with herself.

I guess my order to feel free to masturbate gave the girls the freedom to do so. How often would the girls do it if they had this freedom all the time?

Neither girl reached orgasm when their fifteen minutes were up, but they didn't seem to mind. After Wendy and I got up, Shirley came over to me and hugged me. "Thank you, Jim!"

"Huh?"

"Did you order us to play with ourselves? I was curious because I don't feel any compulsion to do it, but seeing Wendy do it, I felt as if it were OK."

"I didn't order you to do it," I said. "Last Thursday, I saw Wendy start and then she got embarrassed, so I told her while she was in a trance to feel free to do it without embarrassment."

"Oh."

"I told you the same thing," I admitted. "I felt that feeling inhibited wasn't helpful to making a happy environment."

"Oh!" Shirley hugged me again.

Since the first session with Shirley, my uniform changed slightly. Instead of wearing a T-shirt, I went without. Feeling Shirley's breasts against my chest as she hugged me confirmed the smartness of that decision.

I still wasn't ready to go completely nude. It wasn't that I was inhibited, but I didn't want to distract the girls. At least, that's what I kept telling myself.

The second exercise set worked fine as well. Afterward, instead of laying her head on my lap, Shirley moved over to me to kiss me on the lips. As she did so, she straddled my legs and made a big production of humping my leg.

This, of course, got Wendy going as well. She watched the two of us with her fingers buried in her pussy.

This time, both girls reached orgasm; Shirley got there first and Wendy got there soon afterward.

As Shirley pulled me up, I hugged her and gave her a kiss.

"You little show-off!"

"You told me to feel free, and that felt wonderful!"

I shrugged, and the two girls went upstairs to shower.

The sexual tension had taken me to my limit. I retired to the downstairs bathroom to beat off while straining my ears to hear anything from the shower. I was disappointed to hear nothing but the water flowing.

I bought lunch for the two girls at that Mexican place that Shirley and I went to after our first session. The food was good, and we all had a great time.

-------

On Sunday, both Shirley and Wendy arrived together in Shirley's car.

As soon as they were nude, I said, "Trance Shirley, sleep. Trance Wendy, sleep."

Both girls folded their arms.

"Shirley, take me to the Room of Truth, please."

"OK."

"Shirley, you mentioned that you have fantasies that have me being your complete master."

"No, that's not true."

Huh? I thought that's what she told me. "You told me you had fantasies where you were my slave."

"No. I did not."

"Please remind me, then, of the fantasies that you told me about."

"It's Shirley's fantasy to have you force her to do embarrassing things--make her body do things that she cannot consciously control. It's not simply blindly following orders like a slave."

"I remember that. I said that the only way that I could force Shirley to do those types of things is to have her obey me without question. Right?"

"Yes."

"Isn't that the definition of a slave?"

"No."

I was really confused, now.

"Take me to the Room of Obedience."

"We are there."

"Trance Shirley, I am going to bring you to wakefulness, but Waking Shirley will not be there. You are still in a trance, but you will talk and act as if you were Waking Shirley. You will also remember which room you occupy in your mind as Trance Shirley. Do you understand?"

A long pause. "I understand."

"First, take me to the Room of Truth."

"We are there."

"Wake up, Trance Shirley."

Shirley seemed to wake up. There was no look of confusion on her face, only her eyes seemed to light up.

I said, "It's time to talk about those fantasies you have been having, Shirley."

Shirley nodded.

"Please describe to me your fantasies regarding hypnosis. I really need to understand what your desire is."

"Well, remember the first time that I came over here, and you told me to get ready for gym? I started to undress a bit to get comfortable, and then found that I was still undressing after I thought I was finished. I got very worried when I finally realized that you somehow made my body act as if it weren't under my control. I was angry, but at the same time, I was turned on. No matter what I did, I couldn't fight my body--it was as if you had some sort of control over my body and I was helpless."

"I remember," I said.

"When you did that to me, I was angry, but after thinking about it, I realized that you could have taken it further. You could have forced me to have sex with you, but you didn't. You simply embarrassed me, but then you explained afterward why you needed to see me nude, and it sort of made sense. You were doing this for me, as well as for yourself. It made me trust you more."

She trusted me more after that? I didn't understand that leap of logic, but I didn't want to get sidetracked.

Shirley continued. "Anyway, when you did that to me, I realized that this loss of control that I was experiencing was exactly what I had been fantasizing about. Do you understand?"

I thought about it, and finally nodded. "I think I'm starting to understand."

"Then I saw you do the same thing to Wendy," Shirley continued. "I remembered how I couldn't stop my hands from undressing myself and Wendy told me how she tried to fight herself the same way I did. I got turned on by that. I secretly wished that I could have been the one fighting instead of her."

I thought about this for a moment, and finally said, "I see. When I first got a hint of your fantasy, I thought it was a desire for some sort of master/slave relationship."

Shirley thought a bit. "That could be a part of it, but it puts the focus on the wrong place."

"How?" I asked, confused.

"I once saw a movie when I was younger. There were two girls, who were in a dominant/submissive relationship. The submissive girl did anything the other girl said, but she was willing to do anything; doing things for her master made her happy. That could be fun, but it doesn't take hypnosis to achieve, at least in their case."

I was beginning to see Shirley's difficulty with the master/slave thing now. She saw such a relationship as voluntary, while her fantasy wanted her to lose control and try to fight it. It didn't seem that different to me from the outside, but apparently to Shirley, the difference was more obvious.

"Now to the next subject, Shirley. You mentioned moving in with me. Is this what you really want to do?"

"Yes."

"The financial aspect appeals to you?"

"No."

Huh? "Please explain."

"I brought that up to convince you. I am falling in love with you and would like to move in with you."

Shit! The "L" word.

"I think I see. You also mentioned having Wendy move in. Is that true?"

"It's true, but I'm not sure that I want that."

"Why not?" I asked, thinking I knew the reason now.

"I'm afraid I'll get jealous if Wendy were here and available to you. Wendy is prettier, and you might prefer her to me. I don't think Wendy will accept that invitation."

"I see."

"Trance Shirley, sleep."

Shirley folded her arms as her eyes lost that spark that was just there.

"Let's go to the Room of Obedience."

"We are there."

"You will not get jealous about Wendy and me. You will realize that there is no competition between you for my affections."

There was a long pause. "I cannot obey that order."

Shit. Time to try something else.

"You know that jealousy can kill a relationship, right?"

"Yes."

"You don't want to end your relationship with me, do you?"

"No."

"Then you can't get jealous over Wendy and me."

A pause. Finally, "OK."

"You realize that Wendy is not trying to compete with you for me."

A longer pause. "OK."

Somehow, I knew that this could be a sore spot. Even in a deep trance, I couldn't easily get Shirley to not be jealous.

Suddenly, I decided to try a different angle. "When you see me playing around with Wendy, it will start to arouse you. You will become a voyeur, taking a secret sexual thrill when you see the two of us together."

There was no pause this time. "I understand."

I got up and walked into the kitchen. I poured myself a beer and took a large swallow.

Inside my living room were two naked females, both sitting cross-legged on my throw rug. One of them had just professed her love for me.

A week ago, this would have been enough for me. Alone, I could admit that I was starting to fall in love with Shirley myself. After all, she was cute and fun to be around.

However, with Wendy in the picture, I was now unsure. Wendy wasn't going to take Shirley's place in my heart; I didn't think of her at all that way. However, I now felt that rush as I realized that I had these two women in my power.

The problem, of course, just presented itself. Shirley had a jealous streak in her, and I was unsure that I was able to re-channel it. It was just like my father's addiction to nicotine, I could try to remove it, but it would manifest itself in other ways.

I tried to re-channel Shirley's jealousy into voyeurism, but with only a single command, I knew that this was a short term solution at best, and at worst, it could blow up in all of our faces.

Could this situation ever work out?



-------

Chapter 5: Spending the Night


I finished my beer, and went back to the living room. The two girls were still sitting there, oblivious to anything unless I talked to them directly.

"Wendy, take me to the Room of Truth."

"OK."

"Do you love me?"

Wendy shook her head. "No. I hardly know you."

"You are willing to exercise naked in front of me."

"I've done even more risqué things at parties in college," Wendy answered.

That was interesting, but that was off-topic. "Would you fuck me?"

"You could get me to fuck you."

Wendy's answer implied something interesting. "Would you do it willingly?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Shirley is in love with you. You don't see it, but I've known it for a few days now. If I were to fuck you, it could make her hate me and you."

"You are sure of this, then."

"It's obvious she loves you, and I know that she would hate me if I fucked you. It happened before, and I promised that I'd never do it again."

"You fucked Shirley's boyfriend?" I asked.

"No. Roger was dating Sarah, and we were all at a party. We all got drunk, and in the morning, Sarah found Roger and me passed out naked in her bed. I promised myself that I would never be the 'other woman' again."

"I understand."

My visions of being a hypnotic master with a harem of slaves were being dashed by the minute. Oh, well. Such things never work out, anyway. But it was one heck of a fantasy!

"Do you mind watching Shirley and me make out?"

"It turns me on."

Actually, that was obvious, come to think of it.

"Is there any scenario where you would willing to fuck me?"

Wendy's brow furrowed and there was a long pause before answering. "Shirley would have to ask me to do so, and she would have to mean it."

I nodded and an idea came into my head.

"You like watching Shirley and me. Are you a voyeur?"

Another pause. "Yes, I guess so."

"Do you like me having control over you?"

A longer pause. "Yes."

"Do you have any jealousy over Shirley and me?"

"No."

Those were pretty much the answers I expected. Still, this discussion with both girls turned out to be fruitful, even if part of it was disappointing.

I went back to the kitchen and decided to have another beer. I chose a light beer this time, as it wasn't my intention to get drunk. I needed some time to think.

-------

Neither girl noticed the time shift that occurred while they were both under, and I got them started on their exercises.

With both girls now firmly understanding the routine, my role was relegated to that of horny observer.

I excused myself during their exercises to go to the bathroom--the beers finally hit. I found I was hard, and not just from having to pee.

During the first rest period, Wendy lay on my lap. Without warning, I started to play with her breasts, focusing on her nipples.

The effect on Shirley was immediate. Her nipples got as erect as Wendy's.

I bent down and started to nibble on Wendy's ear. I switched my hand to her other breast, and started fondling it as well.

Shirley gasped as I openly groped her friend.

I moved my hand down, and found that Wendy had beat me there. I pushed her hand aside, and found her quite wet between her legs. It didn't take long to locate her clitoris as it was very hard.

Shirley's eyes were glued to the two of us as I tested her new voyeuristic feelings to good effect.

I needed relief. I whispered to Wendy to pull my shorts down and start stroking me. I then put my finger to my nose and instructed Shirley to come over and suck me.

Shirley moved over to me with her fingers still buried in her cunt, and she lowered her head onto my cock.

The sensation was lovely. Wendy was stroking me while Shirley was tenderly sucking me. Wendy was the first to reach orgasm, followed by me. I shot my load into Shirley's mouth, which seemed to surprise her, but triggered her own orgasm.

It took a few minutes for us to calm down. Wendy stopped stroking me, and I stopped stroking her. Shirley, however, was still lightly sucking my cock, which was starting to show signs of life returning to it.

"That's enough, Shirley," I whispered.

"I love you, Jim!" Shirley cried out as she bounded off my lap and almost tackled me with her hug. "I love you, I love you, I love you!"

I have to admit, this was the first time that a woman ever said that to me after I had been playing with her best friend.

The second exercise round started with two wobbly girls who got back into the rhythm after only a few minutes.

There was a closeness between the two girls that I hadn't seen before, which I guess was due to the orders I gave Shirley in her trance state to not be jealous.

During the second rest period, Shirley didn't hesitate. She went straight for my lap, took out my cock, and blew me again.

Shirley sucked like she had found a new favorite hobby. Her technique wasn't the greatest and I winced as I felt her teeth sometimes scratch my shaft, but I wasn't very experienced in receiving fellatio myself.

Wendy was frigging herself as she watched Shirley go down on me.

It took a few minutes, but Shirley managed to get me to orgasm, and this time seemed to be willing to suck down my seed as I shot off.

Once again, Shirley rushed over to me and repeated her love for me.

For my own part, I softly answered her. "I love you too, Shirley."

"You guys are so cute together," Wendy said, still frigging herself. "Why don't you two shower together today?"

It was a tempting offer. I looked at Shirley, and saw desire in her eyes.

"OK," I said.

I surprised Shirley by picking her up and carrying her upstairs to the bathroom.

Although Shirley was heavy, there seemed to be a strength within me that I never felt before.

Once in the shower, I took control. I thoroughly washed Shirley's lovely body. I paid special attention to her sensitive areas, and spent a lot of time kissing her as I did so.

After Shirley was squeaky clean, she washed me. She was able to get me to erection once again, but I knew that I was not able to come again so soon, having done so twice not that long before. I think Shirley eventually realized that as well, but she looked disappointed when she gave up.

Through the translucent glass, I saw a shadow in the doorway that disappeared as Shirley turned off the water. Apparently, Wendy was a real voyeur.

We toweled each other off.

"Shirley," I said after she was reasonably dry, "I'd like to invite you to spend the night here."

Shirley reacted by throwing her arms around me. "Really?"

"Just the two of us," I promised.

"I'd love to!" I received a dozen eager kisses from Shirley. It was the happiest that I ever saw her up until then.

-------

When Shirley and I broke the news to our coworker, Wendy pointed out that Shirley didn't have a change of clothes for work the next day.

"Well, I need to drive you back to the condo," Shirley said, since the two girls took Shirley's car.

"Why don't the two of you go back and Shirley can get whatever she needs for the night?" I asked.

The two girls nodded.

"Trance Shirley, sleep. Trance Wendy, sleep."

The two girls folded their arms.

"Shirley and Wendy, take me to the Room of Obedience."

Both girls said, almost simultaneously, "OK."

"Shirley, sometime tomorrow, you will describe to Wendy everything sexual that you've done with me tonight in graphic detail."

"OK."

"Wendy, when Shirley tells you about her night, you will get very horny, and you'll start to feel as if it were you that had experienced the night with me. You will know it was Shirley who was with me, but in your mind, you will feel her excitement as your own."

"OK."

Neither girl paused before agreeing. This was a good sign. Suddenly, I had a great idea.

"Wendy, I have a special assignment for you. Do you have a video camera?"

"Yes."

"You will allow Shirley to videotape you playing with yourself and bringing yourself to orgasm as she describes her night with me. You will also allow her to be the movie director, doing whatever she asks to get the perfect take."

A pause. "OK."

"Shirley, as you are talking with Wendy, you will realize that she's getting horny. You will get the great idea of creating a videotape of this, and you'll be the director, telling Wendy what to do as you graphically describe what happened. You will do as many takes as necessary to get the perfect show. The two of you will surprise me with your video tape when you show up at my house on Tuesday, knowing that this will make me happy."

No pause. "OK."

"Wendy, you will go along with this surprise. You will have no anxiety of this tape getting into the wrong hands, as you trust Shirley and me."

A slight pause. "OK."

I gave my final order. "If the video is on, you will feel compelled to watch it, but you will be embarrassed if there is somebody else watching it with you. No matter who the audience is, you will feel extreme embarrassment that they are seeing it. Do you understand?"

A slight pause. "OK."

-------

Shirley arrived alone at the house at five o'clock. She entered my house, and immediately started undressing.

"Shirley, keep your clothes on. We're going out to eat."

My coworker started to put on the clothes she removed. "Where are we going?"

"I know where there's a good Japanese steak house."

"Yum," Shirley said.

The meal was excellent, and the chef put on quite a show for us. Shirley was very animated, and very excited. I took this to mean that she was looking forward to spending the night with me.

As was getting to be usual, Shirley didn't finish her plate, nor did she ask for a doggy bag. Her appetite was getting less on its own, mainly due to the orders that I gave her to eat healthier. It confirmed to me that simple orders allowing Shirley to interpret in her own way would be more successful than something as crude as "you hate fatty foods."

When we arrived back at the house, I allowed Shirley to undress. I think I surprised her by undressing with her, the first time I ever did so.

As soon as we were both completely naked, I pulled Shirley toward me and gave her a tender kiss. I received in return one of Shirley's smoldering kisses that sent chills up and down my entire body. From her reaction, I could tell my kiss to her was affecting Shirley the same way.

I decided to give Shirley a tour of the first floor of my house. I showed her my den, which had a fancy home theater setup with a large high-definition LCD screen, which seemed to impress her. I then led her through the kitchen and into the spare bedroom behind the kitchen.

"Soon, Shirley," I said softly, "I will have made love with you in every room of this house."

Shirley blushed, but I could tell this excited her.

I led Shirley past the laundry room and opened the back door. There was a soft yellow light on my back porch, along with some patio furniture. The furniture was clear of snow, thanks to the awning above it, but the temperature outside was in the mid-thirties; not as cold as it gets around here, but pretty cool for two people that weren't wearing anything.

The two of us shivered, and Shirley looked confused as I led her outside.

"Why are we going outside?" Shirley said, no longer holding my hand, but wrapping her arms around herself to get a bit warmer.

Instead of answering, I went to the end of the porch and lifted a large leather cover. I saw steam rise as my hot tub was revealed. I found the button that turned on the lights and the pump motors. "I thought this would appeal to you, Shirley."

"A hot tub? In the winter?" Shirley was incredulous.

"I turned on the heat after you left with Wendy. It's had time enough to get warm." The LED temperature indicator showed the temperature to be just over a hundred degrees, which was not the warmest it could get, but would be warm enough for the two of us.

"Come on in, the water's warm!" I said invitingly, as I stepped up to the entrance of the pool.

"You're a fucking idiot!" Shirley said, giggling. Nevertheless, she came into the hot tub and sat next to me. "Oh! It is warm!" she cooed, as her body was enveloped by the warm water.

I resisted the temptation to grab Shirley right then and there. Instead, I allowed her to luxuriate in the warmth of the hot water.

"This feels wonderful!" Shirley cooed.

"It beats freezing," I agreed, giggling.

"What other surprises do you have in store for me?"

I shrugged. "If I told you, they wouldn't be surprises."

"Oh, come on!"

Shirley cuddled next to me. It wasn't a bad feeling at all. I was starting to feel a warm fuzzy feeling whenever she was around me.

"You're lovely," I said, meaning it.

"Oh, come on!"

It was true. If the hottest supermodel were to appear in front of me stark naked at that very minute, I'd push her out of the way to get a better glimpse of Shirley.

I pulled Shirley until her body was up against my own body. "You're lovely," I repeated.

Shirley didn't answer except from a "coo" sound that she made as I hugged her.

After a couple of minutes cuddling, Shirley finally said, "This is so romantic."

"Thank you," I answered. "Let's see what I can do to make it even more romantic."

Shirley looked curious as I took my left arm, which was near the wall of the hot tub, and brought it outside toward the snow. About an hour earlier, I had set a bottle of Champagne into a snow bank there. There were also two Champagne flutes next to it.

Pulling the bottle out of the snow, I found one of the towels nearby to hold it. Slowly, I released the cap from the bottle, expertly opening the bottle with a "Whoosh!" losing very little of the precious contents.

I took one of the flutes, and filled it, and a bit of the Champagne foamed over. I waited until the head went down and filled it up three quarters of the way to the top. I handed the flute to Shirley.

The next flute filled even easier without foaming over. I filled it the same way.

I lifted my glass to Shirley's, clinked it, and said, "To the prettiest girl who doesn't know her own loveliness!"

Shirley glared at me for a few moments before she raised her own glass, apparently looking for some ulterior motive in what I said. Her look softened, and then she drank with me.

After that drink, Shirley moved closer to me. "What are you doing, Jim?"

"I'm drinking to you, Shirley."

"I'm not that pretty."

"You have lousy taste in women, then. We'll have to work on that."

Shirley glared at me again. "You don't have to flatter me, Jim. I've already agreed to spend the night."

I shook my head. "No, Shirley. I didn't ask for easy tonight. I want pretty. I want you, dear."

Shirley looked at me for a long moment, and then melted in my arms. I felt her body move up and down until I figured out that she was sniffing a bit.

To tell you the truth, I wasn't sure that I was in love with Shirley. I had a difficult time with that term. I've said it to many girls and women over the years, each time thinking that I meant it. Every one of those times, the feeling faded. What I thought was love was, in fact, simply infatuation.

However, I didn't lie to Shirley at all, except maybe earlier that day when I told her that I loved her in response to her excited jabbering that she loved me. I didn't want to really lead her on, so I decided to be more careful in the future before making her a promise that I wouldn't be able to keep.

Despite all that, I must admit that at that moment, Shirley was the only woman in my mind. Even if we didn't fuck, the fact that she was there with me tonight would be one of the most wonderful experiences of my life. It might not be love, but it felt to me much stronger than what I felt with any other woman to date.

From what I knew from Shirley's admissions during hypnosis, she had a very low self-image of herself. I could understand her being very suspicious of somebody who called her pretty. The fact was, I wasn't lying to her. I did think she was pretty. Just relying on that one part of my body that reacted to pretty girls, Shirley passed that test with flying colors.

Snuggling together in the hot tub, we started to get a bit frisky. Shirley started it by lightly stroking my cock, which I took as a green light to stroke appropriate parts of Shirley's body in return.

Most of the time we were stroking each other, we were kissing. Both of Shirley's nipples were rock hard, and her clitoris was erect whenever I managed to touch it.

Suddenly, Shirley let go of my cock, and twisted her body, and before I knew it, she was sitting on my lap with my dick inside her.

"I've wanted this for so long," Shirley said as she started a slow, languorous rhythm up and down my shaft.

"We've only been seeing each other for a week or so."

"Since before that, silly." Shirley kissed my cheek quickly. "You're the first guy that I've made love to since high school."

"Really?" This was news to me.

"Yeah. I've been saving myself, I guess. I mean, I have fucked other guys. You're the first one I've made love to.""

Uh, oh. "Saving yourself? For marriage?"

Shirley saw the worried look in my face. "No, silly. I was saving myself for somebody special. That's you!"

I think I breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that Shirley was going a bit faster than I felt comfortable with. "Oh. I misunderstood."

Shirley smiled at me as she looked down on me. The two of us had manipulated our bodies so that Shirley was now on top of me with my body lying on one of the reclining areas molded into the hot tub. Although the fiberglass was a bit uncomfortable, the warmth of the water combined with the warmth of Shirley's snatch sliding up and down on my dick made the entire effect very comfortable.

Despite how wonderful this felt, I didn't want it to end quickly, and the way that Shirley's body was making my own feel, I knew that I wouldn't be able to take another five minutes of this.

I remembered one of my favorite sexual fantasies involving a hot tub, and slowly managed to push Shirley off me.

"What's wrong, Jim?"

"Nothing. Can you do me a favor? Can you try to see if you can float in the water?"

Shirley looked confused. "Float?"

I helped Shirley get into the position that I wanted. I had Shirley lie on her back, and started to push upward from her ass to get her entire body on top of the water. Her body's natural buoyancy made the process easy once she stopped fighting the process.

"I'm floating!" Shirley cooed, shivering a bit as her tummy and breasts cleared the surface and were exposed to the crisp night air.

"I know," I said. I then ducked under the water in order to position myself between Shirley's legs. I pushed them apart as I emerged from the water with my head aligned with her knees. "Peekaboo!" I said.

Shirley raised her head to look at me, causing part of her body to submerge. "What are you..."

"Ssh," I admonished. "Lay back down. This is my turn."

Slowly, Shirley lay back, and I moved myself closer to the lips that revealed Shirley's entrance. I took a tentative lick, and Shirley's body jerked in response. I put her feet over my shoulders for support, and reinforced them by wrapping my arms underneath her butt. I then started licking lightly again.

The water in the tub made Shirley taste lightly of chlorine, although I found that as I stuck my tongue in deeper, I could get a better taste of Shirley's juices. I didn't practice cunnilingus very often, but I was familiar with the basics. I got my first close-up glimpse of Shirley's clit, and I licked all around it, avoiding direct contact.

Although Shirley squirmed as I ate her, I had a firm grasp of her legs on my shoulders and was able to move with her and keep my tongue exactly where I wanted it. I moved it downward and found the folds that led to the entrance of Shirley's cunt. I stuck my tongue in and out of it, and then returned up toward her clit.

I pursed my lips around Shirley's sensitive spot, and started to kiss it a few times before I sucked it in a bit harder.

All this activity drove Shirley wild. Starting with a faint moan, her passion made her louder and louder until I could actually hear a bit of an echo from Shirley's passion.

I took this as my cue to finally bring Shirley off. I used a bit more pressure on my tongue, circling her clit and then sucking it before returning to the circular motion with my tongue. Her hips were really bucking at this point and from her loud cries, I could tell that she reached orgasm. I continued to alternately lick and suck until her cries started to lessen, at which point I lightened the touch of my tongue and lips.

When Shirley calmed down, I pulled my body away and pushed her body down so that she was once again sitting on one of the seats of the hot tub. The two of us kissed, and I wondered if Shirley could taste her own juices on my tongue.

After that kiss, Shirley pushed her body onto mine, and she whispered into my ears. "Make love to me, Jim!"

"Of course," I said.

On the edge of the hot tub, I saw the bottle of Champagne and only one glass. Glancing on the side of the tub, I saw that the second glass had fallen and broke into a few pieces; apparently, Shirley's thrashing in the tub had knocked it over. Fortunately, it wasn't near the exit of the tub, so I ignored it, and led Shirley outside.

In the frigid air, we both shivered. I retrieved a couple of towels from a patio cabinet and handed one to her as we both quickly went inside the house.

"We're tracking in water," Shirley said.

"Don't worry," I assured Shirley. "I know the owner. He'll probably just make you fuck him as payment."

Shirley gave a nervous laugh and I led her quickly upstairs.

I laid the two towels on the bed, and placed Shirley on them.

Before I was going to fuck Shirley, I wanted to do something that I had long fantasized about since I first saw her naked.

With Shirley on her back, I had her hold the sides of her breasts with her hands. I then positioned my body over hers so my semi-rigid cock was between her breasts. Once my intention was clear to Shirley, she helped and soon my dick was enveloped by her huge mammaries. I thrust forward, and the head of my cock peeked out toward Shirley's face.

Shirley moved her face to try to kiss my dick, but it wasn't close enough.

I pulled back and thrust forward again. My dick was now entirely erect, and when it peeked out, there was more of it in evidence. Shirley was able to kiss it, and I pulled back and moved forward again.

Now that I was firmly at attention, I pushed forward even further, until my dick was at Shirley's face. She opened her mouth to accept my cock, and sucked it.

After about a half minute of sucking, I pulled my dick out of her mouth, and repositioned myself so that it was aiming at Shirley's cunt. Shirley spread her legs wide and moved her knees up, giving me a perfect target.

Once I was firmly lodged inside Shirley's cunt, I started stroking in and out. Shirley responded by wrapping her arms around me, holding my body tightly against hers.

The two of us made love for about ten minutes before I felt my orgasm approach. I kept stroking until I reached it, and felt my cock pulse within Shirley's snatch. I didn't have much semen to offer her, most likely due to the two orgasms I had earlier that day, but even so, I think the sensations of my twitching cock triggered Shirley's own orgasm.

I continued kissing Shirley as my cock left her warm cunt, and I could feel the combination of my jism and her lubricating juices drip from the head of my cock onto the wet towel underneath Shirley.

I think I fell asleep at this point, because the next thing I knew, I opened my eyes and found myself on my back with Shirley licking my cock up and down.

"I love you," Shirley told me quietly as she saw my eyes open. "I could spend my life fucking you and licking you and making you feel as good as you made me feel tonight."

"Ugh," I said, not able to come up with a response.

"Go to sleep, my little darling," Shirley said. She got up from the bed, and pulled my covers over me, tucking me in tightly.

As Shirley started to leave my room, I finally asked, "Where are you going?"

"I'm just going to the bathroom."

I indicated the door to my right. "The master bathroom is right over there. Feel free to use it."

Shirley smiled at me and went into my bathroom.

I fell asleep once again before Shirley came back to bed.

Later that evening, as I turned in my sleep, I felt the strange sensation of another body in my bed. I woke up and saw Shirley's body, and the memories of the previous evening returned to me. I spooned against her and felt her regular breathing against my body. I reached over her and put my fingers on her right breast. I'm not sure if this woke her, but I fell asleep for the third time, tightly spooned against Shirley.



-------

Chapter 6: Thrills


(Shirley)

I woke up a couple of times that night. The first time, I felt a strange hand cup my breast. I opened my eyes and found myself in a strange bed. Then, the memories of the previous night came flooding back. I was in Jim's house, in Jim's bed, having been fucked by Jim that night. I sighed as I thought of that wonderful, gentle, and understanding man, and reveled in the touch of his body behind me and his hand playing with my breast.

At about six in the morning, I had to pee really badly. Again, there was the air of unfamiliarity with my surroundings as I opened my eyes, but I quickly remembered that I was with Jim.

Carefully, I disengaged from Jim's caress, and his even breathing told me that I didn't awaken him. I quickly got out of bed and went into the bathroom.

I remembered that when I turned on the light last night, a fan went on in the bathroom. Since there was a bit of light spilling in from the window, I decided to not risk waking Jim and didn't turn on the light. I sat down on the toilet--it was cool--and took care of business. I glanced around the bathroom and saw the toothbrush I used last night--Jim's toothbrush! (I never even considered using another person's toothbrush before last night. I tried futilely to remember what I read in Cosmo about sharing toothbrushes. Did it mean I was secure in my love for Jim?)

When I finished peeing, I boldly went to the sink and put some toothpaste onto the toothbrush. I giggled wickedly at how I was making my love more secure as I cleaned my teeth.

I flinched as I flushed the toilet--I didn't want to wake Jim up, but when I left the bathroom, Jim hadn't moved from when I left him. He was still on his left side, his body in the shape of an "S," apparently thinking he was still spooned against me. I felt a pang of regret at not being there against his wonderful body, but my tummy was rumbling. I can't miss breakfast... it's the most important meal of the day!

I tiptoed out of the room and headed downstairs. Passing through the living room, I saw the lamb's wool rug where Jim had Wendy and me do our exercises. I never told Jim that I was doing exercises every day, even the days I didn't come over to his house, but I was serious about wanting to lose some weight. I already lost a couple of pounds; Jim never asked about that, but when I reached five pounds, I was going to have a big celebration with him.

On the rug, I did a hundred toe-touches, and then fifty sit-ups. It was only ten minutes, but if it helped to burn off my fat, it would be worth it.

Finally, I went into Jim's kitchen. I poured myself a large glass of water--I knew that was one of Jim's hypnotic suggestions and it was a good idea, even if it made me need to pee all day. In the fridge I saw some bacon, but no eggs. I couldn't find any cereal in any of the cupboards, but found some frozen bagels in the freezer.

There was a coffeemaker, and I measured enough coffee for four cups. I didn't know how many cups Jim drank in the morning, but two would probably be about right.

How was I going to do the bacon? There's an old saying about not frying bacon in the nude, and it was probably a good idea! Luckily, Jim had a microwave, so I put four slices of bacon (two were for Jim, not me!) on some paper towels and set the timer.

I toasted the bagels while thinking that Jim should find a bakery that sells fresh bagels. Frozen bagels are terrible!

Everything seemed to be ready at once. The microwave dinged at the same moment that the toaster popped.

I avoided butter--empty fats!--and Jim had no margarine so I improvised bagel sandwiches with the bacon. I was putting the sandwiches on the table when I heard Jim approach.

"Good morning, Shirley! Why aren't you dressed?"

Jim, of course, was fully dressed in his office clothes.

I shook my head. "You know that I'm not allowed to be dressed in this house."

Jim smiled. "You need to get dressed for work, you silly girl!"

"Oh, all right."

Jim came up to me and kissed me. I felt that same electric thrill shoot up and down my body that I did every time he touches me, and I felt my knees getting weak again. How does he do that? If I didn't know him better, I would have thought that he "programmed me" using hypnosis to react that way, but it didn't seem to be like him to do that.

Finally, we broke the kiss.

I told Jim, "I found bacon in the fridge but no eggs. You had bagels in the freezer. I hope you don't mind a bacon sandwich."

Jim seemed intrigued by my improvised meal. "I don't mind at all."

"I guess I'll go and get dressed."

I found my suitcase where I left it in the living room. It didn't make any sense to go upstairs just to change, especially since Jim has already seen every inch of my body a number of times, so I opened it while sitting on my exercise rug and got out my clothing.

In the kitchen, I saw Jim stealing glances of me, and it made me feel all gooey inside again. From the way he looks at me, it was obvious that he really did think I was pretty. I'm not sure why he would think this body could be anything but fat and flabby, but his actions were convincing me he really was sincere.

Thinking about hypnosis while Jim was kissing me made me think of the "orders" he gave me while I was under. He gave me what I would call "open orders," which I had a direct memory of, like eating healthier and exercising regularly. There were also those "hidden orders," which he gave me, like the first time he made me undress. Even though I didn't directly remember him giving me that order, I could slightly remember him making such a suggestion. He made other ones, I know, but if I thought about something, like how he makes me feel when he kisses me, it didn't feel like that was one of his hidden orders.

-------

When I was growing up, I guess I was a bit of an exhibitionist. As a kid, I played doctor with a few of the boys, and learned a lot about male anatomy, while they, of course, learned a lot about mine. Even so, when I was in junior high, I became kind of shy. I had dreams of being nude in the school with everybody seeing me, and I kind of got a secret thrill out of the idea.

It was in high school that my exhibitionism worked against me. Freddie, a schoolmate, brought me to his bedroom when his parents weren't around and dared me to get undressed. I didn't agree at first, but finally, I allowed him to "convince" me on the condition that he'd undress as well. I did so, and I earned the twenty dollars that he bet me. (I know, undressing for money... what a slut, right? I was only sixteen at the time, though.)

Anyway, it turned out that little Freddie kept a secret from me. His brother Billy was hiding in the closet that day, and had a Polaroid camera. The next thing I knew, there were about five photographs of me standing naked in his room in my birthday suit floating around the school. I could never face my friends or any of the boys after that!

From that time, I was always leery of boys. I never allowed anybody to get close to me. I was known as a loner in college, and my only friends were girls. Some girls thought I might be into girls, but I corrected them on that! Another thing that started after that episode with Freddie and Billy was that I started an eating binge after that and my body started to inflate.

That was my life up until the day that Jim and I were the only people who came into the office during the big blizzard a few weeks ago. I had known Jim, and thought he was handsome. To me, he always seemed to be a loner. We talked about Wendy's seeing a hypnotist, and I was surprised that he knew so much about the subject. He didn't approve of Wendy's Dr. Simons, saying that a single session wouldn't really accomplish anything, and could possible do damage.

Sometime during our talk, I got the idea of having Jim hypnotize me. He seemed kind of nice, not like most of the other men I knew. I could almost trust him, which was saying a lot for him if you consider what I felt about the male species.

A week or so later, I finally got the nerve to approach Jim again. I asked him outright if he'd help me shed a few pounds. One thing led to another, and I found myself naked in his house. However, instead of laughing at me like all the boys did when they saw my picture at school, he seemed to really be sizing me up. He saw my fat ass and flabby belly and didn't seem disgusted--he actually seemed aroused!

It was a major discovery for me--my body could actually make Jim horny! After all these years, it took somebody like him to make me actually think that I may be pretty!

-------

As I got dressed in that living room that morning, I was convinced that my feelings for Jim, although strange for me to have them, were genuine. After all, he was smart, caring, and loving... everything a person would want in a lover.

Jim. My lover.

I decided to focus on other things. Wendy was a surprise to me. I told her about Jim helping me. I knew she had a reputation of being a gossip, but she promised not to tell anybody. In fact, she told me that she wanted to join in. At first, I was jealous to see Jim leering at Wendy, but I quickly noticed that when he looked at me, he would give me a warm smile. He simply leered when he looked at Wendy. That may not sound like much, but that little distinction made a difference to me.

For some reason, I started to get angry when I saw him touching Wendy during one of our rest breaks. I knew that we weren't lovers, and my reaction surprised me. After a couple of minutes, however, I started to get aroused, fantasizing that his fingers were doing those things to my own body. In fact, I could almost feel those phantom fingers on my body! This, I think, was one of Jim's hidden orders; I sort of had some kind of memory that he asked me not to be jealous. Since Wendy had been a friend for a couple of years, it was stupid to allow his touching her destroy that friendship. It would be just just like Jim to make it fun; instead of getting jealous, I get turned on instead! Isn't he a hoot?

I felt strange being with Jim in his house wearing clothes. I told him how his forcing me to go nude turned me on, and I sort of asked him to make it permanent. Of course, this could work against me if I decided to live with him, but I decided to take life one day at a time.

Thinking about last night, I knew that I would have to tell Wendy all the graphic details. She knew that I was going to spend the night; she'd want to know. I saw how she masturbates when Jim touches me, and I think telling her would put her over!

Maybe the two of us could even cook up a surprise for Jim!

-------

At work, Wendy found me in my cubicle, and as expected she demanded to know all about it.

"Not here," I told her. "Not in the office."

"How about ladies night out, then?" Wendy suggested.

We decided we'd go for drinks (this was a special occasion, right?), and maybe have dinner at Wendy's apartment.

I actually didn't discuss our date until we got to Wendy's place.

"OK, here's the scoop. First, we went to Okinawa. You know, that Japanese place where they cook at the table?"

"Yeah. I heard the food is good there."

"And healthy," I agreed. "Chicken, shrimp, vegetables, and rice. I couldn't eat it all. The chef was fantastic."

"So, what happened next?"

"Jim drove me back to his place, and I... well, you know how we have to undress whenever we're in his place, right? Well, I started to get undressed--I can't believe I'm actually starting to get used to doing it, it's so natural. Anyway, Jim surprised me by undressing as well. So, you know, I'm looking at him..."

"You've seen him naked before, though."

"Not really. He doesn't get undressed when we exercise, you know. Except yesterday, and we undressed him. Anyway, I'm looking at him, and his... you know..."

All of a sudden, I noticed that Wendy seemed to be flushing. Was she getting turned on by this?

I continued, amazed at Wendy's reaction. "Anyway, he showed me the rooms in the first floor of his house, and then he took me out the back."

"The back? Last night? In the cold?"

"Yeah," I said, smiling at the memory. "He has a hot tub on his back porch and it was steaming. We both were in the tub, and it was cuddly warm in the water and nippy in the air. Jim even had champagne chilling outside!"

Wendy was breathless. "Really? How romantic!"

"Anyway, we're snuggling together, pushing our bodies together, kissing each other..."

That was when I saw Wendy's hand. Actually, I didn't see her hand, since it was hidden beneath her skirt, but I knew what she was doing.

"Go on," Wendy said with a husky voice.

I could see that Wendy was getting very horny. Was this Jim's doing? It's the sort of thing he'd do to Wendy, and chatting about sexual things to others, even friends like Wendy, wasn't really me. I closed my eyes, and thought of Jim's soft voice, wondering if this was one of his hidden orders.

What if it was? Why would he want Wendy to be getting off as I told her about the two of us?

"Shirley?" Wendy's voice was hoarse.

"What?"

"Keep talking!"

"I'm... a bit uncomfortable, Wendy."

"Huh?"

"It's one thing when we're exercising, Wendy. Why are you doing that now?"

"I... I don't know. It's not like me, actually. I mean, I never do this publicly, but..."

That clinched it for me. This was Jim's handiwork. But why?

"Anyway, I sat on his hard, throbbing cock. It felt wonderful as I moved up and down. I kissed him, and he sent those ripples of passion up and down my body."

Wendy's voice was a whisper. "Yes... !"

My friend's actions were starting to turn me on.

"Shirl?" Wendy's voice was even fainter.

"Yes?"

"I have... a video camera..."

Suddenly, everything snapped into place. My obsession about telling Wendy all the graphic details of last night, Wendy masturbating in front of me, and now her mention of a video camera.

I closed my eyes once again, and listened for Jim's voice. I tried to hear him say "camera," which I don't believe he ever said to me when I was awake. I could hear the word! I tried to concentrate, and tried to listen closely. There was a memory... very faint... a memory about being a director!

Jim wanted me to film Wendy masturbating until I got the perfect take! I just knew it!

I looked at Wendy, who was still squirming, which was, admittedly, turning me on. I wondered what I was going to do.

-------

(Jim)

Shirley followed me into work in her car that morning.

At about ten o'clock, Shirley showed up in my cubicle on Monday morning, and gave me a warm, wet kiss. The kiss was red hot... that girl was something else!

How could I have not seen the beauty that was Shirley all along?

I think I must have been just like any of the other guys in the office. I always knew Shirley to be a big woman, and I never even considered her to be dating material, even if I didn't have objections about dating people that I work with.

Had other guys done the same thing? There's that old saying, "Don't judge a book by its cover," and I guess I, along with many of the rest of the members of my gender, was guilty of prejudging Shirley.

In the short time I knew her, I found her to be funny, cuddly, and even cute. Without a doubt, last night would be permanently etched in my memory as one of the sexiest.

To tell you the truth, I had fantasies of being a Lothario who would invite a beautiful woman to his house, undress her, and lead her into my hot tub with a bottle of champagne to celebrate. We would kiss and snuggle and even fuck in the hot tub before retiring into the bedroom where we would make passionate love.

With Shirley, I lived out my fantasy!

Up until the previous night, the only people who had been in that hot tub in the last ten years were members of my immediate family. The last woman I knew who had been in that hot tub was my younger sister, and she wore a bathing suit!

My boss, Roger, noticed that I was distracted that day at work. I kept on replaying the previous night in my head. Could it really have happened?

"What's the matter, Jim? Did you get any sleep last night? It's not like you to not be ready for a presentation."

"Um, yeah, I did," I said. "I'm sorry. My mind is elsewhere. I'll have it ready before the meeting."

"Is there something wrong at home?" Roger seemed concerned.

"Actually, no," I said. "Something is actually good, and for me that's unusual. I'll really have that presentation ready."

"OK, Jim," Roger said. "You're a good man, and if things are going well for you at home, then I'm happy for you, but you need to get that presentation ready, pronto!"

It took some work, but I got my mind back on my job. I had to work harder and faster than ever to get that presentation ready, and then the meeting where I gave it went long.

The presentation went well, and when I got back to my cubicle, I once again thought of Shirley. That night, Shirley would be videotaping Wendy, like I ordered them to do in their trance state.

I quickly went to the girls' desks, but they were both gone. Neither one had their coat in their cubicle, so I figured that they already left.

Monday evening went slowly. My mind kept returning to the two girls. Was it only yesterday that I wanted Shirley to videotape Wendy masturbating? My mind was now racked with guilt. I had betrayed both girls' trust in me by giving them that order. The fact that I couldn't contact either one of them before they left work made me feel so helpless.

It wasn't until about six that evening that I got the idea to call the girls. I called Shirley's apartment, and got her machine. I didn't leave a message; I didn't know what to say to her.

I didn't know Wendy's phone number, and the phone book didn't list it. I do remember that she called me once on my cell phone, and I hoped against hope that my phone still had her number on it.

Through process of deduction, I discovered her phone number, but it didn't answer either. I got voice mail instead. I hung up the phone, feeling quite helpless.

Should I go to their apartments? I figured that the girls were at Wendy's, and even though I didn't know exactly where Wendy's apartment was, I knew she lived at the same complex that Shirley lived in. In addition, there was probably some sort of call button at the condo that had Wendy's name on it.

What would I say when I got there? If they were doing what I told them to do, they could be embarrassed. Even if I fixed them via quick hypnosis, there would be a lot of explaining that I'd have to do.

Why, oh, why did I give them that order?

All I really wanted in the world that moment was Shirley, and I think I may have fucked that up big time.

-------

I slept fitfully that night. I could still smell Shirley's scent on the pillow she used the previous night. I remembered how playful she was, how cuddly her body felt against mine, how her nipple felt as it got hard as I caressed her breast when I spooned against her.

When I was able to close my eyes, visions of Wendy and Shirley angry at me popped into my head.

Tuesday morning had me a wreck. If I had slept more than a half hour, I didn't remember it.

I picked up the phone and called work. It was only eight in the morning, but Roger picked up his phone. "Roger, I'm feeling like shit today. I got the presentation out yesterday. Would you mind if I took today as a sick day?"

"Jim? You sound like hell!"

Actually, the sound of my voice surprised me as well. It was cracked and hoarse from lack of sleep. "Yeah. I think I came down with something."

"You looked distracted yesterday, but the presentation went great. Take the day off, buddy."

"Thanks, Roger."

I hung up the phone. I looked at the bed, which looked like an army had stormed its way through it. The fitted sheet was pulled out from all four corners, and the blankets were crumbled and laying in the wrong direction.

Dragging myself into the bathroom, I sat down on the toilet to take a shit.

I was awakened by the phone ringing in my bedroom. I got up off the john, and almost fell on my face. I was surprised to find that both of my feet fell asleep from my sitting on that toilet. Could that happen so quickly?

Luckily, the phone continued to ring. It rang about ten times by the time I limped my way toward it. "Hello?"

"Jim? You sound like shit. Are you sick?"

It was Shirley.

"Well, I had a rough night."

"Aww, poor Jim! What's wrong?"

I didn't have time to explain how I betrayed the two girls. "I'm just feeling under the weather, Shirley."

"Wendy and I both miss you, darling. We had lunch without you."

Darling. How that word penetrated my heart like a knife. Some darling I was.

"Lunch?" I asked, confused. "What time is it?"

I looked at the clock as Shirley responded. "Half past noon, darling."

"Oh." I didn't realize that I had slept on the toilet so long. Actually, from the way my backside felt, it wasn't really that shocking.

"Well, I hope we're still on for tonight."

"Actually, Shirley, I don't think that I'll be good company tonight."

"Huh?" Shirley asked, confused.

I hung up the phone. The guilt was unbearable.

Shaking my head, I went back to the bathroom and took a quick shower. Afterward, I pulled all the sheets and blankets from the bed and made it up properly. I then lay down on top of it and promptly fell asleep.

-------

I don't often have sex dreams, but I had one that afternoon. My dick was being sucked, and it felt wonderful.

The sensation was so realistic that I heard the unmistakable sound of air being sucked around my shaft. I woke up, but the sensation was still there. I guess I was so exhausted that this didn't seem strange to me; dreams always seem weird, although I don't recall too many of them afterward.

I tried to picture in my mind the image of the faceless girl that was sucking me in my dream--but that image eluded me. I could, however, feel the slight scratching sensation of the nameless girl's teeth, and feel her hair draped around my thighs.

Finally, my brain realized that something was amiss.

My eyes shot open, and I saw a brunette head bobbing on my lap.

"What?" I said, hearing grogginess in my own voice.

The head continued to bob.

I shook my head a few times, and finally realized that Shirley was the girl from my dreams, only she was really present in my bed.

Actually, Shirley was kneeling on my bedroom floor, leaning over the bed to reach me properly.

"Shirley? What are you doing here? Is it six already?"

Shirley lifted her head, and I heard an audible pop as she released my shaft from her mouth. "You were asleep, and I wanted to wake you up with a surprise."

I glanced around me and saw it was still daylight. My alarm clock showed it was just after one in the afternoon.

"Why are you here?"

"You sounded terrible. I wanted to see if I could cheer you up. Do you have a cold?"

I shook my head. "I was just exhausted. I didn't get much sleep last night."

Shirley grinned. "I know the feeling. I didn't get much sleep the previous night. You should know."

"No! I mean, I just couldn't get to sleep... I was preoccupied."

"Oh?" Shirley was still smiling. "Um, by the way, you have another visitor downstairs."

Huh? I wondered who would be downstairs when Shirley was naked in my room. "Wendy?"

"Yep. She didn't know if you would want her up here... in your room. I figured I had permission."

"Um, yeah... I mean, if you don't mind..."

"I'll tell her!" Shirley jumped up and was heading for the bedroom door.

"Wait!" I said. "One minute... I need to... to tell you something."

Shirley stopped. "Sure. What's up, lover?"

Another knife in the heart. Some lover I was.

Shirley must have noticed my reaction. "What's wrong, Jim? What's bothering you?"

"I have a confession to make, Shirley. After I tell you, you might hate me forever, and I won't blame you."

Shirley looked concerned. "What do you have to confess? Are you seeing somebody else?"

"No! Nothing like that," I assured Shirley. "It's... um... worse."

"What could be worse?"

I took a deep breath. I knew that I had to get it out. "I gave you a hypnotic suggestion to videotape Wendy. You may have thought it was your own idea, but it was mine."

"Oh, that? I knew that!"

"What?"

Shirley actually smiled. "Jim, the urge I had to do that seemed unnatural, just like when you made me get undressed that first time. I realized it was you that made the suggestion."

"But..."

"Oh, I was a little bit surprised that you wanted it, but Wendy seemed all for it. I'm not sure if she knows, but she really got into the whole video session."

I nodded. "Well, I felt so guilty last night that I couldn't get to sleep. When I did, I didn't get much; I was upset at myself."

"You worried yourself half to death!" Shirley exclaimed.

"Yeah."

"Well, I'm not mad. I'm not sure about Wendy, but I think she trusts that you won't be uploading the video to the Internet or something..." Shirley gave me a look that told me that she wanted this particular thing confirmed herself.

"No. That wasn't my intention."

"OK. I trust you, Jim."

"I'll go and get Wendy!" Shirley turned and headed for the bedroom door. She opened it and departed.

When Shirley left, I thought once more about how wonderful she was. She figured out that the weird desire she had was implanted on her... and she didn't seem to mind it at all!

Of course, this wasn't carte blanche to do this very often. I would need to think carefully before doing anything like that again.

The two girls were coming upstairs. It was when I realized that Wendy would be coming upstairs, I realized that I was still nude. I quickly pulled my blanket up from where Shirley apparently pulled it down before they arrived.

"Hi, girls," I said.

Wendy looked concerned. "Jim, you sound tired."

"I was sleeping when Shirley came upstairs," I explained.

"Are you sick?" Wendy asked.

"He was worried about something last night and it kept him awake," Shirley remarked.

I nodded. "Yeah. I was worrying about something and I was exhausted this morning. I called Roger and took the day off. I'm not really sick, just tired."

"Well, Shirley was worried sick about you!" Wendy said.

"Is that why the two of you are off from work?"

Shirley nodded.

"I had Gail give us the afternoon off. We had a sick friend to visit."

I smiled.

"Did I tell you how I woke him up?" Shirley asked Wendy.

"Huh? I thought Jim said he took off because he was exhausted. You woke him up?"

Shirley grinned.

"You didn't!" Wendy said, a bit shocked.

"I sure did!"

Wendy shook her head. "I bet he appreciated that!"

It was my turn. "I sure did!"

The three of us laughed.



-------

Chapter 7: Playing Games


It took a few minutes of having a nude Wendy in my bedroom before I was able to push down my blanket and reveal my own nudity. Wendy gave my dick an approving nod, but aside from that, she didn't seem put out by it.

"What should we do with the rest of our day off?" Shirley asked.

"Play a game?" Wendy suggested.

"Like what?" I asked. "Only game I play nowadays is poker."

Wendy smiled. "Let's play poker, then."

"I don't play poker much," Shirley admitted. "I played it a few times, though. You might have to help me with the ranks of the hands."

"Too bad we're not prepared to play strip poker, huh?" I said. "Nobody has anything to bet."

Shirley and I laughed, and Wendy waited us out. "How about dares?"

I raised my eyebrows. "Dares among naked adults may get out of hand quickly."

Shirley said, "Not if they're consenting adults. I'm certainly consenting. How about you, Wendy?"

Wendy looked at me warily. "You know, I'm doing a lot of things I never thought I'd be doing, but Shirley seems to trust you, Jim. I'll guess I can accept if we can set up ground rules."

"What rules?" I asked.

Wendy answered, "First, we stay in this house. I don't want you sending us to run around the block in our birthday suits."

"Damn!" I said, pretending to be disappointed.

Shirley looked at me, apparently quite surprised. However, when she same my big grin, she knew that I was just putting her on.

"That's fair, Wendy," I said, more seriously.

"What else?" Shirley asked.

"Only a female may dare Jim to fuck her. Jim can't request that dare from us."

"Hey! I might like that dare!" Shirley complained.

"Then you dare him," Wendy suggested. "I'm not sure how I feel about it right now."

"I have no problem with Wendy's rule, Shirley," I said.

Shirley was still pouting a bit. "Anything else, Miss Party Pooper?"

"No daring drinks. I have to drive back home."

"You could always stay here," Shirley suggested, looking at me for confirmation. I nodded.

"I don't have a change of clothes for tomorrow, and I have a couple of meetings tomorrow at work."

Shirley suggested, "We could go back and get our things. I did it Sunday, remember?"

Wendy nodded. "We also need to get your car from work."

It was my turn to make a suggestion. "How about if I drive with you, and pick you guys up from your apartments. This way, we only have one car to drive to work tomorrow."

"That could work!" Shirley said, looking at Wendy for approval.

"I don't know," Wendy agreed. "Isn't Jim too tired to drive?"

I sighed. Wendy had a good point. "Actually, I might be."

"Then we take my car," Shirley said. "I'll drive us to work, and I'll drive Jim home tomorrow."

Tomorrow was Wednesday. "Um, I need to be home before seven. Poker night."

"I think tonight's going to be your poker night, buster!" Shirley said, giggling.

I shot Shirley a glance, and Wendy caught it as well.

"Shirl, Jim has prior plans for tomorrow. You can make sure he's home in time for his buddies."

"I guess so," Shirley sounded put out, but I could see from her expression that it wasn't so.

Since I didn't need to do any driving, the girls left without me. I spent the time that they were gone making some black coffee and taking a shower, trying to get myself to wake up.

-------

"When you play penalty poker," Wendy explained to Shirley, "you are looking for the worst hand instead of the best hand. The player with the worst hand is the one that loses. Do you understand that?"

Shirley nodded.

"The easiest form of poker for this is Texas Hold-em," I said.

Wendy nodded in agreement, and started to explain it to Shirley for me. "Everybody gets two down cards. Then five cards are dealt which are the common pile called the "river," which everybody shares. We all show our down cards and use five cards to come up with your best hand."

Wendy dealt out a sample hand to explain the game. I had two deuces down.

"Lowest hand is no pairs, and is based on the highest card or cards in the hand. Next comes two of a kind: a pair. That's followed by two pairs, three of a kind, a straight, a flush, a full house, four of a kind, and the highest is a straight flush."

Shirley seemed confused. "Flush? Straight?"

I smiled. "A flush is a hand with every card having the same suit, like, all hearts or all diamonds. A straight has cards of continuous rank, like two, three, four, five, six. A straight flush combines the two. A straight with every card being in the same suit."

"You'll help me with this, right?" Shirley asked, looking at me.

"We both will," Wendy answered before I could. I simply nodded in agreement.

"What about deuces wild?" Shirley asked. "Doesn't that mean that all twos are wild?"

Wendy shook her head. "In real poker, we don't play with wild cards." She looked at me for support, and I nodded in return.

Wendy dealt five cards for the river. My hidden pair beat everybody. Wendy had the low hand.

"Do you see how it's played?" Wendy asked.

"I think so," Shirley said doubtfully.

I added, "There's nothing to discard, so there's no strategy, really. It's all luck. We'll help you. OK?"

Shirley brightened. "OK."

-------

The first hand went to Shirley, and I was the loser. "OK. I want Jim to fuck me."

"Wait, Shirley," Wendy said. "The idea for dares is to start small and work your way up. What if you win six hands? Do you think Jim will be able to make it with you six times?"

"Why not?" Shirley smiled, but it was obvious that she was a bit disappointed. "OK. What should I ask for?"

"How about a back rub?" Wendy suggested.

"I guess," Shirley pouted.

I sighed. "Oh, the tribulations of being a man!"

Shirley stuck her tongue out at me.

-------

Our game lasted for an hour or so. I gave back rubs to both girls, as well as "front rubs." I got a back rub from Wendy, and a "front rub" from Shirley, which turned into a hand job. Wendy had, by that time, instituted a time limit on dares, so that hand job didn't lead very far.

In fact, Wendy's time limit actually limited the amount of sexual activity. I was able to sample both Shirley's and Wendy's cunts, and received oral stimulus from Shirley.

After an hour, I could see disappointment increase in Shirley's eyes. I decided to call an end to the game.

I left for the kitchen and asked Shirley to come in with me.

"What's wrong, Shirley?"

"I'm just... well, the game isn't as fun as I hoped."

I nodded. "Wendy's starting to feel like a fifth wheel. You were the one that offered her to stay overnight, you know. She's not comfortable with me screwing her, and what will she do when you and I decide to do the horizontal mambo?"

"I didn't think of that."

"So, let's make her feel at home, all right?"

Shirley looked confused. "How?"

"Do you think Wendy would like to live out a fantasy?" I asked.

"What fantasy?" Shirley asked.

"Let's find out."

"How?"

I smiled. "Trust me."

-------

Wendy was waiting for us, and seemed surprised when Shirley and I returned with three light beers. She took one, and Shirley and I took the others.

"To two lovely women," I toasted after I popped the top of my beer.

Shirley added, "To a smart guy!"

"Here, here," added Wendy.

We all took a slug from our beers.

"Trance Shirley, sleep. Trance Wendy, sleep."

Both girls folded their arms.

I had each girl take me to the Room of Truth, and told them that until they went back into their trance states, they will be compelled to tell the truth.

"Wakey, wakey."

I took another slug of my beer, and the girls followed suit.

"Wendy, you've been under hypnosis a few times now. Do you have any fantasies regarding hypnosis?"

"Well, when I was debating about whether to go to Dr. Simons, I had these fantasies about having him take advantage of me. You know, making me suck him, or do other embarrassing things."

"I've had the same fantasies," Shirley admitted. "Mine revolved around Jim, but they were about making me do something that I wouldn't otherwise do. However, he sort of makes it fun."

"How do I make it fun?" I asked.

"Well, you don't let me take it too far, but I go further than I would otherwise. It's like being drunk. I don't really do that sort of thing, but sometimes, I can see it being a convenient excuse."

"I understand that," Wendy said. "I mean, I used to get drunk for that reason. It's easy for people to forget it or just put your behavior down to drinking too much."

This was a good start. I asked, "So, what if I convinced you guys were drunk? You wouldn't be falling down drunk, but drunk enough that your inhibitions would be lowered. You might do a strip tease in front of strangers, or even do something like give a hand job to somebody. What about that?"

Wendy said, "I'd have to trust you to allow you to do that. I mean, if you got me that way in front of strangers, then I'd be relying on you to keep things safe."

"That's a good point," I agreed.

"It would also depend on the strangers," Shirley added.

I nodded. I put the girls back under to get them out of the truth compulsion. Inwardly, I wondered how much either would have told me if I hadn't compelled the truth from them.

-------

(Shirley)

It was so sweet for Jim to confirm what I had already suspected. He did put that idea for me to videotape Wendy masturbating into my head. It was sort of like that fantasy I had of losing control. Jim managed to do it to me while I was not with him, but with Wendy.

The poor dear worried himself to death, though. I need to figure out a way to prevent him from doing that. He needs to know that he can ask me to do just about anything, as long as he still likes me afterward.

This is totally unlike Freddie and his brother Billy. They paid me twenty dollars, but they showed those pictures to everybody! They betrayed my trust, and until Jim, I didn't think I could trust a boy again.

I was turned on when Wendy suggested poker dares, but it quickly turned out to be a disappointment. I wasn't going to get to fuck Jim every turn, and when Wendy started insisting on time limits, most of the fun went out of it. Jim would be rubbing me, and just as it was starting to get interesting, Wendy would call time!

Things got strange when Wendy and I were talking with Jim about our fantasies. I never dreamed I'd be telling Jim about him hypnotizing me to do embarrassing things in front of Wendy! She seemed so open about it as well. From what Jim told me before we had that conversation, I figured that he hypnotized us to tell him these things. It did make sense, actually, and I trusted him.

Jim had an interesting gleam in his eyes when we told him, though. It was as if an idea was already forming in his head. Before I could ask him, however, he changed the subject. "Let's watch T.V. Anybody want to watch videos?"

Wendy shot me a look when he asked that. I grinned. I had the DVD in my purse, which was in the entryway where Wendy and I put our clothes when we came into the house.

"I have something we should watch," I said.

Wendy blushed crimson. She didn't make a move to stop me, so I got up and retrieved the DVD.

Last night, when I was at Wendy's apartment, she had a digital video camera. We took a lot of takes, but I took the camera home and downloaded all the material we shot to my Powerbook. I spent a few hours splicing the video I had until I was able to create a DVD. I burned a single copy for Jim, although I still had the raw video files on my computer and could create more if I needed to. Of course, I couldn't figure out who else I'd give a copy to.

This would be the first time that anybody other than I would see the final product.

Jim has this wonderful home theater system, complete with one of those flat and wide LCD large screen televisions. We moved to his den (he calls it his play room), and he connected the DVD player to the television.

I popped in the DVD and sat down.

The scene faded in, and it was obvious that the person on the screen was almost a life-sized Wendy.

My friend was blushing furiously as we watched my handiwork.

Since the video that I shot was mostly me giving orders to Wendy, I overdubbed my own lines, describing Jim and I having sex on Sunday evening.

I started describing us in the hot tub, and slowly Wendy's legs parted as she rubbed herself. As I explained how I loved riding Jim's cock, the camera slowly panned to a close-up of Wendy's face. You didn't have to see her fingering herself to know what she was feeling... it was right there in her face.

"You look cute when you're feeling good, Wendy," Jim said.

Wendy looked ashen. "Oh... my... god..."

On the screen, Wendy's index finger came into view as she licked and then sucked it, licking her passion juices from that finger, and then her middle finger.

There was a fade out of her face that faded into a close-up of Wendy's pussy. From this vantage point, anybody would be able to learn the intricacies of a woman's sex. Wendy's clittie was in plain sight, a darkish purple mass with a lighter point within a sea of pink. Underneath her clit, her puffy pink folds opened up and you could see the dark red entrance to Wendy's womb.

Wendy's finger reappeared, and slowly circled her clit. Her middle and ring fingers moved downward until they were swallowed by her cunt. In and out her fingers moved, while her index finger continued to circle and very occasionally touch her clittie.

As a woman, I knew exactly what Wendy was feeling right then. I could hear my voice on the disc describe Jim eating me out in the hot tub, but my attention was on Wendy's fingers.

This particular scene appealed to me greatly. I watched it over and over as I perfected the shot, splicing scenes from a couple of takes until I had what I ended up with. I ended up discarding my panties as I reviewed this particular scene, so arousing it was for me!

I glanced at my friend, wondering if she saw the beauty that I saw on screen. Wendy had her head in her hands, but her eyes were glued to the screen. "That's a beautiful scene," I told her.

Instead of nodding her agreement, she simply shook her head. I could see that this was both arousing her as well as embarrassing her.

As my voice on screen described Jim titty-fucking me in his bed, the camera panned back until Wendy's entire body was once again in view. My voice then described the two of us making passionate love together, and you could see Wendy's fingers moving faster and faster. It was obvious that she was ready to reach climax.

For the final climactic scene, I took the audio of her reaching orgasm from about three takes (yes, I was cruel to Wendy!), and overlaid it with my explaining Jim pumping his seed into my womb, and my reaching orgasm soon afterward. The picture blurred until there was a gray screen, on which I had put the lettering, "Come again, soon!"

-------

(Jim)

"I'm gonna die," Wendy cried, once the video ended.

The video was only about fifteen to twenty minutes long, but it looked professionally made. There were a few places where the camera work was shaky, but I've seen many pornos on the Internet that weren't put together as great as this one.

I was actually impressed at Shirley's competence as a video director.

"How did you do all those effects?" I asked.

Shirley beamed. "I bought a package for my Macintosh when I was making a video postcard for my parents. The program then dumped it to DVD. On my Powerbook, the screen is much smaller; it looks even more fantastic on the big screen."

"I'm gonna die!" Wendy cried again.

"The porno actress was wonderful," I said. "Anybody we know?"

Wendy shook her head.

Shirley nodded. "I did the voice-overs. Wendy did the acting and the orgasms and moaning were all her."

I moved over to where Wendy was sitting with her head in her hands. "I loved it, Wendy." I kissed her lightly on the cheek.

"I'm gonna die," Wendy whispered.

"Nobody but us will ever see it," I promised. "You can have the disc right now if you want it."

"I know. I knew I was taping it yesterday, but it was only after I saw it that I realized how embarrassed I am about it."

"I think it's beautiful. Shirley made you look like a supermodel!"

I looked over Wendy's shoulder to Shirley. I motioned her to come over.

"Wendy, you were beautiful," Shirley assured her friend.

"Please don't make me see it again. Please?"

"I promise," I said. Personally, I knew that I would want to see it again. Shirley created a miniature masterpiece.

"Thank you," Wendy said.

Wendy moved her head up and kissed me on the lips. It was a first for us. It didn't have exactly the same effect that Shirley's kisses had on me, but Shirley was special to me.

One important part of me--my cock--appreciated that kiss!

My dick had been looking for attention since Shirley's aborted hand job earlier. With it hard as it was now, I said, "If you suck me, I'll promise that you'll never see that video again, unless you specifically ask to see it. That is, of course, if Shirley says it's all right."

"Um... sure," Shirley said, not entirely sure of herself.

"Really?" Wendy asked, looking up at her friend.

"Go ahead, Wendy." Shirley sounded a bit more confident.

Wendy bent down and put my cock in her mouth. She gently applied suction and soon was moving her head, making her lips slide up and down my shaft while her tongue moved back and forth at the same time.

One thing was very apparent. I noticed a striking difference when Wendy had my dick in her mouth from when Shirley did it. Shirley was eager, of course, but Wendy's tongue seemed to tickle my dick in ways I never dreamed.

I watched in awe as Wendy swallowed about half my shaft before moving back up, her tongue constantly licking around my shaft. When her lips met back at the tip, she licked that sensitive area between the crown and the shaft.

Wendy knew how to give a blow job!

A few minutes later, I felt pretty uneasy. It wasn't that I didn't appreciate Wendy's efforts, but I somehow felt a bit weird with her sucking me while Shirley looked on.

In fact, during all this time, I didn't even dare to look at Shirley. I could imagine her disapproving look at me, who she thought of as her lover, accepting sexual favors from her best friend. It took quite a lot of effort to force my eyes to meet Shirley's.

When I finally managed to lock eyes with my other coworker, I didn't see any jealousy there at all. I think my cock grew in Wendy's sucking mouth as I saw Shirley smiling at the two of us. She approved?

A low moan escaped from Shirley's lips as I looked at her, and it was then that I noticed that, once again, her fingers were buried in her snatch. Shirley was actually frigging herself as Wendy sucked my cock like a pro!

This triggered my release, and I pumped my sperm into Wendy's mouth. Wendy responded by redoubling her sucking efforts, as if she were trying to suck my balls up from their sacs through the canals in my shaft and into her mouth. I never felt so completely drained as I shot the last remaining jolt into Wendy's mouth.

"Your video is safe with us," I whispered as I kissed Wendy behind her ears.

"Thank you, Jim," Wendy said, a bit shyly.

"I should be thanking you," I replied.

Shirley was no longer finger fucking herself, but looked satisfied. Had she come while I was busy with Wendy? I didn't know.

All I know is that Shirley loved me, and I repaid her love by asking her best friend to suck me. It was time for me to apologize again to her, but when I approached her, she pounced on me to the point where she threw me onto the floor, and ground her entire body against mine as she kissed my face, my lips, and my neck.

"Shirley," I said when my lips were free, "I'm sorry..."

"Shut up and don't spoil the mood. I'm so fucking horny right now, I would fuck Wendy if you weren't around!"

My cock started to spring to life when Shirley said that. It conjured up images in my brain that I had forced away, not wanting to turn off the girls.

It turned out that my cock was indeed hard enough, since Shirley effortlessly managed to insert it into her pussy. Instead of the slow, languorous moves that she made when she rode me in the hot tub, Shirley seemed to be a bitch in heat. For once, I was glad that Wendy had sucked me, as there was some of her saliva and my own semen still on my shaft to help provide lubrication, even if Shirley's own cunt wasn't supplying such a generous amount herself.

"Wendy, get over here," Shirley hissed as she rode me like a cowgirl.

Wendy looked doubtful, but she moved closer.

Shirley continued riding me as she ordered her friend, "Kiss him."

There was still doubt on Wendy's face, but she moved over and kissed me on my cheek.

"Make him kiss you!" Shirley growled, seemingly unhappy with Wendy's lack of cooperation.

Wendy finally kissed me, and it wasn't a tentative kiss at all. I knew that this was the mouth that just sucked me off, but there was so much passion in her kiss, I was completely taken by surprise. I responded by kissing her back, and by thrusting my hips in time with Shirley's continued pumping.

Ten minutes later, Wendy was still kissing me passionately as Shirley was moaning toward her first orgasm. I felt Wendy moan as the two of us continued kissing.

I felt the spasms of Shirley's cunt as she reached her peak, and the sensation along with Wendy's kiss felt beautiful to me. Although Shirley's face was partially obscured by Wendy's head, I had seen her experience orgasms before, and my mind's eye pictured her lovely face contorted by the immense pleasure that she felt.

It surprised me that Shirley's cunt clenching me and continued pumping hadn't made me reach orgasm, but I realized that Wendy had already pulled a load out of me minutes earlier, and with the intensity of her sucking, I doubted there was any sperm left in my genitals to provide any for Shirley.

Shirley didn't seem to mind, however. Her motions slowed down after she came, but she didn't stop.

Finally, Wendy stopped kissing me, and slowly moved away from the two of us. My lips felt the loss of her presence, and I instinctively pulled Shirley's body down so that she was laying on top of me. I kissed her as passionately as I kissed Wendy just a few moments ago.

Shirley pulled away from the kiss, surprising me, and she moved so her face was on my left side, the side away from where Wendy had moved. "Don't ever make Wendy suck you without kissing her afterward. You don't want to make her feel like a whore."

I thought about it, and Shirley was right. "Sorry..."

"Stop apologizing, Jim."

I was about to apologize for my apology, and for some reason, the thought made me giggle.

"I like the feeling of you in me," Shirley whispered. "It's been such a long time... too long." Shirley's voice drifted off as her eyes unfocused in deep thought.

"I like feeling you, too," I agreed.

Shirley snapped back to reality. "Um, you're not going to come, are you?"

"Probably not. You feel divine, but Wendy..."

"Ssh," Shirley said, shushing me by kissing my lips once again. "You know, Wendy's spending the night. Are you going to fuck her?"

Instantly, the hairs on the back of my neck tingled. My brain told me that this was one hell of a loaded question. "Um, Wendy said she didn't know if she wanted to do it."

"You could make her do it, just like you made her do that video," Shirley whispered.

Making her do that video wasn't rape, I told myself. Was it?

"Let me put it this way," I said, giving Shirley a bit of a kiss. "Any fucking has to be consensual. With Wendy, not only does she have to consent, but both of us have to consent as well. OK?"

Shirley answered me by kissing me again, this time more passionately.

I finally rolled with Shirley so that she was underneath me, and I pulled out of her.

"It's exercise time," I said to the girls.

"Not yet," Shirley said.

I was confused until Shirley moved her head into my lap and licked my cock like a little puppy, cleaning my cock.

Shirley stuck her head up. "Please join me, Wendy. This can be our first exercise, pole cleaning."

Wendy looked a bit confused, and looked to me for confirmation. I simply shrugged. I had nothing to do with Shirley's request, so I figured it was between the two girls.

After a minute, Wendy joined her friend, taking the other side as the two girls licked up and down my shaft. I realized that Wendy was licking up Shirley's pussy juices, and wondered how she felt about that. Due to Wendy's intense concentration on her work, since she was "exercising," I couldn't read her expression at all.



-------

Chapter 8: Getting Closer


Up until that particular Tuesday, I would have to say that the most erotic exercise session was the first one with Shirley. At that time, Shirley was confused and embarrassed about her nudity, and didn't know what to expect next.

I guess my next most erotic session was going to be Wendy's first, as she had the same confusion, although she was guided by Shirley as well as me.

Neither one, however, prepared me for the exercise session this day.

First, the girls started the session with a new made-up exercise called "pole cleaning," where they licked up Shirley's pussy juices from my shaft after Shirley rode me for about ten minutes.

Next, the girls went through their standard exercises. However, this time, the girls would help each other. As Wendy did her leg splits, for instance, Shirley would be at her legs, helping her to lift even higher, affording me a better view of Wendy's treasures. Shirley found many opportunities to touch Wendy, often unnecessarily, but in a way that was sexually suggestive.

This extra activity ate up time, but the two girls were determined to get their standard exercises for the first exercise period, which extended it to nearly an hour.

As usual, during the first rest period, Wendy lay on my lap. This girl had already kissed me passionately and sucked me off, so it wasn't as if she was a stranger to me at all. Laying down on the throw rug on her side, staring at the two of us, was Shirley.

I was undecided what to do with Wendy. She had a thin sheen of sweat on her body, which sort of made it glow warmly in the fading light of the sunset that came in through the living room window.

After a couple of minutes, Shirley remarked, "You guys are boring."

Without warning, Shirley rolled over to where I was sitting and Wendy was laying on my lap. She moved her head over Wendy's, and started to kiss her friend.

I felt Wendy squirm a bit in my lap, stimulating my still-erect cock slightly. After a few minutes, Wendy threw her arms around Shirley's neck, and it was obvious that this wasn't any minor peck. The two girls were kissing each other as passionately as they had done with me previously.

Of course, my cock was as hard as steel once again, but the girls seemed to ignore it, except that Wendy moved slightly against it, seemingly at random.

I watched the girls kiss each other for about ten minutes before they finally parted.

"Ready for the second session?" Shirley asked Wendy.

"So soon?" I asked, hoping there would be more intimate activity between the two girls like I was seeing during the rest period.

"Of course," Shirley explained, "we need to start by doing our warm ups. Right, Wendy?" Shirley gave Wendy an exaggerated wink.

Warm ups? I was confused. I never had the girls do any warm ups, although now that Shirley mentioned it, it was probably a good idea. Why hadn't she mentioned it until today?

"Two minutes of pole cleaning," Shirley said, and Wendy smiled broadly.

My cock was already straining at its full height as the two girls descended upon it.

I was just ready to come when Shirley called time, leaving me with a terrible case of blue balls. "Um, perhaps..."

Shirley interrupted me by kissing me. "No you don't, Jim," she whispered afterward. "You will not order us to finish you off. If you do, Wendy and I will not be sleeping in your bed tonight."

This was the first time that Shirley gave me an order during the exercise session. Suddenly the full extent of Shirley's words hit me. "Wendy and I will not be sleeping in your bed tonight..." Did that imply that this was her intention?

Of course, this did nothing to relieve the pressure in my balls.

Shirley turned to Wendy and said, "Let's take a five minute break and simply watch Jim."

"Huh?" I asked, confused.

"Jim, you've ordered us to masturbate in front of you. I'm now ordering you to do the same for us. We've got you started, so hop to it!"

I felt more than a bit embarrassed myself. I looked at my cock, which was about as hard as I'd ever seen it. It was also wet with saliva from the two girls.

Tentatively, I touched it, and it flinched. My fingers felt electric when they touched my shaft, and it didn't take me long before I had my cock firmly in hand.

I was already ninety percent there, and I started to feel that lovely sensation that flowed over my entire body right before I came.

It only took about two minutes, but I started rubbing myself faster. With little warning, I shot my load.

I wasn't sure when I closed my eyes, but when I opened them, Shirley was right above my cock, with her mouth opened expectantly. I had already shot my first load, and it appeared to have streaked her right cheek. Her lips moved further toward me until they were just touching the head of my cock.

Shirley sucked as my second, much smaller, load erupted. It looked like she was kissing the tip, and in a way, she was. She continued to suck for a minute or two until all the spasms went away.

When Shirley lifted her head from my lap, I had a better view of the semen trail I left on her face. It had just missed her eye, and I suddenly thought of that funny Christmas movie where everybody is telling a kid who wants a B.B. gun that "you'll shoot your eye out!"

I smiled at my mental image, and Shirley smiled back at me. Instead of kissing me, however, she moved over to where Wendy was kneeling, watching the two of us with her fingers in her snatch. As Shirley approached her, she offered Wendy her right cheek, and without any hesitation, Wendy started to lick Shirley's face.

Watching the two girls, I looked down on my cock. There was little hope in arousing that fellow from the dead at this point, but I still was excited knowing that Wendy was willingly licking my seed from her best friend's face.

Once Shirley's face was clean, she turned to kiss her friend. It was another passionate kiss, but it didn't last too long. Shirley broke it off after about ten seconds by saying, "Warm ups are finished. Time for our session."

It amazed me how much Shirley had taken over control of the exercise sessions. I had selected the different activities originally because they would be embarrassing when executed by naked women, and Shirley was now turning them into exercises of passion. Gone was the slight teasing that I saw in the first session. That teasing was replaced by Shirley actually touching Wendy's breasts, making her nipples hard, and having her friend return the favor when they switched roles.

Near the end of the session, I could see Shirley moving her attentions toward Wendy's crotch, first caressing her under her breasts, then tickling, and even once licking Wendy's belly button.

By the time that Shirley reached Wendy's pubic hair, she said, "Boy! One hour. Extra long session today, Jim!"

Somehow, the two girls' passionate moves had managed to get a rise--albeit slight--from my cock. I was actually disappointed that Shirley called an end to the exercises.

For the rest period, it was Shirley's turn to lay on my lap. With no encouragement from Shirley necessary, Wendy came over to kiss her friend passionately as Shirley squirmed in my lap, even more than Wendy did previously.

I simply watched the two girls kiss.

-------

(Shirley)

I'm not sure what got into me during exercise period that day, but I'm sure it wasn't any suggestion from Jim. For one thing, he seemed genuinely surprised at my actions, and didn't have that smug smile that he has when he makes me do something that I wouldn't normally do.

I sensed a reluctance in Wendy, which confirmed that Jim wasn't controlling things. This made me feel a lot more in control, and for some strange reason, I felt a lot freer to do some very risqué things.

One thing that Jim did was make me get horny when he did things with Wendy. I remember feeling a bit left out the first time he touched her, thinking of him as my own private property. It's weird how possessive a person can feel when the emotion of love is experienced.

There was an old saying, and Sting put it into a song. "If you love someone, set them free." All grammatical problems with that expression aside, I realized that I should give Jim his freedom to at least play around, but in reality, I found it difficult to do that.

I think it was the past weekend when Jim must have hypnotized me to no longer be jealous. I mean, I'd feel a twinge of it, but then I would start to feel sexy, and then see what he is doing as if he were doing it to me, and I felt like I was having an out of body experience, with Jim's phantom fingers playing with me instead of Wendy. This feeling is so out of this world and alien to me that the only explanation is that it must have been induced through one of Jim's hypnotic commands to me.

With Jim, I decided to stop trying to second guess him. He does things to Wendy and me, and he always has explanations for what he does. He made me strip that first exercise day, and then explained that he needed to see what he had to work with. He also admitted that he liked looking at pretty naked girls, and despite how I felt about my body, his words actually did make me feel pretty.

His exercises were designed mostly to get him aroused, but they seemed to actually be working. I know that I enjoyed doing them, and the bathroom scale in my house confirmed that I had already lost a pound or two. Now, this may not seem like much, but it's there. The scale showed that I lost a pound that first week, and another pound when I weighed myself that morning, but this silly hypnosis thing was really working. Furthermore, I found that I was enjoying this weight loss program!

I remembered the first time that Jim and I invited Wendy to go out to Fiesta Bravo. This is a new restaurant near Jim's house that serves tortillas stuffed with meat and vegetables and cheese. Jim ordered for all three of us, and Wendy's face fell when she saw hers. There was some cheese on it, a lot more than she expected. I remembered her Doctor's orders to not like the taste of fatty foods, and immediately felt sorry for her. My chicken wrap had less cheese on it, and I was about to trade with her when all of a sudden, Wendy was smiling again. I saw her actually smile as she ate her cheesy wrap. I knew that Jim made it better; she didn't finish it, but she really seemed to enjoy it.

In addition, at that restaurant, Wendy was able to order and eat a piece of carrot cake, something she told me she couldn't eat anymore since she couldn't eat desserts. Again, she didn't finish it (she offered the second half to me, and I accepted), but I felt so happy to see Wendy enjoying food again--hopefully without ending up getting fat again.

I realized it then that Jim was right. Not only was Dr. Simon's orders to Wendy not to like fatty foods a short-term solution, but I saw now that it was kind of cruel as well. Was Jim trying to make me see that? It didn't seem so to me, but I knew by now that Jim could be very subtle.

Anyway, after playing that silly poker dares game and feeling so horny without any outlet, I finally jumped Jim's bones, not caring one whit that Wendy was watching me!

I felt a certain freedom with Jim that I never felt with any boy since I left junior high. I felt like the old Shirley, the one that would show her pussy on a dare, the one that would wear a blindfold and kiss anything that was put near her mouth.

All this freedom felt wonderful, but the man responsible for it was Jim. He spent the entire night worrying that he may have betrayed Wendy and me with that video session, but I have to tell you that I got very horny during that video shoot--especially during the editing session afterward. I know that Wendy came more than once; I had her do the climax scene a few times in order to get the perfect take!

After that video shoot, Wendy and I had an intimacy that we never shared before. We'd seen each other reach orgasm, and now I was able to fuck my man in front of her.

I watched my best friend suck Jim off as her "bribe" to him never to show her that video again. I was shocked at how embarrassed that video would made her feel, since she had so much fun making it, but Jim assured her, and I know that I believed him.

Jim, for his part, isn't the all knowing and all wise Oz the Magnificent, either. I know that Wendy loves to give head (she told me during her video shoot), but she needs to feel loved afterward, or she just feels used. Jim didn't do anything to thank her afterward, and I quietly scolded him about it afterward.

Anyway, it was Little Girl Shirley, that girl that I was that I missed so very much, that was in control of the exercise session that afternoon. Despite the fact that I couldn't fuck Jim and make him come, I figured the two of us would have to work just a little bit harder. We started with my little warm up exercise where Wendy and I would lick him. I'd already tasted Wendy's pussy juices during our video shoot (that's another story, honey!), so I figured that she wouldn't have any problem licking mine off Jim's wonderful dick.

We went further and further during that session. The whole exercise set was like an erotic parody of a real exercise session--something you'd probably see on, say, Playboy TV. Both of us girls were getting turned on, and I saw that Jim's erection never left him.

I finally made Jim masturbate in front of us and he seemed embarrassed (serves him right!), but he did it. I rewarded him by trying to catch it, and then simply sucked his semen from the tip.

Wendy made a show of cleaning me up and we kissed before starting the second session, which was even more erotic than the first one, with both of us actually touching each other sexually.

Jim hinted on more than a few occasions that he would like to see Wendy and I get together, but I sensed a hesitance in him as well. I guess it feels different to guys. There's no way that a guy like Jim would feel frisky enough to kiss or touch another man in a sexual way, but I feel no such hesitance at all with girls. Although I've turned down offers from other girls in the past, it wasn't because the idea of having sex with another girl was repulsive; it was because I didn't feel any love with the girl making the offer, and I guess I really wanted my first time with a woman would have to be special.

Despite my hatred of men, I never wanted to live a life sexually attached to another woman. I knew that I would always feel like something was missing. It's like always eating the icing off the cake, and never trying to eat the cake itself. It didn't make any sense to me; I was born with female organs, and they work with male organs so nicely. Just because I don't trust males didn't mean that I would never be able to have sex.

Now, I don't want to give out the wrong impression. I've mentioned that I had lesbian friends who thought that my hatred of men might be an area where we shared a common interest. I must admit that I did do things occasionally with other women, mostly out of curiosity, but I can not say that I've ever made love to another woman. I never made any commitments to any woman, since I still preferred the kind of sex that a warm penis could provide.

At the same time, I found it difficult to trust men. That doesn't mean that I was a virgin when I first slept with Jim. Not at all! It's always easy for a girl to have sex with a guy. Somebody (Billy Crystal?) once said that a woman needs a reason to have sex; a man only needs a place. It's true! Most guys are always willing to have sex with a girl, especially if the woman doesn't seem to have any desire to saddle the man down.

As I put on more weight, I would sometimes have to wait a bit in bars for the "beer goggles" to come into play, but I have to admit that I was never really at a loss for male partners. The only thing is, I never trusted any of them for a minute. They, for their part, never bothered to pursue me, either. It wasn't a wonderful life, but it gave me a way to experience the sex my body seemed to crave. I figured that I was living the sort of life that I thought was best. It was only after being with Jim did I now realize that up until we went to bed together, I never really "made love" to a man, either!

During the video shoot, Wendy and I opened up to one another. She seemed shocked by the story of my sexual life, but she wasn't judgmental. Her story wasn't as outrageous as mine, but she never had to deal with Freddie and Billy, either. Wendy enjoyed sex, and was always willing to experiment. She told me that she had performed sex with men in just about any way imaginable, including anally, and I think that shows how different the two of us are. I could never trust a man enough to let him into my ass, and I never got drunk enough to give a man that opportunity.

For my part, I admitted to Wendy that Jim was the first man that I ever took into my mouth--I never loved any man enough to do something that didn't do anything to please me. Wendy told me that there were ways that women could appreciate giving head, but she didn't go into details.

What I'm getting at is that perhaps Wendy and I were both not disinclined to play with each other. Neither of us were your normal, run of the mill, "One man Willamina's from Wichita," (I heard that expression at a play in New York once). We also had a real appreciation for what Jim was doing for us. Wendy knew that I loved Jim, and even though we are both convinced that Jim hasn't come to grips with his own feelings toward me, he seemed to be warming up to the idea of having me live with him.

Oh, if I could ever take back anything I've said to Jim, it would be that stupid suggestion that the three of us live at Jim's place. The idea hit my head all of a sudden, and I blurted out my suggestion. Wendy kept shooting me glances to shut my big mouth, but the idea of living with a man, which had been so far from my own desires up until that point, became very important.

I've thought about this over and over since then, and despite the fact that up until the time I mentioned it the idea was foreign to me, there was no indication that Jim put this idea into my head. Wendy and I discussed it a few times since then, and we decided that the best course was to take it slowly with Jim.

The problem, of course, is that nothing seemed to go slowly with Jim. Just think! Our second hypnosis session had me naked and revealing my body to him! I guess I made the classic mistake of going too fast in return.

Anyway, I managed to spend the night with Jim on Sunday, and it looked like Wendy and I would be spending the night on Tuesday as well.

The weakest link in the whole evening might be Jim! He's shown that he's a typical man, and only capable of so many orgasms. He gives off an air of being sexually sophisticated, but he actually seems a bit naive at times. To his credit, Jim's sexual appetite doesn't seem to wane, even after he's shot off a couple of times. He's also shown enough voyeuristic tendencies that he definitely wouldn't mind if Wendy and I put on a show for him, except that Wendy's attitude after seeing the video of herself shocked me... she might not be as much an exhibitionist as I am.

Maybe I can bring out the exhibitionist in Wendy!

-------

(Jim)

In the past week, I enjoyed more sex than I had in the previous year. Shirley was a big part of it, but Wendy surprised me with her behavior as well. I sort of felt bad by the extreme embarrassment that she felt when we watched that video.

After the exercise session, Shirley popped up and announced that she was going to cook supper. Wendy got up as well, but Shirley said in her "bossy" tone, "You two, I want you to work on your appetites. If you two aren't cuddling or kissing or with your hands on one another, I'm going to spank the two of you!"

I looked in shock at Shirley as she walked into my kitchen. I appreciated the wiggle of her ass--did it look a bit smaller?--as she disappeared. I turned to Wendy, and she smiled at me. "I guess the boss has spoken."

"Yeah," Wendy said, a bit sarcastically. "It must suck being a man, huh?"

"I guess we better get busy, then."

Wendy was a cuddly person; maybe not as cuddly as Shirley. For some reason, I kept comparing the two girls, and I guess that was a disfavor to Wendy. Shirley and I had something special together, but she seemed to want Wendy and me to get closer as well. I moved closer to Wendy and started kissing her.

Our kiss was gentle, without all the passion I felt from Wendy earlier. I pressed my body against hers, feeling her breasts against my chest.

I suddenly got a good idea. I pulled away from the kiss, and whispered to Wendy, "I never shut off the heater on the hot tub. I know that you girls shower after exercising, would a hot tub feel good?"

Wendy smiled. "Jets of hot water against my skin would feel heavenly."

"Let's go!"

Shirley seemed surprised when I pulled Wendy through the kitchen. "Where are you two going? The spare bedroom?" Her voice sounded hopeful.

"Hot tub," I said.

"Ooh, great idea. I found a roast in the fridge. I hope you don't mind me joining the two of you once it's in the oven."

"Come right along," I said, smiling. Having Wendy in the hot tub was fine. Having Shirley along as well would be great!

As expected, it was chilly outside--just above freezing, actually. I opened the lid of the tub, and turned on the jets. The thermometer showed one hundred and two degrees--not too high, but I lowered the thermostat down to less than a hundred anyway. The cold air outside would still make the water seem hot. In addition, I put the jets on a twenty minute timer.

I led Wendy into the hot tub, and we shared one of the molded seats. Immediately, we resumed our kissing, and Wendy squirmed onto me into a position that felt comfortable with her; she found one of the jets and had it pulsing over her back.

Wendy seemed to purr as the jet worked its magic on the muscles of her back. I reached around and started to work my fingers on her shoulders, and was rewarded for my efforts with a sweet kiss.

The two of us snuggled in the warmth of the water when Shirley approached us.

"That's what I like to see," Shirley observed. "Two friends, making out in a hot tub. May I join you?"

I pulled my lips from Wendy's to answer. "Join us in a kiss, or just joining us in the water?"

"Both," Shirley said, smiling.

"Come on in!" Wendy invited.

The three of us spent the next fifteen minutes kissing in various configurations until the jets stopped. My erection returned from its short vacation sometime during this time, and its presence wasn't ignored by either woman, each of which gave it some strokes at various times.

"How do you start the jets up again?" Wendy asked, missing her back massage.

"There's a big push button next to the filter," I said, motioning at the wooden structure that housed the motor that powered the whirlpool. "It has a twenty minute timer."

"Why twenty minutes?" Shirley asked.

"If you have the temperature up to, say, a hundred and four, you don't want to be in the water too long. Do you see the redness of your body from the warmth? That's the heat stimulating the blood vessels in your skin. Too much stimulation isn't good, especially if people are prone to heart conditions. My parents used to use this, and they were in their fifties when they moved to Tucson. It's just a safety precaution."

"Oh."

"The water should be in the nineties," I said, glancing at the LED readout to confirm it. "It's not so dangerous."

Wendy turned on the timer, and I had to raise my voice to be heard. "Some people love to hit a cold pool afterward, and the shock to the system going from a hundred degrees to forty degrees in seconds is invigorating." I thought and then added, "At least, that's what people tell me."

Both girls shivered involuntarily at the idea of jumping into a cold pool. I didn't have to point out that just beyond the porch, with a cover on it, was an in-ground swimming pool. I had lots of happy memories in that pool, and was now building some new ones in the hot tub. I never knew until I grew older why my parents seemed to enjoy the hot tub more than the swimming pool.

The next twenty minutes were a repeat of the first twenty minutes, with the three of us kissing. I really got off on seeing Wendy and Shirley kiss each other, but the real hot action was feeling Shirley's lips on mine.

Somewhere in the back of my head, I recalled that the house with the clearest view into the hot tub had two adolescent boys. I wondered if their room overlooked my yard and if they saw the two girls happily cavorting sexually with me in my hot tub. Were they stroking themselves as they imagined that they were the lucky soul who lived at my house?

I resisted the urge to tell the girls about those two boys. After all, I had no way of knowing if the boys even knew enough to look out their window. I figured that Shirley might be an exhibitionist, but if Wendy was one, her tendencies didn't seem to be as strong as Shirley's were.

Reluctantly, we all left the hot tub after the jets shut off after the second twenty minute period. I grabbed some towels from my cabinet as the two girls rushed inside the warm house.

Inside the laundry room, I handed the girls their towels. They toweled each other off--not themselves--and then they went to work on me. My rigid member didn't seem to hamper their actions at all.

I left my towel on top of the washing machine and the girls wrapped theirs on their heads in that magical turban wrap that females seem able to tie from somewhere within their second X chromosome.

The three of us were comfortable with our nudity around each other by this time. It was just after seven thirty, and I could smell dinner roasting in the oven.

Shirley noticed my interest in the oven, she said, "I put a couple of Yukon gold potatoes in with the roast. You didn't have proper baking potatoes, so I had to make do. You don't have any vegetables in your fridge, either." That last remark was accusatory and aimed at me. "Some diet coach you are!"

I sighed. "Guilty as charged."

"Jim," Shirley said, "if you want us to spend the night, you have to let us eat some decent meals. You don't even have celery and carrots!"

"I know, I know..."

"You know what this means, then..." Shirley's voice sounded final.

Oh, shit! The girls weren't going to spend the night? "I know..."

I was ready to apologize again, but Shirley interrupted me. "That's right. We're going shopping!"

Shopping?

Wendy smiled, and the two girls went upstairs. After a minute or so, I could hear my old hair dryer--a device I hadn't used in years--start up.

About ten minutes later, I was surprised to hear my oven timer go off. The girls were still upstairs, so I turned off the heat.

I found a couple of pot holders and pulled the roasting pan out of the oven and onto the top of the stove. The roast smelled different than when I roast beef, and I saw the tell-tale flakes of pepper on its outside. It never occurred to me to season beef before putting it in the oven!

There was a bit of liquid underneath the roast, and wedges of potatoes soaking in it.

"Jim!" Shirley's voice called downstairs. "Did you take out the roast?"

"Yeah," I called up.

"Put the roast on a cutting board--keep it warm by putting some foil over it. Add some red wine and water to the pan and put the potatoes back in. They'll need a bit more cooking."

Cutting board? I usually cut my roasts in the roasting pan!

"Yes, dear," I said, mostly to myself, sounding like a tamed house husband.

I searched my kitchen looking for a cutting board, and found a tiny one. I put the meat on it, and it barely fit.

That particular piece of meat wasn't intended for roasting. I had plans on making chili with it for tomorrow's poker game. I didn't know it could actually smell so good as a roast!

I didn't have much foil, either, but I put a bit of it over the roast.

For red wine, I opened a bottle of Sutter Home that I had in a wine rack in the hallway of my laundry room, and when I returned, Wendy and Shirley were in the kitchen.

"I told you to put the roast on a cutting board!" Shirley said, a bit put out.

"That's the only one I could find!"

"Where's the wine?" Shirley said, shaking her head. "You turned off the oven!"

"I thought the roast was finished," I explained sheepishly.

I knew that I wasn't the best cook in the world, but Shirley made me feel completely useless. Was I really that inept when it came to cooking? I never had any complaints about my own cooking!

Wendy interrupted my thoughts by asking where the corkscrew was. I pointed to the junk drawer, and the girls worked around my useless body, trying to assemble a meal of meat, potatoes, and gravy.

"Can you at least carve the meat?" Shirley asked.

That was something I knew how to do. I went into one of my cabinets and got my mother's old electric knife.

"Not that!" Wendy cried. She found a knife block on one of my counters and gave me a different knife and a fork that I never saw used since my parents lived at the house. "That's for carving."

I carved the meat, and saw that it was done exactly the way I love it. It was dark on the outside, and bright pink on the inside. There was a lot of red juice coming from the meat.

Shirley pulled the potatoes and gravy from the oven, and asked, "Where are your spices?"

I nodded toward the spice cabinet, and Shirley went in and said, "How old are these? This store went out of business ten years ago!" I saw that Shirley had an old container of dried parsley with the name of a supermarket that used to be in my town. A shrug was my only answer.

"You need help, Mr. Diet Coach!" Shirley said, this time giggling at my ineptness. "You are so much the consummate male bachelor! We need to do a lot a shopping, I can see. That hair dryer upstairs was ancient!"

"Whatever," I said with a sigh.

Shirley moved to me and kissed me on the lips. "I love you, you big oaf!"

"Thanks," I said, not entirely convinced.



-------

Chapter 9: Overnight


I guess I might have been moping through dinner, despite Shirley's kiss. For some reason, it just didn't seem genuine to me; I kept receiving this feeling of disdain from Shirley with regard to my obvious shortcomings as a cook.

After dinner, it turned out that Shirley was indeed serious about shopping. In addition, she managed to take over the "boss" position in our relationship.

To drive in the point, Shirley insisted that they both dress me, and then I would dress both Wendy and her. Shirley seemed to find it very amusing as I made some fumbles. For instance, I had no idea which side of their panties was the front, and I seemed to get it wrong both times. (Do you think they'd give me some hint about how to figure this out? I thought there would be tags to indicate the back, like on guys' shorts, but there weren't any.)

I finally reached the end of my rope, and said, "That's it! No panties for you!" I forcefully pulled Shirley's panties down her legs, and then did the same, albeit not as roughly, to Wendy.

Shirley had this crooked smirk on her face, which made me even madder. "Do you two want to go bra-less, too? Did I managed to get them backwards, perhaps?"

Wendy shook her head, and looked a little alarmed at my reaction.

Shirley, on the other hand, said, "No, you figured out the bras adequately."

That smirk on Shirley's face was building up my anger. "That's it! No bra. Take it off!"

Without losing a beat, Shirley reached under her blouse and undid her bra, and then went through some contortions before slipping it out from her sleeves.

With an innocent-sounding voice, Shirley asked, "Anything else?"

My anger was fueled even more by Shirley's happy acceptance of the "no bra" threat. What could I do to wipe that stupid smirk from her face?

"Want to go all the way? How about no clothes for the entire trip to the store?"

"Stores," Shirley corrected, a gleam in her eyes.

"OK, Strip!"

"Wait!" Wendy spoke up. "Shirley, you're not helping Jim. You've humiliated him all since dinner, and the only thing he's tried to do is help you. Now, apologize to him!"

Something in Shirley changed. "Oh, shit. I'm sorry, Jim. I was just having fun..."

Wendy shook her head. "At his expense, you were having fun!"

Shirley hung her head. "Yes. I'm sorry."

For some reason, something in Shirley's voice emptied my anger completely. Immediately, my heart went out to Shirley. "That's OK..."

Wendy shook her head again. "No, Jim. That's not OK!" She turned to her best friend and said, "You heard him, Shirl. Strip! We'll be waiting in your car for you."

"You want me to strip and then go outside?"

"You did it when you hopped into the whirlpool."

"But..."

Wendy had an expression on her face that I hadn't seen up until this point. "But nothing. Jim told you to strip, and you goaded him into doing that, so it's up to you to do it. We'll be waiting in your car. You may bring your clothes, but you're driving naked."

"Are you crazy?" Shirley asked.

Wendy turned to me. "Jim, it's up to you. Shirley misbehaved, and now has to be punished."

Shirley cried, "You said no outside dares!"

"This isn't a dare," Wendy explained. "This is punishment."

"Jim?" Shirley asked me hopefully.

This was happening at a pace that I hadn't anticipated. Sure, I was angry just a few moments before, but I felt differently already. However, it occurred to me that this may be one of those humiliating things that Shirley may have fantasized about. I wondered if she would go through with it. Wendy was also correct about how Shirley made me feel so useless. "I guess it's unanimous: strip."

Wendy and I opened the door--wide!--and left the door open as Shirley started to undress. For her part, Shirley did not close the door to cover herself.

-------

(Shirley)

I couldn't believe Wendy!

I thought I was having fun with Jim. After all, he showed just about every stereotype of the useless husband in the kitchen. It reminded me of all those things I used to tell my friends that I hated about guys. I mean, come on, who doesn't keep the basic vegetables available fresh in the fridge? He didn't have onions, celery, or carrots! His spices were ancient! Who doesn't know how to cut a fucking roast beef?

I didn't realize how much I was pushing him until Wendy piped up and told me how I had been humiliating him all through dinner and then afterward as he was dressing us. In retrospect, I guess it's not obvious which end of a pair of panties is in front, but it was another silly male stereotype that he easily fit into.

I didn't mind him pulling off our panties, and even losing my bra would only be a mild discomfort during our shopping trip. I let him have his way but, for some reason, Jim kept on getting angrier and angrier.

Finally, he lost it completely. "Want to go all the way? How about no clothes for the entire trip to the store?"

"Stores," I helpfully corrected him. We had more than just grocery shopping to do.

"OK, Strip!" I saw the fire in his eyes, and he wasn't kidding. Did I push him that far?

"Wait!"

Finally, Wendy was coming to my side. She had been silent through the meal, come to think of it.

"Shirley, you're not helping Jim." She pointed out how I had been humiliating him all throughout dinner, and all he tried to do was to be helpful. You've been a perfect bitch all this time, you know. Now apologize to him!"

"Oh, shit!" Was I really being a bitch? I didn't mean to hurt Jim's feelings. I almost didn't know what to say. Finally, I said, "I'm sorry, Jim. I was just having fun..."

"At his expense, you were having fun!"

Wow! I realized that Wendy was really pissed off at me!

"Yes," I admitted, hanging my head down. "I'm sorry."

Jim's look immediately softened. "That's OK..."

"No, Jim," Wendy wasn't satisfied. "That's not OK!" Turning to me, she added, "You heard him, Shirl. Strip! We'll be waiting in your car for you."

Shit! Was Wendy intending me to go through with this?

"You want me to strip and then go outside?" This was ludicrous!

Neither Wendy nor Jim could be convinced. They left me, allowing me to bring my clothes with me, but I had to go back out to the car stark naked!

Wendy left the door wide open. This wasn't so embarrassing; in a minute, I'd be walking outside without anything on with my clothes in my arms. Anybody driving by would see me.

Luckily, nobody was driving by. I have no idea how many of Jim's neighbors saw me, but I was beyond caring.

Of course, I had to be the driver. It was my car. Wendy and Jim were both in the back seat, leaving me alone in my nudity in the front.

"Where to?" I asked.

"You seemed to want to go grocery shopping. There's a supermarket down the road, about a half mile down." Jim pointed down the street.

I held my breath as I backed out of the driveway.

Nobody seemed to stare at me as I drove down the road. When I got to the parking lot, of course, it was brightly lit with lots of people walking back and forth to and from their cars.

As soon as I found a parking spot, I let out my breath.

So far, so good.

I heard Wendy and Jim whispering in the back, but was so concerned that people would see me, I didn't really hear them.

"Put on the dome light," Jim ordered.

"Huh?"

"You heard him," Wendy said.

I fumbled with the light switch. The inside was now illuminated.

Jim said, "Wendy and I will be leaving. Meet us in the produce section when you're dressed. Don't turn off the dome light until you're dressed."

I watched incredulously as Jim and Wendy exited the car, and then walked hand in hand toward the supermarket. I felt very exposed with the light shining on me. Luckily, I was in a less crowded section of the parking lot, but I knew that having the light on would attract attention.

I quickly got dressed, putting on my bra and blouse first, since my top was the most exposed part of my body. I had a hard time pulling on my panties in the bucket seat, but managed it, and I didn't seem to have a crowd staring at me. I put on my skirt, ignoring my pantyhose, and instead slipped my shoes on my feet bare; I did this occasionally in the summer, and my feet were used to it.

When I got out of the car, I saw a few people looking in my direction. I wasn't sure if they saw me dressing in the car, so I pretended to ignore them. However, I felt each and every person's eyes boring a hole into me as I quickly walked into the supermarket.

The entrance led to the produce section, and I easily found Wendy and Jim, who had a push cart and were discussing something next to the cucumber bin.

Wendy noticed me first, and looked at me curiously, and turned and whispered something to Jim.

I went to give Jim a hug so I could whisper an apology to him, but Jim stopped me, holding a cucumber as a pointer at me.

"Wendy says you're wearing a bra."

"Um, yes. I put it on in the car..."

"I told you no bra! I take it you're wearing panties as well?"

I was starting to blush. Jim did nothing to hold down his voice, and I know that others heard what he was saying.

"Yes," I whispered.

Wendy spoke up. "It's not fair if I was punished for your attitude and you get to wear underwear!"

Jim nodded. "If Wendy can't wear panties, neither can you. Take them off now."

I was aghast. "Here?"

Jim raised his voice just a little louder. "Now!"

I couldn't bear to look around to see who was listening to us. Meekly, I did my best to lower my panties in as unobtrusive manner I could in the middle of the produce section.

"Pick them up and put them in the kiddie seat in the cart."

"Huh?"

"You heard him, Shirley," Wendy said, a bit of smugness in her voice. "Put them in the shopping cart."

As I bent down to pick up my panties, I knew there were other people watching. I closed my eyes, pulled them off my legs, and then put them into the seat portion of the shopping cart.

When I opened my eyes, I saw that Jim and Wendy had packaged the cucumbers they were looking at, placed them in the larger section of the cart, and had already departed for other vegetables. I was left to push the cart to catch up with them.

Wendy had two bags in her hand, one with a stalk of celery, and another with a bunch of carrots. "Hurry up, Shirley." She placed her vegetables in the cart. I noticed that the food they were selecting wasn't going to be covering my panties at all.

"Keep up, Shirley," Jim said as he headed to get some onions.

"Get red ones and the regular ones," Wendy told Jim.

My two so-called friends left me to push the cart with my panties in the front as they collected various items throughout the store. I was mortified, and realized that those two people were quite capable of exacting punishment for misbehavior. I felt like a chastened schoolgirl caught playing doctor at school (a memory I had from my childhood, actually).

At the check-out counter, Wendy and Jim emptied the cart, allowing me, finally, to separate from the cart and walk behind them.

As Wendy pushed the cart through to the bagger, she picked up my panties, and showed them to the boy loading the groceries. "These aren't from the store, they are Shirley's." She nodded back to me. My face must have been the color of a fire engine by this time.

When we finally got back to my car, it turned out that I locked my purse in it! In my haste to get out of the car quickly, I forgot it, and guess where my keys were?

"You locked your purse in the car?" Wendy asked, shaking her head. "What are you, nuts?"

"I'm... I'm sorry!" I started to blubber. "I'm fucking everything up. I'm really sorry..."

Jim looked at the car, and tried one of the back doors. To my surprise, it opened. I never hit the electric locks, either!

After Jim popped the locks, Wendy opened the front passenger door and retrieved my purse. Meanwhile, Jim came over to me and hugged me.

"There, there, Shirley," Jim said in a soothing tone. "You just got flustered. No need for the water works."

"I'm... I'm just so sorry..."

"So am I, dear. So am I."

-------

(Jim)

How could I stay angry at Shirley? Of course, she pissed me off during dinner, but I think it was just her way of taking control--being bossy. I really don't think she was directly insulting me, but the comments she made about men in general made me wonder if she was some sort of misandrist--a man hater--or perhaps even a militant feminist. I started to think of a few other things that Shirley said previously and it occurred to me that this might actually be the case.

I originally took Wendy's quietness during dinner and afterward as some sort of silent agreement with Shirley, and I think I got mad at her for that as well. My assessment appeared to have been wrong; it turned out that Wendy was simply trying to stay out of a potential problem between Shirley and me. Only when it started to get out of hand did Wendy take my side, and when she did it surprised me. After all, Shirley had been her friend longer than I had.

Anyway, the two of us got Shirley back by embarrassing her in her car and in the store, but when we got back to the car and Shirley realized she might have locked herself out of it, my heart just went out to her. This last bit wasn't anything that I intended to happen, and I could see that she was really trying and just appeared to be constantly fucking things up.

This was something I could relate to. Shirley made me feel that way when she criticized the food and spices in the house and when I was dressing the girls. I also sort of felt that way the previous night when I couldn't sleep. For some reason, this made me feel even closer to Shirley.

We all kissed and made up when we got into the car, and Shirley sat in the front seat composing herself as Wendy and I loaded our purchases into the trunk of her car.

While we were inside the grocery store, we purchased a few things that would be necessities for the girls if they were to stay overnight. My house had plenty of room for extra things, but our purchases included some interesting items.

I could understand the need for two different brands of shampoo and conditioner, but even so it was difficult to get Shirley to pick anything out. It was obvious that Shirley felt every eye in the store on her because her panties were right there in plain sight in her cart.

When we got to the feminine products aisle, I thought Wendy was going a little too far. I took her aside and asked her what she was doing, and she had a reasonable explanation: "They are in case we stay over your place other nights. They're a bitch to remember to bring all the time, and if you don't plan ahead they're never there when you want them." As a lifetime bachelor, I've never really had to consider them before and took Wendy at her word. Shirley, however, wasn't very cooperative at all with this. She kept shaking her head "no," and finally picked a random box and threw it at Wendy just to shut her up.

Inside the car, Shirley looked a bit shaken from what happened during our trip. I've only really known her a couple of weeks, but this was probably the first time I ever got angry at her. I don't think I'm the sort of guy that has a need to exact revenge, so my behavior was atypical. I would later have to think about that, but this wasn't the proper time and place for introspection. One thing I do realize is that I took Wendy's egging me on as a sort of permission to go as far as I did. Even with Wendy's permission, however, I really felt bad for Shirley.

From the grocery store, Shirley drove us to the mall where we picked up two new hair dryers and a few other feminine "conveniences" that my home lacked. Surprisingly, this store visit was cheaper than the grocery store.

Finally, we drove home.

Once inside the house, the girls put down their packages and started undressing. Shirley retrieved her panties from one of the grocery bags and placed it with her other clothes.

As soon as Shirley was completely nude, she ran over to me and hugged me. "Jim, I'm so, so, sorry."

"Me too, baby," I said, using a pet name for her for the first time. I think I was feeling a bit paternal from Shirley being all emotional back at the grocery store.

The two of us kissed and as we did, I felt fingers starting to work on my own clothes. I didn't have to open my eyes to realize that these fingers and hands belonged to Wendy, who apparently figured that since I had gone around nude earlier, it wouldn't hurt for me to do so again.

When Shirley and I broke the kiss, Shirley remarked, "It looks like you are going to turn us into nudists! I hardly think of it when I come into your house anymore."

That got me thinking. "So why did you feel so embarrassed at the grocery store?"

Shirley furrowed her brow, and then shrugged. "Maybe because I felt a complete loss of control there. I mean, Wendy and you were quite adamant and almost announcing my nakedness to the world! I don't think I was ready for that."

Wendy came over and hugged the two of us. "Listen, guys. I know Shirley is new to this love shit, but there's something important to know."

I was about to say that I didn't know if I was in love with Shirley, but I think Wendy read my mind and gave me a look that told me to shut up. I did.

"What's that?" Shirley asked.

"You both apologized. Fuck it, I'm sorry, too, Shirl. However, neither one of you forgave each other. Forgiveness is very important in a relationship. Now, I want you to forgive each other, and I want you to mean it."

Why was I mad at Shirley to begin with? Ahh, the panties, and then the bra. In fact, it was her whole "men are worth shit" attitude that she had during dinner. I closed my eyes and willed the anger that I just felt as I recalled what happened to leave my body. I thought of Shirley apologizing profusely after leaving her keys in the car, and realized that she had acted a bit like a ditsy female! How could I stay angry at Shirley?

"Shirley, I forgive you."

"I forgive you, Jim."

The two of us spoke at once over each other. As soon as we realized it, we giggled and hugged each other.

I remembered that Wendy also apologized, and pulled her into a three way hug.

I don't recall that hug being particularly sensual, but I do remember that my cock was hard as a rock as I hugged those two girls.

-------

The girls didn't want to sit on the leather furniture in the den without clothes on, so I went into the linen closet and pulled out a couple of hand towels and handed them to the girls.

"I've been meaning to ask, Jim," Wendy said. "What's with all the lamb's wool?" She indicated the throw rugs on the floor.

"A friend of mine was in Australia for four months. He gave his girl friend opals, and sent me quite a few throw rugs." I went back to the closet and pulled out two smaller rugs.

"They're gorgeous and they're comfortable as hell," Shirley said.

"He told me that they sometimes helps people sleep. I've never had any problems sleeping, I figured they'd go nicely with the carpet."

"They sure do," Wendy said.

The two girls put the hand towels on the cocktail table took the smaller rugs from me. They gathered a couple of lamb's wool pillows that they found in my closet and used them as head rests.

I was about to sit on my recliner, not worrying about leather against my skin, but Wendy shook her head "no" and told me to get in between the two girls.

"What's on TV?" Shirley asked.

"The remote is on the cocktail table," I said, pointing to the table that was now alongside Wendy.

Wendy retrieved the remote and tried to operate it. After a few moments, she said in a nasal voice, "Fuck it. I think these things have a female-detector and refuse to work for us. They were designed by guys that want to hog the fucking remote!"

It wasn't until Shirley burst out laughing that I realized that Wendy was doing a bit of an imitation of Shirley's attitude during dinner. Seeing Shirley laugh made me laugh as well.

For her part, Wendy smiled as she handed me the remote.

I pushed the buttons that turned on the monitor and then the satellite receiver. "What do you girls want to watch?"

"How about pornos?" Wendy suggested. "Get us in the mood."

"Jim's already in the mood," Shirley observed. "His barometer is rising."

Wendy sat up and gave a close look at my cock. "Hmm. A chance of precipitation as well, I see."

I tuned the dish receiver to the band of channels that had the adult stations. The first one didn't have any programs, but was showing one of those 'dial me and talk' commercials.

"Why would guys do that?" Shirley asked.

I shrugged. I never called those lines.

Wendy said, "Probably so they don't get arrested for making obscene phone calls to Aunt Bea."

"Maybe," I said noncommittally. "Most of those girls that really answer the phone are about fifty and look nothing like the way they sound. They hire pretty girls just to do the commercials. I think the ones on the phone actually paint their nails while they pretend to orgasm over the phone."

Wendy used her high pitched nasal voice again, "Oh, Jimmy baby! Put your big fat throbbing hot rod into my warm pulsing quim!"

"Quim?" I asked. I never heard the term before, but I figured it was a euphemism for vagina from the context.

"Love hole, bearded clam, box lunch, cooze, muff, gash, pearly gates, cock pit..."

"Cock pit?" Shirley said, giggling. "Where did you hear all those?"

"I read porn," Wendy said. "Sometimes, it helps to get other people's perspectives on fantasies. Too bad so many of those stories are written by men, though, since they have no idea what randy ideas a horny female can come up with."

Shirley looked intrigued. "Any other terms you wish to enlighten us with?"

"Well, there are the standard ones, like twat, slit, box, and slash," Wendy continued. "There are the more poetic ones, like the tunnel of love. You can get dirty with 'stench trench, ' as well. I even heard it called the 'anemone of love' somewhere."

"That last one doesn't seem to have the right visual," Shirley said thoughtfully.

"Oh, yeah," Wendy started to say breathily, playing a part. "Me love you long time, Mista! Please, grab my fun cushions, and fill my love grotto with your steaming piece of man meat! Oh! Oh! Oh!" Wendy faked an orgasm as she shook her body in imaginary pleasure while Shirley and I doubled over in laughter. Wendy switched to a southern accent, "Well, I do declare, you have filled my cavern of mystery, you stud muffin, but I still have a need! Oh! I must, therefore, start a brush fire as I mistressbate!"

"Mistressbate?" I said, laughing. I then put it together: Masturbate; master-bate, mistress-bate. "You have these memorized? What are you, a writer for one of those web sites?"

Wendy didn't answer, but pretended to be passed out on her rug with the back of her right hand on her forehead.

Shirley was still laughing, but her attention was on the television, not her friend.

I looked at the television, and there was a naked supermodel and an equally naked Adonis running together on the sands of a beach.

I shook my head. "Why do all the girls look like that? It's so unrealistic."

Shirley turned her head sharply at me. "You mean, all the girls you get look like me, right?"

Wendy answered and saved me. "What Jim means is that they put these... impossibly beautiful girls on the screen, and of course, they are always willing to put out, blow you on a moment's notice, and even after an hour of non-stop sex, their mascara is still perfect."

"Yeah," I said. Wendy's remarks were safe to agree to.

"This one is different; the guy looks good. Most of the time, the guy looks like Ron Jeremy."

"Yuck!" Shirley said, her prior defensiveness gone as she made a face. "If that guy could get a job in porno, maybe Jim would be a shoo-in."

"Perhaps," Wendy agreed. "What's on the other channels?"

I switched from the beach scene to a bedroom scene with two girls. I went to the next channel, which by some odd twist of fate, didn't have any nudity. Instead, a girl was on the phone, talking.

"Please tell Rick to come over soon," the girl on the screen said. "I think my life's in danger!"

"Call the fucking police, dip shit!" Wendy scoffed.

"Rick is probably a policeman," I observed, either having seen this particular movie before, or one of the thousands exactly like it.

"And she can be saved only by Rick?" Wendy said, disgusted. "If her life's in danger, get the whole fucking police department, not just one guy. Fuck it, call the fire department and the news stations as well!"

"They aren't supposed to be realistic," I said, feeling a need to defend the movie for some reason. "After all, the guy gets to come six times in the space of an hour and a half and you want realism?"

Shirley laughed. "Jim's got you there, Wendy!"

"OK. Next channel," Wendy said with a sigh.

The next channel had a shower scene with two females. After a couple of seconds of silence, I switch to the next one. A woman was pleasuring herself. I glanced quickly at Wendy and changed the channel again. There were about a half dozen girls doing toe touches in the nude.

"Hey! Is this where you got your exercise idea from?" Wendy asked.

This was the first time I saw this particular flick. "No! Really!"

Shirley laughed. "You should see your face, Jim!"

"The girls in the back aren't really trying," Wendy said, observing the action on the screen.

I shrugged. "If I were exercising in the second row and had to stare at Shirley's wonderful ass, I'd be distracted, too."

"Oh, you!" Shirley said. She rolled over on top of me and kissed me.

I barely heard Wendy's comment; she was obviously looking at Shirley and me. "That girl gets turned on by exercise!"

-------

We ended the night in my bed. Wendy just wanted to cuddle, and then asked if she could sleep elsewhere.

"Oh, please stay!" Shirley begged.

"Shirley, please. The two of you are just starting to discover each other. If you really want me to join you in bed, ask me in a few weeks. OK? If you do, I'll do anything you ask me to."

Anything? My cock stirred. Luckily, Shirley didn't seem to notice.

"All right, Wendy," Shirley said, sounding disappointed. "But I want you back in here tomorrow morning."

"Why?"

"Just come," Shirley said. "Please?"

"All right."

Wendy left us and went down to one of the other rooms. Luckily, they were all made up although they were hardly ever used.

Shirley had been a fireball on Sunday night, the first night she was with me. That night, Shirley was more passionate, insisting on taking everything slowly. We made love face to face on our sides, each of us taking turns moving slowly as my dick went in and out of Shirley's pussy.

It took me a while to reach orgasm this way, and Shirley had two small ones of her own.

We snuggled together for a few minutes afterward. After a long kiss, Shirley went to the bathroom to clean up, and when she came back a few minutes later, we resumed our kissing and cuddling. Eventually, Shirley turned away from me, and I spooned against her as I did the other night.

It was probably one of the sexiest days of my life up until that point.

It didn't even occur to me that Wendy was the furthest thing from my mind once she left the room.



-------

Chapter 10: Getting Serious


(Shirley)

I woke up early in the morning and surprised myself by not having that "Where am I?" type feeling being in Jim's bedroom. I was getting used to being with Jim. That was a bit of a surprise to me, actually. I never really thought that I'd ever be "with" a guy.

Jim was sleeping soundly--if I put my ear near his chest, I could almost hear him softly snoring--and he looked like an angel. I raised the sheet a bit to look underneath, and smiled at my now naked angel. When Jim's body gave an involuntary shiver, I quietly put the sheet back down.

I got up and went to the bathroom. I saw the new toothbrush that Wendy and Jim picked out at the supermarket, and I giggled before selecting Jim's own toothbrush. I took a quick pee, and then quickly moved through the bedroom and into the hallway.

As I passed the bedroom where Wendy was, I heard her voice whisper, "Shirl?"

"Yeah?"

"Let's go downstairs and talk."

We talked. It was nearly 3:30 in the morning when we got downstairs, and we talked for about two hours.

Wendy thought I was trying to move too fast with Jim.

"Where is the old Shirley I used to know?" Wendy asked. "You know, the one that didn't trust the motives of any guy?"

"I don't feel that way about Jim," I explained.

"Why not?" Wendy asked. "Because he hypnotized you to trust him?"

Huh? I knew that Jim gave me hypnotic commands, but until that moment, I never thought to connect my feelings for him with him possibly making me fall in love with him!

I didn't answer Wendy for a few moments. I thought long and hard about my feelings, and remembered how I was able to recognize attitudes that Jim would plant versus things I genuinely felt myself.

"No, Wendy," I finally said, albeit slowly. "The most he's ever asked me in that way when I was hypnotized was to trust him. Even so, he also asked me to tell him when he starts to cross over any lines that I am uncomfortable with."

Wendy nodded. "I think I understand. I remember him telling me that, too."

"You don't love Jim, do you?"

Wendy shook her head slowly. "I like him, but not the way you do. If I thought you wouldn't mind, I might give him a roll in the hay, but I probably would have done that if I simply met him at a bar. There's no way that I think of him as Prince Charming the way you seem to think of him."

"Prince Charming?" I asked, finding that funny. I giggled. "I guess I feel that way," I admitted, remembering how I was checking him out under the covers this morning.

"Do you really love him?" Wendy asked, not giggling at all.

I was about to answer "Yes!" but Wendy cut me off.

"I mean, do you really love him? Is this a school-girl crush that you've denied yourself since you were in junior high, or is this the real thing?"

School girl crush? Wendy's comment hit close to home! I glared at Wendy. "What exactly do you mean by that?"

"Shirley, we've been best friends for years. You used to never give a guy a second look. If any guy came close, you'd give him this icy stare that would make him go away before he said a single word. Now, you're like a school girl who has the hots for her math teacher."

I waited, but Wendy didn't say anything else. Finally, I sighed and looked up the stairs to make sure Jim wasn't around. He wasn't. Quietly, I told Wendy about Freddie and Billy, and about my secret sex life.

If I thought Wendy would be shocked at hearing how I'd pick up strangers, fuck them, and then forget them, then I was wrong. I think she might have suspected this all along. She also didn't seem surprised when I hinted at my brief affairs with members of the female sex.

Finally, after I told her my story, Wendy said, "So, it looks as if you've finally met a man you can trust... and you fall head over heels in love with him."

"I... I guess you could say that," I said after thinking about it.

"That explains the school-girl crush," Wendy said, mostly to herself. "How important is Jim to your self image now?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused by the question.

"Look at it this way," Wendy said. "He's helping you lose weight. Now, we both know that he's doing it in a way that gets his rocks off, but we're both having fun doing it. Do you think you're indebted to him for helping you out?"

"Indebted?" I shook my head. "No! Of course not!"

"Why do you love him, then?"

"Why?" I started to think of all the wonderful things I saw in Jim. "Well, he's smart..."

"Don't tell me!" Wendy said, finally smiling. "Tell yourself! Be truthful to yourself, and don't try to simply convince yourself. What do you love about Jim? What do you just like about him? What do you dislike about him? How do you really feel about him?"

The two of us were silent for some time while I thought about what Wendy said.

What did I love about Jim? Well, he is cute, and he is trustworthy. When he thought he went too far, it worried him sick. He's nice to others, but doesn't let people push him around.

Jim has a nice sense of humor, but it was closer to Wendy's style... a bit ribald for my taste, but I guess that was another of the things I just liked about him. He also didn't seem to be a know-it-all. If he said he knew something, he was usually right on target, but he also was quite willing to say when he didn't know something. He also embarrassed easily--it took him so many exercise sessions before he would go nude with the two of us!

There were a few things that irritated me about him. He seemed too much like the stereotypical bachelor; it almost seemed as if he was playing a role in that respect.

It wasn't easy trying to think of the negatives about Jim, but Wendy had a good point. I couldn't just look at the good things and pretend the other things don't exist. However, when I'd try to focus on something that I didn't like, I would find scores of things that I loved about Jim.

One thing that really endeared Jim to me was the way he was in bed. Unlike most men I took to bed before I met him, Jim did not pretend to be a macho stud. He wouldn't pound me mercilessly. Instead, he seemed genuinely interested in how I felt. He made an effort to make sure I was enjoying things. When I reciprocated, he seemed genuinely surprised.

"Genuine," I said out loud.

"What?" Wendy asked.

"That was the word I was looking for. That's what I love about Jim. He's genuine. He doesn't pretend to be all knowing, and he doesn't pretend to be something he's not. He's one of the only genuine males that I ever met."

"Genuine," Wendy repeated, looking at me. She nodded slightly, and smiled. "I can see how that would appeal to you. Heck, that part of him appeals to me, too!"

I giggled, and Wendy giggled with me.

We talked and talked about Jim until it was close to six o'clock.

"I guess we better get ready for work," Wendy remarked, looking at the digital clock on Jim's entertainment center.

I had an excellent idea. "Um, Wendy, I'd like to wake Jim up."

"Why are you telling me?"

"Well, before Jim, I never... you know..." I took a deep breath, and wondered why I was getting embarrassed with Wendy. I steeled myself and said, "Before Jim, I never considered going down on a guy. I mean, I did consider it, but only to the point that I promised myself that I would never do it to a guy. But with Jim..."

"Go right ahead," Wendy said, giggling. "He'll enjoy it!"

"What I mean is, I know you've done it with other guys. I don't think I'm that good at it."

"Practice makes perfect, girl!"

"Could you... at least, could you give me some pointers?"

"Like what? Lick it, suck it, swallow it?" Wendy wasn't giggling any more, but I could tell she still thought this was a joke.

"Please?" I begged, looking at her. "Could you please help me?"

Wendy stared at me, realized I was serious. After an awkward silence, she finally asked, "What do you want me to do?"

Wendy gave me some pointers, and I could tell that she was more than just a bit embarrassed by talking about it.

Since the two of us were embarrassed, I finally said, "Wendy, why don't you come upstairs with me, and maybe give me some pointers?"

"You want me upstairs... while you give Jim a blow job?"

I gave Wendy my most serious look. "Yes."

Wendy thought about it for a long moment. I was sure she was going to turn me down--hell, I'd probably would turn her down if she asked me--but finally, she said, "OK."

Wendy looked around, as if to make sure we were alone, and then she started whispering to me about giving head.

One of the things that Wendy said was to treat a cock gently. "Don't just plop it in your mouth and start sucking, but tease it a little. Give it a lick here and there, perhaps a kiss there. Move your tongue up and down the shaft and gently tickle his balls. Switch your focus to the tip and lick around the circle where the head meets the shaft--guys are really sensitive there."

I could tell that Wendy felt awkward as we sneaked into Jim's room. I carefully pulled the covers down and saw him once again give a bit of a shiver as the cool morning air hit his exposed body. He was already partially erect, and I wondered if Jim was having a wet dream... and if he was thinking about me!

Slowly, I moved toward him, breathing a bit on his prick. It moved a bit, mostly in reaction to my warm breath. I finally stuck out my tongue and started to lick.

As I was doing what Wendy suggested, I felt Jim's cock grow even harder.

My shoulder felt a touch, and I saw Wendy trying to get my attention. Softly, she said, "Don't nibble at it yet, he's still asleep. Give him something wonderful to wake up to!"

Chuckling at Wendy's suggestion, I gave a big kiss at the tip of his dick, opening my mouth a bit wider and kissing again, repeating this until my lips were nearly surrounding the head.

"That's it. Gently," Wendy whispered.

I started moving Jim's cock into my mouth, and pulling it almost all the way out, going slowly back and forth. The entire process felt... natural. It was as if my lips were created just for this action.

(Jim)

I was dreaming that I was fucking somebody. I could definitely feel a woman's cunt brushing lightly on my cock. I sort of woke up, but my eyes were still closed, unwilling to give up this sexy dream. I could still feel that phantom warmth, and it moved up and down over crown of my dick.

"That's it," said a whisper. "Gently."

Somehow, I knew there was something different about that whisper. It didn't have that "other worldly" timbre to it that voices in my dreams seemed to have. It was more... direct.

Again, there was a whisper. "A little harder."

Immediately, the suction on my cock head increased. This was not a dream! The girls were still at my house!

I resisted the temptation to open my eyes. I would rather revel in the sensation that those lips--that was no cunt!--were giving to my penis. The suction increased slightly.

A moan escaped my lips, and I felt the lips on my dick move a bit, as if their owner changed her perspective suddenly.

"Shh, he's still sleeping. Now, start licking the head."

The person that was whispering was giving instructions to the person at my cock.

The only thing that made sense in my mind was that Wendy was giving Shirley a lesson on sucking cock, but I had no idea why she would do that. Girls only did that sort of thing in movies, right?

Another moan escaped me as the tongue that started to bathe my cock head hit a particularly sensitive spot.

"OK, slowly, open your mouth wider and push it inside a bit more until you're just past the head. Keep licking with the tongue."

Now that my senses were focused, I could tell that the voice whispering definitely belonged to Wendy.

The lips did as they were told, and all of a sudden, the tongue licked around the groove where the glans meets the shaft of my cock. It was just about all I could do not to moan. As it was, my eyes shot open at the wonderful sensation. I saw Wendy's crotch in my line of sight. I slowly moved my head up and saw Wendy smiling down on me. She put her finger to her lips, as if to tell me to keep me quiet.

"Now back and forth, continuing to lick, and going deeper each time," Wendy whispered. "Keep sucking lightly and then a bit more, alternating to keep him stimulated."

I felt Shirley's head nod her acceptance, and she followed Wendy's direction.

When Shirley's teeth grazed my cock head, I flinched slightly. I don't think Shirley noticed, but Wendy sure did.

"Keep your jaw a bit wider while keeping your lips securely on him. Make sure your teeth don't scratch him... yet."

I felt Shirley's mouth reorganize around my shaft, and soon that familiar back and forth sensation of being blown by an expert came back.

"That's right. Try to get as far down as you can, but make sure you don't choke on it. You're not trying to deep throat him."

Wendy's voice was a bit louder now, a bit more than the whisper she originally used.

I pursed my lips and blew Wendy a kiss, and she returned it, pushing her finger from her mouth toward me.

I couldn't help myself, and I slowly moved my hands onto Shirley's head, caressing her hair.

"I think somebody is awake now, Shirl," Wendy said in full voice. "Start going a bit harder now."

The suction and rhythm on my shaft increased almost by an order of magnitude.

When I awakened, I didn't realize how much I needed to take a piss, but now I my dick was in Shirley's mouth. I didn't know if I would be able to come without releasing a big stream of pee into Shirley's mouth. I didn't want to do that.

I gave a worried look at Wendy, who simply smiled a grin of satisfaction at me. Either she knew my predicament and didn't care, or she misinterpreted my expression as telling her that I was about ready to come.

My dick gave a shudder, and almost immediately a jet spurt out from my balls, through my shaft, and into Shirley's sucking mouth. This coincided with a particularly strong bit of suction on Shirley's part--it was as if she managed to suck it straight out without any help from my cock.

A second spurt came out, and a smaller third one. The fourth twitch seemed as if it was empty, and it was followed by a few other ones.

Shirley continued sucking; my erection was still there, mostly from still having to piss something awful.

With my hands around Shirley's head, I pulled her up toward my face and kissed her. "That was a wonderful way to wake up!"

"I love you, Jim!" Shirley said, sighing heavily. "I love you, I love you!"

I returned Shirley's kiss, and after a few moments, I opened my eyes and looked where Wendy was standing earlier, but she was no longer in the room. I could hear a soft chuckle down the hall, and I figured she went back to her room to give the two of us some privacy.

We hugged for a couple of minutes before my need to pee was so great, I think I surprised Shirley as I pushed her slightly out of the way in order to make it to the bathroom on time.

I fought my erection, which seemed to have returned to its steel-like rigidity, and finally managed to get it pointed in the right direction. Pissing burned a bit, a sensation that I had not felt since I was a kid and just discovered masturbation.

When I got back to the bedroom, neither girl was to be found, so I went back to the bathroom to wash up.

One thing intrigued me. Shirley's new toothbrush was still on the bathroom sink, unopened. My toothbrush, on the other hand, was quite wet and was only recently used. Did Shirley actually use my toothbrush? I didn't notice if she did that the other day, but I probably would have understood. Why would she use mine this morning after we purchased one at the grocery store for her?

I ignored this conundrum and took a shower. My erection seemed to deflate as I cleaned myself.

Back in the kitchen, both girls were still nude.

"I'm sorry, Shirley..." I said, wanting to apologize for pushing her away earlier.

"I understand, honey," Shirley assured me. We kissed for a few seconds.

"Why don't you girls get dressed?" I asked.

"Thank you," Wendy said, and the two girls left the kitchen.

There were three bagels that we purchased last night at the grocery. Unlike the ones I normally ate, these weren't frozen; we got them at the bakery section of the supermarket. Next to the bagels on a plate were pink strips of meat that I remembered Wendy told me was salmon--lox to be exact. There was also a container of cream cheese.

I went to the fridge and found the deli drawer where the rest of the Nova Scotia salmon was found. I carefully put my slice of fish back into the package.

The toaster popped my bagel, and I put another sliced bagel in its place.

I ate the bagel dry; the girls finished my butter the night before, and there was only margarine now, the taste of which I didn't particularly appreciate.

My bagel was finished by the time the second one came out of the toaster. I put the third bagel into the toaster, and put the second one on one of the bread plates that were on the counter.

Wendy came downstairs first. She looked as she normally did at the office, but for some reason, her breasts were a bit more prominent. I knew both girls' bodies by heart by now, and seeing Wendy clothed made my mind superimpose an image of her naked body over the more interesting parts.

"You better not look at me that way at the office, Jim," Wendy said, smiling. "You'd be up on harassment charges quicker than you can say you're sorry!"

"I'm sorry," I said automatically, and then smiled as I realized what Wendy said. "I just... can't help it."

"Look at my face, then," Wendy suggested. "God, I feel more naked when you look at me that way when I'm dressed than when I was in your TV room watching pornos in the nude!"

"Sorry," I repeated. "I didn't realize what I was doing."

"It's all right," Wendy said. She gave me a kiss on the cheek. "What the fuck?"

"Huh?" I asked, confused. I followed Wendy's horrified glare. She was staring at the plate with the toasted bagel.

"You toasted it? Those were fresh bagels!"

Still confused, I said, "And... ?"

Wendy shook her head. "All right. You probably didn't know. Did you eat yours toasted, too?"

"Of course."

"You don't toast fresh bagels, especially with cream cheese and lox." Wendy made do with the toasted bagel just as the third one popped from the toaster.

"How did you like the lox?" Wendy asked as she prepared the two bagel sandwiches.

"Um, I put it back. I never ate it before, and..."

Wendy chuckled. "You don't want to try new things."

I shrugged. "Stay over often enough and you might get me to try things."

"Is that an offer?" The question came from Shirley, who just came into the kitchen.

Unlike the first time Shirley made the suggestion, I had some time to think this over. Sleeping with Shirley was an awesome fringe benefit of having her over, and Wendy showed that she didn't want to get between the two of us. Instead of saying no, I just shrugged, "Perhaps."

The joy in Shirley's face was evident. She held her vocal enthusiasm in check, though.

Wendy handed Shirley her breakfast plate. "Toasted?" Shirley asked, surprised.

"Don't ask," Wendy said, shooting an "I'm not kidding!" look at Shirley.

"Oh," Shirley said, blushing a bit. She turned to me and said, "How sweet!"

"I'm sorry," I said. "Wendy just informed me--too late!--that you don't toast fresh bagels..."

"You can toast them if you eat them that way," Shirley said, defending my stupidity.

I was determined that I wouldn't make that mistake again.

I sat at the kitchen table with my coffee as the two girls ate their bagels. "Do you guys really want to move in?" I asked.

Shirley nodded, but once again tried to keep her enthusiasm in check.

Wendy, for her part, just shrugged. "What Shirley suggested makes sense in one way, but..." There was a pause. "Maybe, we should take it one day at a time..."

"Perhaps," I said.

"So, we can stay tonight?" Shirley asked, her enthusiasm bubbling over.

It was Wednesday. "Um, poker night," I said automatically. I then mentally kicked myself for having said that.

Shirley shrugged, not understanding what I meant. "We played poker last night."

"With my friends," I added, now that I already said it.

"We get to meet your friends?" Shirley asked.

I tried to emphasize the point. "My male friends."

Shirley still wore a confused look on her face, and looked at Wendy.

Wendy understood what I was getting at. She turned to Shirley. "What Jim is implying is that this is an all-male game of cards. No women allowed."

I nodded. "A couple of the guys are married, and it's a way to get away from their spouses."

"That's horrible!" Shirley said, truly shocked.

"Men think they need their time to themselves," Wendy explained. "It's similar to watching football on Sundays, or baseball during the spring. Male bonding safe from the tentacles of the female gender. Married guys do that sort of thing."

Shirley was confused. "Jim's not married!"

Wendy nodded. "It's still a male ritual. The married guys hang out with the bachelors, trying to pretend to themselves that nothing ever changes." She turned to me and asked, "Did I get that correct?"

I sort of nodded, a bit embarrassed.

"It's barbaric!" Shirley said, truly shivering at the thought.

"Shirley," Wendy said with a warning voice. "Remember what we talked about."

"I'm sorry," Shirley said, her eyes downcast. "Maybe tomorrow?"

"Perhaps," I said for the third time that morning.

-------

"How are you feeling today?" My boss, Roger, came by my cubicle.

"Much better. I needed the rest." I thought back at spending the night with Shirley, and truly felt what I said.

"You don't look as distracted today. Family problems?"

"Not really. I was worried about some things and it caught up with me."

"OK. You'd let me know if you were looking around for another job, wouldn't you?"

Another job? "I'm not looking!"

Roger shrugged. "If you're unhappy here, please let me know first."

As Roger walked away, I looked at him, stunned. I didn't have any intentions of looking elsewhere for employment. I had nearly ten years with our company, and the company paid a fair salary and had good benefits, although those would appeal more to the married people than they would to me.

I tried to figure out if there was a special meaning in Roger's words. After a couple of minutes, I got back to work.

I didn't see Wendy or Shirley at lunch time. The last I saw them was just as we arrived at the office in the two cars. We met in the break room, and the three of us each drank a cup of coffee to start the day.

Now, at lunch, I missed not seeing either girl since then. It was natural; we didn't work in the same groups within the company. However, I found myself really missing Shirley.

Before that snow storm a few weeks ago, Shirley and I never ate together, but since that day, we sometimes met in the break room, or even went to the coffee shop nearby during lunch. I idly wondered where she was and if she was thinking about me.

In my mind, I still didn't know how I felt about having Shirley move in. It didn't seem as if Wendy was going to do so; her response this morning made it seem as if she was only pretending to consider it only as a favor to Shirley.

There were some good things about having Shirley living at the house. There was the obvious benefit of having her company in bed, and I don't mean that as a euphemism of having a ready supply of pussy. Far from it, I found myself enjoying a simple hug, caress, and rub down--on the giving end as well as the receiving end.

I needed to face facts. I was falling in love with Shirley.

That thought set off some alarm bells in some distant part of me, but since I was alone right now, I took out my feelings and examined them closely.

Did I really love Shirley?

Although the two of us worked at the same company, we didn't interact much in our job roles. I did see her occasionally, and every time I saw her, I would naturally smile at her. It seemed to be a natural reaction, but it wasn't a reaction I had before we started with the exercise program. I remember a movie where Dudley Moore was wondering if he was in love. "Did you whistle?" Dudley asks a florist about when the florist was in love before. "Yeah, I whistled," responds the florist. I felt just like that... ready to burst out in song at a moment's notice as if my life was a Busby Berkeley musical production.

That all might be coincidence, but I did know myself. I never felt this way before, not even when I thought I was in love as a teenager. I considered my friends, especially the married ones. They all referred to the "ball and chain" but when they were with their wives, I could sense a closeness that wasn't there before they got married. Suddenly, I found myself understanding them, despite my decision to remain a confirmed bachelor.

Face it, Jim. You are in love.

Now for the difficult question. Should I invite Shirley to live with me?

Unlike wondering if I was in love, this question really scared me. Living with somebody took a lot more effort than just loving somebody. That person would be there to see your good features as well as your faults, and vice-versa. In college, it was a shock to have a roommate and realize that despite the fact I thought that I was now free of my parents, I now had an obligation to another person. There were girl friends, other friends, parties, and other stuff; moments when I wanted to have a quiet moment to study, but couldn't.

Inviting a female to move in meant that I wouldn't be able to drop everything and go out to a ball game on a whim anymore. Now, I rarely did that before Shirley entered the picture, but my mind was bringing this up now. I knew that things would change, and I needed to make sure that I was OK with the changes.

It was obvious what was bothering me. From past experience, I knew that living with somebody meant having to give up my freedom. With a lover, it would be even more of a change. It would mean having to come to a consensus before any decision could be made because there are now two people that would be affected. I'd have to think about Shirley's feelings and desires and place them high on my list of priorities. I never really needed to do that since my parents left for Tucson. Was I even capable of thinking about Shirley automatically like that?

Shirley seemed anxious to want to move in, but once she moved in, would she still like me? Would she keep finding out that I do stupid things such as toasting fresh bagels? Would she find some of my private habits too disgusting to live with? Would she get tired of me and find somebody else?

I stopped at this point and rethought that last question. "Would Shirley get tired of me and find somebody else?" Fuck! That was the big jump for me: Could I live with the pain and heartache that would result if Shirley ever moved out?

To tell you the truth, I had absolutely no answer to that and it occurred to me that this was the question that scared me to death.

-------

When it was time for me to leave work, I realized that I still didn't see Wendy or Shirley at all that day since we arrived in the morning and had a cup of coffee in the break room.

I picked up the work I was bringing home and started toward the elevators, but decided to take a circuitous route that would take me where Shirley and Wendy sat. Both offices were empty, and there weren't any coats hanging up in either cubicle.

I felt a sense of loss, but then around an aisle, the two girls arrived. The stopped talking among themselves.

"What brings you around here, Jim?" Shirley asked.

"I just wanted to say 'Hi!'"

Both girls automatically responded. "Hi!"

The three of us laughed. It was nice being in love.



-------

Chapter 11: Coming Out of the Closet


(Shirley)

Jim and I soon drifted into a familiar routine. He had his poker nights every Wednesday evening, but spent the remainder of his free time exclusively with me. The time that we spent together was so wonderful that I never once regretted the indulgence of his poker nights.

Actually, that's a bit of a lie. Each time that Wednesday evening would approach, I'd think to myself, "Why does he need to do this every week? Why doesn't he try to include me in his games with his friends?" I realized that this was the old cynical Shirley raising her ugly head, trying to convince me that despite the fact that Jim was such a wonderful person, he was still a man, and a man is interested in only one thing.

Yes. That one thing Jim was interested in. That would be my body, if my old self was to be believed, and this was amazing in itself. I long ago wrote myself off as being fat and ugly and the kind of girl a guy would fuck only after he's drank a few too many and didn't care if he was sinking his dick into a cunt or the ass of his best friend.

To think that my body would be the object of Jim's desire seemed laughable to me until I started looking at myself in the mirror in the morning before Jim woke up.

Before I met Jim, I tended to avoid looking at the image that awaited me in those awful devices. I'd brush my teeth while sitting on the toilet so I would not be subject to the mirror above the bathroom sink. Mirrors became my Dorian Gray portrait, showing me a reality that I preferred to hide from myself.

Now, the person that looked back at me in the mirror was different. She wasn't a cow with a perpetual frown who hated her life and the entire male half of the human race. Instead, I saw a woman whose frown lines were fading into a nearly perpetual smile. I saw a woman whose breasts were maybe just a bit firmer than they used to be. I saw a woman who was regaining a figure that was more like an hourglass now rather than a pear or a watermelon.

Did Jim hypnotize me to feel different about myself? The old Shirley tried to convince me that he must have, that I was just as ugly and unlovable as the hag that owned this body three months ago, but there was no doubting the image in the mirror or the bathroom scale that told me that I lost another five pounds this week. Whether or not Jim made me think this way about myself, I found that I was now happy about myself. I still saw a few bulges that I didn't appreciate, but I saw them as challenges--things to work on during my exercise sessions with Wendy.

I closed my eyes, and thought very deeply. I tried to imagine Jim's voice as it sounds when he puts me into a trance. I found out over the time the two of us were together that I could distinguish what I called a "Shirley thought" as opposed to a "Jim thought" that he'd give me during hypnosis by imagining him telling me things. Could I hear his voice telling me that I should be happier with my self image?

Try as I might, I couldn't hear Jim's voice telling me to like the person I saw in the mirror. In fact, I was pretty sure that he was ignorant about this particular quirk about me. I could easily hear his voice telling me that I was pretty, but this was with his normal voice, the voice that constantly reminded me when I was awake that he loved me. He seemed to find a prettiness in me when I was ugly, and as the pounds started to shed, his demeanor didn't really change. He still continued to tell me that I was pretty, but when he looked at me, he wasn't looking at my body; he was looking in my eyes. When he told me he loved me, he wasn't telling it to his Pygmalion that he sculpted to his own desires. He was telling it to whatever it was inside my head, the essence of my mind or soul that was me.

I opened my eyes and stared at the mirror, subjecting my reflection to rigorous scrutiny. Try as I might, I couldn't stare at my eyes the way Jim did. I couldn't look deep within my own eyes and see what it was that he saw when he looked at me.

Giving up on that tactic, I decided to check myself out physically. One thing was certain: my breasts weren't sagging as much anymore. I cupped them, feeling their weigh, and watched as I moved my hands down. They found their own height and only sagged down a bit. I knew that the sag was still there, but I had to admit that my breasts were noticeably firmer. This wasn't entirely Jim's doing, actually. Wendy did some surfing on the Internet, and found some firming exercises that she insisted that I perform during our sessions. I built up the muscles and could now see that our efforts were starting to pay off. They probably weren't ready for the centerfold of Playboy, but they were no longer the embarrassment that they used to be just a few months ago.

My nipples were now erect, happy for the attention that I was giving them this morning. I bent my head down as far as I could go and pulled my right breast as far up as it would reach, but found that I was still an inch or so away. I envied Wendy--she was able to lick her own nipples, and demonstrated this to me when Jim wasn't around. Since then, I've tried, but I think Wendy's ability came from the fact that her breasts were C-cups, rather than my B-cups, and she was able to move them further than I could move mine.

Despite the fact that I couldn't lick my nipple, I tried it again with my left breast. I failed, but started to rub it a bit to get it to be more erect. I could actually feel my warm breath on the tip, but I still wasn't able to lick it.

I closed my eyes again, and reveled in the sensations of my palms manipulating my breasts. I let my thumbs and fingers fondle my nipples, and imagined that Jim was with me, kissing and stroking me as he does so often. I started to imagine that Wendy was stroking me, a fantasy that I've been having recently after a few sensuous moments during our exercise sessions.

Just as I started to work my hands down toward my pussy, I remembered where I was and what time it was. My lolly-gagging in the bathroom this morning was cutting into the time that Jim and I spent together in the mornings, where I would suck him off and he would kiss me all over. Invariably, the two of us would achieve orgasm; myself, sometimes two or three times.

There were only fifteen minutes left before we had to leave this morning!

Quickly, I composed myself, and blew myself a kiss in the mirror. I left the bathroom and found Jim still asleep above the covers revealing his morning hard-on. I smiled at the sight, and quickly moved over to him, taking his hardness into my mouth.

(Jim)

In just under three months, it was apparent that Shirley's workouts and diet were bearing fruit. I always thought of Shirley as a pretty girl, but she was starting to fill out in wonderful ways. I loved her more than ever, and it wasn't at all due to the fact that she was now somebody that turned heads.

Shirley seemed to have a little difficulty with her new appearance. I think there was that bad self-image problem that she had when I first started talking with her. I saw her staring in the mirror for a long while this morning, something I saw her do quite a bit in the mornings when she thought I was asleep. I saw her frown, but it turned into an intense stare.

I wondered what was going through her mind as she did this self-assessment every morning. So far, I resisted the temptation to have her reveal her innermost thoughts to me, despite the fact that I thought it would help her in the long run. Without her express permission, however, I refused to give in. Shirley was a nice person--a truly beautiful person inside and out--and she deserved the privacy of her own mind.

Since that "Eureka!" moment when I discovered that I loved Shirley, I made myself a solemn promise never to betray the trust she has given me. From what I know now, it must have been extremely difficult for her to give up her control to me; it seemed unlikely that she would have ever given that amount of power to a person of my gender. I think it was her initial skepticism that allowed her to even try; if she thought that hypnosis actually worked, she probably would have never gone under.

Something else that I discovered about Shirley was that she was extremely playful.

A couple of weeks ago, I had a late meeting at the office and Shirley drove herself home from work. I arrived home an hour later, and saw her car in the driveway. As I entered the house, I called out her name, but received no response. I looked all around the house, and couldn't find any trace of her. It wasn't until I picked up the phone and was considering to call 911 that Shirley popped out of a closet, totally nude, and yelled "SURPRISE!" She was a little kid that was playing hide-and-seek! I laughed with her, and told her that she was lucky I didn't bring one of my poker buddies home with me that evening!

After that little adventure, Shirley would hide whenever I stayed late at work, and I would try to find her. It was a fun game, and as a reward for finding her, the two of us would have a round of heated sex in her hideout.

Yesterday, a Wednesday, I once again had a cross-functional meeting scheduled late in the day, and as usual, it ran late. I hurried home, knowing that Poker Night was to start soon. When I got home, I saw Shirley's car was still in the driveway. I smiled, happy to know that I'd see Shirley before she left for her now-weekly "Girl's Night Out" with Wendy, and wondered if Shirley was once again playing her little game of hide and seek.

"Shirley?" I called out as I entered the house.

There was no answer, which didn't tell me if Shirley was hiding or if she already left.

A note was in the kitchen, telling me that Shirley prepared our snacks and that she loved me with her entire heart. I opened the refrigerator and saw that there were a couple of platters of food, including the ever-present carrots and celery sticks. Nothing in the note told me that she already left, though.

Even though it was late and my friends were due any minute, I checked a few places for Shirley. Of course, during my search, the door bell rang, and Steve arrived with his now-usual twelve pack of Budweiser to make up for the "only light beer" policy that Shirley instituted to help me lose weight.

"Oh, Hi," I said, a bit worried that I didn't find Shirley. I wondered if she was hiding someplace, completely nude. What would the guys do if they discovered her?

As I was lost in thought, Steve put his beer onto the floor and headed for the main closet. A moment of horror passed through my mind as he retrieved the poker table and some folding chairs.

"Hey, what's up, man? You look as if you saw a ghost!"

I shook my head, thankful that Shirley wasn't in the closet. "Oh, nothing," I answered. "I was just thinking of something."

Steve looked at me seriously. "Jim, I know that I make jokes with the guys about you. I just wanted to tell you that I am really happy for you. I guess I was a bit worried that your girlfriend would change you, and I guess I was a bit jealous." He looked at me awkwardly, and then quickly added, "That doesn't mean that I'm gay!"

"Steve..."

"Let me finish," Steve said. "As I said, I was jealous... jealous that Shirley might turn you into some sort of effeminate house-husband--you know, like some of the other guys. That hasn't happened--at least, not yet. You sometimes look lost in thought, and we all know you are thinking of her, but you're still the same guy. It's quite obvious that you're happy. I've never seen you this way before and I'm happy for you. I just wish that I could find a chick like Shirley..."

"Shirley is NOT a 'chick, '" I said, almost automatically.

"Sorry, Jim," Steve said, looking a bit sheepish. "I was just trying to say..."

Once again, I interrupted my friend. "I understand what you mean, Steve. Shirley is really special." This was getting uncomfortable for me. "Here, let's set up the table."

The rest of the guys came over, and the awkward moment passed.

During the game, my thoughts naturally drifted back to Shirley every so often. I decided that she and Wendy left early, which is why Shirley wrote in her note that she loved me. Normally, she wouldn't write it down, but would tell it to me with a kiss, a quick grab of my balls, and a silent invitation to a night of wanton sex.

"Damn it!" Mike burst out, obviously pretending to be upset. "You can't tell when Jim's smiling if he has a great hand or if he's just thinking of that damned girlfriend of his!"

"Oh, I'm thinking about Shirley," I admitted. "I'm sorry, guys."

"No problem," Terry said. "We're actually happy for you." He looked at his cards and raised the stakes by five chips.

Steve nodded, looking at me thoughtfully. He didn't add anything to this conversation.

At eleven thirty, when the game was breaking up, I found my thoughts once again thinking about the girls. A few times, Shirley told me that they either went shopping or relaxed at bars. They never paid for drinks, and the girls, wishing to stick with their diet, didn't really drink much. Shirley hinted that Wendy sometimes accepted a "date" from one of the guys they met, but the two girls usually came back together.

They weren't due home for another half hour. I looked at the mess. Terry and even Steve offered to help me clean, but I was looking forward to having some quiet time to myself before the girls came back and told them that I'd clean it up myself.

After the guys left, I started moving the remaining food into the kitchen, and put the bottles and cans into the recycle bin. I turned the table on its side, dumping crumbs onto the floor. Shirley hated when I did this, but it always gave me an excuse to vacuum the floor.

I folded up the table and brought it to the living room closet.

What I found surprised me.

There was a naked Shirley laying on top of a bunch of coats on the floor of the closet. On top of her was a note that read, "THE FIRST PERSON THAT FINDS ME GETS TO FUCK ME!"

Shirley was asleep--naked!--on the closet floor, and was there during the entire game, waiting for somebody to discover her.

Suddenly, my mind shot back to earlier when Steve retrieved the card table and chairs. Had he seen Shirley and simply ignored her? Try as I might, I couldn't imagine Steve behaving that way.

"Shirl?" I said, gently. "Shirley, are you awake?"

There wasn't an answer, so I nudged her gently. "Shirley?"

Shirley woke up with a frown on her face. She looked confused at first, but then smiled. "You found me! You get to fuck me! Are your friends going to watch?"

"They've already left," I answered. Did Shirley really want me to fuck her in front of my friends?

"What time is it?" Shirley asked, looking concerned. "If they've left it is... what? Midnight?"

I looked at my watch. "Almost," I admitted.

"Oh," Shirley answered. There was a brief frown, but she recovered. "Well, we can fuck in the bedroom. I think I have a crick in my back."

"You were here the whole night?" I asked, incredulously.

"Well, at first, I was hiding under the coats here on the bottom. Then, after hearing your friends come in, I realized that I would have a difficult time getting out without causing a scene. It was getting warm here, so I needed to get the coats off me. It took me a few minutes to rearrange things without making any noise to give my predicament away. I found some paper and you have a box of markers on the top shelf that I found by touch. I decided to turn it into a game. Whoever discovered me would get to fuck me."

"You were serious?" I asked, not believing my ears.

Shirley didn't answer immediately, looking at me intently to try to gauge my feelings. Finally, she said, "Look at it this way, Jim. If I were to come out, I'd have to explain what I was doing in there. I figured that your friends weren't going to open the door, at least, not during the game. It's your house, right? I've always had a fantasy of doing it in public..."

Shirley stopped for a bit and then after a bit, she continued. "Anyway, even if one of the guys opened the door, the odds were good that the person was already married, or it would be Steve."

"Steve went into the closet," I reminded Shirley.

"That was Steve? I couldn't tell, since I was under the coats at that time. I don't think he noticed me. Anyway, of all your friends, he's probably the safest. He's really a sweetie."

"Steve?" I asked, now truly confused.

"He talks a good game, but I've met people like him. He's sort of the same as you, except you don't brag or put people down. Deep down, though, Steve is a sweetie. We've talked a few times since I moved in here."

"When?"

"I see him occasionally. He lives down the road..."

"I know where he lives," I said, suddenly feeling a new emotion.

Shirley shook her head. "Jim, don't get jealous. When he was with me, he wasn't the kind of guy he is when he's with his you guys. He's nice, but I can tell that he's not trying to get into my pants. Believe me, I've met the kind of people he pretends to be, and it's only an act with him. In any event, I think he values your friendship most over anything else. His interest in me started when he was trying to figure out our relationship. He didn't want you to get hurt. Since then, we've talked a bit. I think he likes Wendy, actually. I've been trying to figure out a way to hook the two of them up."

"Steve and Wendy..." I thought. A smile came to my lips. They would make an interesting couple.

I pulled Shirley up and as soon as she was standing, I pulled her body toward mine and kissed her passionately.

We never made it to the bedroom before I collected on my reward.

Sex with Shirley is always fun.

-------

Watching Shirley in the bathroom this morning, I thought once again about my solemn vow not to betray her trust. There was another side to Shirley, one that she doesn't reveal to many people. I counted myself lucky--she has given me a few random clues in the past.

The thought of Shirley hiding in the closet during the poker game made me think of something that she said. "I've always had a fantasy of doing it in public..."

That wasn't the first clue that I had that Shirley was a bit of an exhibitionist. For instance, her initial reaction to finding herself nude when she was doing exercises wasn't anger, but a slightly embarrassed blush. There were other clues over the last few months as well.

I also suspected that her exhibitionism somehow blew up in her face in the past, and I this might have something to do with her initial distrust of males. Did somebody feed into her fantasy and then betray her trust? Could such a thing scar her emotionally as much as it appeared to have done to her? How could anybody hurt such a wonderful person such as Shirley?

Unfortunately, aside from a few psych courses in college, I wasn't an expert on unraveling the mysteries of the female mind. This wasn't something that I could find out by surfing the Internet, either. I knew that well-meaning people have done quite a lot of emotional damage by thinking they knew more about the human psyche than they actually did. I saw what a hypnotist hack did to my father. I didn't want to hurt Shirley, even accidentally. That was completely out of the question.

It was a dilemma. How could I feed her fantasy without any possibility of betraying her?

I shook my head slightly, and noticed that Shirley was finishing up in the bathroom. I closed my eyes and started breathing regularly, pretending to be asleep. I was already hard with my morning wood and from thinking about Shirley last night.

A few short minutes later, I felt the comfortable warmth of Shirley's mouth as it engulfed my dick, slowly sucking it in and out.

My eyes opened, and I smiled as I looked down at Shirley, whose eyes were looking upward at my own. With a deep look of love, I smiled at her. "I love you, gorgeous," I whispered.

"M mmmmph mmph, mmmph," Shirley answered as she continued to suck me gently.

(Shirley)

My head was in the clouds all morning. Being naked with Jim's friends talking just a few feet away made me as horny as I've ever been in my life. I heard most of their conversation, and almost laughed out loud at a few of the raunchy jokes they told each other.

How could I express my love for Jim even more? I've already given him my body, and I suck him off every morning. What else could I give him? What could I give him that would show him how much I love him?

The office gossip finally discovered that Jim and I were an item a week ago, and once it became known, the two of us ate lunch together in public now. A few of my friends were surprised that I had a lover--I guess my old feelings about men weren't as much a secret as I used to think--but everybody had something nice to say about Jim. In fact, the only thing negative about him that people could say was that he wasn't particularly forgiving when somebody showed up to a meeting unprepared.

There was an incident at the office one time, and for some reason people seem to remember it. Jim is sort of considered an easy going guy and easy to talk to. I think that perception of him is why the incident when his cross-functional team was put together stands out in people's memory.

During the first meeting of his team, one of his manager's co-workers--she was, in the corporate hierarchy, higher than he was--wasn't prepared. Earlier that day, Jim sent out a detailed memo outlining the purposes and goals for the team, and he made a list of action items to discuss. Sally, the Q.A. manager, was a typical manager and didn't read every line of every email that she received, and decided to wing it at the kick-off meeting.

During the meeting, Sally asked a question which, apparently, was already answered by Jim's email half a day earlier. Jim asked her point blank if she read his memo, Sally didn't immediately answer, but popped open her laptop to look at her email.

For some reason, this infuriated Jim. He didn't lose his cool, but he calmly and systematically put her down, saying that he didn't have time to waste with somebody who didn't think the team was important enough to come to a meeting prepared.

The funny part is that Sally was the kind of manager that doesn't take this sort of public dress down well, and she got very angry at Jim's reaction. The contrast between Jim's calm approach and Sally's angry response was very noticeable, and it was rumored that her boss heard about this and gave Sally a stern warning to improve her manners in public.

The upshot from this is that Jim earned a lot of respect from his colleagues and the management team, and the story about him and Sally achieved the status of legend.

The story rings true, as Jim takes a lot of time to prepare for things that he commits to, and he expects nothing less from others. I've also seen him angry--although never at me. At first, he seems to withdraw, but that's a misperception. He takes a deep breath, and is quite capable of dressing down somebody verbally. What's more, his reaction is usually measured; he doesn't fly off the handle for the slightest offense, but he does let the other person know that he's disappointed in them.

I don't want this to sound as if Jim is a difficult person. In fact, he's very easy going. He's sweet and romantic, and he doesn't mind watching a "chick flick" with me, nor does he shy away from watching the soft-core porn on the satellite stations. Every couple of weeks, he comes home with flowers for me, and they instantly cheer me up--he seems to know my moods better than I do myself!

Lost in my thoughts, I didn't notice Jim approaching my desk until he was there.

"Shirley? Are you busy right now?"

"Oh no, Jim! I was just... thinking."

Jim gave me a big smile and nodded. "Are you ready for lunch?"

"Of course!" I said, locking my computer and picking my pocket book off the floor. "I take it we're still on for La Crepe?"

"Sure."

La Crepe was a tiny bistro located in the mall that was across the street and down the road from our office. As its name implies, their claim to fame is their dinner and dessert crepes, although the two of us rarely have them. Instead, we order the spinach salad, which comes in a huge bowl and topped by this spicy French dressing that tastes yummy.

The first time we went to this restaurant, I think he wanted one of the lunch crepe specials, but I talked him into the spinach salad. He agreed, but I could tell that he wasn't too keen on this. He later told me that he never ate that kind of salad before. When he took his first bite, however, I could tell he loved it, and it became a regular place for the two of us to have lunch together.

"How's work going?" Jim asked in between mouthfuls of salad.

I shrugged. "It's going fine, I guess."

"You guess?"

At Jim's prodding, I told him a few things about work, and we were once again enjoying each others company. Jim was an avid listener, and he made a few suggestions to help me out when we got back.

"You seem a bit lost in thought," Jim finally remarked.

"It's as if you read my mind!" I said, giggling. "Actually, I got another phone call from Kara today."

"Kara from school?"

"Yes. She's trying to tempt me away from my job."

"What is she offering?"

The salary that Phase International was offering me was about twenty percent more than I was currently earning. It wasn't that I needed the money; they were also offering me a management position.

I explained the pros and cons about the job offer, and Jim listened patiently. Once again, he asked a few pertinent questions.

In fact, Jim brought up the subject that I was dreading. "You used to have a personal relationship with Kara, right?"

I sighed. "Yes. I knew her in college."

"You've mentioned her before. I take it she was more than a friend to you."

I looked around. I knew there was no mincing words with Jim. There wasn't anybody staring at us, so I lowered my voice and admitted it. "Yes. Kara and I were more than friends, although we weren't lovers."

Jim didn't look surprised, but looked concerned. "In what way?"

"It was an almost-lesbian relationship," I admitted. "It wasn't really sexual, but there was a lot of sexual energy in it. The two of us sort of clicked, and we both cut it off after a few weeks. There was no recriminations, and no 'I want you back' scenes. It was just a fun fling. We're still friends."

"Not sexual, but sort of sexual?"

"We got naked, but didn't really do anything physical to each other."

"I see." It was obvious that Jim was confused.

I explained. "Kara and I were friends during the last two years of college. In my senior year, the two of us had a one-month fling. She was into domination, and I guess I'm a bit of a submissive. Although we kissed and occasionally fondled one another, it wasn't about sex, really. She was more into dominating guys, and our relationship was just having fun."

"She was dominating, but it wasn't sexual."

Jim got it! "Exactly."

"She'd make you do things."

"Well... yes."

"With others?"

This was starting to get uncomfortable. "Yes."

"I see." Jim smiled at me. "Would that relationship make it difficult to work for her?"

"The job isn't working for her. It's another job at the same company. Kara works in Spokane, and the job offer is here in town. I'd be working for somebody else."

"Would your former relationship with Kara prove to be embarrassing?"

I laughed. "Oh, heavens, no! As I said, it was a bit of a fling for a month, but she finally found the guy she was looking to boss around, and we mostly stopped our little game."

"Mostly?"

"Well, she called me up one day a few weeks before graduation and asked me to come to her room. When I got there, Dave--that was her boyfriend--was there. He wore a gag in his mouth, and I think his wrists were tied behind him. Aside from the gag and the ties on his wrists, he was naked."

"I see."

"Kara asked me if Dave was the most pitiful looking wretch I've ever seen. Wasn't he a sorry excuse for a male? That sort of thing."

"Go on."

"I played along. I put her boyfriend down. I told him his limp dick--and it was flaccid--was like that of a teenage boy. I laughed along with Kara. I could tell that Dave was embarrassed."

Jim was quiet. "I can see how Kara and you got along."

"Huh?"

"Oh, nothing."

I was curious about Jim's remark. However, I wanted to finish the story. "Anyway, after about ten minutes of the two of us putting the guy down, I could see him starting to get hard. He was, like, totally into this scene. Kara left the room, leaving the two of us. When she came back, she brought in about a dozen of the girls from the hall. They all made fun of Dave. A couple of the girls rubbed him--giving him... you know. A few went oral. The scene was just... out there."

"And then?"

"And then, nothing. After a half hour or so, I went back to my room. Kara and I saw each other a few times, and I even saw David after that. He was always so embarrassed, but he didn't seem angry. Anyway, we've kept in touch since then... I mean, Kara and I kept in touch... as we were close friends. Now she's offering me a job at P.I."

Jim looked serious. "I understand now. How do you feel toward Kara?"

I shrugged. "She's still a friend, although I guess I don't talk with her much anymore. We both have jobs in the same field, and she thinks I'd make a good manager."

"How are your management skills?" Jim asked.

"I've led teams. In my old job, I was a manager, but only for a team of five people. This job is for a team of about a dozen people."

Jim nodded. "You do have good leadership skills. It's not the same as management."

"I know. I've taken the courses. I have been looking to get a promotion here, but there just aren't any openings. The job market is so horrendous nowadays that I haven't looked outside, so I've been doing as good a job here as I can, hoping for an opportunity."

"Kara seems to be handing one to you on a platter."

"I guess..."

"You misunderstand," Jim said quickly, seeing my reaction. "With Kara in Washington state, I know that it isn't really your relationship that is getting you the opportunity. Kara does know something about you, though. Why is she offering you the job?"

"Well, it's not an offer. She just knows the person that's hiring and is prepared to give her my recommendation."

Jim laughed. "The 'old girl' network, huh?"

That was funny. "Yeah, I guess." We laughed together.

"Well, I don't think it would hurt to visit Phase and get a better feel about the job."

"That's what I was thinking."

"Aren't you taking some time off in a couple of weeks?"

"Mary Sue is visiting. We're going to let her use the spare bedroom upstairs."

"Your bedroom."

Technically, the spare bedroom was "my room." Jim explained that if I needed a place to be by myself, I could go there, and he'll respect my privacy. He was serious, too! He even went so far as to install an Ethernet connection in that room, even though he has a wireless network throughout the house. (The wired connection is faster, he explained.)

"Yeah. My bedroom."

"Can the job offer wait?" Jim asked.

"Not really."

"So, how will you arrange it?"

"I'm taking off for a doctor's appointment on Friday afternoon. I have time afterward. I was thinking of visiting Kara's friend then."

"It seems that you have your mind made up, then."

"I guess so." Actually, I was looking for approval from Jim.

"Where is Phase, anyway?"

"One exit closer on the highway."

"Convenient," Jim said, nodding his head.

"So?"

"I think you should go for it."

I bent close to Jim and threw my hands around his neck, hugging him from my chair. "I love you!"

"I love you, too, my little pumpkin!"

We kissed.



-------

Chapter 12: New Horizons


(Jim)

Shirley told me about a job opportunity during lunch that afternoon, and she also told me about the woman that was responsible for it: Kara.

Kara was a dominant, and I already knew that Shirley was a submissive. In fact, Shirley as much as admitted that to me as she explained their relationship, which was a first for her, at least as far as admitting it to me. Shirley didn't seem to notice this, though.

Although Shirley told me about her relationship with her friend, she wasn't much on details, except for the one scene with Kara's boyfriend Dave. Again, Shirley was entitled to her privacy. I felt happy that she decided to reveal her relationship with Kara, even if she didn't include every intimate detail of it to me. In fact, I respected her discretion in keeping things about Kara private.

When I got back from lunch, Roger called me into his office.

"What's up, Roger?" I asked as I closed the door behind me.

"I hear tell you ate lunch with Shirley today."

I nodded. "Yes. I see that you're hooked into the grapevine as well."

Roger laughed. "Normally, I'd give you a lecture about the perils of dating a coworker, but I know you're pretty smart. Shirley isn't in our department, and you are a pretty ethical person. However, I do need to mention it or I won't be doing my duty."

I nodded. "I understand."

"That's not why I called you into my office, though."

"Oh?"

There were some papers on Roger's desk and he picked them up. "You've been working here for a while. Everybody that has worked with you says the same thing about you. You're reliable, honest, and a natural leader. You have the respect of the entire management team..."

I interrupted. "Well, not the entire team." I was thinking of an airhead that used to work in Q.A.

"We let Sally find opportunities elsewhere," Roger said diplomatically. "The way you handled her earned the grudging respect of everybody that was there. Even my boss was impressed."

"I guess."

"Anyway, at this company, we want to reward exceptional effort." He handed me a sheaf of papers.

I glanced through them. On top was a certificate of appreciation. The second sheet was an official memo from one of the vice presidents of the company, which surprised me. A quick skim found the words "promotion" and "salary increase."

"Is this... ?"

"You're now officially the team lead." Roger shook my hand. "Unofficially, you've been doing the work and doing it rather well. We're now recognizing it. You are also now a salary grade 10, which means you automatically get another week of paid time off every year. Next year, when you reach your fifteenth year working here, that will increase to six weeks total."

I was too astonished to respond. I knew that I was the unofficial leader of my group, but leading the group was easy because everybody knew their job and did what they said they would do.

"I'm stunned," I said. Suddenly, I felt a bit disloyal to the company for endorsing Shirley's looking for a job elsewhere. That feeling passed quickly; Shirley herself said that she'd look internally if there were management positions available. "Um, thanks!"

For once, I was speechless. I did not expect anything like this at all. Not only did I have a promotion and a raise, but an extra week off!

"There's something else I need to tell you," Roger said.

Looking at Roger's body language, I knew that this wasn't going to be good news. "What else?" I asked.

Roger looked around uncomfortably. "This is not official, mind you. I know that there are rumors of layoffs running around..."

Huh? I was being promoted and laid off at the same time?

"Anyway," Roger continued. "It's important that this doesn't leave this room. I know I can trust you, but I have to ask you specifically. Can I trust you to keep what I tell you a secret? From everybody?"

"Of course," I said, truly confused.

"The rumors are true," Roger said sadly. "Your job isn't in jeopardy, Jim," he added hurriedly, "but that's not true for everybody here. We're losing a member of our group."

I mentally went through the people in our group, trying to figure out who I would lay off. It's not an easy decision, and I'm happy I wasn't in management where I'd have to make that decision.

"I guess it's not your fault," I said, giving a sigh. "It must be tough."

"It's part of the job, but it doesn't make it any easier. Anyway, when this gets out, there might be some repercussions and resentment from others that you are getting a promotion while somebody will be losing a job."

That sucked! "I didn't think of that..."

"The position was always there, Jim. You've been doing the work, and the paperwork has been in progress for a while. Even if I didn't give you the position, we'd still be losing head count."

"Yeah," I said, feeling a bit shitty.

"That's not the worst of it, Jim."

"There's more?"

"I said your job isn't in jeopardy. I also said it's not true for everybody."

"We're losing a person."

"It's not just us. This is happening to all teams."

Suddenly, the implication hit me. "Shirley?"

Roger didn't answer directly, but nodded. "Can I trust you not to tell her? I thought that you might want to keep it in mind, though. Monday is the day that people will be told. I know you care about her, so perhaps you could..."

I interrupted. "Roger, you asked me if I would keep a secret. I don't feel comfortable keeping secrets from Shirley. Could I ask you the same thing? Can you keep a secret for me?"

"Sure, Jim..." Roger sounded confused.

"Shirley has a friend in Spokane," I said. "It's an old college friend. Anyway, Kara told Shirley about a job opportunity in management at Phase International. Shirley was thinking about talking to them." I decided to add a bit of a white lie at this point. "Well, Shirley was feeling a bit guilty..."

Roger was genuinely surprised. "She is?"

"Yes," I answered, nodding. "Anyway, knowing what you told me, I think it might be a good idea for her to start looking elsewhere. At least for her, it would be better if she were to find a job before she were to be laid off. You know what I mean?"

My boss nodded.

"I think if Shirley were to look, that company would be nuts not to hire her. If she found it before she got laid off..."

"Actually, it could be advantageous."

"Huh?" I was a bit confused by Roger's remark.

"You've never been through a layoff before, have you?"

"No."

Roger smiled for the first time since he asked me to keep a secret. "Layoffs usually involve severance pay. I'm not sure of Shirley's salary, but knowing my own people and assuming that Shirley isn't much different, she could be looking at half a year's salary as a payout."

"Wow," I said, giving off a low whistle. "That could work out in Shirley's favor, then."

"Yes," Roger said.

"Thanks," I said. "I'll keep what you've told me confidential. Please don't tell Shirley's manager. OK?"

"No problem, Jim. We're going to keep your promotion secret until a few months after these layoffs blow over, although you will be getting paid as of this week. OK?"

"Sure."

"Congratulations, Jim, and I wish Shirley the best of luck."

"I'll tell her on Monday."

I left Roger's office feeling a mix of emotions.

-------

At home, I felt kind of guilty that I needed to keep things secret from the girls, but I tried to keep those feelings to myself.

"These are great pork chops," I told Shirley at dinner.

"What's bothering you today?" Shirley asked.

As usual, Shirley was quite attuned to my feelings.

"Just work stuff. I'm sorry. I don't mean to bring my work worries home with me."

"Well, you don't do it too often."

"I know. Just the same, I'm sorry."

"Still want to see that movie tonight?"

"I never figured you to be a Vince Vaughn fan."

"I like Owen Wilson, too. Wedding Crashers should be a hoot."

"Sure thing."

The movie was quite enjoyable, actually surprisingly so. It was more of a romantic comedy than I thought it would be, which I guess appealed to Shirley.

The only uncomfortable part of the movie was when Shirley reached over me casually, unzipped my pants, and started to jack me off.

I turned toward Shirley when she did that, and she was looking intently on the screen. The theater was crowded enough that there were people sitting nearby, but from what I could see, most people were watching the screen, the way Shirley was.

I noticed that Shirley would vary her hand technique when certain people came on screen. Owen Wilson, I noticed, would cause her to tighten her grip slightly and move up and down slowly, almost excruciatingly slow.

When I got close to orgasm, Shirley would let up entirely. Her hand was still close, but would no longer be stimulating me. After a few minutes, she would start up again, getting me to the brink, again and again.

To tell you the truth, I didn't really see the ending of the movie. I think Will Ferrel made an appearance, but I was preoccupied. Shirley's up and down motions, getting me close and easing off, were starting to drive me crazy.

Shirley zipped me up during the closing credits, and as I left, I saw more than one female wink at me. It was either that people saw Shirley's actions during the movie, or the fact that my erection was sticking out in front of me. I simply winked back. To her credit, Shirley took me into her mouth after we got back into the car, and in thirty seconds, I was blasting down her throat.

As I drove us home, Shirley talked about the movie. Meanwhile, I thought about Shirley, and her exhibitionist tendencies. This evening was interesting, but the two of us could have been caught. Now, don't take me as a prude; I'm just careful. I think just about everybody has a fantasy about "doing it" in public, but a fantasy is one thing, and reality is something else.

When we got back to the house, we went upstairs to the bedroom. We made love slowly and leisurely, with me entering Shirley from behind while we were spooned together. I kissed her ears--a powerful erogenous zone I discovered in Shirley, and cupped her breasts as I softly moved my hips back and forth. Shirley reached orgasm first--and second, and after I finally came, I moved closer to her and whispered in her ear, "Sleep, Shirley. Sleep."

(Shirley)

Jim looked thoughtful as he drove me home from work. I finally confronted him at dinner when he made a rather banal comment (for him, at least).

"What's bothering you today? You've hardly talked at all."

Jim shrugged. "Work stuff. I'm sorry. I don't like it when I bring work home with me."

I know that Jim is a hard worker--it's one of the things that just about everybody at work will say about him. I felt as if I was being unfair to him, so I said, "Well, at least you don't to it too often."

We saw Wedding Crashers, a comedy with Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn. Somewhere near the middle of the film, I decided to help Jim get his mind off work and I unzipped him and started to jack him off.

When I did that, Jim looked at me, but I pretended that I was watching the movie. He didn't say anything, so for the rest of the movie, I would jack him off, and when I felt him tense, I'd back off, not wanting him to soil his pants or my hand. After a few minutes, I'd start it up again.

By the time the credits were showing, it was obvious to me that Jim wasn't been paying attention to the movie at all. I zipped him up, and when he got up, he looked like one of those guys in the Cialis commercials! More than one woman noticed Jim's condition, and I saw one actually wink at him.

I relieved Jim's torment in the car in the parking lot, and it didn't take long for him to get off.

After the movie, we went to bed, and we shared one of our slow, relaxing sessions of making love. He got me off a few times, and I think I fell asleep after he came, because I don't remember twisting over to clean him up--a duty that I once would have never considered, but something that I considered a special treat with Jim.

The next morning, I woke up, completely relaxed. I went to the bathroom and once again stared at myself in the mirror. Did I truly deserve somebody as wonderful and attentive as Jim? I know I was lucky that he loved me, but I still had some doubts that I was worthy of him. Although I lost a little weight, I was still a little sensitive about the fat in my fanny. I tried to twist to get a better view in the mirror, but I guess it was just as well that I wasn't able to see it that well.

I heard Jim stir in the bed, and looked over to see him smiling at me.

"Hi, Mr. Wonderful!"

"Mr. Wonderful?" Jim asked.

"I feel so lucky to have a wonderful person like you, Jim. I'm serious."

"I think I'm the lucky one, Shirley." He came into the bathroom, and pulled me close and kissed me.

I melted in Jim's strong arms, thinking about all the times I scoffed at those pictures on those romance novels in the bookstores with women swooning with Fabio, that male model with the long hair that was impossibly blond.

Jim wasn't a male model, but if you could measure the beauty of his personality, he'd have any other male beat.

As Jim moved past me toward the toilet, I watched, fascinated. Since I was a little girl, I was always enraptured by the sight of a boy peeing standing up, although most boys when I was a kid were too shy to let me get that close.

Now, this was my great opportunity. "May I?" I asked.

Jim looked confused, unsure what I was asking about.

Instead of answering his unasked question, I took the subject matter in hand, so to speak, and pointed it toward the toilet. "I've always fantasized about doing this."

"Um... be my guest," Jim said, a bit surprised, and I think a bit embarrassed himself.

How cute, I thought. He's just like those boys back then!

Nothing happened for about a minute. In retrospect, it may have been performance anxiety. Eventually, nature won out, and a trickle came out, followed by a stream of increasing strength.

I didn't anticipate the actual force of the stream that came out, and my general aim was quite off. Urine hit the lid of the toilet and splashed around before I pointed it downward in a more accurate direction. I would clean up the mess I made later on, but right now, I was still watching Jim pee.

"Just hold it," Jim said. "Don't fondle it so much."

"Sorry," I said, blushing. I modified my grip slightly, and after thirty seconds, he finished, only to squirt a couple of times afterward in an action that felt so much the same as when he ejaculates when I give him a hand job.

"Are you finished?" I asked, seeing a couple of drops still dripping.

"Um, yeah..."

Without warning, I bent down and licked the tip, removing the last errant drops. Of course, from that position, it was easy to simply suck him in, and I did so.

I knew that his urine was in my mouth, but the taste was only a little saltier than his skin was. Sucking, I didn't taste any more urine, and after a moment, I started to taste the distinctive taste that I associated with Jim's pre-cum.

Jim put his hands under my arm pits, and pulled me up. "Did you really like that?"

I smiled as I answered, "I love everything about you. Even your piss."

The two of us kissed again, and then Jim pushed me into the shower. It was a tight fit, but we gave each other room. Jim, still taking charge, bent me over, and entered me from behind, his dick still hard from my impromptu suck session. As he thrust in and out, he poured shampoo on my head, and started massaging my scalp with his fingers. I can't tell you how erotic this felt, having a scalp massage while a man's dick was moving in and out of my pussy.

After the shampoo, Jim pulled the shower head from its holder, and twisted the nozzle so that it started to pulse. He rinsed off the shampoo with one hand, while he continued to massage my scalp with the other. Putting the shower head back, he repeated the shampoo and rinse cycle.

I experienced a couple of quiet orgasms while Jim worked on my head and my pussy at the same time. Finally, I could tell that my head was completely rinsed, and Jim spun me around so that I was facing him. Without warning, he took his hand that was holding the shower head and aimed it between my legs.

Before I met Jim, I would occasionally masturbate using a shower massage unit. It was reliable and gentle, and when you were careful, there was no mess! I think that my nipples reacted by getting instantly hard when Jim started to pulse the water on my slit, and he bent down and licked and then kissed one.

My next orgasm was a louder one, as Jim continued to put that merciless pulsating water on my most sensitive spot.

Satisfied, Jim finally put the shower head back on its perch.

"Jim, we need to get to work."

"Nope," that lovable oaf said, shaking his head. "I called Roger last night after you went to sleep. I told him that the two of us are taking today off. He told me that he'd let your boss know."

"But... I can't just take off..."

"Yes, you can," Jim said, giving me a look that told me that he was very serious. "We need some time for ourselves. I'm all caught up at work..."

"But I'm not!"

Jim shook his head. "You told me the other day that you were caught up. In fact, you said that you were surprised that more work wasn't coming in fast enough."

"But..."

"No 'buts.'" Jim paused. "Except that one," he said, giving my rump a playful pat. "Hey, that bottom of yours is getting firmer!"

"Huh?" I said, confused my the change in direction the conversation took. "My bottom?"

"It's my favorite ass," Jim said, smiling. "It's one of the reasons I enjoy taking you from behind."

"You're just saying that..."

"Shirley, one of the base rules we agreed upon with your weight loss program is that I will not simply flatter you and tell you what you want to hear. Well, I will flatter you, but I will mean everything I say. This is not debatable. As your exercise instructor, I'm telling you that your ass is getting firmer. Those new exercises that Wendy and you are doing are giving results."

I wasn't entirely convinced, but I loved hearing Jim say that. "If you say so."

"Do you want to play 'Yes, Master?'" Jim asked.

This was a game that the two of us played once. Jim hypnotized me with my consent and made me slavishly obey everything he told me to do. It was embarrassing, but it also got my juices flowing.

"What do you mean?" I asked with a bit of anticipation.

"Master says, 'Your lovely bottom is getting firmer.'"

"You don't have to do that, Jim," I said, giving him a quick peck on the cheek. "I trust you, and you don't have to convince me by hypnotizing me."

"OK. I know you have a self-image problem. I think you're too used to looking for the negatives. Try to think about the positives instead."

"What positives?" I asked.

"Master says, 'You tell me.'"

I knew that I was not under his hypnotic command to obey. When we played that game, I knew that I didn't have any decision but to obey. I also knew that there was a phrase I could say that would end the game and his control over me. The fact that I didn't know any safe phrase right now told me that the hypnotic command wasn't in effect.

I thought about my body. He was right, I did focus on all the negatives. My tummy was too paunchy, my fanny was too fat, I hated my legs... There were so many things that I could point out were flaws in my body! Jim wanted me to think about the positives, though.

What were the positives?

I guess I got lost in thought. I really couldn't think of anything positive about my body. I mean, there weren't boils all over my body, but to say that to Jim would sound silly. I knew he was serious, and I needed to answer him--not because I was forced to, but because I didn't want to disappoint him.

One of my morning habits was to look at myself frankly in the mirror. Since I moved in with Jim, I did this before he woke up in the morning, although he seemed to have caught me this morning. I've done this for as long as I could remember. I'd always say things such as, "My tits are too saggy. My ass is too large. Look at the flab on my stomach!"

Nowadays, I guess I was focusing on my butt. I couldn't see it very well in the mirror, but I knew it was huge. I could lose a few pounds there, I knew.

Suddenly it hit me. I was focusing on my ass because I couldn't see it. I no longer was thinking about the rest of my body--the parts I could see. I knew my exercise regimen was working out. I lost pounds on the scale, and if I really was truthful about it, the weight loss was actually visible. My tummy wasn't flat, but it was much better than it was a few months ago.

"I lost some weight," I finally say. "My tummy is flatter..." I was about to add, "but not flat enough," but Jim told me to focus on the positive. "My breasts are firmer." I looked to Jim to see if he was satisfied.

"That's better," he said soothingly. "Focus on the positives."

"It's not easy," I admitted.

Jim's response was to kiss me. "I know," he whispered. "Keep working at it."

I remembered something that Jim told me a few moments earlier. "Wait... you said you called Roger last night?"

Jim nodded. "You were asleep."

"And you told him we were taking today off?"

"I hope you don't mind..."

"Well, I mean... we didn't really make plans."

"I planned something special for today."

"Something special? What?"

"Can you keep a secret?" Jim asked.

"Of course!" I said, smiling.

"So can I!"

I sighed. Jim may be the most wonderful man in the world, but sometimes he's the most aggravating person as well!

-------

Jim pampered me. He refused to allow me to wash myself, using the soap bar to work up a complete lather. I loved the feeling of his slippery fingers rubbing me all over my body.

I simply closed my eyes and reveled in the sensations as Jim felt me up and down without any pretense that he was doing so. He inserted a soapy finger between my lower lips, slipping it in and out. He even entered my anal passage in a similar way, surprising the hell out of me. However, instead of exclaiming in surprise, I simply moaned as I felt my excitement continue to build.

Jim let me out of the shower before I could reach orgasm. He took one of his big, fluffy towels and dried me off, paying particular attention to my breasts.

After I was dry, Jim applied some talcum powder. He put on a bit more than I would--he's still learning how to live with a female, I guess--but I appreciated his efforts.

Jim gave me permission to dry my own hair, and after he left the bathroom, I realized that with all the attention he paid my body, I once again needed to go to the bathroom. I did so as I blow-dried my hair, and afterward, I applied a bit of perfume to strategic places, having learning the finer arts of doing so from Wendy's thoughtful advice.

I smelled breakfast as I came downstairs, and was amazed to find Jim preparing a low cholesterol omelet with Egg Beaters, tomatoes, scallions, and part-skim Mozzarella cheese.

"What's this?" I asked, stunned.

"Something I saw on the Food channel. It's good for you, too."

"Sure," I said. "It looks great!"

The omelet tasted as good as it looked. Before I started seeing Jim, I never seriously considered Egg Beaters, and here I was, fawning over them.

"What's next?" I asked, knowing that Jim had something wonderful planned. "Are you going to peel me some grapes?"

Jim smiled. "If that's what you want, Gorgeous."

-------

Jim did have destinations in mind.

The first place he took me to was a hair stylist. The two of us spent about fifteen minutes with a stylist named--I kid you not!--Giorgio and looked in a book.

"I think this one would look great on you," Jim said. It was a bit wavier than I was used to, actually.

Giorgio chimed in, "That would enhance the loveliness of her face. See how it highlights the cheek bones!" He actually took my cheeks in his hand. "She has lovely cheek bones!"

I was forced to laugh, but the two guys did have a point. The style actually would look nice on me. "I like it, too," I agreed.

"It's agreed, then," Jim decided. I nodded in agreement.

Jim turned to Giorgio, and asked, "Can you give the two of us a moment alone?"

"Certainly," Giorgio said. He left.

Jim then said something, and I felt myself drift off into what I recognized as a hypnotic slumber.

"Shirley, do you trust me?" Jim asked.

"Yes."

"I want you to agree with anything I suggest at this place. If you find that I say something that you have a strong aversion to, you will say to yourself, 'The beauty has returned' and you will no longer be bound by my order to agree. Do you understand?"

"I do."

"Do you still trust me, knowing that I have given you this suggestion?"

I thought. I don't think I'd allow Jim to have Giorgio cut all my hair off, but he wouldn't ask that, either. "Of course," I answered.

"Wakey, Wakey."

I knew that Jim put me under. He obviously had his reasons, but there was a bit of me that was still a bit apprehensive.

"Don't worry, Shirley."

Just like that, all my fears went away. "I love you, Jim."

"I love you, too." He looked over to the coffee station where Giorgio was fixing a cup for himself. "Giorgio, we're ready."

Giorgio came back over to the chair where I was sitting.

"We'll go with that style. In addition, Shirley here wants a massage and a bikini wax."

Bikini wax? The entire idea frightened me. However, I trusted Jim, and he told me not to worry.

"Is that true, Shirley?" Giorgio looked a bit skeptical.

I did promise to agree to anything Jim suggested. I didn't know his motivation, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt despite my apprehension. I gave Giorgio my biggest smile, and said, "Yes, Giorgio." I thought for a moment and decided to go for broke. "Make it a Brazilian cut while you are at it."

Giorgio still looked skeptical, but having heard it from me, he shrugged. "OK, then." He turned to Jim, "You can sit in the waiting area, or do you wish to stand here?" I could tell that Giorgio thought that Jim was my Svengali.

"Actually, there's a Starbucks nearby. How long will the entire process take?"

"The style will take about an hour. A standard massage is a half hour, and the wax will be another forty-five minutes."

Jim nodded. "Give Shirley the works. Don't do anything she doesn't eagerly want. Shirley has my cell number and can reach me when you are finished. All right?"

Giorgio seemed a bit surprised, but took it in stride. "That's all fine with me. I'll see you in a few hours."

Jim left the beauty parlor, leaving me to the diabolical bikini-waxing hands of Giorgio. Inside, I was anticipating a lot of pain, but I also wanted to make Jim proud of me. "I'll see you in a bit, lover," I said to Jim as he left.



-------

Chapter 13: Totally Exposed


(Shirley)

Actually, things weren't as bad as I thought. I think Jim knew that and didn't bother to tell me, wanting to make me worry about the worst.

Giorgio was a very good stylist. He asked me my opinion about how I wanted my hair done, and he was a bit surprised at my naivete about styling. To tell you the truth, I never did my hair to impress anybody--even myself!

As is usual at a hairdresser, Giorgio engaged me in conversation. I found him quite witty and just a bit concerned about Jim. I tried to dispel his worries about Jim, but maybe I tried too hard. I don't think he was ever convinced that all the attention that Jim wanted me to have was my own idea, and I knew that he was right about that. This was really was Jim's idea.

I finally decided to admit that I was a bit apprehensive about the bikini wax. "Except for Jim, I've never had any guy pay too much attention to me down there," I told Giorgio.

"I don't do wax jobs," Giorgio said.

"You don't?" I asked, a bit relieved, but also a bit confused. Didn't Jim have everything planned?

"No. It wouldn't be proper. Heidi will be the Mistress of Pain."

"Heidi?" I asked.

"The girl that washed your hair earlier. I haven't told her that your boyfriend signed you up for a massage and a wax job. You can always bow out if it's not your cup of tea."

"No. I'm just surprised. Did Jim talk with you before I came? He seems to always have things planned in advance."

"I never met him before I set eyes on you. Not on the phone, not in person. He seems a bit domineering, but he seems to be nice." Georgi's voice hinted that he didn't trust Jim completely.

I needed to defend my boyfriend. "Jim is a nice guy. He wants to expand my horizons. I used to think I was fat, and he got me into this weight loss program and I can now look at myself without too many complaints. Do you know what I mean, Giorgio?"

"Shirley, please call me George. My name isn't really Giorgio."

"Really?" I asked.

"Yeah. I use the name for the business. It has other fringe benefits. I'm telling you this so you can trust me."

"Why wouldn't I trust you? You're cutting my hair!"

George smiled. "As I said, I don't completely trust your boyfriend. I saw the look on your face when he told me that you wanted a bikini wax. You can tell me that this is what you want until you are blue in the face, but that look told me everything."

I sighed. "That was a look of surprise. I was surprised that he'd have somebody do that, and I admit that I'm a bit afraid of the pain from when you rip off the wax, but I really have no objections to it."

"So, why do you want to get a wax job?"

"It will make Jim happy. He's done so much for me."

"Like what?"

"He got me to exercise regularly. He checked the Internet and found a weight loss program that will work for me."

"How many pounds do you think removing your pussy hair will give you?"

I laughed. "I don't have that much hair down there!"

George joined me in laughter. He seemed such a genuine person--aside from his name--that I decided to level with him.

"George, I think the reason Jim asked for the waxing was that he knows that I'm a bit of an exhibitionist."

"Ahh. The truth comes out."

"Jim really is a nice guy. He's one of the first that I've trusted in a long time."

George stopped cutting my hair and looked into my eyes for a long moment. He finally said, "You've convinced me, my dear."

-------

The massage was luxurious. Heidi had magic fingers and seemed to know where every knot of tension was in my bones. I think Jim made a mistake about this; I was going to demand one of these every night!

Finally, my moment of truth came. Heidi turned me over.

"Are you sure you want a Brazilian wax job?"

"Yes," I said, steeling all my courage.

"Have you waxed before?"

"No," I admitted. "My boyfriend suggested..."

"If I had a fucking nickel for each time a girl's boyfriend suggested a wax treatment!" Heidi scoffed. "How would they appreciated it if somebody tore the hair off their balls? Perhaps with a pair of tweezers!"

The image of Jim getting a treatment made me giggle. "I don't think that's Jim's scene."

"Is it yours?"

I knew that it was going to be my scene as long as Jim suggested it. This may be a test from Jim to see how loyal I was to him and what I would do for him. To tell you the truth, the idea of a woman working on my "down there" was starting to get me a bit hot. As I said before, I'm not really into girls, but I'm also not willing to write them off completely, either.

"Yes, Heidi," I finally said. "I want it."

Heidi gave my body a long, professional look. "I see that you've trimmed it before. Not a wax job, though."

"No. Not a wax job."

The woman got me prepared.

(Jim)

I'm not entirely sure why I suggested a wax job for Shirley, but it was part of my grand scheme for today. I knew I gave her a safe phrase in order for her to beg out at any time, but I also knew that Shirley had a competitive streak in her and didn't want to disappoint me. My only thoughts were for Shirley--she kept herself trimmed for me on a regular basis, and I also knew that having somebody poking around her pussy would be a turn-on for her. I was trying to expand her horizons.

While I was waiting for Giorgio to have his way with my girlfriend, I found a few shops that were open and did a lot of window shopping.

One of the shops was a high-end dress shop. The prices on the dresses that they displayed were pretty high--some were over a thousand dollars! I got another idea for Shirley's special day from the dress shop and I headed across the street to my local bank's branch office to get some spending money.

Three hours after I left Shirley, my cell phone buzzed and I picked it up.

It was Shirley.

"You marvelous, wonderful man!" Shirley said as I answered.

"What's that for?" I asked, smiling.

"Oh... you know!"

I pretended ignorance. "I know what?"

"You know damn well why you're the nicest guy in the world!"

"I'm sorry," I said. "I think you have me mistaken for somebody else."

"Just pick me up, lover boy. I owe you big time!"

"Whatever you say, my lovely princess!"

I closed my phone and put it back on my belt. It was obvious to me that Shirley encountered one of my post-hypnotic suggestions from the previous night. I smiled as I strolled down Main Street, heading back toward the beauty parlor.

(Shirley)

Jim can be so frustrating!

Here I was, worrying again and again about the wax treatment, and the only thing I felt was horniness!

At first, I thought that Heidi wasn't doing it right, but she showed me the wax with my hair embedded in it. I closed my eyes and faintly, I could hear Jim in his soothing voice, "You will not feel pain when your hair is pulled out."

All that worrying for nothing!

My initial reaction was anger. How could Jim make me go through the hair styling and massage while worrying about a procedure that would turn out to be painless to me? I told myself that I would get even. Perhaps I would get him drunk so he would pass out, and I'd have Heidi come over and pull the hairs from his nuts off with a pair of tweezers like she suggested! Heidi gave me the feeling that she'd truly enjoy such a scene.

After Heidi went lower, I felt a new sensation: extreme horniness. Without the pain, all I was feeling was the pleasure of having the warm wax gently applied to my nether regions. Heidi was a virtual stranger, but her fingers on my body when she was massaging me showed a gentleness. She was not a looker, but I knew from personal experience that beauty was only skin deep. Now, as she was rending out my pussy hair, I found myself getting horny.

The frustrating part was that Jim wasn't here to share the experience. Knowing what I did at this point, I was surprised that he didn't figure some way to be around to see me in my torment and the look on my face when I realized that he made it so that the procedure would be painless.

I knew that I'd have to get even with Jim in a way that he'd truly appreciate.

I called him up on his cell as soon as I was once again presentable.

When he answered the phone, I didn't give him an opportunity to speak. "You marvelous, wonderful man!" I said, almost yelling at him.

"What's that for?" Jim asked me, feigning ignorance.

"As if you didn't know."

"Know what?"

"Jim, you know damned well why you're the nicest guy in the entire world!"

"Lady, I think you have me mistaken for somebody else."

"Just pick me up, lover! I owe you big time!" When I said that, I wasn't sure I was intending to fuck him senseless or to knock him out by slamming his head with my pocket book.

"Whatever you say, my lovely princess."

As I disconnected the line, I was still debating whether I wanted to love the damned guy or knock him out. He was so nice, and so frustrating at the same time!

Jim arrived a few minutes later. He paid the bill without really glancing at it, and left a generous tip.

I finally made my decision on how I felt about Jim and gave him the biggest kiss I ever gave to anybody in public.

"What's that for?" Jim asked, seemingly surprised, once I let him up for air.

"For being such a frustrating and lovable man!"

Jim simply shrugged. "Well, time's a-wasting. We've got some shopping to do!"

Shopping? Apparently, Jim was pulling out the stops today.

Jim saw my confused look and said, "I love your hair style."

"Oh? Above or below?" I asked, mischievously.

"I haven't seen your Tierra Del Fuego yet."

I laughed. I once told Jim that one of my favorite songs was Popsicle Toes, and he occasionally refers to my body as geographical references, just as Michael Frank does in the song. I decided to vent my frustration at him, and without warning, I pulled up my skirt and pulled down my panties.

Jim, for his part, didn't miss a beat. He simply whistled. "It looks soft as a baby's bottom."

My heart skipped a beat as I thought he might actually reach over and grab me to prove his assertion. If he did so, I'd probably have the most intense orgasm ever.

That most frustrating and lovable man didn't grab me. He simply stared at me until I realized that I was exposing myself to anybody that passed the door to the salon.

"I'm going to get even with you," I whispered to Jim as a warning.

"Bring it on," Jim said with that wry smile on his face.

Did I ever tell you how much I wanted to punch that lovable oaf?

-------

Jim took me to a dress shop. He wanted to get me a new dress that would fit, complaining that all my other dresses were too big for my figure now.

I thought that Jim was just giving me another of his compliments, but when the saleslady looked at me and said, "You look like a size fourteen," I was almost speechless.

I hadn't been a fourteen in years!

Jim responded, "Wasn't Marilyn Monroe a size fourteen?"

The saleslady didn't seem to know, but closed her eyes and said, "You know, come to think of it, she probably was."

"I'm in love with Marilyn Monroe!" Jim cooed like a little boy.

I was once again ready to clock him, but I was still too shocked from hearing that I might be a size fourteen.

"How about this outfit?" Jim asked, pointing to a tan blouse with large dark brown buttons with a tan wrap-around skirt with a matching button on top.

"It looks expensive," I said in a low voice, not wanting the saleslady to hear.

"All the more reason to get it. You look like a million bucks." Jim turned to the lady and asked, "Do you have this in a size fourteen?"

"We do," the saleslady answered. "Let me go back and get it."

"She'll need some matching shoes," Jim said as she was leaving. "Size eight."

"You know my shoe size?" I asked, a bit surprised.

"You have enough in my closet," Jim answered. "It's easy to see the size when I'm looking for a pair of sneakers."

"You are amazing."

"I'm just in love with you, Gorgeous."

Before I could give him a proper retort, the sales person came back with a couple of boxes.

"Why don't you try them on?" Jim asked.

"I still don't think it will fit," I said, doubtfully.

"The dressing rooms are over there," the lady said, helpfully.

Jim escorted me, and said something to me. I nodded my head, and he then said, "You will not wear any underwear with this outfit."

Again, I nodded, and he said, "Wakey, wakey."

I dressed in the changing room, and wonder of wonders, the outfit actually fit. I wondered about Jim's command about no underwear. I would have expected him to give me that order if I was wearing something that was more or less see-through. Maybe I was starting to get used to the way he did things. Anyway, I put my bra and panties on one of the chairs that were inside the small room.

The silk material of the blouse actually felt kind of nice against my breasts!

I left the dressing room, and walked out and saw Jim and the saleslady waiting for me.

"It looks great on you!" Jim said.

The saleslady came up behind me and fluffed the material of the blouse. "I could take it in a bit if you want. You might be a borderline twelve."

Me? A twelve? Ha!

"Do you want to wear that outfit?" Jim asked. "We have a special place to go for lunch."

"Where?" I asked, wondering what else Jim had in store for me.

"It's a surprise."

After I nodded my agreement, the saleslady clipped off the tags from the outfit and headed for the cashier. I went back to the dressing room to collect my clothes. As I did so, I was half-expecting Jim to tell me to leave my underwear in the room, but he never said anything of the sort. I gathered them up and put them into my purse, figuring that I have have misjudged him. Every time that I think I have Jim figured out, he does something unexpected... 

The outfit cost close to eight hundred dollars, and Jim simply peeled off fifty dollar bills to pay for it.

"Jim, that's nearly a week's salary!" I complained.

"Aren't you going to be interviewing for a management position at Phase?"

"Yes, but I don't have the job yet, and this outfit is way to dressy for an interview!"

Jim looked deeply into my eyes. "Shirley, any company would have to be nuts not to hire a person with your ability. If they don't see your qualities, then it's not a company worth considering."

"If you say so, but..."

"No buts!"

The saleslady put my old clothes into a shop bag and Jim led me back to his car. He looked at his watch. "It's twelve thirty. Hungry?"

I wasn't really, but I was intrigued in what Jim had in mind for his surprise. So far, he already spent a small fortune on a hair style, massage, a bikini wax, and now a brand new outfit. How could he top that?

Once we were in the car, Jim said something, and I think I went to sleep. I remember thinking that he was hypnotizing me again, but I felt so comfortable and happy that nothing really mattered.

I'm not sure how long I was out, but I do remember that Jim touched me and said, "We're at this little bistro I heard about. Isn't it quaint?"

The place was in a residential neighborhood, but it did look kind of cute. "Yes! It's quaint!"

"Let's go in."

Jim led me into the restaurant. "It's crowded already," he said. "I'm glad we have reservations." He turned and said, "Reservations for Jim and Shirley for noon. I know we're a bit early, but we wanted the center table."

Without a word, we were led to a table. The place was small but crowded as Jim said. Jim pulled my chair back for me and I took my seat.

"You'll probably want to pull the skirt out from underneath. You don't want to ruin your new outfit, do you?"

I didn't, actually, and pulled the dress out as Jim went to a seat on an adjoining side of the table so we were sitting next to one another.

"I've never been to this restaurant before," I said, looking around at all the people that were crowded in the little room.

"It's kind of exclusive."

"Expensive?"

Jim smiled. "Don't worry about money, dear. This is my special day for you. Let me splurge."

"You've already spent over a thousand dollars today!"

"You are worth every penny. Please?"

I didn't have any real fight in me. "OK," I said, softly, not wanting to disappoint my knight in shining armor.

There was an awkward silence, which was interrupted when Jim turned and said to the waiter, "Can we have the vegetable platter appetizer?"

The waiter nodded, and left us alone again. Jim explained, "They have celery and baby carrots--the kind you like. They serve it with a dip made from olive oil and balsamic vinegar, but you can skip the dip if it's not your thing."

"It sounds nice. How did you find this place, anyway?"

"Word of mouth," Jim said, smiling.

Jim excused himself to go to the bathroom, and a part of me wanted to follow him and give him a taste of how wonderful he was making me feel. I resisted the temptation, however.

When Jim returned, the appetizer arrived, although I don't remember the waiter bringing it. I guess I was lost in thought.

Jim picked up a baby carrot and put it in my mouth. Instead of biting it, I simply kept it between my lips and sucked on it. I'm not sure why I did it, but Jim smiled at me and said, "That's right, suck on it like a baby at a nipple."

I felt embarrassed doing something so odd in the middle of a crowded restaurant, but I couldn't stop sucking. It was only after a minute or so of this that I could remember Jim's voice telling me that the next time I had a small carrot in my mouth, I'd suck on it.

Jim set me up!

I closed my eyes, not wanting to see if anybody was staring at my lascivious display. I concentrated on the tiny carrot in my mouth, and continued sucking on it.

"Let's play a game," Jim said. "It's an old kid's game, called 'Button, button, who's got the button!'"

It wasn't really possible for me to answer him with that carrot in my mouth, so I simply nodded.

"For the first button, let's undo this one."

My eyes were still closed, so I didn't have any idea what Jim was talking about until I felt him fumbling at my waist. With a quick twist, he undid the button that was holding my wrap-around skirt together.

I was shocked, but not too surprised at Jim's action. Jim, however, quickly took it a major step further. He turned to the waiter, who was at the table and probably saw him unbutton my skirt, and said, "Can you please take this for Shirley? I don't want her to lose it. Why don't you put it on the chair next to her."

My eyes shot open as a complete stranger unwrapped the skirt and took it off me, draping it on the back of the chair!

I was sitting in a public restaurant, naked from the waist down!

"Shirley just got a bikini wax," Jim said. "I guess she wants to air it out a bit."

I wanted to die! I was afraid to look around, knowing that people were probably staring at me. I was sitting in the middle of a restaurant, sucking a carrot as if it was a tiny cock, and my skirt was on public display so that anybody that couldn't directly see my lap would know that I was nude!

"Do you have to go to the bathroom?" Jim asked.

Oh, shit! Was this a hypnotic trigger to make me have to go? How would I get up from my chair without showing my bikini wax job to the entire world? I quickly shook my head and mumbled through my carrot, "Unh, unh."

"OK. Let me know. You can swallow that carrot, by the way."

I quickly bit down on the carrot, and swallowed it. I remember distinctly thinking that if it was Jim's cock, I'd have bit harder. "This is embarrassing!"

Without answering, Jim simply put another carrot into my mouth. Once again, I started to suck on it. I was so frustrated that I was ready to spit!

"Let's lose another button, Shirley. Your choice, this time."

Since I only had on the blouse, I decided to play it safe, and unbuttoned the bottom button. I looked at Jim as if to say, "Satisfied?"

Jim didn't say anything, but bent over toward me and kissed me warmly on the cheek. As he did so, his fingers were on the top button on my blouse. I sighed as he unclasped the button.

I now knew why Jim insisted on no underwear. He planned this from the beginning! He insisted on the center table, fully in view of everybody in the restaurant. He insisted that I don't sit on my skirt so it could be unwrapped and removed easily.

Why was Jim doing this to me? Didn't he know that we could get in trouble? Was this his way of getting even with me for that hand job during the movie?

"I think another couple of buttons would be nice," Jim said. "Your choice again."

I looked down and saw that there were three buttons left. "Two?" I mumbled through my carrot.

"You're right," Jim said, making me feel a bit better. "Might as well do all three."

All three?

Automatically, my hand went to my blouse. I forced it to go to the one on the bottom first, but it quickly and expertly undid all three. My hands went back down to my lap so I couldn't even hold the two sides of the blouse together.

Jim got up and removed my blouse, draping it carefully on the same chair where my skirt was displayed.

I was now completely nude in the middle of a restaurant.

"You can swallow that carrot, now," Jim told me.

I did, quickly, and took the opportunity to whisper at the diabolical fiend that stripped me in front of so many people. "What are you doing? Are you out of your mind? We can get in trouble!"

Jim shrugged and whispered back, "We could have gotten in trouble at the movie. If the police saw us in the parking lot, we could have gotten arrested. Why are you so worried now?"

"I'm stark naked in a public place!"

"Ah. It's different when you are the one being exposed, then?"

I didn't have a good answer for that.

The two of us stared at each other for a few minutes. I kind of had dreams such as this, where I was naked in school, and everybody was staring at me. However, this was reality. I was in a fancy restaurant, stark naked. It was only a matter of minutes before the police would arrive and arrest the two of us. I could imagine that I was the center of attention for everybody in the restaurant, although in my embarrassment I couldn't bring myself to actually look around.

Jim was the first to break the silence. "Your pussy itches."

DAMN HIM! As soon as he said it, I felt stirrings of an itch. I tried to ignore it, but it got worse with each passing second. It was as if my pussy hair--if it was still there--turned into individual feathers playing on my skin.

"You suck!" I whispered through clenched teeth, keeping my voice low so as not to attract any more attention to myself. Naked ladies shouldn't shout, I figured.

"Have another carrot!" Jim said, grinning, sticking another of the carrots in my mouth.

Once again, my mouth took the proffered carrot and started to suck on it earnestly. That damnable cretin!

My fingers found its way to my crotch and started to scratch, even though I knew that the sensation was hypnotically induced and that no amount of scratching would appease it.

"I think you misunderstood me," Jim said. "The inside of your pussy has an incurable itch."

Was Jim fucking kidding?

Immediately, the burning sensation outside my pussy was replaced by a stirring--almost a yearning--inside me.

I closed my eyes and succumbed to the sensation. I wantonly stuck an index finger, and then two fingers into my cunt, thrusting them in and out. I knew that I was really making a scene.

"You'll notice that you don't have a safe phrase here," Jim told me.

That's right. Whenever Jim gave my a hypnotic order, he usually gave me some way of saying "No." That was true earlier today, when he suggested the bikini wax and for me to not wear underwear, but it wasn't true in this restaurant? Why did Jim do it differently this time?

"I can see you're confused," Jim said, smiling. "I have my reasons."

I wanted to strangle him! If I wasn't masturbating myself nearly senseless, I would take my fork and stab him!

"You can swallow the carrot now."

"Jim!" I said as soon as my mouth was clear.

"Talk quietly," Jim said softly.

"You have me naked and frigging myself in front of God knows how many people, and you want me to be quiet?" I whispered.

"Yes."

I was angrier than I ever was at Jim since I knew him. "You suck."

Jim simply shrugged and gave me this smirk.

All of a sudden, my blood turned cold. Jim usually wore that expression before he lowered the boom even more.

"I see you haven't learned your lesson."

"Please, Jim! I'm sorry..."

Jim stood up. I realized that Jim could just leave me here, alone, without a car, naked and masturbating without any control of my actions.

I stared at Jim as he stood in front of me. "Let's see who sucks."

Jim unzipped his pants, and pulled out his dick. I couldn't believe that he would do this in front of so many people, but he did. He was mostly erect, and he pushed it toward my mouth... 

I couldn't help it. I opened up, and started sucking him, just as I did those baby carrots. I didn't think that things could have gotten any worse, but he managed to find a way.

"Do a good job, or you will find yourself a porno actress getting her first facial!"

I was appalled at Jim's demeanor. Instead of the warm, loving, and sensitive person I knew, he was this domineering, misogynistic, and demanding personality. How could he have changed from the loving dear that pampered me in the shop to the person that was demanding--and receiving--a blow job in front of so many people?

Not being stupid, I took Jim's warning to heart, and closed my mind to the scores of people in the restaurant. If he wanted a blow job, I'd give him a good one. Of course, once I was free from his hypnotic shackles, if I decided to move out, well, that was my own decision, wasn't it?

To tell you the truth, I felt a bit betrayed. I felt a tear wash down my cheek as I continued to suck him.

It didn't take long for Jim's cock to start twitching. He didn't make any further demands on me, and when he came, I dutifully swallowed.

Jim slowly pulled his cock out of my mouth. Normally, I'd give him a little kiss on the tip when he did this, but I wasn't sure about my feelings about him. I guess all men were alike.

Sure, Jim pampered me as if I were a little princess earlier, and spent a small fortune on my hair and other things. If I had to decide whether or not I truly loved him, well, I think I still did, despite his boorish behavior at the restaurant.

"Jim?"

"Yes, Gorgeous?"

Gorgeous? How could Jim switch persona so easily?

"Don't you love me?"

"Of course I do."

I wasn't completely sure. Jim just treated me so much like a whore just now. "Oh."

"Shirley?"

"Yes?"

"Open your eyes."

Huh? My eyes were already open. However, as he uttered those words, things started to change.

Instead of being naked in the middle of an expensive and ritzy restaurant, I was sitting, naked, at Jim's dining room table. "What the fuck?"

Jim started to laugh. "The illusion was complete, huh?"

"How did you..."

"I treated you to your own fantasy."

"But..."

"The only person that saw you naked today was Giorgio, Shirley."

"George," I corrected. "Heidi was the one that waxed me."

"Oh. Even better."

"But how did you..."

"I planted a hypnotic suggestion last night. After saying a code phrase, you'd see what I told you that you'd see. That's why I said things such as we were at a restaurant, and that it was crowded. Your mind filled in the missing details, convincing you that you were really naked in public."

"Do you mean to say that I was here all the time?"

"All the time, Precious." Jim kissed me.

I still wasn't convinced. "The waiter?"

"That was me."

I thought back and realized that everything I "saw" and "heard" at the restaurant was the result of Jim's descriptions. The sheer audacity of what Jim accomplished was amazing!

"Shirley?"

"What?" My mind was still reeling.

"Please trust me. If you want me to treat you and boss you around, I'll do so. However, I will always love you and cherish you. You are too wonderful for me to treat with disrespect, except when I'm playing a role for you. Do you understand that?"

I couldn't help it. The tears, which had started when I was sucking him, were now flowing down my cheeks. I hugged this wonderful, perfect man, not saying a word except to kiss him occasionally.

Jim didn't say anything either.

I think we hugged for about a half hour, before I dragged that lovable oaf onto the floor.

I tried to fuck his brains out, but I didn't succeed. However, he seemed quite happy when he passed out from exhaustion a couple of hours later.

Curling in this man's arms, I rested, feeling more loved and happy than at any time of my life. How could I have thought that he'd treat me that way in front of so many people?



-------

Chapter 14: Having Fun


(Jim)

Despite the fact that Shirley told me that she loved our little adventure in the "restaurant," I constantly found myself having second thoughts. I couldn't see what Shirley's mind was seeing, and could only imagine what was going on in her mind.

There were a couple of times during that adventure that I saw flashes of anger in Shirley's eyes, and I was quite tempted to call off the entire game at those points. It was never my intention to get her angry. I simply wanted to embarrass her, playing to the exhibitionist attitudes that I thought I detected in her. Near the end, I even saw tears start as she was sucking me, making me think that perhaps the trick went on just a bit too long.

When I finally revealed the trickery that was involved, Shirley's reaction was sudden. For a second, I thought she would kill me in anger--I never saw that look in her eyes before. She pulled me down quite suddenly, tore my dress shirt from my body, and nearly ripped my Dockers getting them off me.

Despite my initial confusion, It didn't take me long to realize that Shirley was horny and hot. I never saw her in such sexual heat as then, and it startled me.

In the past few months, the two of us have been having sex regularly, with me achieving orgasm two and (very occasionally) three times a day. I was in awe of my stamina, actually. Despite that, I think Shirley reached a new record with me that day. She fucked me, she sucked me; she took the bottom position, she took the top, she had me take her from behind. By the time she seemed fully sated, my dick was starting to hurt from overuse. I finally fell asleep on the floor and she was still licking her juices off my cock. Near the end of the day, my orgasms were nothing really more than empty twitches, having lost the ability to shoot any semen. It got to the point where it was quite difficult for me to even reach erection.

I woke up with Shirley resting in my arms, and my dick feeling more used than even when I was a teenager and just learned about masturbation. As my body moved a bit, Shirley stirred. I didn't want her to wake up, so I whispered, "Sleep, Shirley. Sleep," and she immediately went under. The only hypnotic order I gave her was to continue resting as I picked her up and deposited her in bed.

As I glanced at the clock radio, I realized that it was getting late in the afternoon.

I nudged Shirley a bit and asked, "What time is your doctor's appointment?"

Shirley answered me sleepily. "Three thirty."

Shit. It was already four o'clock. "What time is your appointment at Phase?"

"Four thirty."

That was close, but there was still time for that. "Shirley, you will wake up, well rested and relaxed. You will freshen up and put on your new outfit and get ready for your interview. One... two... three!"

Shirley woke up, a bit surprised that she was in bed. "Want another fuck?"

"You have an interview in a half hour, Missy. Let's get you prepared."

Shirley popped out of bed, and before I could say anything, she sprinted downstairs, coming up with the new outfit I purchased earlier that day.

"This will knock them dead! Jim, I really need to thank you for everything today!"

"You nearly thanked me senseless, Ms. Horny Britches."

Shirley laughed, and took her outfit into the bathroom.

"Don't forget your underwear, darling."

"You told me not to wear any with this outfit."

"That was before, not now. This is an important interview."

"Oh, Jim," Shirley said, sounding exasperated. "If I get the job, great. If not, well, I'll still be happy working where I am right now. After all, I'll see you every day."

It took a lot of will-power not to blurt out that Shirley's job was in jeopardy, but I didn't. "Do it for me?"

"I'll split the difference, Jim." Shirley came back into the bedroom, opened up her top drawer, and pulled out a bra. "There."

I sighed, and hoped my hypnotic request for her to be ready for her interview was still in effect. "Do you want me to drive you there?" I asked.

Shirley answered from the bathroom, "I'm not sure how long it will be. Why don't you stay home, and we'll do something afterward?"

"OK."

-------

Shirley showed absolutely no nervousness about her interview, and only after she left did I allow myself to start worrying. Shirley really needed this job, even if she didn't know it yet.

I drank about four cups of coffee, and turned the television on and off about a dozen times. I kept thinking about the interview. How much pull did Shirley have with Kara, and how much pull did Kara have with whoever was hiring at Phase?

My cell phone rang at five thirty, and my heart jumped when I saw Shirley's name on the display.

"Shirley?"

"Jim! I got the job! I'll get the official letter on Monday, but we're already discussing salary and benefits... It's just a formality! They even asked me to talk with human resources! Jim, I aced the interview. It was as if I didn't have any worries in the world!"

"That's great!"

"As if you didn't know!"

"Huh?"

"Jim, did I ever tell you that I can tell when you've given me a hypnotic order?"

"Like at the restaurant yesterday?" I asked, quite skeptical.

"That was different," Shirley said. "I knew you gave me an order to obey you. I just didn't consider that you would make me believe that our house was a fucking restaurant!"

I laughed. "So... how can you tell if I give you an order?"

"Maybe I shouldn't tell you."

"I'm curious. I've heard some claims of that sort back in college, but I don't know if anybody ever really bothered to test it. So, tell me... how can you tell?"

"When I'm doing something strange, I close my eyes and try to think of you telling me to do it. If you put the thought into my head, then I'll sort of hear your voice--dream-like and far away, but it's definitely your voice--and I'll hear it telling me to do whatever it is. I guess it must be similar to a faded memory or something. It's um... it's as if I am trying to remember a dream. Anyway, if I can imagine you telling me to do something, then I know it's one of your hypnotic commands. Usually, that makes me feel better. I know I trust you, and it also tells me that I'm not going crazy."

Shirley's explanation seemed to square with what I remembered from college. Wasn't there a phrase for it? The words "residual memory" came to mind, but I think that was something different. "I guess..." I said after a pause. "I'll have to take your word for it."

My adorable minx seemed indifferent to my doubts. "Your hypnotic command was for me to be ready for the interview. Jim, I was never this... I don't know... what's the word? Natural? Yeah! I was never this natural during an interview before. I wasn't worried about not getting the job, but I wasn't too cocky, either. I was simply ready." Shirley's excitement was quite palpable.

"That's great," I said, happy that Shirley was in such great spirits.

"Jim, you are so exasperating. I owe you so much... for the outfit, for the hair style, for making me think I was blowing you in front of a bunch of people... how can I ever repay you?"

"You don't need to..."

"If Wendy was into threesomes, I'd pick her up from work right now and do another number on the two of you!"

"You don't..."

"Jim, PLEASE! Let me thank you! You can't just keep doing things for me and not let me repay you."

I sighed. "OK. Whatever. What time will you be back?"

"I feel like celebrating. How about that seafood place in Andale? Do you know the place?"

"I guess you'll trust me in a restaurant, then?"

"Hah!" Shirley said, giggling. "Even with this outfit on!"

"OK. Do we take two cars, or will you come here and pick me up?"

"I'll be home to pick you up in a few minutes."

-------

Shirley spent the rest of the weekend thanking me over and over, not seriously heeding my complaints that the little skin left on my penis was ragged and raw. On Sunday morning, she finally agreed to apply aloe lotion on it, but I quickly found that when she did so, it would quickly lead to another hand-job session, resulting in even more punishment for my tired member. O! What exquisite torture!

Later on Sunday, I finally got Shirley to agree to let me take a bit of control. I explained to her about some of the fantasies I read on the Internet about hypnosis, and she thought some of the recurring themes I told her about were interesting. She agreed to allow me to put her under hypnosis with her being aware of my actions to do some experiments on hypnosis and her orgasms. This was something I would only do with her explicit consent, of course, but she thought these would be interesting experiments.

There were a few themes in erotic literature regarding hypnotism and female orgasms, like making them more intense and even making them difficult to achieve. I wasn't sure that hypnotism could actually be effective with orgasms, since I figured that an intense feeling like that would wake the subject from their trance. Now I admit that I don't really have a good knowledge of the fundamentals of orgasm. For instance, is it a mental sensation, a physical sensation, or a mixture of the two? How would it affect the relaxation needed to achieve hypnosis?

Another theme was to give a subject a post-hypnotic suggestion to experience orgasms from some innocuous signal, whether it be audio, visual, or tactile. The common theme was that the subject's orgasms would be controlled by somebody else--in this case, me.

Despite my doubts about the efficacy of such commands, Shirley readily agreed to do the tests.

I must say that the results were mixed.

Our first attempt was to trigger an orgasm "on cue" without any physical contact. Shirley reported that I was able to trigger an orgasm, but, as she put it, "While it feels good, it's just not the same as having somebody touching the right spot and sharing the feeling with your partner. It's sort of the difference between masturbation and intercourse--they aren't the same. Not even close."

We discussed this until we finally figured out that part of her enjoyment of sex was the intimacy that we shared, which is easy to understand. That also suggested to me that orgasm was as much mental as it was physical. As Shirley explained the difference between stroking oneself and having another person do it, I realized that this could be attributed to what I call the "tickle phenomenon," or the fact that while people cannot tickle themselves, somebody else can tickle a person.

"You know, I think I just figured something out."

"What, Shirley?"

"When you said, 'cuddle bunny' to get me to come, I did come, but it was very disappointing." Shirley was referring to the trigger phrase we used for the experiment.

"You said that before."

Shirley shook her head strongly. "No! You don't understand." She looked thoughtful for a few minutes, and finally said, "I used to feel orgasms that way... before I met you."

"Huh?" I was a bit confused.

"We were talking about the closeness, and how they make orgasms great. That's what was missing from the cuddle bunny orgasm. I realize now that before I met you, I only experienced those cuddle bunny orgasms!"

Shirley hugged me for a while, and neither one of us said a word for some time.

Another theme from erotica that we tried was to see if hypnosis could increase either the intensity or duration of an orgasm. Again, I had my doubts, mostly due to my male nature of thinking about orgasms. To a male, an orgasm isn't simply a feeling. There is very much a physical aspect to it as well: the ejaculation of semen. I knew that Shirley experienced a similar physical aspect with hers, if only in her vaginal secretions. Although I read about experiments with people becoming impervious to pain under hypnosis, I doubted that the conscious brain could control the physical aspects such as ejaculation.

Shirley was quite willing to do the experiment. Our first test was almost straight out of a typical story. My command to her was, "When you achieve orgasm, it will be ten times more intense than any orgasm you ever felt before."

When Shirley experienced her hypnotically-amplified orgasm, I have to admit that it looked to me that she was experiencing something unusual. Her moans were louder, and she pulled my head so close to her pussy that I thought she'd suffocate me (my dick was way too tender to do actual penetration). Had this succeeded?

Shirley's answer wasn't too surprising. "It felt good, Jim," she said. "Really intense, in fact." After a pause, she added, "I guess I enjoyed it." She frowned, looking for the right words. "Like those fucking 'cuddle bunny' orgasms. It's not the intensity of the orgasm that's important, Jim. People that think you can simply order somebody to have an orgasm ten times stronger miss the entire point. In no way was the feeling you ordered me to have better than anything I've had when hypnosis wasn't a part of it."

I was intrigued. "What do you mean?"

"I know it felt more intense, but I don't think that the intensity was that important. Do you know what I mean?"

After a bit of discussion, Shirley suggested a different method. "Order me to have an orgasm, but for me to enjoy it more."

I did so, and the results seemed to be a bit better. Shirley smiled afterward and said, "I... well, you can see that I enjoyed that one. But..."

"It was still empty?" I suggested.

"Yeah," Shirley said, grinning. She leered at me crotch and added, "I like having your wonderful, delicious..."

"Overtaxed..." I added.

Shirley's grin turned into a laugh. "I'm sorry. I think I was trying to talk myself into another go with you."

A final variation on the hypnotic orgasm theme was to try to keep Shirley close, but not quite achieving orgasm while I licked her mercilessly. This experiment lasted about ten or fifteen minutes until Shirley pulled on my hair and asked me to stop.

"What's wrong?"

"Do you remember what you told me about that hand job I gave you at the movies?"

"Um... yeah. What about it?"

"Do you remember how frustrated you got, and made me promise not to do something that again to you or at least to go easier next time?"

I nodded. "Uh, huh."

"This is maddening to me, Jim. I know you've given me the command, but I never get to this stage so quickly... it's no longer fun, as I'm feeling so frustrated now..."

"'Cuddle bunny, cuddle, '" I said, interrupting Shirley, giving her the "go ahead" phrase from earlier. (Shirley only knew the first two words of that phrase, which allowed us to discuss it.) Immediately after giving her the cue, I pulled her to me and kissed her, pulling her naked body on top of mine. This time, the "manufactured" orgasm was mixed with the feeling of closeness and intimacy that Shirley claimed was missing from her previous cuddle bunny orgasms, and she kissed me back as she moaned. We rolled on the carpet for about ten minutes, sharing our lovers' intimacy.

We ended our experiments with hypnotic orgasms, but we continued to discuss some possibilities. I pointed out the "impervious to pain" studies and how hypnosis could probably keep a person from even getting aroused.

Shirley took it one step further. "You could probably hypnotize me so that if you took my ass, I wouldn't feel any pain."

I nodded, but Shirley started to continue down that path as if it was a good idea. I didn't think so, actually, and we discussed it. In the end, I convinced Shirley that we shouldn't try that particular experiment. For one thing, my dick was still pretty raw from Shirley's overuse of it and I knew that getting into a tight place like her backside would be more difficult than normal vaginal penetration and would probably require a harder erection than normal.

Another reason I wanted to avoid the experiment in having me mask the pain of anal intercourse was that I cared for Shirley. Pain, after all, is nature's way of telling you that something is wrong. What if I gave such a command to Shirley? Now, if I was to take advantage of that, and I inadvertently hurt her--for example, if I perforated her bowel--she probably wouldn't feel it, but there could still be damage. A perforated bowel could cause peritonitis or some other serious infection, and if Shirley didn't feel anything wrong, it could go untreated. I would simply feel horrible if I hurt her in such a way.

It took some discussion, but in the end, Shirley finally agreed with me.

-------

By Sunday evening, Shirley finally realized that endless fucking wasn't a great way to express her gratitude, and for once was able to apply some aloe without going crazy and rubbing it off immediately.

We ate cheese quesadillas for dinner that night, and we watched some satellite porn as we ate. Shirley was trying to get a feel for the kinds of movies I watched.

One thing that Shirley noticed was that I preferred movies that at least had a semblance of plot. While it was interesting to see a girl get naked and start sucking and fucking, it got old quickly--and Shirley agreed with my assessments of those movies... we didn't watch them for too long before we tried to see if anything better was on.

Shirley pointed out, "You really don't hate these movies."

"Huh? I told you we could switch the channel!"

Shirley giggled. "Yeah, but only after the blonde got naked."

"I... I... um..."

Shirley's giggles turned into a full laugh. "You look so sweet when you think you're caught! What I meant was that even this movie, which doesn't have any real plot to it, got you interested... at least to the point where you were interested in seeing that floozy strip."

I shook my head. "I just wanted to see if there was any plot to this one."

"Don't get defensive! I've been watching you watch porn for weeks now. You like watching girls give head. You also don't seem to like the fuck scenes unless the girl is on top facing away from the guy and toward the camera."

"Reverse cowgirl position," I said, almost automatically.

Shirley looked a bit confused as she considered the term, but then started to laugh again when she realized what it meant. "I guess there must be a lot of those terms."

I shrugged. "You know most of them." I pointed to the screen where the couple were now going at it. "That's the so-called missionary position. You know doggy style as well."

"And when I'm on top, that would be me being the cowgirl, huh?" Shirley grinned and added a southwestern "YEE-HAW!"

"Yeah."

"I don't understand the attraction you have for that reverse one, though. It seems to lack intimacy."

"I'm not saying that I'd like for us to do it," I quickly replied. "I just think it's sexy to look at it on camera."

Shirley looked at me for a moment and then nodded. "I guess it's more for show than for loving, huh?"

We both laughed at that. "I think if it wasn't for pornos, that position would just be a theoretical one. Can you imagine if we were making love and the only thing I could see is your ass?"

"What's wrong with my ass?" Shirley asked defensively.

Whoops! "Nothing, dearest," I said soothingly. "You mentioned that it lacked intimacy, and I was agreeing. When I take you doggy style, it's still intimate because I'm right above you, and my hands are available to play with your tits. I can still nibble your ears... you know, that sort of thing. Most of the time, though, I prefer to look into your eyes when we are making love. That's why I'm not a big fan of the doggy position and I'd probably hate for you to try the reverse cowgirl one."

"I like it when you take me from behind... it just feels... I don't know. It feels a bit better."

I smiled. "I know, and your enjoyment makes a difference to me as well."

"I guess that's it," Shirley said, smiling as well.

I changed the subject by switching the channel again. "Here's another formula movie," I pointed out at a story with a plot, as flimsy as it was.

"Uh, huh," Shirley agreed. "What is it about detectives and strippers, anyway?"

I shrugged as I changed the channel. "I don't know, but I bet that kind of plot line can be found in a majority of these movies with a plot."

Shirley shrugged. "It's almost as bad as the ones without a plot. I mean, they are so predictable!"

There was one particular story that involved domination and submission. As soon as I realized it, I picked up the remote to find another station, but Shirley told me to wait. She watched it intently.

The two of us were laying on the couch, Shirley mostly on top of me. I wiggled my finger between her legs, as Shirley loves to masturbate while watching porn, and she prefers it when it's my finger manipulating her rather than her own.

"Getting any ideas, Gorgeous?" I asked.

"You remember on Friday, when you convinced me that I was naked in a crowd?"

I nodded. My dick was still recovering from Shirley's reaction to that. How would I forget that?

"This couple in the movie have a club they can go to. He makes her wear a dog collar."

"Uh, huh." I nodded again. I personally thought that part was a bit sexist, actually. I figured I knew how Shirley would react.

"I wonder if there are those kinds of clubs around here."

"Perhaps in New York or California," I said. "I don't think you'll find them out here much." I hoped that Shirley wasn't going to want to start a neighborhood petition to close such a place down.

"Oh." Shirley still looked thoughtful.

When the movie was over, I looked at Shirley. She was still deep in thought.

"Jim, I'm going to sleep in my room. I'm afraid if we sleep together, I'll want to fuck you, and I can see now how red your thing is. I'm sorry I didn't believe you when you told me that I was riding you too hard."

"There's no need to apologize. I think you can safely sleep with me. I doubt that you'll rape me."

It took a few minutes, but I finally convinced Shirley.

(Shirley)

I felt kind of bad. Jim complained a few times that his dick was getting sore, but I thought he was exaggerating. It wasn't until I saw how red it was that I realized that I might have gone too far. Once I thought about it, I realized that I was sore as well. The phrase that came to mind was "saddle sores."

There must be something else I could do to thank Jim.

It was Sunday night, and we were watching some silly pornos on Jim's home entertainment center. It was a movie with the name Bondage Bitches or something similar, and it starred this brunette who wore a dog collar. When her master connected a dog leash to her collar, she would remove all her clothes and walk around on all fours, as if she were a dog. They went a couple of times to a club where he would casually hand off her leash to somebody else--one time to a lady--and she would have to have sex with whoever held her leash.

Like all pornos, there wasn't much more to the story than that. It was just a couple of scenes that would form an excuse for the busty brunette to get naked or engage in sexual situations. At least it wasn't about a detective or some murders at a strip bar.

As I thought about the bondage story, I found the idea of the Sex Club intriguing. I asked Jim if he thought there were really such clubs in the movie, and he shrugged and said, "Maybe in California or New York. Not here."

Well, if I had to, I would take a trip to New York City and maybe allow Jim to parade me about. Jim seemed to get as much of a kick out of ordering me around when I thought he exposed me in public, and I knew that this might turn him on as well. I wasn't sure I could handle the "have sex with anybody that holds your leash" bit, but that was just a silly movie, anyway.

Until then, I would find a way to thank him without tearing all the skin off his dick in the process.

-------

Jim left for work before I did. I called Carl, my manager, and told him that I would be in a bit late.

Carl surprised me by asking, "Should I tell Roger that Jim will be late, too?"

"He's already left. I need to wait for something to arrive. I'll be in the office in an hour or so."

"All right," Carl said. "I'll need to speak with you later as well. OK?"

"Sure," I said, knowing that if my job offer arrived, I'd want to talk privately with Carl as well.

As I waited for the FedEx truck to arrive, I straightened up the house. The two of us made a bit of a mess over the weekend, going at each other in nearly every room in the house.

FedEx arrived about 9 o'clock, and I hurriedly opened it up. I gasped when I saw that the salary they were offering me was a hell of a lot more than I was making right now. I figured that it must be a typo, and it was all I could do to keep from calling Jim to tell him about it.

Instead, I called the human resources department at Phase to confirm the job offer.

"That's correct," the manager replied, confirming the offer amount.

It wasn't a typo!

I hung up the phone, speechless, forgetting to tell them that I was accepting the job offer.

Why I finally got into work, I rushed over to Jim's desk.

"Did I tell you how much the offer was?"

Jim put a finger to his lips, and looked at the walls of his cubicle.

I realized that he wanted me to be quiet, but I was so excited!

"Let's go to the break room. It's probably empty."

The break room was indeed empty, and I excitedly whispered to Jim about the salary.

"I guess you accepted, huh?"

"Hmm?" I thought for a moment and realized that I never did tell the H.R. person that I accepted the offer. "Oops!"

Jim laughed, and I hugged and kissed him, and hurried back to my desk to call Phase to accept.

Later that morning, I walked into Carl's office. I knew that I needed to let him know that I was going to be leaving for a manager's job at Phase. This was probably going to be the hardest part. There were some really nice people here as I was only just learning!

I felt a bit bad. I guess that Carl was a nice boss, but as I said, the work wasn't really that demanding for me. I really wanted to do more managerial things, and this job wasn't really cutting it. There was also the ever-present threat of layoffs, and I didn't like having to live on the edge, not knowing if my job was going to be around a year from now.

"Carl? Are you busy?"

Carl looked up. "Um, no. In fact, I was going to talk with you..."

"This is important, Carl. Let me say what I have to say first, OK?"

Carl looked at me suspiciously. "What's up, Shirley?"

"Last Friday, when Jim and I were out, I went for an interview at Phase International."

There was a look of surprise in Carl's face. "You did?"

"A college friend of mine told me that they were looking for managers. The company isn't as big as this one, but from what I found out, they can offer me the kind of position that I was looking for."

"You're shitting me!"

This wasn't the reaction I expected. I had this entire speech prepared, but Carl wasn't doing his lines right.

"I'm not," I said, as much surprised that Carl would doubt me as I was by his use of profanity. "I want to give you my two weeks' notice..."

Carl shook his head. "Shirley, this is really weird."

I was confused. "What's weird?"

"You've heard about the rumors of layoffs, haven't you?"

"Of course." Every few months, the rumor mill starts talking about layoffs. They don't happen often, and I've learned not to get worked up over them.

I suddenly realized where Carl was heading... 

Carl said, seriously, "Well, they're not rumors this time. I am going to lose one or two people in this department. If you already have another position lined up, it can work out to benefit us both."

"Huh?"

"Instead of giving your notice, we can just say that you're going to be the one laid off. That saves me from having to select somebody, and it allows you to get a layoff package. There's severance and other things. You'd probably get your accrued time off and... oh... twenty weeks or so pay, I think. You can pocket the money, or simply take a few months off."

I was shocked. "When do people find out about the layoffs?"

"Today, actually."

Everything became clear at that moment. I narrowed my eyes and said, "Carl, you said you were going to talk with me. Was I the one you selected to lay off?"

The look in Carl's eyes confirmed everything. "Shirley, you're a great worker, but the two of us know that this isn't the job you've been looking for. I admit it, you were on my short list. You weren't the only one, but..."

I've worked with Carl long enough to know when he was lying. The fucker was actually going lay me off! He knew I was entitled to twenty weeks severence. I should have been incensed, but I closed my eyes and tried to think how Jim would handle the situation. I realized that Carl was right. This actually worked in my favor. I got the job at Phase without appearing desperate. In addition, instead of quitting, I'd be getting severance.

A bit wary, I asked, "So I don't have to give notice?"

"Don't. There will be an announcement this afternoon for the entire company. The names won't be announced, but everybody who is on the block will know."

"Effective when?"

"Effective by the end of the week, but between us, as soon as you tie up any loose ends, there's no need to show up here. You could leave as early as today; I don't think there is too much stuff in your in-basket."

That was another piece of the puzzle. Over the past couple of weeks, my case load went down considerably. I realized now that this didn't happen to anybody else on my team. Carl was right; I could probably tie everything together by the end of the day.

"Fine. Do I have to attend the meeting in the cafeteria? I don't think I want to have people looking at me. Let me get my stuff done and leave."

Carl looked surprised, but nodded. "Sure. No problem."

(Jim)

Shirley found me at lunch time, and told me the news. She was in a rush, as she needed to visit Human Resources to go through the paperwork and other stuff.

I figured that Shirley's boss would allow her to collect severance instead of making her give notice. If not, I knew that my boss, Roger, who had more seniority than Carl, would have forced the issue with his own manager. Shirley was, after all, a good worker and was with the company for a while. I may be a bit biased, but I knew right from wrong.

There was the expected company announcement that afternoon. Shirley wasn't there, and for the first time, I thought how different the company would be without Shirley there anymore. Now, I was employed at the company for a good number of years but it was only the last few months that we became friends. We commuted together, and that wouldn't change--I'd drive Shirley to her new job when she started. After all, I would only need to leave a few minutes earlier.

The big difference is that for the last few months, I could casually walk over to Shirley's desk and she'd be there, just the way she did when she got excited when she found out the salary that Phase was offering. Having her there at work would end soon--perhaps today, if Shirley got her way.

Well, things change. That's not to say they always change for the worse. That would be defeatist thinking. The secret was simply adapting to change.

-------

One thing that didn't change was Wendy, who showed up on Monday evening for dinner and exercise. Wendy was still working at the company, easily being the most productive person in her group.

At first, Wendy wanted to commiserate with Shirley, but when she found out that Shirley already had a job lined up, and how much more they were going to pay her, it turned more into a celebration. I was prepared; there was already a bottle of Korbel Brut chilling in the refrigerator, and the three of us toasted Shirley's future success.

Shirley showed us the FedEx package that she received earlier in the day. She needed to sign her acceptance and FedEx it back. There were some other things she needed to provide on her first day of work, but that was five weeks away.

During the exercise session, Wendy noticed a behavior change in Shirley.

"Did the two of you have a fight?" Wendy asked.

"No, why?" I asked.

"Normally, the two of you are practically fucking one other in front of me during the rest breaks."

"Oh, that," Shirley said. She sighed, and said, "Jim can't play. I think I broke it."

Wendy did a double-take. "What?"

I laughed.

Shirley explained. "It's more a case of overuse. It's still working, but I think I'll be giving it a rest for now."

"Oh." Wendy looked thoughtful. She grinned and then said, "So, the champagne was the extent of the celebration, huh?"

I objected. "My fingers and tongue aren't broken, Wendy!"

The two girls attacked me with their fleece throw rugs.



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Chapter 15: Ain't Life a Bitch?


Version: $Revision: 1492 $ $Date: 2007-12-06 22:12:59 -0500 (Thu, 06 Dec 2007) $

(Jim)

On Tuesday evening, when I came home from work, I found Shirley sitting on the floor next to the recliner. Her knees were in front of her, and she was naked, as usual when she was in the house.

Actually, the word naked wasn't completely true. On her neck was a studded leather dog collar.

"What's this?" I asked, amused.

"Remember that movie, Bondage Bitches?"

I thought for a moment. "The one last weekend?"

"Yes. I was trying to think what it's like to be one."

I laughed at the joke. "I think walking around on your knees all the time will get tiring. Think about rug burns."

Shirley gave a sigh at my attempt at humor. "I was kind of embarrassed going into the pet store to buy this, you know. It was as if the guy behind the counter knew that I bought it for me."

"Why would you purchase that collar, anyway?"

"I was thinking about the movie. I was wondering what it would be like to be a slave..." Shirley paused, and then added, "Your slave."

I shook my head in horror. "What?"

"You could hypnotize me to do things... like the restaurant trick you did on Friday... but this time, for real. Make me a real slave."

Horrified didn't begin to describe my reaction. "Fuck... NO!"

I think the vehemence in my voice surprised Shirley. With a tiny voice, she asked, "What's wrong, Jim?"

"What's wrong? Everything is wrong! You're my girl friend. I don't want a fucking slave!"

Shirley didn't answer. Instead, I saw tears in her eyes.

I led Shirley to the sofa and we sat down. As we did so, the tears started to fall down her face.

It was definitely time for a heart to heart talk.

"Shirley? I need to tell you something, and it's very important. Can I talk to you right now?"

Shirley sniffed, but didn't wipe her eyes. "What?"

My body tensed. I wasn't really prepared to say what I was about to say to Shirley. Some part of me knew that I'd have to have this talk eventually, but I guess I had just been putting it off.

There is no time like the present, though. I didn't want Shirley to go off the deep end, and it looked like she was already on the diving board.

I took a few deep breaths to settle myself down and to get my thoughts together.

"Shirley, do you know why I like you?"

Shirley was about to answer, but then her forehead crinkled. There was a long pause, and she finally said in that tiny, unsure voice of hers, "No."

"Do you remember that day in the break room during the snow storm? It was just the two of us. We were co-workers. We knew each other, but never really spoke together until that day."

Next to me, Shirley nodded.

"I knew a little bit about you before we started talking. I know the type of person you tried to be at work, all business and demanding. You seemed to have a distrust of men. Despite that, I thought you were cute, but your attitude always said, 'Stay Away!' and I did up until that day."

Shirley looked at me, and after a few moments, she said, "I remember."

"I've always known you to be smart, and I always trusted your instincts on stuff at work. I admired your ability to find a consensus when working with a bunch of people. It's what I try to do, I think. Anyway, when we were talking that day, I noticed something about you that I never saw before. I saw that you were cute, but you also had doubts about yourself. In addition, I saw that you were lonely."

Wendy gave me a look. "I was lonely?"

I put my finger to Shirley's lips. "Let me finish. When you came over, I noticed you were a bit less apprehensive than you normally were at the office. You joked a bit, and I saw that there was something special about you."

Shirley nodded, waiting for me to continue.

"Let me make a confession right now. I crossed over a line I shouldn't with you. While you were under, I asked a few questions to get your real feelings about hypnosis, and the questions moved on to me getting your real feelings about me. I betrayed your trust, but I wanted to know what I could do with you. My sole interest at the time was helping you with your goal to lose weight."

"You didn't betray--"

"Let me finish, please?" I waited until Shirley nodded before continuing. "I discovered that you thought I was a nice guy, but I wasn't your type. I figured that I could live with that, since I was only interested in trying to help you. I wasn't looking for a steady girlfriend... not at that time, anyway."

Shirley was quiet, but I noticed that her tears had dried up.

"I also put in a back door... if anything I did were to make you angry at me, before you did anything rash, you'd say 'That does it!' and would return immediately into a trance."

"I don't remember that."

"You never said it," I explained. "Apparently, you didn't have any real problems with my instructions. In fact, I've never turned off that order, and you've never once entered that 'fail-safe' mode. I got worried when Wendy and I took you to that supermarket."

"I was angry... but I was also sorry for what I said to you. Wendy was angry with me, which surprised me..."

"That's water under the bridge," I assured Shirley, interrupting her. "Anyway, I pushed you a little. For your exercise sessions, I made you get naked, and the exercises that I chose were mostly to expose you a bit... make you embarrassed."

Shirley sighed. "Well, I was embarrassed."

I smiled. "I know. But you took it. What that said to me was that you were serious about losing weight, and you were willing to put up with the hypnotic commands. I admired that in you."

"So, what are you trying to say?"

"I need to finish this, Shirley. As I said, I admired your determination, and when you realized that there was going to be some embarrassment, instead of getting resentful, you seemed even more determined to go through with this. You had a great sense of humor about it, and I think that's what endeared you to me. You were smart, you knew what you wanted, you were determined to get it, and you had a sense of humor. I've never seen such a combination in a woman, and you intrigued me."

"I don't intrigue you anymore?" Shirley asked.

"Don't misunderstand me!" I said, trying to reassure my girl friend. "You still intrigue me. I'm just telling you what was going through my mind. I still feel a bit guilty about teasing you like I did. Anyway, we started to get closer--and it happened very quickly."

"I remember."

I smiled. "I realized that you felt that you were getting closer to me, too. That's when I asked myself where I intended this relationship would go."

Shirley tensed, waiting again for me to lower the boom.

"Shirley, have you ever known me to do something unless I was pretty sure what I was doing?"

"Huh?" Shirley asked, confused. "Um, no."

"Well, I was never sure about hypnotizing you in the first place, but aside from that, I usually try to think things through. There was one part of me that didn't want a relationship with you because you were a coworker--if we ever broke up, it could result in an unpleasant office environment. I once had to make a big decision on something like that a couple of years ago, and I didn't like doing it. Anyway, I didn't want an office relationship. However, there was another part of me that always wanted to have a real girl friend. You were close to the ideal for me--more so than any other person I've ever met."

I paused, sensing that Shirley wanted to say something, but she just looked at me, waiting.

Finally, I said, "I made my decision, and I decided to go for it. It took me some time, and it took some prompting from Wendy as well as you, but I finally made my decision. And, although I have thought about my decision a couple of times since, I know it was the right one."

Shirley was waiting, but couldn't help but say, "And... ?"

"Until you mentioned that you wanted me to hypnotize you to be a slave, I thought we were heading in the right direction."

Shirley was startled. "What do you mean?"

"If I hypnotize you to be my slave, then we are no longer equals. That makes you much less attractive to me. I don't want a slave, I want an equal. I want my smart, witty, and sexy Shirley. Not a stupid, mindless, sex slave! I know you have issues, but..."

"Issues?" Shirley asked. Her eyes narrowed.

Shit! I didn't mean for that to come out.

I sighed and met Shirley's steely glance. I decided to continue. "Yes. You have issues. So do I, and so does everybody else. You're not exceptional in that. Me, I have difficulty getting close to people, and before I do, I need to intellectualize it. It's difficult to try to intellectualize love, but I still find myself trying, and that must be frustrating to you. You have your own issues, and I wasn't trying to point them out to you, but just wanted to mention that I realize that you do have them. What I meant to say after that was that if the idea of acting like a slave turns you on, that's not a problem. If you want to BE a slave, that's very different, and that's where I need to draw the line."

Shirley's look softened, but she was still a bit suspicious. "O-KAY..." she said, drawing out the expression.

"If I hypnotize you to become a slave, I am afraid that you really will become one. More than anything else, I would really hate for that to happen!"

I waited. I finally said my piece.

There was a few minutes of silence. Shirley had a lot to think about, I know. The fact that she thought before saying something indicated a lot to me.

Finally, with a sigh, Shirley said, "I think I see what you're trying to say. You love me as an equal, but if I wanted to be treated like a slave, then we aren't equals."

Nodding, I said, "Uh, huh."

"Role playing is different, though. Like Friday morning. That sort of thing."

I continued to nod, figuring that Shirley was starting to understand on her own.

"I see."

Shirley continued to sit there in silence, thinking about what I told her.

"Let me think on this a bit."

I gave Shirley a weak smile. "All right."

-------

Shirley made a Mexican lasagna for dinner that night, and due to our long talk, it needed to be reheated for a few moments before we could eat it. She made it with fried tortillas as the pasta, with taco meat, chilies, and other Mexican seasonings with lots of cheese and rice.

The meal was terrific, and I enjoyed it immensely.

Shirley finally found some diet sodas that I actually liked. Tonight, she surprised me with Coke Zero, which tasted surprisingly like the non-diet version.

"That soda is great!" I said.

"It was on sale. I tried it earlier, but I think I like the Diet Coke version better. I think it's because I've been drinking it for so long."

"Well, you won't have any trouble getting me to drink diet soda if it tastes like that."

After dinner, I took the plates and rinsed them off before putting them in the dishwasher. I let the oven pan soak in the sink for a while to loosen the food.

As I was doing my chores, Shirley came up to me from behind and hugged me. I could feel her boobs pressing into my back.

"Jim, I think I realize what you said before. You actually told me a lot. I'm sorry if I offended you."

I turned to my wonderful girl friend. "You didn't offend me, but you did have me worried. I've been feeling guilty since this weekend about all the hypnotizing that I've been doing, and I have been thinking a lot about what I've done with you... and Wendy."

"Huh? What's wrong?"

"I know hypnosis, but I'm not a licensed therapist. Despite what I think about the quack you saw for hypnotherapy, at least he had a license. I don't, and I shouldn't have done it with you girls. I'm a fucking amateur and here I am, playing with your minds! I've been taking advantage of you."

"No you haven't!" Shirley said quite forcefully.

"Yes I have," I said, contradicting her. "I used hypnosis to try to help you despite the fact that I have no training whatsoever in hypnotherapy. I could have done something wrong... I could have done some real damage!"

"You could also have driven into a tree. You can't worry about what might have been!"

"I'm worried about what could still happen! What if that 'slave' thinking you were doing was some result of what I did?"

Shirley shook her head. "It wasn't!"

"How do you know?"

Shirley shook her head. "I know. Jim, please be assured, I fucking know exactly what I'm saying here. I know when I'm doing something you told me to do, and when I bought that collar today, there was no memory of your voice asking me to do so."

"But..."

"But nothing, Jim. I saw that movie and got the idea from that. That's all it was, plain and simple."

Shirley looked serious. After a moment, I said, "If you say so."

"No, Jim," Shirley said. There was fire in her eyes. "I want you to know this. I saw that movie and got the idea. You didn't tell me to do anything of the sort. You didn't even seem to like the movie. It was me, and just me."

I paused for a long moment and looked in the eyes of my girl friend. For a moment, I thought of saying Shirley's trigger phrase to find out the truth, but I knew I didn't dare do that--probably not anymore. I was already feeling guilty about the hypnosis, and I would not do it any more unless she specifically asked me to do so, and then she would have to be a willing part of it.

Finally, I said, "You're right, Shirley. It was your idea, but I have to admit, this scares me a bit."

-------

(Shirley)

Jim's reaction to the dog collar was not one that I expected. Instead of some playful ordering around, he got nervous that he might have inadvertently made me do that. He explained his thoughts and motivations from the time we met in the break room, and he revealed a lot of things that I didn't realize up until then.

I bristled when Jim mentioned that I had issues, but he skirted around that by pointing out his own.

After dinner, as he was cleaning up, I hugged Jim, and he told me his anxieties about hypnotizing Wendy and me without any formal training and that he thought that he may have been the source of that fantasy of mine.

It took some doing, but I finally made Jim agree that the whole slave idea was my own. He also told me that he was scared.

-------

The two of us were more quiet than usual that evening. I watched television, while Jim surfed the web. While I was sitting alone, I did some Kegel exercises that I read about. All the clenching and unclenching made me very aware of my crotch, and I wondered when Jim would recover enough from our weekend's excesses to make love again.

Yes, sometimes, I'm a bit self-centered. I have needs. I'm also sensitive to Jim's needs, and in this case, the skin on his organ. Over the last couple of days, I regularly applied aloe on it (lightly!) in the hopes of easing his soreness. His response to those applications was to get hard, but I steadfastly refused to entertain the temptation to go any further until he made an overture toward me.

Jim came over and kissed me good night around midnight. He asked if I was coming to bed, and I told him I would when the Lifetime movie I was watching was over. He kissed me again and went upstairs.

After he left, I lowered the volume and went through the satellite channels, hoping to see something like "Bondage Bitches" again. For some reason, that movie really affected me. Alas, it was just mindless sex stories with a few detective pornos, and I gave up out of frustration. Jim was so fucking right about those movies!

I turned off the television and made my way upstairs. Jim was in bed, and I went to the bathroom, did my thing, and came out.

As soon as I got into bed, Jim spooned behind me, hugging me, and whispered, "I love you, Shirley."

"I love you, too, Jim."

We didn't make love, but I felt very loved by Jim.

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I spent all day Wednesday thinking about what Jim told me. I thought very hard about my feelings about slavery and the dog collar, and I was certain that there was no faint voice telling me to like it.

Besides, I used to have fantasies about being abducted by pirates when I was a little girl, forced to clean their ship, and forced to do all manner of unthinkable things for the men on the ship. Wasn't that a slave fantasy? Those occurred well before I knew Jim, and even though I recalled those fantasies a few times since we hooked up, I never mentioned them to him at all.

Wendy was over the house before Jim came home, and helped me set up some snacks for poker night. The two of us would be heading to the mall that night.

While we were preparing stuff, I told Wendy a lot about our conversation the previous evening. She listened without saying much until I told her about how I was adamant about the slave thing being my idea.

"Are you really sure it was your own idea?" Wendy asked. "It sounds like Jim has a guilty conscience."

"He does, but not over that, but over the entire hypnosis thing."

"Are you sure?"

I nodded. "One hundred percent sure."

Wendy looked a bit skeptical. "You used to be a ball breaker, you know. Now you're into making yourself into a slave. That's not natural. He may have done something, even if he doesn't realize it."

"No," I said. I told Wendy about those pirate fantasies.

"Those aren't the same," Wendy pointed out.

Jim arrived at that point, and we changed the subject.

"How are my two naked slaves doing?"

I saw Wendy bristle at that suggestion, but I tried to cover for her. "We've made some neat snacks. I also heated some of the leftover Mexican lasagna from last night. There's plenty of beer in the fridge--light beer for you, Jim!"

"Sounds tasty!" Jim gave me his stupid grin.

The two of us beamed, although I still saw a bit of uncertainty in Wendy. It made me think again about this slave fantasy of mine, and whether or not Jim could have been responsible for it.

I led Wendy upstairs for us to get dressed, and we pointedly didn't say anything about what we were discussing before Jim got home. It still hung heavy in the air, and I knew that tonight wasn't just going to be a night on the town for us.

"Where do you want to go tonight, Wendy?" I asked.

Wendy shrugged. "How about Bower's? We don't go there often."

Bower's was a bar where I picked up a guy once or twice, back in my past life. It was a place that I frequented when I was on the prowl before I met Jim. It was known as a place for drinking and not much for eating.

I shrugged and agreed. "Fine. I hope the alcohol doesn't put back on the pounds I've lost so far."

"One night won't kill us," Wendy said.

-------

One thing I noticed this evening was that the men at Bower's were more attentive toward me. As I mentioned, I had been there before, mostly when I was an overweight, domineering bitch. When I was there with others--Wendy reminded that we went there together once--we didn't get bothered much by guys. I think the reason for that was that I probably scared them; I must have given off a vibe of being a man-hater.

Still, this night, a few guys tried to buy us drinks; I think they were hoping that they could get Wendy's attention at the same time keeping me happy by getting a free drink as well. That evening, however, we were offered a lot more drinks than usual. One would think that I lost a lot more weight than the scale in Jim's bathroom indicated. Perhaps it was the fact that I no longer viewed all men as loathsome creatures that should be kept on a short leash.

I switched from rum and Diet Coke drinks to straight Diet Coke early on that evening. Wendy whispered "Pussy!" at me when she realized I was no longer drinking alcohol, but somebody had to drive us home, and I really didn't want it to be some strange guy. (They may no longer be loathsome creatures, but I wasn't going to entrust the fate of Wendy and me to them quite yet!) For probably the first time in my life, I became the designated driver.

I tried to get Wendy to leave the bar at eleven, but she was just starting to get warmed up. She was getting chummy with a couple of guys, doing a lot more giggling than normal. By eleven-thirty, I noticed that her words were starting to come out a bit slurred, and I took a deep breath and tried to resurrect the old "ball buster" that Wendy said that I used to be. It wasn't that difficult; that person was still there, and she was eager to come out.

"Come on, fellows," I said, finally taking charge. "Wendy's in no condition to do anything more tonight. I'm going to have to drive her home."

"I can drive her," offered one of her Romeos. "I'll make sure she gets to bed on time."

I made a very flatulent sound from the side of my mouth in reaction to this, which seemed to startle the two guys that had been trying to talk Wendy into more drinks.

"Come on, Sh... Shirley," Wendy said. "I'm game for another drunk... I mean, drink."

That slip convinced me. Luckily, the bartender was coming over. I caught his eye. His name tag read, "Sam," so I said, "Sam, are we already cashed out?"

"The two of you?" Sam asked, noticeably excluding the two Lotharios that were hitting on us.

"Yeah. My friend needs to get her beauty sleep."

Sam nodded. "You're paid up. Do you want me to call a taxi?"

"I've been drinking soft drinks for the past couple of hours. I'm safe to drive."

Sam looked at me, then at Wendy, then slowly back at me. He finally nodded. "You're probably right." He turned to the two guys. "You guys have a tab."

"Uh, yeah. And get us some more drinks. Another one for the little lady..." He indicated Wendy.

Sam shook his head. "They're cut off and they're leaving. If you want to leave, too, then let me get your tab."

He turned toward the cash register. I saw him look at me through the mirror at the back of the bar, and he gave me a wink.

I pulled Wendy's shoulder, and whispered, "Let's get going. We've got work tomorrow."

Wendy nodded and slowly twisted off the stool. Her legs weren't that wobbly, and when she walked, she did so normally. She was probably tipsy, but I wasn't really familiar with her being drunk. When we came to her car, I asked her for her keys.

Wendy insisted, "I can drive."

"Sam didn't think so," I informed her.

"Which one was Sam?"

"The bartender."

Wendy shrugged and reached into her purse and pulled out her keys, handing them to me.

There was only one key that looked like a car key. I used it to open the door and Wendy got into the passenger side without any complaint.

We drove back to Jim's house without incident.

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(Jim)

I was getting a bit worried. The poker game ended about eleven o'clock, and the guys left about fifteen minutes later. Usually, the girls were back by then. Fifteen minutes later, my worries started to increase, and multiplied another fifteen minutes later.

The cell phone was in my hand, and I was ready to call Shirley when I heard Wendy's car pull into the driveway. I opened the door and was surprised to see Shirley in the driver's seat.

"Jim! I'm sorry for being late."

Wendy made no move to get out of the passenger seat. I asked, "What's wrong with Wendy?"

"She fell asleep on the way back. We were at Bower's."

"That's fifteen minutes away!"

Shirley rolled her eyes; what I just said was obvious information to both of us. "She's asleep. Can you help me get her up? She's in no condition to drive home."

I came over and opened the door. Wendy was asleep and actually snoring. With a few tugs, I got her to get to her feet, and I pulled her arm over my shoulder and escorted her toward the house with Shirley helping on the other side.

Wendy was sort of moving on her own--with our help, of course--but she seemed to be on auto-pilot. As soon as she crossed the threshold of the door, however, she shook herself, which caused both Shirley and me to release her. She stood on her own for a few seconds, and without opening her eyes, she crossed her arms.

For a brief moment, I wondered what Wendy was waiting for. Then I realized that she had the two sides of her blouse in each hand, and was pulling her shirt off. She was following her hypnotic suggestion to remove her clothes in my house without explicit permission from me for her to keep them on!

As soon as I realized what Wendy was doing, I tried to stop her arms, but she again shook me off, fully intending to undress.

"Wendy! You don't have to..."

"Shh, Jim," Shirley said.

"Huh?"

"Let her undress herself. It will save us having to do it later."

I shrugged and took Shirley's advice. I looked away from where Wendy continued to undress, feeling more like a voyeur than I usually did when they did this at other times. I idly wondered why I felt different about it this time, but pushed that thought from my head when I heard Shirley speak again.

"She's done, Jim. Pick up her clothes, and I'll lead her to the spare bedroom."

I let the two girls go toward the stairs as I picked up Wendy's discarded clothing. Again, I felt strange and more than a bit voyeuristic in doing so.

As I got upstairs, I saw that Shirley was leaving the spare bedroom. "She's asking for you."

"Wendy?"

"Yeah," Shirley said, nodding.

I thought for a couple of moments. "Fine. Can you do me a favor?"

"What?"

"Go downstairs to the kitchen and fill one of the large iced tea glasses full of water."

"Why?"

"She drank too much tonight, didn't she?"

"Yeah."

I smiled. "What she needs now is to get hydrated. Get a couple of aspirin from the downstairs bathroom as well. Hopefully, we can avoid a hangover tomorrow morning."

Shirley nodded and went downstairs.

Wendy was in the spare bedroom, naked and on top of the covers. Her eyes were closed and she was snoring, albeit a lot quieter than when she had been in the car. There was no way that she would realize that I was even in the room; she must have fallen back asleep between the time Shirley left and now.

"Sleep, Wendy. Sleep." I knew that this was redundant; I was curious if you could put a sleeping person into a hypnotic trance.

Wendy's expression didn't change, but I noticed that she was no longer snoring. Her breathing was regular.

"Can you hear me?"

"Um, hmmm," Wendy said, very dreamily.

"Shirley is going to be up here in a couple of moments with some water and aspirin. Take them both. If you have to go to the bathroom or if you feel sick at any time tonight, get up and do what you need to do. When you wake up tomorrow morning, you will feel refreshed."

"Um, hmmm," Wendy agreed, slowly.

I heard Shirley come upstairs, and I quietly told Wendy to sit up on the bed and open her eyes. She did so.

"She's up?" Shirley asked, surprised that Wendy was sitting up on the bed.

"It's better for her to drink the water without problem."

"Good idea." Shirley handed Wendy the water and aspirin. Wendy took them, and then took a sip of the water followed by the aspirin, followed by the rest of the water.

I took the empty glass from Wendy, and "helped" her to lay back down on the bed. I then nodded to Shirley that we should retire to our own bedroom.

Before I left, I quietly said to Wendy, "You will fall asleep after I leave, and sleep naturally until you wake up at the normal time. Wakey, wakey."

As I closed the door to Wendy's room, I heard her turn on the bed.

I then went to the main bedroom.



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Chapter 16: Confronting the Problem


(Shirley)

Jim was hard when he got into bed. I think his excitement was due to his surprise at seeing Wendy naked in our house unexpectedly, but when we made love that night, Wendy wasn't there at all. He was gentle and loving--in short, the wonderful person that he always was. When he kissed me, I knew he wasn't thinking of my naked friend sleeping on top of the covers in the next room. He was thinking about me.

I thought it kind of cute, actually. Jim probably saw Wendy naked a dozen times or more, but he seemed embarrassed about her nakedness this time.

The next morning, I woke up to the smell of coffee. I realized that Wendy must have got up before us. I turned and saw Jim smiling at me.

"Good morning, Miss Wonderful."

I frowned. I loved calling Jim Mr. Wonderful, and now he took my pet name for him from me! The nerve of that big oaf!

To get even, I moved over to him and gave him the biggest kiss I could give him with a full bladder, then hopped out of bed and ran to the bathroom, getting to the toilet just in time.

By the time I arrived downstairs, Wendy and Jim were sitting at the breakfast table, with three omelets made from Egg Beaters and low-fat cheese.

"About time you woke up, Sleepy Head!" Wendy said, cheerfully.

"You made breakfast?" I asked, incredulously. Wendy told me a while back that when she over-indulges at night, she usually wakes up with a hell of a hangover. She admitted to me once that she occasionally had to call in sick with the "Irish Flu" after a long night out, although that didn't happen very often.

"Sure. I woke up at six." Wendy smiled, and I could tell it wasn't forced. "I was a bit disoriented--I found myself laying naked in a strange bed. Then I realized that I was at Jim's house, which would explain the strange bed and my nakedness. Would my hypnotic command to strip when I come into this place work when I'm drunk?"

Jim shrugged. "Apparently, it does." He thought for a moment and added, "I'm not aware of any studies of alcohol and hypnotism other than trying to use hypnotism to cure alcoholism," he explained. "Those are usually futile."

"Weird," Wendy said. "I don't remember anything."

"Yeah," I said, still surprised at Wendy's condition. "Jim helped you out of your car. I drove you here."

Wendy frowned as she tried to make sense out what I said. It occurred to me that I gave it to her out of sequence. She then smiled and said, "Thanks for saving me from those ... hoodlums, I think."

"Oh, that wasn't a problem."

Wendy looked a bit sheepish. "I borrowed one of your outfits, this morning. I didn't want to wear the same clothes to work today."

"Oh!" I noticed that she wore on a pant suit of mine. Looking carefully, I saw that it was a bit big on her.

Wendy saw me looking. "It's a bitch to lose weight, huh? I guess we'll both have to buy whole new wardrobes! And it's Jim's fault!"

We laughed. Jim looked a bit confused, but joined in.

Jim motioned for me to sit down and I did.

As I ate breakfast, Wendy told me, "Jim made the omelets."

"They're good," I assured him after taking a bite. It really was good, actually. I smiled at my Prince Handsome.

"Thanks." Jim shrugged.

My curiosity got the better of me. "You are looking ... well, you are looking better than I thought this morning."

Wendy nodded. "Yeah. It's strange. I would have bet I would have had a headache the size of Cleveland this morning, but I feel wonderful."

Jim got an uncomfortable look on his face. "I ... well ... I'm responsible for that."

The two of us looked at Jim, wondering what he was talking about.

Jim explained, "I asked Shirley to give you a large class of water before you went to bed. She also gave you some aspirin."

Wendy looked confused. "That explains my bathroom rush this morning." She then asked, "Was I really in a condition to drink when I got here? I don't remember anything since I got up to leave the bar."

"Yeah," Jim said. "Actually, I used your hypnotic trigger to get you to drink without choking on the water. I wanted to make sure you didn't dehydrate too much. The aspirin was to soothe the headache that I knew you would have when you woke up."

Wendy smiled. "Aah. That makes sense. I woke up feeling refreshed. I was confused myself why I didn't have a hangover."

Jim still looked uncomfortable. "Well, I did it without permission, but I thought it would help. I'm sorry if I crossed a line, there."

Wendy frowned at Jim's expression. "That's all you hypnotized me to do, right?"

"Oh, yes," Jim said hurriedly.

I thought for a moment and said, "He only spent about a minute alone with you, Wendy. If he took your virtue last night, it would have to have been a real quickie!"

Wendy laughed, and after a few moments, Jim did, too.

"I gave her a post-hypnotic suggestion that she'd wake up refreshed, that's all," Jim assured us. "That's usually a standard hypnotic suggestion. The idea is to let the subject wake up refreshed, and they usually associate the hypnotism with relaxation, and are more prone to try it again. That wasn't my intention with Wendy; I just didn't want her to feel like shit this morning."

"I feel wonderful," Wendy said, smiling at Jim.

Jim's looked relieved.

I was curious. Was Jim's relief that Wendy appreciated his suggestion, or that Wendy didn't suspect anything else? My curiosity also was piqued due to the fact that I also wondered if there was something else he did to Wendy last night.

Hmm. Now where did that thought come from?

-------

(Jim)

I could see suspicion in Shirley's eyes for a few moments, and I reflected to myself that this was a problem with the whole hypnotic relationship thing: there was no way for her to know what I might do to my subjects.

Actually, I knew when I admitted that I hypnotized Wendy last night that something of this sort would come up. However, I made a promise to myself that I would be honest with both Wendy and Shirley from now on about hypnotism, and I wasn't going to fuck up that promise the first time it came to a test.

For any of you potential hypnotists out there reading this, you better think of this if you are going to be fucking with people's minds--especially the minds of people you really care about.

When I kissed Shirley good-bye that morning, I noticed that she was a bit hesitant. I needed to give her time to think things through, and I left with Wendy to go to work.

"What's wrong with Shirley?" Wendy asked as I pulled my car out of the driveway.

"She's coming to grips with this whole hypnosis thing."

"Ahh."

The car was quiet for about five minutes as the two of us were lost in our thoughts.

Finally, I said, "You know, there are times that I wish that I never hypnotized either of you in the first place. As I told Shirley a day or so ago, I'm not a licensed therapist. I could get sued for what I've been doing. On the other hand, though, I probably would never have fallen in love with Shirley if I didn't offer to help her lose weight."

"The two of you are in love, aren't you?" asked Wendy.

"I really think so. I know how I feel, and I'm certain that Shirley feels the same way."

"She does," Wendy assured me. "I think I'm a bit to blame. She told me about her reaction to a movie the two of you watched."

"Bondage Bitches," I said with a sigh. "I wish we never saw that damned movie."

Wendy looked at me strangely. "Why do you say that?"

"She now has this fantasy about being a slave, and asked me to make her one via hypnosis."

"I know. She told me."

I was surprised about that, but I knew the two girls were close. I looked at Wendy and softly said, "She bought a dog collar."

"Oh!" Wendy looked surprised. "She didn't tell me that."

I returned my attention to the road. "I think I lost it when she showed me that thing. I told her that I wanted her as an equal. I may have disappointed her."

Wendy was silent for a couple of minutes. "She was disappointed, but I think she understood. As I said before, I may be to blame for that one."

"Blame you for what?" I asked.

"I asked Shirley if the slave thing was her fantasy or your fantasy. I may have put the seeds of doubt in her mind. I've known a lot of people that try out that scene, and few of them really think before they act. I've met real submissives with people playing to be dominant, and I've seen the same thing the other way around. It's never a pretty sight."

"Oh?"

Wendy gave me a secret smile. I decided I didn't want to go there. It was my turn to be quiet for a few minutes. I turned off the highway to the exit where the company was. As we pulled into the parking lot, I said, "Don't blame yourself. This is something that Shirley and I need to work out. Probably you and I, too. I assure you that I didn't give you any post-hypnotic suggestion last night ... or any other time, for that matter. Except, of course, the ones you know about."

"Like stripping after entering your house?" Wendy asked.

"Yeah. Like that. If you want, I can take that one away. I think it was a bit childish."

The two of us were sitting in my parked car. "It's not necessary," Wendy assured me. "By the way, I believe you, Jim. You are probably the most straightforward guy I know. Hell, if Shirley didn't snag you, I might be interested in you. I could probably mold you into the perfect guy for me." Wendy blushed just a little, and then added, "It's not easy for somebody like Shirley to give up control to a guy. She trusted you, and now she is having doubts."

"What do you mean by 'somebody like Shirley?'" I asked.

"Shirley has always been a ball buster. You know that."

I nodded. "Ah, the old Shirley. Yeah. I knew that."

"I don't think you knew her the way I did," Wendy added. "She hated men. I saw her in action a few times before the two of you started dating. She used to go to bars and pick up guys."

Wendy's remark didn't make sense. I asked, "Shirley hated men, so she picked them up?"

Wendy sighed. "Last night, a couple of guys were hitting on the two of us. When they saw that Shirley was drinking soft drinks, they lost interest in her. I already had too much to drink, so Shirley kept me safe. That's why she drove me home. It's our standard procedure when we drink during your poker nights. If one of us looks as if they want to tie one on, the other is the designated driver. Sometimes we work it out in advance, but we usually just play it by ear. Anyway, think of what would have happened if Shirley wasn't there. Either of those guys--or both!--would probably have continued to ply me with drinks until I passed out and found myself in one of their beds. Or worse."

"Worse?" Was Wendy hinting that those guys might have been criminals?

Wendy nodded. "Worse, like being brought to a party in progress and being the star of an adult film. That sort of thing. The Internet is full of such stuff." She shuddered a bit.

I thought for a few moments, and said, "I figured what happened last night from what Shirley said and didn't say. So ... what does that have to do with anything?"

"Shirley used to do the same thing!"

"What?" I asked, incredulously. "She got drunk and woke up in other guys' beds?"

"No," Wendy said, a bit exasperated. "Well, not exactly, anyway. It was more the other way around. She'd get the guys drunk, fuck them, then leave them."

"Shirley did that?"

"As I said, I saw her in action once or twice." Wendy went silent, pondering a bit, then shrugged and added, "I don't think she really knew me then. A friend of mine pointed her out to me. Shirley and I weren't really that close at work until later. Anyway, what I was trying to get at was that the guys last night weren't the kind of guys that really appreciate women. They take advantage of them, but they don't really like them."

Wendy paused, and I tried to follow her logic. "And Shirley took advantage of guys?"

"I think so," Wendy said. She looked like she wanted to say more, but checked herself. "As I said, we were never that close that we ever really discussed it when she was doing it. Did she ever mention things like that to you?"

It was my time to think. Shirley did give me some clues about her previous life, but she never said anything directly. "Not really, but what you are saying does make sense." I thought about that time, a week ago, when Shirley was harping on me. I wondered then if she was a misandrist. If she was, though, she was usually pretty loving with me.

"Shirley never trusted guys--until you," Wendy explained. "Now, I guess I gave her reason to doubt you. I'm sorry, Jim."

"Don't be sorry," I said. "The two of us are going to have to deal with this eventually. I guess it's better sooner than later."

"The two of you really need to talk," Wendy said.

I agreed.

Wendy and I got out of the car. We both went our separate ways as we started to work.

-------

(Shirley)

After Wendy and Jim left, I took a long shower and got dressed. It was going to be hard getting used to not working for the next few weeks, that's for sure!

I pulled out my laptop and booted it up. Jim set me up to access his wireless LAN when I moved in, and it was faster than the setup at my old apartment, where I was required to share a slow Internet connection with about a dozen people in my building.

When I opened my email program, I saw a message from Jim. The subject line read, "Thinking of you!"

I opened the message, and the message simply repeated the subject and said that there was an image attachment. I double-clicked the image and when it opened, there were images of hearts all over my screen! Big hearts, small ones, a few with "Shirley and Jim" written in calligraphy with an arrow through the heart as well.

I smiled, and saw that there was a second image. It simply consisted of the words, "I LOVE YOU" in very large type, filling the entire screen.

That big oaf was going to get his when he got home! I idly wondered if I could possibly gift-wrap myself with a large bow. Then I got the idea to forget the wrapping paper, and just cover myself with a large bow. That wouldn't technically be "clothes" (as in, I wasn't allowed to wear anything at the house without permission), would it?

There were other messages in my in-box, and I filtered out all the spam and answered the messages that were real. There were a few from the day before; I forgot to check my mail yesterday.

At around eleven o'clock, the phone rang and I answered it.

"Hi, Gorgeous!"

"Hi, Mr. Wonderful!" I smiled again. I love that man.

"What say we meet at The Station for lunch today? I told Roger that I wanted to take a long lunch and he okayed it."

Lunch sounded nice. "Great idea! I'm going bat shit in this empty house!"

Jim laughed. "OK. Station at noon."

I checked my watch. There was enough time to pick out an outfit, get dressed, get to The Station, and still there was about ten minutes extra so I wouldn't have to speed. "Noon is great for me."

"See ya, Gorgeous!"

"Flatterer!"

-------

Although I knew where The Station was, I never ate there before. It was housed in a converted railroad station building. When I got to the parking lot, I noticed Jim's car was already there. I went inside and immediately saw that the decor inside the building was all paraphernalia related to trains. There was even a mannequin wearing a conductor's uniform at the entrance with a ticket punch in its hand!

Jim saw me gawking, and came over and planted a light kiss on my cheek. "Howdy, ma'am! Tickets, please!"

"You'll have to ask my boyfriend," I answered, giggling.

"Hmm." Jim wiggled his eyebrows Groucho-style, flicked an imaginary cigar, and said, "Give me a kiss, and I'll forget about the ticket, Toots!"

I laughed and kissed the big oaf full on the lips. "Toots, indeed!"

Jim returned my kiss with gusto. "This is me returning the kiss with Gusto," Jim narrated in his Groucho voice after he broke off the kiss. "Now we'll have to wait until my brother Gusto has his way with her." He flicked his imaginary cigar again.

That idiot knew how to get me laughing. I wasn't even a Marx Brothers fan!

Taking a more serious expression, Jim turned to the hostess and said, "Reservation for two."

The hostess smiled and already had two menus in her hand. "Walk this way, please."

Jim was still in his Groucho persona, apparently. He turned to me and quietly said, "If I could walk this way, I wouldn't need the talcum powder."

That sounded like the punch line to an old joke, but the incongruity of what he said and the way he said it got me laughing again.

We sat next to a large window and I glanced through the menu. The railroad theme was followed through the menu. Instead of "Side Dishes," for instance, there was a section that said, "Side Tracks."

I decided on a Caesar salad, and when I looked up, it was apparent that Jim made his own selection as well. He pointed to a movie screen on the other side of the room where a film was being shown in black and white.

"That film looks old," I said.

"It should be. It's The Great Train Robbery. One of the first movies to actually have a plot, which is something that a lot of movies today still don't have."

"I think I heard of that movie," I said, thinking.

"It was made in 1903 or 1904 or something like that--over a century ago. The first western, I think. The Station plays it on a continuous loop. There's actually a digital video player. See the projector on the ceiling?"

I looked where Jim was pointing. There was a tiny lens in a small box on the ceiling. I nodded.

"That's too small to fit film. They probably made a digital copy or two so they could play it all day long without damaging the film."

"If the film is that old, it must be worth a fortune!"

Jim laughed. "It could be. I remember watching the film here from beginning to end one day. It's nothing like a Martin Scorcese story, but it's really neat, especially considering its age. There's a scene at the end where a bad guy points his gun at the camera. I've heard that audiences at the time actually thought they were going to get shot. Most likely, that's just hearsay, though. People were just as sophisticated then as they are today, and they knew the difference between a picture and the real thing."

"I knew you were into movies, Jim," I said. I could see the passion in his eyes as he was talking. "Is that why you like this place?"

"Actually, my old man used to work for a railroad before he retired. He's the one that pointed out the trivia about that film to me."

"Oh." Jim never said much about his parents. "What did your mother do?"

"She was a housewife. Back in the sixties, you could be a housewife and raise a family on a single income. My father has some interesting stories about his experiences as a lineman. He met Mom while on the job and they eventually settled here."

"The sixties?" I asked, a bit surprised. Then I blurted out, "How old are you?" I realized my faux pas almost immediately, but it was too late.

Jim laughed. "I'm thirty one. My mother had me late. I guess my arrival was a bit of a surprise to my parents."

"Oh. I'm sorry. I don't mean to pry..."

"Don't be sorry. You have every right to know the details about my life." Jim didn't add anything to that, but I immediately inferred that he had the same right to know about my life.

I thought about that. There was a lot about my personal life that I never told Jim. I wondered how he'd react if he knew my horrid background.

I changed the subject and asked, "How are the salads here?"

"Everything here is great. You'd love the Caesar salad."

"I was looking at that." Jim was a great person for reading my moods.

"If you're a carnivore, they can add grilled chicken or shrimp."

"Yuck! I don't even like it when they add anchovies. I know there are anchovies in the dressing, but I don't think they need to parade them around that way."

Jim laughed, and I joined him.

The rest of the meal was just small talk. As Jim indicated, the salad was wonderful, and they didn't ask if I wanted anchovies. Jim ordered a small steak and fries, and I noticed that he even ate his green beans. I guess I'm a great influence on him. He used to say about vegetables, "That's not food ... that's what food eats!"

All too soon, the meal was ended. The waitress arrived with a check, which Jim paid.

We kissed in the parking lot before I got into my car to drive home. Jim needed to get back to work, of course, and I needed to get back home and think things over.

I needed to have a serious talk with Jim. I wondered why I didn't take the opportunity to do so during lunch.

-------

(Jim)

Shirley and I had a nice lunch together at one of my favorite restaurants which was converted from a real train station. It's a historical landmark in the town, and the place is known for its attention to detail, great food, and high prices. In their defense, I must explain that their prices reflected the good food.

When we first sat down, Shirley and I got into a discussion about movies and she asked me about my parents. Suddenly, however, I noticed that she got a nervous look on her face, and she changed the subject, talking about inconsequential things. I allowed Shirley to lead the conversation, and we spent the rest of the meal discussing office politics, the other people that were being let go at my work, and things that really didn't relate to us personally.

After I got back to my desk, Wendy appeared a few moments later.

"Hi, Jim. How was lunch?"

"I met Shirley at The Station."

"Did you guys have your talk?"

I sighed. "We started to get personal, then Shirley changed the subject. I'm not sure she's ready to go into any detail about her life or mine."

"Well, stick in there, Jim," Wendy advised. "She's a hard nut to crack, but your patience should win out in the end."

I smiled. "That's my plan."

Wendy nodded. Then she added, "By the way, can you give me a lift back to your place? My car is still parked at your house."

"No problem. Are you taking off at five?"

"Four-thirty, but I can wait."

I looked over toward Roger's office, and shrugged. "Roger will let me take off a half hour early. I'll see you here at four-thirty, then."

"Okay ... I don't want to get you in trouble."

"Nonsense," I said, reassuring Wendy. "I'm ahead on my project right now, so I can afford some me-time."

"OK, then."

-------

In my office, I really did have some free time, so I started thinking about Wendy and Shirley. I considered what was going to happen when I took Wendy back home. She'd come as far as our doorway and let Shirley know that she was there and that she was going to go home. She wouldn't enter the house because of the hassle of having to get undressed in order to enter, and the silliness of having to get permission to go inside dressed.

I knew that I was going to have to get rid of that rule.

Now, I know what you're thinking. How could an honest-to-God heterosexual person want to get rid of a compulsion that his girlfriend and her best friend both have of only being in his house undressed? I'll tell you how: it's not right.

I was thinking about my motives for hypnotizing both Shirley and Wendy for a while now. Sure, I wanted to help them, but I added a bit of unnecessary naughtiness in there, too. I admit that I'm a bit of a voyeur, and seeing a girl unable to resist getting undressed in your presence is a bit of a mind trip. Add to that the fact that both girls had triggers to get them into a hypnotic state very easily for whatever reason I desired.

This was the problem in a nutshell: most of the reasons for what I did involved me, not them. It was me that wanted to see Shirley naked. It was for my own benefit that I made Wendy do the same thing. The hypnotic suggestions were for my own benefit, not theirs. Me, me, me! I thought I was better than that.

This sort of thing made me a bit morose, but I knew that I needed to not let it show in front of Shirley. I guess she knew that I had doubts, especially since I told her that I did, but I'm not sure if she knew why. I mentioned that I wasn't licensed, but that was immaterial. The thing that was gnawing at me was the fact that what I did was morally unethical, even if the girls claim to enjoy their workouts.

If I were to have this very conversation with Shirley, she'd be forced to convince me that I wasn't unethical. After all, I'm her Prince Charming, or her Mr. Wonderful, as she likes to call me. I didn't want to put her into that situation of having to try to convince me that what I was doing was not unethical. I needed to deal with what I did, and I didn't need anybody trying to rationalize what I did to make me feel better.

There was also that other elephant in the room: Shirley and her damned fascination with Bondage Bitches. How could I talk her out of that stupid decision, while at the same time not involve her in my decision to remove a lot of her hypnotic suggestions? Didn't I want Shirley to be an equal partner in our relationship?

It seems that living with another person, especially one that you love, is not easy. I knew that I should ask for and respect her opinion on these things. However, I knew in my heart that her opinion wouldn't be the right one. Isn't that how arguments start?

Do I really think that I'm so smart and Shirley is so dumb that she would automatically make the wrong choice of sides in such a discussion? Did I think so little of her that way?

I truly intended to treat Shirley as an equal partner in our relationship. How could I justify making a decision that concerns her without getting her input?

Ethics. They are wonderful things to have, if you are doing things ethically. They aren't so nice when you realize that you've been naughty.

You can judge me as a terrible person, having read what I did with Shirley and Wendy. However, are you sure that you would honestly do anything that different from what I did given the same circumstances? That's why you see ethics espoused by those that watch, never really by those that do, at least when they are actually doing things. Journalists are interested in ethics; politicians are interested in getting things done. The push and pull between the two is what makes our society go round.

It's difficult, though, when you wake up and realize that you crossed an important line.

-------

I waited until dinner was done. I cleaned the dishes and then brought a couple of wine glasses full of a non-alcoholic sangria punch made with grape juice, orange juice, apple juice, some freshly squeezed lime juice, and some sliced fresh fruits to make it appear more festive.

My speech was short and was the only thing I rehearsed in advance. Normally, I would try to figure out what somebody else might say, and then come up with appropriate responses. It's my natural way of handling situations, like at work, where I was known as somebody that can come up with a good solution. However, this wasn't work; this was my life. I was determined to treat Shirley as an equal, which means that the two of us should be dealing with things together.

I entered the living room where Shirley was sitting, and handed her one of the drinks. I then made my speech.

"Shirley, I've been thinking a lot about the two of us over the last few days. I've come to the conclusion that I want you as an equal partner in our relationship, and we don't really have that right now. I am able to hypnotize you at any time, and that's not right. It gives me control over you that keeps us from being equal partners. With your permission, I would like to remove any and all hypnotic suggestions that I have given you. We will then discuss the suggestions that you may still want to keep, such as a dedication to eating more sensibly and working out on a regular basis. Anything else is wrong."

There it was.

I looked at Shirley, and wondered if she would take up the opposite side of the debate.

Shirley took a sip of her sangria, and thought over what I just said. She didn't frown, and she didn't smile. She simply looked thoughtful.

After a few minutes passed, Shirley finally said, "I agree with you."



-------

Chapter 17: A Bad Solution


(Shirley)

I think Jim was astonished that I actually agreed with him. I've gotten to know him well enough, though, that I knew he expected me to disagree with him. After all, why make that little speech if he wasn't expecting to have a discussion about it?

One other thing I knew is that Jim is always prepared when he has these sorts of discussions. It isn't that he's obstinate or unwilling to listen to anybody else, but he's already anticipated what you might say, and is ready to shoot holes in your argument. He probably was the president of the debating team in college.

That isn't to say that arguing with Jim is fruitless. On many subjects where Jim and I disagree on something we simply talk and work things out. He listens and admits when he's wrong or that he's made some incorrect assumptions. But he doesn't simply let me win arguments, either.

This evening, however, after Jim made that non-alcoholic sangria punch, I knew there was something bothering him. For a moment, I thought he was going to press me about my past, but when he explained what was bothering him, I found it was the same thing that he told me was bothering him recently. He felt a lot of guilt about hypnotizing Wendy and me.

Jim explained his apprehensions very succinctly. He wanted me as an equal partner, and him having hypnotic control over me could never make us equals. It made perfect sense, actually, although I never thought of it that way until he mentioned it.

When he said that he wanted us to discuss the orders he gave me, deciding which ones we wanted to keep, I wondered if I wanted to do something as drastic as he was suggesting. Yet, Jim seemed quite certain that this was needed to put our relationship back on an equal footing between the two of us.

After Jim explained the issue, I was ready to immediately disagree. I could see from the look in Jim's eyes that he expected that as well. However, the explanation he gave me made perfect sense. It went without saying that we should be equals in our relationship, and it also followed that him having control over me made our relationship less equal. As I mentioned, I never really thought of it that way until he brought it up.

I guess there has always been part of me in the back of my mind that worried that Jim might abuse his control over me, but I thought that people could not be made to do things under hypnotism that they would not otherwise do. Isn't that true? I mean, until Jim put me under, I never really had any real experience with hypnotism other than seeing movies or T.V. shows. Of course, there was Wendy's experience with Dr. Simons, but all those other experiences were not first hand. There was also some suggestion that Jim could make me do things I wouldn't have done otherwise. Witness how he so easily made me get undressed in front of him the first time he hypnotized me!

Jim knew about hypnotism. Between the two of us, he was more the expert than I was. I really didn't have any choice but to accept his description of the problem.

The problem was, am I ready to accept his proposed solution? Getting rid of the hypnotic suggestions would prevent him from doing things such as that date at the restaurant that turned out to be a hypnotic fantasy. Boy, that was hot! I still fantasize about it. If he took that away, we'd never be able to do something like that again. Was I willing to give that up?

Another, more analytical part of my mind brought up an interesting fact, however. There are many people that are perfectly happy together that don't have one partner exerting hypnotic control over the other. This wasn't a prerequisite for happiness, I realized.

So, instead of trying to fight Jim on this, I did something that even I didn't expect. I looked him straight in the eyes, and said with all the confidence that I could muster, "I agree with you."

The look of shock in Jim's eyes was amazing. I knew immediately that he didn't expect me to agree so readily, but it made perfect sense to me. He explained the problem and his conclusion. I thought about the problem and reached the same conclusion. What was so surprising about that?

-------

Jim explained to me that he would have to put me under, but he promised to have me be completely aware of everything and that I would keep all memories of what we did while I was hypnotized.

The first thing that Jim did was have me recite a list of every hypnotic suggestions that was still in effect. There were a few, some of which surprised me.

For each suggestions, he asked me to let him know how I felt about it.

Being forced to undress before exercising didn't really bother me, as only Jim and Wendy would see me, but having the decision out of my own control bothered me a bit. He removed that suggestion. The same went for being forced to be undressed in the house. I mean, it was a bit titillating to be exposed that way, but again it wasn't my own decision. Perhaps I wouldn't mind being a nudist, and I think I was getting used to the idea, but I wanted it to be my own idea, not his.

That wasn't an easy decision, by the way. Part of what titillated me about being forced to undress was the fact that it was out of my control. It turned me on, actually. There were other times, however, when the extra spent time in getting undressed, especially when nobody else was around, was a bit of a hassle. I figured that the two of us could eventually come up with a better suggestion in the future that would address those concerns, but we didn't need to do it right now.

The actual trigger that Jim used to hypnotize me were slightly different than I remembered the words to be. When he saw the confusion on my face, he explained that he didn't let me know the entire phrase so he could discuss the triggers with me without accidentally putting me under. Isn't he sweet and thoughtful?

Jim also assured me, "Shirley, I was able to hypnotize you that first time. Having a post-hypnotic trigger to get you to return to your trance only makes the process easier. If I really need to hypnotize you again, I'll be happy to do it the long way. I don't need this trigger and this is one of the ones that really bother me."

"OK," I said.

The next suggestion was, "I will not feel pain when I get a bikini wax. Instead, I will feel horny."

Jim blushed at that one. "That's probably one we should remove."

I shook my head. "No!" Jim looked surprised, so I added, "Just remove the horny part. Having wax not hurt can be useful."

Jim thought about it. "Well, sometimes pain is nature's way of telling you..."

I heard that before. "Make it specific, then. I won't feel the normal pain from any waxing. Period."

Jim made the change to that suggestion.

There was one suggestion I wasn't aware of until I recited it. "I will get aroused when Jim humiliates me in public." How did that one get there? I was a bit surprised and more than a little disappointed in Jim about that one.

Jim seemed confused by that one as well. "When did I give you that suggestion?"

I didn't remember, but then realized when he gave it to me. "When you were preparing me for my date in public."

"Oh!" Jim seemed surprised. "I thought I removed that one." Seeing the confusion in my eyes, he explained, "When I was pretending to humiliate you in the 'restaurant, ' I added this one to add to the situation. I forgot about it, actually, but I don't think this is a safe suggestion to keep around."

I agreed with him. "Go ahead, you big oaf!

The only remaining suggestions were ones that Jim said were standard. I would feel relaxed during hypnosis, I would like that feeling of relaxation, and that I would trust Jim. He told me that these should be safe to remove, and he did so.

It was amazing. That sense of total bliss that I didn't even realize that I was feeling lifted. I wasn't uncomfortable, though. Something else was strange, but I couldn't put my finger on it right then.

Jim then woke me out of my trance and I didn't feel much different than when I was under. I still felt a bit strange, but I also noticed I no longer felt that relaxing feeling that I usually felt when I awoke from a trance. Instead, there was a new emotion in there, something that I hadn't felt in a long time.

I looked around. Something seemed very different. I frowned, not being able to put my finger on it. I shook my head a few times.

Jim looked concerned. "Shirley, what's wrong?"

"I ... I don't know." I wished that damned idiot would stop interrupting my train of thought.

I thought about that last hypnotic session. Jim was right, I remembered everything that happened. All those suggestions: The ones regarding sticking to my weight loss program that we kept, the other ones we removed.

Mostly, I thought about those memories of Jim humiliating me in the restaurant. Of course, it wasn't a real restaurant, but he made me feel humiliated. It started to bother me for some reason. I frowned. I wasn't feeling relieved at all the way I thought I'd be.

"Shirley, are you all right?"

"I don't ... I'm not sure ... STOP CONFUSING ME!"

I was getting frustrated with Jim. Of course he didn't know what was going on inside my head. Neither did I. I also felt extremely confused. Did Jim do this to me? What did he do to me? What did I get myself into?

"Sleep, Shirley. Sleep!"

I looked at Jim, and my confusion immediately turned to anger. That was my hypnotic trigger! He wanted to put me under. That bastard! He promised me ... So much for being equals. That was never his intention. I wasn't going to let that work, damn it!

"Fuck you, Jim!" I practically screamed.

"No, Shirley. Something is wrong!"

"Fuck you!" I said, really screaming this time.

I looked around and knew that something was wrong. Something was horribly wrong. I looked down at myself and saw that I was naked. Naked?

Oh, yes. Jim made me get naked before I could come into the house. Why would he do that to me? It was so ... humiliating!

Jim looked alarmed. "Shirley. Tell me what's wrong!"

"YOU ARE WHAT'S WRONG. YOU ARE A MONSTER! YOU HUMILIATED ME!"

"What are you talking about?"

I shot up from the sofa and found my clothes in the foyer. I grabbed them and shot upstairs. I found my dresser in the master bedroom and grabbed a handful of clothes and then ran into the spare bedroom.

A few minutes later, I heard Jim come upstairs. I was already in the spare bedroom, and I heard him in the hallway approaching the spare room.

"KEEP OUT OF HERE, YOU PERVERT!" I shouted. "If you so much as touch the handle on that door, I will call 911 and tell the police that you are raping me!"

"What are you talking about?" Jim asked. "Please let me into the room."

"Get away from me!" I shrieked.

I threw myself on the bed and pulled a pillow to my face. I felt confused, but mostly I felt betrayed.

I vowed that I would never trust a man ever again for the rest of my life.

-------

(Jim)

Shirley and I spent about forty-five minutes in a hypnotic session. I asked her to tell me all the suggestions that were still active, and we discussed each of them and removed most of them.

When she came out of her trance, however, I was not ready for her reaction. She totally freaked!

At first, Shirley looked disoriented. She kept looking around her as if she wasn't sure where she was.

Then, I noticed that Shirley was staring at me. This was a look that I never saw from her before. There was no love in her eyes. There was fear, and there was anger. The scary part was that there was absolutely no love.

Without thinking, I uttered Shirley's key phrase so I could find out from her what was wrong and see what I needed to do to fix it, but I forgot that I removed that particular trigger.

"Fuck you, Jim!" There was a coldness to Shirley's voice that chilled me to the bone.

Shirley looked at herself, and apparently realized she was naked. She was no longer any compulsion to be naked in the room, but she must have remembered that she agreed to that suggestion in the first place.

"Shirley, tell me what's wrong!"

Shirley just shouted that I was what was wrong. She called me a monster.

"What are you talking about?"

Instead of answering, Shirley ran into the foyer, picked up her clothes, and then ran upstairs. She was furious at me about something, but I didn't have any idea what was wrong.

After a few moments, I slowly walked upstairs. There was a pair of her panties on the floor of the hallway just outside our bedroom. The spare bedroom door was closed.

Figuring that Shirley was in the spare bedroom (why?), I went toward the door, and Shirley called me a pervert and then threatened to call the police.

I stayed where I was, afraid to try to comfort Shirley. Obviously, she was pissed off at me, and the more I tried to help her, the angrier she was getting. I needed to give her time to herself.

There were muffled sounds of Shirley crying in her room. Every ounce of my being wanted to come into that room and comfort her, but the vehemence of her anger at me made me realize that this was not the time for that.

I decided to go back downstairs and try to figure out what was wrong. I fell asleep on the couch.

-------

The next day at the office, I was listless. I was still ahead on my project, but I just didn't give a fuck about it. There were a couple of meetings that morning, but I blew them off.

Earlier that morning, Shirley was still in the spare room when I went upstairs to change for work. I considered talking with her, hoping that whatever was bothering her worked itself out, but I realized that this was just wishful thinking. The two of us would need to deal with this. Of course, there was the problem that Shirley didn't want to actually talk with me.

Wendy found me at around eleven. "You look like shit, Romeo."

I glared at my coworker. "You're fucking observant."

"Hey!" Wendy said, apparently surprised by my disposition. "Did you get out of the wrong side of bed this morning?"

"I didn't get out of any bed this morning, Miss Obvious. Shirley's pissed at me."

Wendy didn't answer, but her mouth formed an "O." She looked at me, and then softly said, "Is there anything I can do?"

I shrugged. "Find out why Shirley's pissed at me. She called me a monster and a pervert. I bet she's trying to see if her old apartment's still available. I think she's still paid up for this month."

"Shirley is moving out? Why?"

"I don't know if she's moving out, and I don't know why she's pissed at me." I said that a bit louder than I intended, and Wendy shook her head.

"You guys need to talk."

"We did. Last night. Now she won't talk with me."

"What did you say?"

I was pissed off, now. "Why do you always assume it's something I said? As a matter of fact, we talked, and we came to an agreement almost immediately. Then, she totally freaked and called me names. She's pissed at me, and I'm not sure why."

Wendy shook her head and walked away from my desk. Great. I now pissed her off, too.

Great work, Einstein.

-------

My phone buzzed, and I saw it was my boss. "Yeah, Rog. What do you want?"

"Is that how you're answering your phone today, Jim?"

I sighed. "Sorry. I'm just distracted."

"Yeah. I know. You blew off two meetings this morning, including giving the progress report on your project. Luckily, I knew most of your status--you're still ahead of schedule, right? Anyway, I now have somebody in front of me worried about your state of mind. Did you say you're distracted?"

"Yeah." I didn't expand on that thought or on anything else that Roger said.

There was a sigh on the other end of the phone. "Take the rest of the day off. Consider it a mental health day. And consider it an order."

"Fine," I answered without any emotion, slamming down the phone.

Wendy reappeared at my desk. She had her purse with her. "Come on, Jim."

"Come on what?"

"I'm taking you to lunch. You are going to tell me what's up between the two of you."

"I don't know what the fuck is up between the two of us," I repeated. "I already told you that."

"Then we'll bring Shirley in to get her side."

"That will be some trick."

"Jim, get the fuck out of that chair and come with me!" I never heard Wendy be so assertive with me before.

I got up and put on my sweater. "Where are we going?"

"I don't care right now. There are a few places down the road." She pushed me out of my office. "Now, let's go."

I walked as if I was an automaton out of the office.

-------

Wendy and I were in a booth at a coffee shop. The two of us ordered a cup of coffee and when we were alone, Wendy said, "OK. Out with it. There's something you aren't telling me."

On the way to the shop, I realized that I needed to talk to somebody about what happened with Shirley. Wendy, being a friend to both of us, was probably the best person to fit that role. She might even get Shirley to talk about it.

I explained to Wendy about how the Shirley and I agreed to remove her hypnotic suggestions. I then explained how she freaked out afterward.

"There has to be more to it than that," Wendy pointed out. "You mean, she just freaked out when she woke up?"

"Well, she looked confused for a bit. Then she looked at me, and it was a look I never saw from her before. It was as if she hated me."

Wendy nodded and softly asked, "Why would she hate you?"

"Who knows?"

My friend then asked me to go through my hypnotic session with Shirley, step by step.

"Do you think she was angry about the suggestion I gave her about humiliation turning her on?" I asked when we got to that part.

"Well, I wouldn't get mad once you explained it. Did she seem angry when you were discussing it?"

"No. She seemed surprised." I thought a bit more. "Nope. Not angry. Perhaps she was a little disappointed. She called me a big oaf when she agreed to remove it, which is what she calls me when I do something wrong, but in a way that implies that she loves me anyway."

Wendy nodded. "I've heard her say that about you." After a pause, she looked up at me and added, "Not often."

I simply shrugged. Obviously, I did something terribly wrong, but I had no idea what I did.

"What happened after that?" Wendy prodded.

I described the rest of the session, and then how Shirley reacted strangely.

Wendy's mouth was formed into an "O" again. Apparently, she caught something that I missed.

"What is it, Wendy?"

"That suggestion at the end. You just removed it without thinking, huh?"

"Which one?"

Wendy shook her head at me. "The one where she should trust you."

"That's a standard suggestion. You cannot hypnotize somebody if they don't trust you. It's only through trust that the whole process works."

Wendy seemed incredulous. "And you figured that to be a safe suggestion to remove."

"Why not?"

Wendy didn't answer immediately, but simply shook her head over and over. "Jim, Jim, Jim..." She shook her head some more. "I've told you before, Shirley never trusted men."

"Huh?" All of a sudden, what Wendy caught was starting to make sense.

"Shirley never trusted guys," Wendy continued. "She still doesn't. You saw how she defended my honor Wednesday night when I tied one on. She doesn't trust guys one bit." Wendy paused. "Except you."

"Oh, fuck..."

"That's right. The only reason she let her guard down and fell in love with you was because she trusted you. The reason she trusted you must have been that suggestion you didn't realize you gave her. Now, you've removed that suggestion..."

"And Shirley trusts me as much as she trusts any other guy."

"Yup. You have a prick, and she doesn't trust you now. On top of that, she remembered all the suggestions you gave her, and now she hates you more than any other guy she ever met."

"Wow. I never thought..."

"She mentioned that you humiliated her," Wendy continued. "That's the whole basis for her hatred..."

"Huh?"

Wendy shook her head. "Oh, no I don't." She paused. "You told me that Shirley screamed that you humiliated her, right?"

"Yeah."

Wendy quietly nodded. "That's probably the one thing that Shirley will never forgive."

The two of us didn't say anything for quite a while. My mind was going miles a minute with this new observation. I made Shirley trust me, and last night I carelessly removed that trust. Now, she'll never trust me again.

-------

Wendy followed me to the house. I removed her hypnotic suggestion to undress on entry to the house, making sure that was the ONLY suggestion I removed. The last thing I needed was two females pissed off at me.

When I got to the house, I noticed that Shirley's car was gone. Inside the house, I discovered that Shirley moved just about all her stuff out. Half of the drawers in my bedroom were now empty, as was the larger of the two closets. This was obvious by the fact that the empty drawers were strewn all about the room. Shirley made it very obvious that she left.

The spare bedroom was in better shape, but it was now empty as well, including the stuff that we purchased for her sister's upcoming visit in a week or so.

"Oh, Jim!" Wendy said, giving me a hug. "Shirley left you."

"Big surprise," I said morosely.

"Don't blame yourself."

"And who is to blame, then? Shirley?"

"Nobody is to blame."

Great. "Well, I wish her well."

Wendy looked at me as if I had two heads. "What do you mean by that? Aren't you going to try to get her back?"

"She hates me. She probably hates me more than any other guy."

"Yeah," Wendy agreed. "But do you know why she hates guys? Did the two of you ever talk about that?"

"Shirley keeps changing the subject. You won't even tell me."

Wendy didn't take the bait. "So now you are just going to give her up. I thought you loved her."

"I do love her."

"You have a strange way of showing it."

"If you love somebody, set them free."

"Who are you?" Wendy asked. "Fuckin' Sting? He didn't even get the grammar right. The real quote is, 'If you love something, set it free.' And, 'If it doesn't come back, it was never yours to begin with.' Is that what you think about Shirley? Was the love she expressed to you phony?"

"It must have been. She hates me now."

Wendy shook her head. "Didn't you ever take Psych 101 in college? Hatred is an emotion, the same as love. In fact, it can be argued that they are the same emotion on opposite ends of the spectrum. Do you hate Adolph Hitler?"

"Huh? What does Hitler have to do with anything?"

"Humor me," Wendy said. "Do you hate him?"

"I guess so."

"Is that the same emotion that Wendy has toward you?"

"Um ... I'm not sure..."

"Fuck you," Wendy said. "You know better. She loved you and you know it. You tell me that she hates you now. Are you in the same league as Hitler in her mind?"

"Probably," I said.

"Get over yourself, Jim!" Wendy was nearly shouting. "This is not about you. It's about Shirley."

"So?"

"In order to hate somebody, really hate them, you need to have loved that person first. Don't you remember anything from college, or were you too busy hypnotizing coeds?"

That stung. "Hey!"

"Sorry," Wendy said. "But think about it."

Wendy's words were starting to make sense, though. "OK..."

"So, she loved you, and then lost her trust in you. She feels anger, humiliated, betrayal. Hate. Isn't that right?"

I wanted to see where Wendy was going with this. "Yes. So?"

"You can't have that kind of hate without love being there. That's why divorces are always so messy. Where there once was love, something replaces it. How can people so close become so vindictive? We spent weeks on that in college. Don't you understand? If you studied hypnotism in college, you MUST have taken psychology!"

"How is this supposed to help?" I asked.

"Shirley still loves you. You just lost her trust. She needs to regain that trust."

"How?"

Wendy paused. Apparently, while she figured out the problem, but she didn't have the solution. "I'm not sure."

"So what do we do?"

"We think."



-------

Chapter 18: A Matter of Trust + Epilogue

(Shirley)

I heard Jim get up that morning. I waited until he left, and I watched out the window of the spare bedroom as his car left.

He looked like shit.

Something inside me was happy about that. I managed to extract a little revenge on that pervert. On the other hand, there was another feeling, as if I was almost feeling sorry for him.

Me? Feel sorry for Jim the manipulator? That's a laugh!

It took me half a dozen trips between Jim's house and my old apartment to bring my shit back. There were a few things that I used to consider special--gifts that Jim gave to me--and I put them all into a bag and left them in his underwear drawer. He can have them!

My sister was coming to visit, but she will have to make do with my one bedroom apartment. That had been our original plan anyway--before Jim entered the picture. The past weekend, Jim and I purchased some stuff for Mary Sue's visit and set up the spare bedroom, so I took all the stuff we bought, even though I realized that I'd never be able to use half of it in my apartment.

Why on earth would I ever move into a house with a guy, especially one as manipulative as Jim? He was the embodiment of everything that was wrong with the male species, and I fell right into his fucking trap!

I realized now that Jim must have hypnotized me into wanting to move in. I was stupid enough to allow him to hypnotize me. God, I even woke him up with blow jobs!

I can't believe that I was becoming just like those stupid mindless twats that swoon all over their guys. They give them their mouths, their vaginas, even their asses. The guy simply gets his rocks off. I had been so pathetic!

As I was putting stuff into the bathroom in my apartment, I saw my reflection in the mirror. That was the face I remember. Shirley! Welcome home!

Something bothered me about that reflection, though. I couldn't put my finger on it, but it probably was just the fact that I was upset.

-------

About seven at night, the phone rang. It was Wendy.

"Yeah. Are you with the enemy?" I asked, suspicious as all hell.

"Are you talking about Jim?" Wendy asked. "No," she answered before I could reply. "I noticed your car in the parking lot. May I come visit?"

"Are you alone?" I was still suspicious. After all, Wendy was probably still being manipulated by Jim just as I used to be.

"I'm alone."

I really didn't want company, but she was a friend, even if she might still be under Jim's influence. I decided that I would need to keep her at arm's length from me until I could get her free of Jim's horrible manipulation. "Sure," I answered.

I saw Wendy approach my doorway and she was indeed alone. I let her in.

"Wow. You look like shit," Wendy remarked.

"Thanks."

"No!" Wendy said. "I saw Jim earlier today. He looked like crap, too. Did you guys have a fight?"

I shrugged. "Not really. I just suddenly saw him for what he really was."

"And what's that?"

"He's a manipulative, smarmy little bastard. I'll never trust him again."

Wendy surprised me by nodding. "I figured you say that. He is manipulative."

Did my friend truly believe that? Wasn't she still under his influence? "So you see? I can't be with him."

"Sure."

Something about Wendy's immediate agreement hit me as being less than honest. Did Jim send her here to spy on me? If so, he would get an earful, then. "He's dishonest. He's deceitful. He's ... he's ... a terrible person. And I hate him!" There. That felt good!

"I see," Wendy said. "What made you come to this decision all of a sudden?"

"Huh?"

"Why did you figure this out just now? I may not think he's dishonest or deceitful, but apparently you do. Obviously, you were closer to him than I ever was. What did he do to deceive you?"

I was at a loss for an answer to that. He was a guy, wasn't he? Wasn't that enough? That didn't seem to be something Wendy would understand. "Men just want sex. That's all they want. The same way those guys at the bar were the other night." I realized that this was a great example to use with Wendy. "Those guys will say anything, do anything, to get into your pants."

Wendy nodded. "I see. Jim tried to ply you with liquor and have his way with you."

No. That wasn't right, and Wendy knew it. "Well, he probably wanted to do that. I didn't let him."

Wendy simply nodded. "So, I guess you know what he is thinking all the time."

"Of course. I know what they're all thinking!" Wendy's calm demeanor was pissing me off. "They want nothing except to trick you and humiliate you. Did you know he gave me a hypnotic suggestion so that whenever he humiliated me in public, I'd get horny instead of angry?"

"Jim did that to you?" Wendy asked. Her calm response did not indicate that she really believed it.

"Yes! I figured that one out. He even admitted he gave me that suggestion!" There! I had her!

Wendy wasn't perturbed. "Did you give him a chance to tell you why he gave you that suggestion? You guys played some ... interesting games together."

"Um ... well, he gave me an explanation. But that's beyond the point! He wants to humiliate me! That's all he was ever after. Humiliate the fat girl! Make her blow you in public!"

Wendy nodded. "He sort of did that to you, but you woke up and found you were simply in his living room, right?"

"Yeah, but he left the suggestion there! He was going to do it again. In public this time! I know it!"

"Uh, huh." Wendy didn't seem convinced. "What's this about humiliating the fat girl? Wasn't he helping you lose weight?"

"Well, yeah. He said that..."

"What size were you when you started your weight loss program?"

"Um. Sixteen."

"Be honest, Shirley. It's me. You were an eighteen."

No! "I had a couple of size eighteens, but most of my stuff was sixteen." I protested.

"OK. What size was the dress that Jim recently purchased for you? The one that looks hot."

Wendy had a point. Quietly, I answered, "Fourteen."

My friend nodded. "I guess he hypnotized you into getting skinnier. He can be quite the bastard, huh?"

I didn't want to answer her, but I needed to bolster my argument. "Jim only had me exercise so he could leer at my body. He made us strip naked! You know that!"

Wendy smiled. "Of course. I knew it before I even agreed to the program."

"He gave you a choice, but he didn't give me one!" There! Let's try and see Wendy get around that one!

"OK. He manipulated you. I said that you knew that all along."

"Yeah, well ... last night..." I couldn't explain why I felt so angry at Jim. Words just didn't sound right.

Wendy continued talking. "Of course, if he just wanted to see you naked, then I guess he thought your body was worth seeing."

I was about to agree when I realized Wendy's trap. My friend was actually trying to trap me! "No! That's not it!" I tried to come up with an alternate explanation--something that would show Jim as he truly was. "He ... he just wanted to humiliate me." Yeah! That's it. "I told you, he wanted to humiliate the fat girl!"

Wendy looked at me strangely, and then shrugged.

That girl's actions were starting to piss me off. Wendy was only here to spy on me for that monster. She was working for the enemy. Her words gave her away!

Wendy finally broke the silence by asking, "Are you going to Jim's house for exercise tomorrow?"

Oh, God! I forgot! He left that compulsion in me. He even managed to get me to agree to keeping that one, the fucking sneak!

"Um ... No. I'll ... um ... I'll exercise here."

Wendy simply shrugged. "I'll be at Jim's."

"Traitor!" The word escaped me unbidden. Now that it was out there, though, I realized that it was true. Wendy was a traitor.

Wendy didn't seem fazed by my outburst. "I see. Well, if that's the way you feel about me, there isn't much that I can do. I don't love Jim, and I never did. I thought he was nice, and I thought the two of you together made a great couple. Anyway, I don't need to spy on you for him. You were my friend before I knew Jim personally. My loyalty is to you. I think I understand your feelings. Believe me, I really do."

"Bullshit," I said, not very loud.

Wendy continued. "There's not much more that I can do, and I don't want to force you to change your mind. I just want you to think for yourself. Weren't you happy before? Didn't Jim help you become more assured of yourself? Didn't he love you when you thought nobody could love you? Wasn't he the one man that you could trust when you could not trust any man? Didn't he help you find a new job? Those things don't sound self serving to me."

Without waiting for an answer, Wendy simply went out the door.

"Fucking traitor!" I said impotently at the closed door.

-------

(Jim)

Wendy called me later that evening. She was very upset at what Shirley called her, although she made it a point not to get upset when she was face to face with her friend. Shirley's words still hurt, though. Wendy told me that she talked with Shirley in her apartment and said that she was indeed in the state of mind that the two of us anticipated.

"She's not entirely rational about it," Wendy said. "She called me a traitor. You were right about that. I didn't let her see it hurt me, but it really stung."

"I hope this doesn't cause a permanent rift between the two of you," I said with a sigh.

Wendy shook her head. "I kept trying to tell you that Shirley has always had issues."

"Yeah, I know."

"You really need to talk with her. You aren't like ... Fuck! She told me that in confidence..."

I was getting frustrated with whatever Wendy was holding back from me. "Told you what?"

"Uh, uh. She may hate me and think that I'm your spy. I'm still not going to divulge something she told me in private. Let's just say that she told me something once, and it sort of explains why she hates men. But, it's you that needs to talk with her."

I didn't know what to say.

"I'm sorry, Jim. I tried to be calm and rational. I think I just pissed her off more. She thinks I'm on your side. I told her that I was friends with her longer. I pointed out that you loved her when she thought nobody could love her."

The conversation was interrupted by call waiting. "One second, Wendy."

I flashed the phone, and saw that the incoming was from Shirley. "Hi, Shirley."

"Your fucking spy just left. I hate you both!"

"I love you," I said, simply.

"Fuck you!" There was a click.

The may have been just words, but they hurt.

Wendy's call came back, and she asked me, "Was that Shirley?"

"Yeah. She hates us both."

There was a long pause. "I really hope for all our sake that things work out."

I nodded, and then realized that there wasn't any way that Wendy could see me. "We'll see. I guess you'll be here tomorrow."

"Yeah."

The phone went dead.

It was another long night with very little sleep.

-------

At six in the morning, the phone rang. I picked it up, but I received a dial tone. It was probably Shirley. I was immediately reminded of Wendy's comments about Shirley and how her reaction was the same as divorced people getting vindictive with each other. She was thinking about me enough to actually call me up to interrupt my sleep. I only had about an hour's continuous sleep before the call came in, and I wondered if this meant that there might be hope for the two of us. My exhausted body didn't seem to think so.

There were other wake-up calls spaced between a half hour and forty-five minutes apart. I answered them and received dial tone. I knew I wasn't going to be getting much sleep, so I got up.

Wendy's comment to Shirley about showing up for exercise wasn't something I considered myself until Wendy mentioned it to me after their talk. Shirley still had the compulsion, and I was pretty sure the location was to be my house (only for lack of a better location when I initially gave her the suggestion). Wendy said that Shirley seemed a bit worried when she mentioned it to her, so I decided to try something. I sent Shirley and Wendy an email offering to relieve them of any need to come over to my house. Unsurprisingly, I didn't get any indication that the message was received or read.

Wendy's words still echoed in my brain. "You can't have that kind of hate without love being there." Was that true? I never really loved somebody, other than my family. I never felt rejection because I avoided the situation entirely. With Shirley, I knew I was jumping into the deep end from the get-go, and now it appeared that I was going to join the billions of other people that were rejected over eternity.

The biggest problem, of course, was that this was all my own doing.

It was true that I didn't know about Shirley's issues with men. That was my own fault. I saw something was there, but I was never brave enough to broach the subject with her. Of course, Shirley kept avoiding the subject, but I should have pressed.

I thought back at Wendy's Dr. Simons, the quack that cured Wendy's weight problem in a single visit. Never for a moment did I think that his therapy was effective; you simply cannot change a person's life by snapping your fingers!

How was I much better than Dr. Simons, though? Oh, I did research weight loss on the web, and I did "prescribe" a regimen of eating right and regular exercise, but did I ever try to go deeper into Shirley's psyche and find out if there was some other, more deep seated problem? No. Instead, I took a quick way out, and added some titillation for my own benefit.

Yes, I was just as bad as Dr. Simons. At least the doctor had the professionalism not to fall in love with Wendy.

Although I knew there was nothing sinister in my suggestion that Shirley trust me, I tried to think how my life would be if I never put her under. If Shirley would never trust a man, neither of us would have had the fun that we had over the last month or so.

I wished there was something I could say--something I could do--to get Shirley to like me again. I would beg her forgiveness on my hands and knees, if that would make her once again look at me the she did so recently.

I never really had a girl friend until Shirley. I was too busy studying in college, and too busy with my career afterward. That's not to say that I didn't date, but I never expected any second dates, and they were rare. It never bothered me not having a girl friend before. I simply never made a place for anybody else in my life ... until Shirley came along.

There is a Joni Mitchell song called, "Big Yellow Taxi" that asks the question, "Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got till its gone?" I fucking paved my own paradise and put up a parking lot.

Great work, Jim.

At noon, there was a knock on my door. Despite my hopes that it was Shirley, I saw that it was Wendy's car in the driveway.

I took a few deep breaths before I opened the front door. I already made up my mind to remove all of Wendy's hypnotic suggestions, no matter if she ended up hating me or not. I just simply couldn't continue to have my irresponsible use of hypnotism adversely affecting other people's lives.

Imagine my surprise when I opened the door...

-------

(Shirley)

I couldn't sleep.

I knew I made the right decision about Jim. He was manipulative. He was untrustworthy. He was a sneak. He was a man, god-damn-it!

So, why did I have trouble sleeping? Did he give my some sort of sneaky suggestion to make me feel guilty?

Finally, at six in the morning, I got up. I was so fucking mad at Jim. He was probably sleeping blissfully while I was worrying over...

What was I worrying about?

There were tremendous misgivings that I felt about the upcoming day. Wendy pointed out that we never removed the suggestion that made me exercise at Jim's. At the time, it seemed as if it was a harmless one. Now, I realized that I was going to have to see that dirty old bastard!

I called his phone number, and waited until he picked up. I realized that I didn't really want to talk with him, so I just hung up the phone. Afterward, I felt a bit of satisfaction hoping that I may have interrupted his sleep.

I tried to put things away. My apartment was still all messy from my sudden move back in yesterday. Each time I'd see something that reminded me of Jim, and I'd think of some date we went on, or something we did together. It was entirely frustrating! I was trying to get over that bastard, and here he was invading my thoughts!

At seven and again before eight, I called Jim again, hoping I was spoiling his beauty sleep. I know that this was childish, but it did give me something that I could actually do to get even with him.

My box of linens was in the living room, so I moved them into my bathroom. As I was setting up the towels, I saw my reflection in the mirror. There was something about the person in the mirror that bothered me, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I scowled at the reflection and went back to my work.

It was only after I was back in my living room that I realized what bothered me about that reflection. I used to be happy, and right now I was not!

Well, it's Jim's fucking fault. He was the one that made me unhappy. He's responsible for that now-permanent scowl that I now had on my face.

I thought back to the evening that Jim showed up at my apartment to hypnotize me. I had a lot of reservations about it at the time. Jim was a man, after all. But that wasn't completely it. I knew about Jim from work. He was all business, did what he said he would, and expected everybody else to do the same. He never talked about women, and I don't think he ever dated. I never heard him tell a dirty joke or make an off-color remark about anybody.

So why did I allow Jim to hypnotize me? I tried to tell myself that Jim forced me to, but I knew that this was a lie. He didn't force me to do anything. In fact, he tried to talk me out of the whole thing, and I knew that this wasn't just simple reverse psychology.

The damned truth was that I was unhappy with my life, and I was unhappy with that fat cow that I used to see in the fucking mirror every single day of my life. Wendy paid nearly five hundred dollars for a session with a behavioral therapist and she lost a bit of weight. I wanted that!

Yes, I really wanted to lose weight, and I thought that Jim would be a free ticket. If it didn't work, what could I lose? He might make me not like fatty foods, but I knew that I could always have him take that command away from me. It was a win-win situation!

It didn't matter anyway.

I made a mistake letting Jim hypnotize me.

What could I lose if it didn't work? How about my dignity? How about my self respect? Why didn't I think of that before? Was losing weight so damned important that it blinded me to the truth that all men were slime?

I was fucking angry at that man! Some straight arrow he turned out to be. He only wanted to get his rocks off at the expense of the fat girl.

I walked like an automaton into the kitchen. I opened the refrigerator and saw it was empty. I forgot to go grocery shopping yesterday. With a sigh, I figured I'd stop at Denny's to get one of their breakfasts. Of course, I then remembered that those eggs, pancakes, bacon, sausage, and ham dishes were loaded with cholesterol. How many calories were in those appropriately named "slams" that I didn't need?

Of course, thinking about calories made me once again think about Jim and his weight loss program.

That fucking bastard! I can't even stop thinking about him!

I fell to my love seat and started crying uncontrollably.

-------

My phone rang a few times, but I didn't have the strength to get up. I knew it was Jim, and he was going to try to hypnotize me again to enslave me again. Could he hypnotize me over the phone? I didn't know, and I didn't want to find out. This was one person that wasn't going to live up to his Bondage Bitches fantasy.

Hmm. Something was wrong about that thought.

The phone rang again, interrupting my thoughts. It was insistent. After nearly a dozen rings, I managed to pull myself off the love seat and picked up the phone. It wasn't Jim. It was his faithful minion, Wendy.

"What do you want, Traitor?" I growled.

"Good morning to you, Shirley."

I couldn't upset that girl. What was wrong with her? Did Jim give her some happy juice, perhaps?

"Why don't you go over to Jim's and fuck him? Obviously, you're just his spy. Perhaps he'll get over me and let me be."

There was a long pause before Wendy answered. "He's not my type. I wanted to know if you wanted a ride to Jim's. He sent both of us an email offering to remove any suggestion that will require you to visit his house if you really want to cut off all ties with him. I promise that I won't allow him to do anything else. That is, of course, if you still trust me."

"You're his spy. You are on his side."

"You're fucking paranoid," Wendy said with a sigh.

That was the first time I seemed to get any reaction from Wendy. Was I digging too deeply?

"And you're a fucking Benedict Arnold!"

"Shirley, I have nothing to gain by siding with Jim. You're hurt, and I feel bad about you. He's hurting, too. I'm not trying to take sides, but it's apparent that Jim did something to betray your trust. You are certainly reacting as if you were somebody betrayed. Lashing out at me isn't going to do anything to fix the main problem, which is that you do not trust Jim. Can't you see that?"

I didn't want to hear any more. I simply hung up.

Before that phone call, something was bothering me. Now, I couldn't recall what it was. Damn Wendy!

I did a lot of thinking that morning. I knew--I just knew!--that I would have to go to that bastard's house to exercise. He'd be there, thinking that I came crawling back to him. I would never be free of him.

Visions of myself chained to an anchor named Jim danced in my head.

I needed to use the toilet. As I entered the bathroom, I glanced at the mirror and turned away quickly.

-------

There was a knock at my door. It was Wendy.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"I want the two of us to discuss this whole silly situation as if we were adults."

"Who's acting like a child?"

Wendy shook her head. "You!"

"Fuck you!"

"Shirley! Get off it! Jim has been acting like a child, and you're acting like a child. I'm not a god-damned nanny! The two of you are going to have to work this out, even if you never see each other again. I cannot stand to see two people that are very special to me in agony over a silly misunderstanding."

"What do you mean?" I asked, stung by Wendy's words.

"You told me about Freddie and Willy. Remember?"

"Billy," I said, remembering my tormentors.

"You hate all men because of them. Right?"

I was furious. "All men are just like them! They..."

"Stop it!" Wendy said, raising her hand as if she was a policeman. "I remember you telling me about them. I understand why you don't trust guys. But is Jim really the same as those idiots?"

"Yes!" Of course he was! Didn't Wendy see that?

"Really?"

There was something in the way that Wendy said this that made me think a bit more. Freddie and Billy were slime balls; they abused my trust. Jim was a slime-ball for the same reason. Wasn't that the same?

"Yes," I said, slowly. "Really."

"What exactly happened that made you distrust him?" Wendy asked.

"He hypnotized me last night." I was about to go on, when I realized that Wendy might not understand everything. After all, Jim pretended to hypnotize me for my own good, in order to remove some suggestions he felt guilty about...

"Yes. Why did he hypnotize you? Was it against your will?"

"No," I said, realizing that my mind was now heading into shark-infested waters. "I agreed to it, actually. He tricked me."

"Don't start attributing motives to Jim," Wendy said sharply. "He told you what was bothering him, and he wanted to fix things. Isn't that right?"

"Well, yeah. But..."

Wendy interrupted me. "He removed all the hypnotic suggestions he placed on you. The two of you discussed each and every one of them and agreed about the ones you wanted to get rid of. Correct?"

"Um. Yeah." Was Wendy trying to trick me?

"When you came out, you got all suspicious of him. He was the enemy, right?"

"Of course!"

Wendy continued. "He wasn't the enemy when you started. What changed?"

"Um..." I tried to think back to when I was disoriented after I came out of the trance last night. "I was confused, and then I realized that I didn't trust him. He manipulated me!"

"Stop right there!" Wendy ordered. "Think about it. You were perfectly happy with him when you agreed for him to put you under to remove the suggestions. He removed some hypnotic suggestions with your own agreement. Then he brought you out of your trance and all of a sudden, he's just the same as every other guy out there."

"No! He tricked me!"

"He loves you, Shirley!" Wendy insisted. "If he wanted to trick you, he never would have removed any of the suggestions!"

"He only did that to trick me." As the words came out of my mouth, I knew they sounded hollow. After a pause, I added, "Didn't he?"

Wendy didn't answer me, but simply hugged me. "Shirley. Jim made a mistake, but it wasn't anything you think he did. You then went off the deep end. What really changed? How did Jim become just the same as all the other guys you don't trust?"

I answered automatically. "He manipulated me!"

"We've already ascertained that this wasn't news to either of us. In order to hypnotize somebody, you need to manipulate them. You asked him to hypnotize you, so you can't blame him for doing exactly what you asked him to do!"

"But..." There needed to be something wrong with Wendy's argument. I mean, I didn't trust Jim. But I couldn't put my finger on any reason that would make me not trust him after...

Wendy went into her purse and pulled out a Kleenex. "Blow your nose, Shirley. Can I tell you how he fucked up? Can I tell you why you no longer trust him?"

"Why?" I asked, blowing my nose after asking.

Wendy sighed. "Jim did the right thing in his mind. He removed all his hypnotic suggestions as he said he would. He laid them out for both of you to look at and decide what to do with them. Now, does that sound like somebody who is trying to deceive you?"

"Well, not immediately..."

Wendy didn't let me continue. "Jim made a mistake. He told you--and he told me--that he gave you some standard suggestions. He told you that you would associate hypnosis with relaxation..."

"I remember that!" Wendy was making sense. I remembered missing that sensation. After a restless night, I wished I had it back.

"There was another one. Can you remember what it was?"

I thought hard. "Yeah. He told me to be relaxed. There was another one to trust him..." All of a sudden, that word struck me. TRUST! "SHIT! Is that what happened? He hypnotized me to not trust him?"

"Not exactly," Wendy was finally smiling. "I think that the first time he hypnotized you, he asked you to trust him, and that became a post-hypnotic suggestion. You would trust him. Since you distrusted all men, but now trusted him, all barriers broke down in your mind with regard to Jim. You were free to love him, and you did! You loved each other! Yesterday, he took that suggestion from you because he wanted to be an equal with you. You no longer were forced to trust him, and he became every other man to you."

Light bulbs went on over my head. "A slime!"

"Exactly."

"He did something that accidentally made me love him?"

"No! Well, not exactly. He just unwittingly removed any barrier for you to love him. He didn't do it intentionally. He had no idea about Freddie and Willy..."

"Billy."

"Billy. Whatever. He didn't have any idea that you didn't trust guys, so he gave you a standard suggestion. That simple suggestion allowed you to love somebody for the first time in your life. Do you remember how you felt?"

I thought about an image of me smiling in the mirror. I suddenly realized that I really missed that girl. "Yeah."

"Now, I am going to be going over Jim's in a little while. I'll be driving there. I'll be happy to take you with me, since I know you are still under a compulsion to do so. I'll do my exercises and leave. I expect you to have a long heart to heart talk with that guy. You don't need to apologize to him, since it was his own mistake that enabled you to love him, and it was his mistake that made you distrust him afterward. The two of you just need to work things out. You don't have to trust him if it isn't your nature, but you can't blame him for being the same as Freddie and Billy. He wasn't. If anything, he's been honorable if a bit mischievous, and he loves you dearly."

Wendy stopped talking, and I thought about what she said.

There was a part of me that didn't want to believe her, but another part of me that wanted to believe her. Everything she said actually fit together, as crazy as it sounded. He said something as simple as "trust me," and I did.

I thought back at the reflection of my happy face in the mirror, and realized that I didn't have to miss that girl. She was still right here inside me.

Neither one of us spoke. I flopped down on a bean bag chair and started sniffling. My emotions were raw. I loved Jim, then I hated Jim, and now I just didn't know.

Wendy came over and hugged me. She didn't say anything; she was just there.

Finally, I realized that my best friend was right. How the hell could I have doubted Jim?

"Oh, Wendy! I'm a fucking imbecile!" I cried, hugging her tightly.

Wendy didn't agree or disagree, but held me close.

When it was time, Wendy got me up and had me clean my face. I decided to take a quick shower as well. Thank goodness that the heating for the apartment was included in the rent.

After I toweled off, Wendy helped me get dressed and then she drove me to Jim's house. Together, we walked up sidewalk to the front door.

The look of surprise on Jim's face was priceless.

I simply kissed the big oaf.

-------

Epilogue

(Wendy)

Needless to say, Shirley and Jim finally had their talk.

In fact, they fucked me out of most of my second exercise period that day. Quite literally. They both went upstairs and fucked themselves silly. I was left to doing deep knee bends, squats, and other things that used to have Jim leering at us all by myself while listening to the endless creaking of the bed springs upstairs. What a waste! The next time I visited, I made certain to bring my iPod.

Jim and I helped Shirley move back into the house that day. Like, I didn't see that coming, right?

As a special occasion, Jim invited Shirley and I to play poker with his chums the following Wednesday. The table was crowded, but I didn't mind squeezing in. During the game, his friend Steve, who was sitting next to me, kept glancing at me. He's the kind of guy that is all bluster--all words and little action. He's got a bawdy sense of humor--like me!--and later that evening, the two of us kept trying to top one another with off-color jokes. I won. I found that I liked Steve, actually. That night, we hooked up together. It turns out that Steve was exactly my type! Before I left Jim's house, I promised both Jim and Shirley to have him pussy-whipped in no time! The two of them laughed. They didn't have any idea that I meant it.

Mary Sue, Shirley's younger sister, came to visit a couple of weeks later. I wasn't in town when she arrived, but it appears that Jim made a great impression on Mary Sue. I'm sure Shirley's sister was amazed at the change in Shirley.

When I came back from my vacation with Steve, we got to meet Mary Sue. She's cute, adorable, and vivacious. I know she's going to make some guy a great husband some day. (I also think she has a secret crush on Jim, although neither she nor Jim would ever admit it!)

Before Mary Sue left to go back to school, Jim and Shirley announced their engagement. Mary Sue and I were aghast when Shirley proudly displayed the diamond ring that Jim gave her the previous night. Shirley asked Mary Sue to be in her wedding party, and she asked me, of all people, to be her maid of honor. It took a bit of arm twisting (well, very little, actually) to get me to accept. Jim also asked Steve to be his best man, and as Steve hemmed and hawed, I accepted for him. Both Shirley and Jim seemed surprised by the change in Steve, but this is their story, not mine.

The couple celebrated with a beautiful wedding, and the photographer was great. You should see the pictures! I have most of them on display on the Internet site Flickr!

The reception was held in a restaurant that was converted from an old train station.

I got to meet Jim's mother, who came up from Arizona for the wedding. She was a lot older than I thought she'd be, and it turns out that Jim's father was a retired lineman for the railroad before he passed away and his mother told a lot of interesting stories about their life "on the tracks," as she put it.

As I said before, Mary Sue was a bridesmaid. One of Jim's other poker buddies, Terry, was an usher. The two looked cute together, although Terry was married. Too bad!

All Jim's poker buddies were there at the wedding with their wives and girl friends. The girls were all curious about the poker nights at Jim's house, and I assured them that the human sacrifices that they performed were done tastefully. (I don't think they believed me. Much. I have that way with people, I guess.)

With Jim getting married, the poker nights will have to move elsewhere. I volunteered Steve's place, since he was one of the remaining singles, albeit not for long if I have anything to say about it. None of the girls trusted Steve, since he has a reputation, but I assured them that he'll behave or else.

As a wedding gift, Steve and I gave Jim and Shirley their honeymoon vacation. I own some property near Seattle, and I arranged for it to be made up as a honeymoon cottage. They would really enjoy the king sized water bed! Steve, for his part, paid for first class round-trip airfare. He bitched about the price--only to me--but I managed to set him straight about things. Steve is a mechanic, and likes to make people think he's tough and in charge, but to me, he's a teddy bear. He can rarely say no to me. When he does, I can change his mind almost instantly with a flick of my wrist.

When the newlyweds arrived at the cottage, they found a large envelope on the dining room table next to a bottle of Dom Perignon. In the envelope was a DVD, a business card, a key, a note, and another special present.



To the happy couple!

Once again, congratulations! I know that the two of you will have lots of fun times together.

Both of you will probably recognize the title on the DVD. It wasn't easy to find, but it turns out that Steve knew a web site where he could order it. Who would've thunk, huh? Personally, I think the tits on the blonde on the front cover--the one with the whip--are fake. I can even see the incision point where the knife went in. To each their own, I guess. I wouldn't let anybody near my boobs with a knife any sooner than a guy would let a knife near his balls. By the way, Steve loves the movie, and he purchased his own copy as well. Who'da thunk?

The gold skeleton key on the chain is special. It is a membership token for the DS Key Club on the outskirts of the city. The address and directions to the place are on the business card, as are their business hours. I think the two of you will enjoy this place. It's a low-key Gentleman's Club where couples are invited to visit and enact their wildest domination and submission fantasies. Steve can probably tell you stories about the place; we spent a lot of time there on my recent vacation. If you get him drunk enough, he'll probably show you the marks to prove it! He's such a teddy bear!

Shirley will probably recognize the other object in this envelope. I found it when she was moving back into Jim's house. I'm sorry if you missed it, Shirley, but I'm returning it now. Feel free to wear it at the Key Club, you won't be the only person there with one.

Jim, if the two of you go to the Key Club, please remember what I said about people that simply play at it. I think I've seen some glimmers of the real thing in you. If so, I know that both of you will be happy, since I see the real thing in Shirley as well.



Lots of love and happiness to both of you!

Wendy

(and steve)





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A FINAL NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:



I decided to end the story with an epilogue, rather than tying up the loose ends specifically. It just seemed to flow better. I also changed the narration character from Jim and Shirley to Wendy, who was the perfect person to end the story as Jim and Shirley were now busy with other things. Wendy was always a bit of a mystery within the story, so I decided to give her character a few odd twists. I hope it works as well as I envisioned it!

The Station and the Key Club are both complete figments of my imagination. There may be themed restaurants similar to The Station and "clubs" such as the Key Club, and if so, they are merely coincidences. Specifically, I apologize if there are places with similar names or locations that are vastly different than those described in the story!

In addition, there probably are movies called Bondage Bitches, but if there are, I can assure you that none of them were the inspiration for the movie that affected Shirley so much. That, like the places I just mentioned, is simply a figment of my imagination.

Needless to have to add, this is a work of fiction, and as such, there are no photos of the fictional wedding on Flickr. So don't bother looking!

The last chapters are short on sex in favor of resolving the story. I'm sorry if anybody is disappointed in that. I did add some innuendo, so feel free to imagine what you will!

As such, the real climax of the story happens during the scene with Shirley in the restaurant. That scene, incidentally, was the first one written for what was originally supposed to be a short story to be published under a different pseudonym. My, how it grew! When I expanded on the characters, I realized it really should be a JiMC story.

I hope you all enjoyed it!



JiMC

31 December 2007

Somewhere in America








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The End
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Posted:  2006-02-27
Last Modified: 2008-01-17 / 11:22:46 pm
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