Another to-do item was to call our favorite restaurant for dinner reservations. I hadn't had time during the day, and now, in my car on the way home, my cell phone was dead.

If I immediately made a phone call when I got home, she'd know, or think she knew, that I'd forgotten our fifteenth anniversary. But I hadn't forgotten. I'd just run out of time.

Pulling into the driveway, I was sweating and rehearsing excuses that, deep inside, I didn't feel I needed to give. As the garage door opened, my pondering was interrupted by an unexpected sight.

Her car was gone.

Puzzled, and a little relieved, I went inside.

"Trish? Danny? Robin?"

Silence. Trish was gone. The kids were gone. Where would they go on our anniversary? Without me?

I looked at the calendar. No games, no practices. Just a little fifteen with a heart around it, which in my wife's strange calendar code means anniversary.

"Trish?"

Now I felt silly. It was obvious no one was home. I had to laugh as I realized I had more time to make up an excuse....

But I also had the opportunity to call the restaurant without Trish knowing it. Grinning, feeling rather oddly proud of myself, I reached for the phone and noticed the message light was blinking. Aha. Maybe there was a message saying where they were. I punched in the retrieve code.

Two messages for Robin. Typical. One for Danny, and it was a girl. I'd have to talk to him one of these days. And then...

"It's me. Happy anniversary. The kids are at my mother's. I'm in room six ten at the Royal, waiting for you." Click.

I had to listen to it again. Yes, she really said that.

Wow.

I noticed with a grin that my face was red - and there was a stirring in my pants.

Room six ten at the Royal. Wow. The Royal was a posh place.

My overnight bag was gone. Trish seemed to have dealt with it. Good. I threw on a pair of jeans and was grabbing a shirt when I remembered that the Royal also had a nice restaurant, and maybe I could make amends. Off went the jeans, on went dress pants and a button-down shirt. The tie would wait.

Before leaving, I deleted the message. No sense letting the kids, or Trish's mother, find it. I did listen one last time, and my smile was getting bigger almost as fast as my cock.

Maybe there was a Jacuzzi in the room.

It was hard to do the speed limit. Hell, it was just plain hard. My palms were sweating, my face felt warm, and I cranked up the AC. Our sex life was pretty good for being married fifteen years, but a night at a hotel? At the Royal? Damn.

In the parking garage of the Royal I was fifty feet from the car before I thought about locking it. Back I went, grinning and red-faced and horny.

Room six ten.

No one on the elevator. Good. Reach down and adjust my cock. Shit, I should have brought flowers or something. Oh well. Too late. Sixth floor. Room six ten.

Room six ten. All of a sudden I was standing in front of it. With a very twisted grin I looked up and down the hall and fantasized about unzipping my pants and letting Trish finding me there with a smile and a boner. Discretion got the better of me. For now.

I knocked on the door and heard motion inside. Damn, I was hard. How many times would we do it tonight? What would she be wearing when the door opened?

The door of room six ten opened. I was grinning like an idiot.

"Happy anniversary, honey. I..."

Holy fuck.

The woman in the doorway... hell, the girl in the doorway... couldn't have been more than twenty five. If not for her business attire I would have said she was a college student. Thick dark hair past her shoulders, dark eyes, quite a pair of...

Holy fuck.

"Uh..."

She laughed, and that's when I saw Trish behind her, grinning broadly.

Gulp. A threesome?

"Uh...."

Without realizing what I was doing, I looked down to see if my hard- on was really poking out of my pants, or if it just felt that way.

"You must be Leon," the stranger in the door of room six ten said.

"Uh..."

"Yes, that's my husband, Mister Articulate." Trish was standing next to the girl now, still grinning at me.

Was my face on fire or did it just feel that way?

"Come in, honey. I paid for the room, not the hallway."

"Uh..."

She reached out her hand, and I automatically took it. The dark-haired large-chested college-student-wannabe reached out her hand as well, and I took it without thinking as well. They smiled and pulled me into the room, closing the door behind me. Trish had paid for the room and was waiting for me with another woman. I swallowed, trying to calm down enough to be, or at least appear to be, rational and mature.

A threesome.

"I'm Kimberly. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Uh..." She was nice to look at. Very nice to look at. So I looked. After all, Trish had paid for it, right? "Hi. I'm, uh, Leon. Better known as, uh, Mr. Articulate."

She laughed. "Well, Uh Leon, I suppose you're wondering who I am and why I'm here."

Trish was looking a little flushed now, and it briefly crossed my mind to ask about STD's and all that. Neither Trish nor I had ever played outside our own playpen, and it was a very strange feeling to stand there with her and talking to a girl who I imagined would soon be in bed with us. Damn, I had never suspected Trish was bi. I've heard the stuff about, every woman has a little bi in her, but I never believed it - until now.

I nodded, wondering how this youngster was going to describe whatever special talents she possessed. Damn, I was hard.

'Uh... yeah..."

"Your lovely wife contacted me some time ago about a very special anniversary gift, that's actually for the both of you. You see, I'm a certified hypnotherapist, and tonight the two of you will learn how to increase your sexual pleasure using hypnosis."

I stood there staring at her. All the rapid-fire fantasies careening around in my mind suddenly came to screeching halts, crashing into one another with the terrible sound of shattered dreams before disappearing. No one spoke for quite some time. The girl watched me, Trish watched me, and I stood there feeling like an idiot. It was a while before I realized they really were going to wait for me to say something.

"Uh. A hypnotherapist? Like, look into my eyes?" I tried a grin. This was something I hadn't expected. A twenty-something wanna-be Svengali, and a chick at that. So much for my threesome theory. For some strange reason my disappointment turned to resentment, directed at this Kim girl.

She nodded. "Yes. A hypnotherapist. Like, look into my eyes. Would care to?"

I laughed. "Not right now, thanks." I turned to Trish, who to my surprise looked as if she was going to cry. "Hey, what's the matter?"

She pouted a little more before replying. "I can't believe you're making a joke of this. Kim's here to help us learn something, to share something new, something... incredible. She's told me some of the things that are possible, and being hypnotized is... it's... wonderful. I've planned this for almost three months. If you're not going to take it seriously let's just go home. I'll sleep in the guest room."

Ouch.

I took a deep breath. "OK, I'm sorry. I deserved that. When I got here and saw her, well, you know, I just figured, you know... I didn't.... wait a minute, you've been hypnotized?" It had taken me a minute to realize what she'd said. I flashed a brief image of her with her eyes closed and her arms sticking straight out in the air - and my cock stirred to life again.

She wiped her eyes and nodded. "Yes," she said, sniffing a little. Then the smile came back. "And like I said, it was... wonderful."

Kim's voice came from behind me. "Perhaps a demonstration would convince him?" Trish looked over my shoulder, her eyes widening. Then she looked at me and got a very, very big grin.

"Yeah. A demonstration. Oh, yeah." As she spoke she turned beet red.

Kim was standing beside me now. I turned to her, embarrassed. "I'm sorry. I just..." I didn't know what to say. How do you explain to someone that you thought they were a hooker? Or maybe escort is the preferred term these days. The result is the same.

"...Thought I was a hooker. Yes, I gathered that. We'll let it pass and move on. As your lovely wife hinted, she's been hypnotized a few times. She is quite a good subject, and from what she's told me, you will be as well. Have you ever been hypnotized?"

"No," I replied with a shake of the head. Trish's eyes were shifting from me to Kim every half-second or so, and she was still bright red.

"It really is enjoyable. Or, as your wife so well put it, wonderful. Your mind is clear, your body is relaxed, and your attention is focused on one thing." Kim paused, turned to me, and looked me squarely in the eye.

"Me."

A number of things happened in a number of seconds after that.

I was trying to figure out how my cock got so hard so fast. Kim turned to Trish, who was looking at me, and raised one finger in front of Trish's face. Trish's eyes fixed on that finger as Kim moved it up a few inches, then down a few inches. She then placed the tip of that finger on Trish's forehead, right above her nose. Kim almost went cross-eyed trying to follow it. The instant Kim's finger touched Trish's forehead, Trish said, very softly, "Deep down, deep down."

I watched in awe as my wife's eyes rolled back and closed, her body went limp, her shoulders sagged, and her head fell to her chest.

My wife was hypnotized. Just like that. In a heartbeat.

And I was very, very hard. Just like that.

"God DAMN..." I stared at my wife, who looked as if she would fall down at the slightest touch. There was a long silence, and I finally looked up to find Kim watching me with an amused smile.

"Uh... that's... that was... uh..." I swallowed and tried to make myself believe she couldn't tell my cock was ready to split my pants.

"Hot?"

Oh Christ.

"Uh. Yeah. Hot. She's... gone? Under? Just like that...?"

Kim nodded, still watching me closely. "Yes. Under. Gone. Just like that. And before long you will go under that easily too."

Another swallow and another look at my enthralled wife.

"Damn..."

Kim leaned over and whispered in Trish's ear. A moment later she moved away. Trish straightened, took a deep breath, and opened her eyes. When they came to rest on me, she blinked a few times and smiled.

"Hi. God, that's nice. Honey, let her put you under. It's the greatest feeling. And besides, I want to watch you go under." Her smile turned to a sly grin.

"Yes, I think he's ready. Would you like to be hypnotized now, Leon?"

I didn't trust myself to say anything. I nodded, my eyes moving between Kim and my wife, who sank down on the love seat and squeezed her legs together. Her eyes were on me, and I briefly wondered what I'd look like when I went under.

"Why don't you sit down beside your wife? Make yourselves comfortable. Hold hands if you'd care to."

Grinning and flushed, I sat down next to Trish. She moved as close to me as she could get, then grabbed my hand and held on to it. I looked at Kim. "Is this too close?" It wasn't a smart-ass question, I really didn't know. She shook her head and smiled.

"It won't matter."

Wow.

"Leon? Why not give yourself some room. Undo your pants."

My pants. Undo them. In front of her? My jaw fell open and I looked down at my lap, where my cock was indeed trying to make its presence known. I looked up at Kim uncertainly, but the matter was decided when Trish let go of my hand and almost tore my pants open. Before I could say anything my cock sprang out, thick and hard and ready. Trish took my hand again and snuggled close, almost panting now.

All I could do was gape at Kim in shock. She smiled back, seemingly unconcerned that I was exposed to her.

"Now that you're both ready..."

I am?

Kim was reaching between her breasts. An image of me reaching between those mounds flashed though my mind, and a pendant on a chain appeared from her cleavage. A voice in the back of my mind announced that I was going to be hypnotized by that pendant, and I felt quite proud that I had figured that out all by myself. The next thing I knew it was floating in front of Trish and I, the chain reaching up to Kim's fingers.

"The fifteenth anniversary is the crystal anniversary," Kimberly said, her voice somehow different now. "It is fitting that on your fifteenth anniversary you are both sitting on a love seat being hypnotized... deeply, profoundly hypnotized... by a crystal... by my crystal... by this crystal... This very crystal is going to hypnotize you, quickly, easily, deeply, and profoundly. And there is nothing... nothing at all... that you need to do... that you can do... you just watch the crystal... listen to the sound of my voice... and before you are aware... you will sink deep... down, deep down... deep down into a deep, relaxing, arousing hypnotic trance."

I didn't know what it was supposed to feel like. I didn't really know what I felt like anyway. The crystal danced back and forth and whirled round and round, and I watched it, knowing it was going to hypnotize me, but not how I would know it had.

"You want to be hypnotized... You want to relax... relax... relax... relax... you want to relax... you want to... relax.... relax... you want to relax."

I hadn't thought of it before, but I guess I did. I felt different, heavy somehow. Relaxed. It was nice. Very nice.

"The crystal will hypnotize you as you relax deeper... deeper... deeper relaxed... deeper relaxed... the deeper you relax the deeper you are hypnotized.... deeper.... relaxed... hypnotized... the crystal... my voice... so relaxing... so captivating.... the crystal... as it moves... back and forth... back and forth... you relax... deeper and deeper... deeper and deeper..."

Crystal. Heavy. Relaxed. Deeper. Did I blink?

"Your eyelids become so heavy, so heavy, so relaxed."

Must have.

"Crystal.... heavy.....relaxed.... deeper.....heavy.... hypnosis... deeper..."

Weird. Quiet. Voice. Feels good. Aroused. Hard? Words. Listen?

"Deeper.... eyes..... nothing..."

Crystal. Voice. Nice. Was Trish still holding my hand? Nothing.

Nothing?

"Two.... one...."

Crystal. Trish? This is nice. Eyes too heavy to stay open.

"Sleep......."

Whisper. So hard. So nice.

"Sleep........"

Nothing.

Well... not exactly nothing. It was like... it was as if I was wrapped in a fog. I could hear, but I didn't really care about anything I heard. One of the sounds was a voice, and somewhere inside I knew it was Kim's, and I knew I was hypnotized. That is to say, I knew something was very different, so I knew I must be hypnotized.

And I didn't care.

I had no idea whether Trish was still holding my hand, or even if she was still beside me. I didn't wonder too much. It didn't matter. Nothing mattered except whatever Kim's voice was saying at any given moment.

It was strange because I never really seemed to know what she was saying. I heard the voice but not the words. Somehow, though, I must have reacted to what she was saying. Several times I knew I was moving, and at one point I felt as if I was floating.

I began to recognize words. Numbers, they were. And when she said five my eyes opened.

It took a moment to get myself together. Kim sat in a chair, watching me with a smile. Trish was indeed still beside me, waking up like I was. Seeing her coming out of a trance was a hell of a turn-on, and I remembered my pants were open. Glancing down, I saw that sure enough, my cock was coming to life again. I felt my face redden as I snuck a sheepish glance at Kim.

"Nice, isn't it?" Her voice was very soft. All I could do was nod.

She shifted a little, sitting on the edge of the chair and looking right at me. "Every time you go under, you become more and more thoroughly conditioned. Before long you'll go under just as fast and just as deep as your wife." I looked at Trish, who smiled back, still appearing to be rather sleepy.

"Does it turn you on?"

I grinned, feeling rather foolish. Hell yes, it turned me on. I'm sitting next to my half-dazed wife with my cock sticking out and a chick not much more than half my age putting us into a trance. I squirmed, trying to get my cock more comfortable, and nodded, too embarrassed to reply.

"Trish, how about you?"

Trish looked at Kim, flushed, and nodded. She took my hand again, holding tight, and looked at my rigid cock. "Yeah," she said hoarsely.

"How would you like to be twice as aroused?"

Trish was squeezing my hand so hard I thought the bones would break. She nodded without a word, staring at my cock and squeezing her thighs together. I looked at Kim to see who she was talking to, and she was looking at me.

I swallowed hard and nodded.

Kim smiled and leaned back in the chair. Slowly, she once again removed the pendant from her cleavage. My eyes instantly fixed on it, as if that would help me go under faster or deeper. God, I wanted to. She moved her hand ever so slightly, and it began to swing, back and forth, back and forth.

"Go ahead. Let go now. Let it happen." Very soft. Very soothing. Very seductive.

Trish's grip went limp and there was suddenly a heavy weight against my left side. I didn't really notice it as such. My eyes, my focus, my whole being, was captured by that gently swinging pendant.

Back and forth.

Kim was talking. I think. I just sat there and allowed the fog to envelop me again. I drifted, floated, hearing but not understanding, feeling myself move but not doing the moving. I was hypnotized, I knew deep inside, and it felt so very, very nice.

My eyes were open. That was odd. Was I awake?

I was looking up. My hand was up there, fingers wrapped around Trish's fingers. The funny thing was, I wasn't holding my hand up. It was just... there. I tried to bring it down - and could not. My hand, and my arm, remained in the air, my fingers clasped with Trish's. I grinned, I know I grinned, and looked at Trish to see if she was grinning.

Her eyes were closed, and she was slumped against the back of the love seat. It took me a few seconds to realize that I, too, was limp other than for my arm, and was leaning against the back of the love seat. I think I chuckled or laughed. Then there was a voice, and the fog closed in.

"Five. Eyes open, wide awake."

I opened my eyes, but wasn't really sure I was awake. I sat there for a moment, clearing my throat, swallowing, remembering. My hand floating in the air. The fog. Trish sprawled beside me. My hard, hard cock.

Uh-oh.

I looked down. To my surprise, my cock was limp as a dishrag. That wasn't what I expected, considering how turned on I was. And even as these thoughts bounced around my mind, my cock sprang to life again. Motion next to me told me my wife was awake too.

"Oh my God." Trish almost moaned the words.

"Yeah." Nothing else I could have said would have made sense, and anyway, I had quite a bad case of cottonmouth for some reason.

Kim watched us from her chair. "Isn't is amazing how arousing total relaxation can be?" Trish and I nodded, looking at each other and feeling the heat rise. I found myself wondering just what Kim had meant when she'd talked about increasing sexual pleasure. I was rock-hard in seconds, and now Trish was looking down at my cock with a very hungry expression.

"I think he's ready, Trish. And so are you."

Trish's quickly looked at Kim, then at me, then blushed. "Oh God," she whispered, and I could feel her trembling.

"Stand up, please. Both of you." Her voice was so soft we could hardly hear her, but we were on our feet before she finished her sentence. I couldn't quite comprehend what was happening, couldn't quite make it real. It was like I was in a movie. Was I actually standing in a hotel room next to my wife, with my cock hanging out, in front of a young woman I didn't know, who was going to hypnotize me? And increase my sexual pleasure, whatever that really meant?

I was quite turned on already. The disbelief, the unfamiliar surroundings, the faintly sinister aura of hypnosis. A hot younger woman who was going to hypnotize my wife and I.

Damn.

"I think that for the rest of the evening you would both be more comfortable if you undressed."

Damn. My face burned, which was foolish, because my cock had been hanging out all night anyway. I started to say something without knowing what I was going to say, but stayed quiet when I realized that Trish was undressing as fast as she could. No long drawn-out strip tease here. She was stark naked in thirty seconds, and her clothes were tossed carelessly onto - or behind - the couch.

There she stood, nude, nipples hard, her breathing rapid and shallow, her cheeks flushing brightly, her eyes wide and fixed most of the time on Kim.

"Damn..." I began to undress, and within seconds Trish was helping me. That sped the process up, and soon both of us were nude, standing between the love seat and Kim's chair. Smiling, Kim rose.

It didn't take long for her to take the few steps toward us, but it seemed like an eternity. If she had said boo, I would have cum, I think. The whole thing was just so fucking hot it was incredible. She paused very close to us. Very close. Smiling. Looking at us. Quiet. Knowing we were getting more and more aroused every second, even without hypnosis.

Kim smiled at me. "You are such an excellent subject." I grinned like an idiot, blushing fiercely. "In fact," Kim went on, "I would say that you are so receptive, and so conditioned, that you'd go into a trance if I did something as simple as..." She stopped suddenly, and raised her left hand very quickly, index finger pointing up. Without any thought whatsoever my eyes followed the motion and fixed upon her finger.

And there I remained. My eyes locked on Kim's finger, my mind blank, waiting for her to do or say something, anything, that would put me into a trance.

I didn't, couldn't, understand that I was already there.

When she moved her finger again, I blinked, and snapped out of it.

I swallowed hard. Kim was laughing gently,

"Holy Christ," I muttered.

"I'm sorry," Kim said, sounding like she meant it. "But you're just so receptive, and I knew you'd just... go away... when I did that. And you did," she finished with a grin.

"Yeah. I sure did. How long was I away?"

Kim's smile grew. "Almost two minutes." I was stunned.

"You mean I just stood there, waiting for... hell, I don't know, waiting for you to say something, for two minutes? It felt like a couple seconds." It was like I'd been in a time machine, held in stasis by a raised finger.

Kim nodded. "Yes. And your wife wanted very much to see how you'd react to certain things."

I glanced at Trish, who, like me, was still nude, and grinning wickedly.

"But you know, things tend to even out. For instance, Trish, I would think your husband will be very interested in your reaction to the word empty." As Kim said that word she snapped her fingers.

My wife's reaction was indeed interesting. In less than a second her grin melted away, her muscles went slack, her mouth fell open, her eyes became unfocused, glazed, staring at nothing. Her body remained motionless, arm hanging limp at her sides.

Incredible.

And so fucking hot.

Kim was smiling, and motioned toward Trish. It took me a second to understand what she meant.

I moved closer to my oblivious wife and waved my hand in front of her face, right in front of her sightless eyes. There was no reaction whatsoever. I reached for her arm, glancing at Kim, who nodded. I raised Trish's arm several inches and let it go. It fell back to her side with no resistance at all.

God, I was hard.

"She's out of it, so to speak. Even more than you were. She can still hear, still see, and still feel - but her mind is totally empty. She can't form the thoughts to react or respond to her surroundings. And like you, when she comes back, she won't have any idea how long she was like that. In fact the chances are good she won't even know this happened."

"Jesus..." I waved my hand in front of her again. Nothing. On a whim I caressed her breast, then pinched, gently, her right nipple. Absolutely no response. "Holy Christ..."

"I find this is an excellent way for my clients to relax, to reset themselves, so to speak. Of course, as you might imagine, it may also have other uses I don't advertise in my office."

I listened, more or less, all the while staring at my enthralled wife. Gone, more than I was. That raised a question.

"But... if she doesn't know what's going on... how do you bring her back?"

She looked at me, nodding her head in an approving way. "Very good. It's quite simple, really. There is one difference between the state you were in and the state she's in. Yours was spontaneous, hers is conditioned. And so, while she is truly empty and unaware, she is actually receptive to, and in fact waiting for, one particular stimulus. When she receives it, but not before, she'll come back, and may not know she's been gone. If she does know she's been gone, she may not know for how long."

I nodded. This was wild. I wondered what the stimulus was that would wake her up, and grinned as some very devious ways to wake her came to me.

Kim laughed. "No, sorry, nothing like that. As I said, it's very simple, and it had to be something I could do, so it's not intimate. All you have to do is say the word return and snap your fingers."

That got my attention. "All I have to do? You mean I can do it? It doesn't depend on your voice or something?"

Kim shook her head. "My voice is the one she's accustomed to, but I never specifically told her she would respond only to my voice. Go ahead."

I gulped and looked at Trish. God, this was amazing. I opened my mouth and got ready to snap my fingers, but my mouth suddenly went dry as a bone and I couldn't talk. I stood there like a landed fish for a moment as Kim laughed softly.

Finally I tried again. "Return," I stammered, snapping my fingers.

Trish blinked and swayed for a second. The first thing she saw was Kim. She grinned and looked at me. "She wouldn't do the things I asked her to do. Too bad for you." She laughed, I was totally confused, and Kim smiled broadly.

"That answers the question of whether she'd remember. The last thing she knew, we were talking about you slipping under and her wanting me to give you some rather interesting suggestions."

Now it was Trish's turn to look puzzled, even as my cock swelled even more. This was truly incredible. Without thinking, acting purely on curiosity and excitement, I raised my hand, snapped my fingers, and said "Empty."

"What's..." Trish was just starting to say. She never finished the sentence, or the thought. As before, her mind instantly winked out, and she stood there, limp, vacant, and naked.

"Goddamn..."

"Now, now, don't take advantage of it. Return," she said, snapping her fingers and giving me a dirty look. Trish popped back to consciousness and picked up where she'd left off. Sort of.

"... um... what's... what was I saying?"

"You were saying it was about time for some serious pleasure," Kim replied with a perfectly straight face. Trish flushed crimson and looked at me, as I felt myself blushing as well. Before either of us could really react, Kim was standing right in front of us.

"I'm going to hypnotize you."

Trish made a sound I'd never heard her make, and I have no idea how to describe it. Short, soft, and almost desperate.

"I'm going to hypnotize you both right now."

My knees felt weak,

"And while I do... you're going to kiss each other. You're going to touch each other. You're going to feel each other's bodies as you've never felt them before. You're going to experience your spouse's touch in a way you've never experienced it before. And as you turn each other on, as you each get more and more aroused, you're going to begin to notice that some things seem different somehow. Don't worry about it. You can even forget that I'm here. Just enjoy each other and let it happen."

For several seconds nothing happened as Trish and I stared at each other, maybe both too incredulous to move. Then, with another wanton sound, Trish wrapped her arms around me and kissed me like never before.

Her skin against mine, her tongue in my mouth. Her scent. Her hands pawing at me as she kissed me. I put my arms around her and kissed back, losing myself, surrendering myself to her warm, loving, familiar embrace.

As we kissed, nuzzled, and fondled each other, I became aware of a voice in the background. I understood it was Kim, but listening to her was the last thing on my mind. My tongue slid over Trish's throat as Kim's voice floated softly over us.

Our breathing became ragged, our thoughts muddled. My arousal, my heat, seemed to be acquiring a physical manifestation. I could almost feel my flesh on fire, my cock emitting waves of pure energy. Everywhere and every time our bodies touched, the heat increased, the desire increased, and the blind passion increased.

We no longer thought about what we were doing. My hand caressed her mound as her hand squeezed my balls tight. I thought I would explode. The heat, the fire, the desire, was all around us, accompanied by a buzzing humming sound that I imagined to be the sound of the heat I was generating. It was, in fact, Kim's voice, but by now my conscious mind was utterly incapable of understanding her.

I later understood that my subconscious mind, on the other hand, had long since attuned itself to Kim's voice, soaking in every word, accepting all that she said with no resistance whatsoever. Her words were stoking the fires of our passion, her suggestions were causing us to experience things in a different way. Where Trish's fingers brushed my skin, the sensation was multiplied, intensified, and spread through my entire body. No longer was my cock any different from my neck. Her touch, anywhere on my body, sent waves of raw ecstasy coursing through every nerve in my body. The heat was incredible, the humming sound so... so... reassuring. So sensual. So utterly captivating.

Our bodies entwined, our minds open to the faraway yet irresistible droning of Kim's mesmerising words, Trish and I drifted through a haze of raw passion, unheeding of everything but our desires and Kim's gentle words. At times things were clear, and I could even see Kim sitting not far away. I could see her mouth moving and somehow knew her words were affecting me.

Other times I seemed to be held in the same timeless nothingness I had entered before, but this time the blank space was filled completely by pure pleasure. Had I cared to think about it, I might have recalled Kim's explanation of spontaneous versus conditioned.

For days, or maybe hours, or maybe minutes, Trish and I caressed and played with each other. The heat we generated was a physical force, surrounding us, driving us on, until the touch of a finger to a forearm brought as big a thrill as a tongue on a clit or a hand around a stiff cock.

Things cleared for a moment, and I found myself on my back, with my wife above me, straddling me, looking down at me with fire in her eyes. Her hair was a mess, her breathing was laboured, and one hand pawed at her left breast while the other found my raging cock and guided it between her waiting legs. There was another sound, just barely noticeable above our panting, and I recognized it as Kim's voice just as Trish sank down on my aching member.

Nothing on earth could have prepared me for what the next unknown time span brought. Blinding heat, unsteady moans, nails clawing flesh, teeth nipping nipples, cocks buried in steaming pussies, and above all, surrounding all, hardly noticed yet instantly obeyed, was Kim's voice

And it didn't stop. Trish kept bouncing and I kept feeling it. Over and over. The heat surrounded us, the seductive humming surrounded us. Every motion brought pleasure, every touch brought ecstasy, every shuddering groaning second brought mindless wanton passion. Our conscious minds were no longer in control - there was no way they could cope with the sensations we were experiencing. Our subconscious minds, and by proxy, Kim's voice, guided us through our orgiastic living dream. Time did not exist. the world did not exist. There was only Trish and I, and a dreamy voice that carried us along on a current of blissful ecstasy.

It seemed quiet. The heat was fading. The only sound was breathing, deep and hard, gradually becoming soft and regular. My body felt as if it was glowing still, but it was a different glow. Not the brightness of fiery arousal, but the warm comforting radiance of contentment. After some time even the breathing faded away, and there was silence.

I dreamed of Kim's voice. I dreamed of her crystal pendant floating before my glassy eyes, dreamed of eagerly, willingly sinking down into a deep hypnotic trance for her. I drifted with her voice, comfortable under her care, drowsily listening and accepting and learning.

"Hi."

Trish was looking at me, her hair still a mess, her face sideways. Sideways?

Both my eyes opened wide, and I found myself lying on the couch. Trish was kneeling beside me, watching me with a smile. "Wake up, sleepy. It's morning."

Morning?

Slowly, I sat up. I was still naked, Trish was still naked, and it was apparent we'd had some serious sex. Then I noticed Kim curled in the chair, sound asleep.

"Oh Christ."

I jumped off the couch, my well-used cock dangling limp, my body covered by tiny nail and teeth marks. The thump of my feet hitting the floor awakened Kim.

She looked around, stretched, and, and smiled. She was, indeed, very attractive, for a twenty-something, and to my consternation I felt my cock reacting as well. I glanced at Trish and was amazed to find her gazing at Kim with the same expression I imagined I had.

"Good morning," Kim said, still smiling. Her voice carried through the room and floated into my mind, which found itself fixated even by those two everyday words. I stared back at her, wondering if her next words would capture me completely.

"Hi," Trish replied. My wife looked at me with a curious expression, then nodded in Kim's direction. I frowned at her, not understanding. My wife looked directly at my cock, then at Kim, then gestured to herself.

Holy fuck. My wife wanted a threesome.

My jaw hit the floor, and I felt my face burn. I also felt my cock expanding at the speed of light.

My wife laughed. Still laughing, she turned to Kim.

"Um. Thank you. Thank you so much. Um. My husband and I have a question. A request. We'd like to know if you'd care to... um... join us?"

Her voice wasn't as steady as I'm sure she'd wished, but at least she could say the words. I was still in shock.

Kim's eyes widened for a moment. For an instant they flashed toward me, down at my already-rigid cock. She blushed and swallowed hard.

Trish was standing up. I watched, amazed, as she took two steps towards the chair Kim nestled in. Kim watched her approach, wide-eyed and blushing.

"We want you to share this with us. We want you to share the pleasure you've given us."

Kim swallowed again. Slowly, her head began to shake. "I... I can't. I'd love to, believe me..." - another fleeting glance at my cock - "...but... I can't... I'm sorry..."

Trish moved closer. "Please," she said in a husky voice. "We want this. We want you. We want to share this with you. Please." My wife was next to the chair, and knelt down as she spoke. Kim stared at her, so close, so flushed, so visibly excited. But still her head shook back and forth.

"I can't... not right..."

My wife leaned closer. "Please," she breathed, her face mere inches from Kim's. "Please." My wife placed a soft hand on Kim's thigh.

"Empty!" A snap of the fingers and my wife was paralyzed. Kim fairly leapt from the chair, leaving Trish kneeling there, oblivious. Kim was trembling as she looked at me.

"Do you... do you understand why I can't?" Even as she asked, her eyes dropped to my cock, and she gasped. "Do you?"

I wasn't really thinking about why she couldn't, to be honest. I was wondering what would happen if she did. When I didn't reply for quite a while she must have realized my dilemma, and gasped again. Then she took a very deep breath and straightened herself up. One hand moved quickly, and in the next second a finger was pointing straight up. My eyes reflexively followed it, fixed on it - and time stopped.

"She's gone."

I was standing in the middle of the room, still naked but no longer hard. Trish was walking toward me, wearing a bathrobe.

It took a moment to comprehend her words. Even then I had to ask.

"Huh?"

"Kim's gone. She left this." She held up an envelope with the words "open at home when you're alone and have time" written on it.

Both of us were disappointed that Kim has chosen not to join us. To my surprise, Trish seemed more upset than me. Maybe she'd actually expected Kim to join in, whereas to me her participation had been a nice fantasy.

We showered and then belatedly realized it was almost checkout time, which precluded any further experimentation with what Kim had taught us. For we both knew, we both understood, we both felt that things were different now. Much of what we had done, we knew how to do again, whether that knowledge was conscious or buried deep in our minds.

Two weeks later, Trish and I found ourselves home alone. Danny was at a weekend campout and Robin was at her cousin's overnight. Trish and I sat on the bed and opened Kim's envelope.

A picture fell out. A picture of Kim. Just her face. Up close. Eyes intent, mouth open invitingly.

For a twenty-something, she was damned pretty. And damned hot.

We looked at it and grinned at each other. Then something happened. I noticed Trish staring at the picture, and I looked at it again. All of a sudden Kim's eyes reached out for me and pulled me into them. I sat there, transfixed by a photograph, as was my wife. As I sank deeper into those eyes I felt my cock come to life. I also heard Trish moan softly. The open mouth on the photo suddenly came to life, and wrapped itself around my cock.

My wife and I sat perfectly still, shuddering occasionally, held under the spell of Kim's image, as we felt her mouth against our flesh.

I came staring at Kim's picture, feeling her mouth sliding up and down my cock. And from the sounds Trish was making, she, too, had reached climax.

Then something odd happened.

Orgasm wasn't usually followed by more sex. But as my breathing slowed, as Trish's panting quieted, we both realized something. We were slowly being enveloped by the heat of burning desire.

Released from Kim's spell at the instant of orgasm, Trish and I found ourselves growing more aroused with every second. I tossed the photo onto the table as Trish wrapped her arms around me and we tumbled back on the bed.

It didn't take me long to discover that Kim's picture couldn't be used to jerk off to. I sat down one day and stared at the picture, waiting for it to capture me. It didn't. A few days later a very embarrassed Trish informed me that the picture must have only worked once, because she had tried to use it to no avail. I confessed I'd tried it as well. That led to both of us sitting down with it at the next opportunity - and discovering that it worked extremely well when both of us were present.

But we don't really need the picture. It's become another toy in our bag of goodies. And thanks to my wife's open-minded anniversary gift and an open-minded, ethical hypnotherapist, our goody bag has more in it than most people can possibly imagine.