Every city should have a shop like this one, I mused. I stood before a large rack containing a dizzying array of tethers, restraints, shackles, and the like. With just a touch of smugness, I left that particular aisle. My pet was bound by a force more powerful that anything I could buy here.

The shop was huge, with each various type of sex toy having its own section. I meandered towards one particular area, gazing at this and that, sometimes pausing to study an item more closely. Some were too good to pass up, and by the time I got to the section I was aiming for, I already carried a number of things.

As I stepped into the clothing section, my breath was taken away by an absolutely gorgeous blonde, maybe in her late twenties, wearing a form- fitting blue dress. She was standing in the aisle, gazing at the vast collection of exquisitely sinful attire with a somewhat forlorn expression. "Quite a selection, isn't it?" I asked, moving closer.

She nodded, her eyes wandering from me to the rows upon rows of corsets, bustiers, garters, thongs, and the like. "Yeah..." she breathed, nodding. "And I have NO idea what I'm looking for,.."

I don't know either, but I know what you're going to get, I thought with a wickedly delicious tremor.

Noticing the collection of packages in my arms, she gave me a wistful smile. "Looks like you do, though."

Keeping my voice steady, I said, "Yes, I do have something of a shopping list." I didn't add that she was now on it. "Would you like some help? I'm pretty good at choosing clothing," I finished with an engaging smile.

She nodded again. "Yes, I can see that. Oh, yes, I would really appreciate your help, that would be wonderful. I want to surprise my boyfriend. Valentine's Day is coming up, and I want to surprise him by wearing some wild outfits. Just something different, you know? But there are so many..." Again she looked around, waving her arm in a gesture of defeat.

"You're in luck. As a matter of fact, that's why I'm here too, to get some presents for my p... um, a good friend of mine. I'm Kelly, by the way." My face was flushing, I didn't want to use the word pet in front of her. Not yet, at least. Maybe later. I held out my hand, she took it, and I felt the heat building.

She chuckled as we shook hands. "Yeah, he must be a good friend. I'm Dawn, nice to meet you." I smiled in return, and we spent some time strolling down the aisle, chatting about men, lingerie - her lack of knowledge about it, to be exact - and examining various outfits. Several of them were definitely outfits I wanted to see her in, and I handed them to her. "Here, you would look great in this one." The first time she looked very surprised and acted like she was going to protest. I just looked at her quietly, and the protest was never made. After that, she accepted my selections with nervous smiles. At one point she frowned, however. "I don't even know if these will fit. Do they have dressing rooms here?" She paused and chuckled self-consciously. "Then again, I wouldn't have any idea how to put any of this on anyway."

"Yes, there's a dressing room right over there," I said, motioning in that direction. We began walking that way, but after just a few steps an incredibly exciting thought came to me, and I paused. Looking her in the eye I said, "Actually I have a better idea. My house isn't too far away, and I'm free the rest of the afternoon. We'll have plenty of time to try everything on."

"Wow..." she said with a slight shake of her head. Then she grinned, cleared her throat, and said, "That sounds like a great idea. I took today off so I could go shopping and get things figured out, so I have all afternoon free."

Perfect.

As we drifted out of the clothing section, I noticed her glancing at me every now and then. I pretended not to notice.

It was pure coincidence that the corset outfit I'd chosen for her was identical to the one I'd just worn with Alex. Pure coincidence. Not.

I'd also chosen black leather bustier and garter outfit. As she collected the various packages for the walk to the front of the shop, her eyes drifted over mine again - and lingered there for a few delicious seconds before darting away.

We strolled toward the register, and she paused before the nipple clamp display. "Do these hurt?" she asked in a rather timid voice.

I picked out a package and handed it to her. As she took it, I looked her straight in the eye. "No. In fact, I find them quite comfortable. It's so wonderfully exciting to feel them closing around you... tighter... and tighter..."

She stared at me for a moment before blinking and blushing. A nervous smile flashed across her face. 'You know, your eyes are really something." I smiled back, all innocence.

"Thank you. I've been told that on several occasions, actually. It's quite a compliment. But be careful. People have looked into my eyes and have fallen in, very very deeply, never to be heard from again." Dawn shivered and gasped, but her eyes never left mine. "They say you can tell quite a bit about a person by looking into their eyes, and I have noticed that you seem to enjoy what happens to you when you look into my eyes. It's a very delicious feeling, isn't it?"

She stood very still, gazing into my eyes, and after a moment nodded slowly. "Yes..." I smiled and looked away. A few seconds later she shook her head and blinked. "Wow..."

At the register, I made my purchases, and then Dawn placed her selections on the counter. Before the man behind the register started ringing them up, however, I spoke.

"I would like you to do something for me," I said firmly, fixing my eyes upon his. He was in his mid forties, and I loved the fact that even he blushed at the direct eye contact. "My friend here has never worn lingerie like this before, and she doesn't feel comfortable using the dressing rooms here. I don't live too far away. We're going to take them home and try them on. Tonight or tomorrow we'll come back and pay for the ones that fit, and return the ones that don't."

His jaw flapped for a moment. Finally, "That's not... that's not our, uh, policy. You have to, uh, pay for everything..."

I nodded, still holding his gaze. "Yes, we certainly will. Tonight or tomorrow. Thank you so much. We'll see you later."

Sweeping Dawn's items into a bag, I continued to gaze into his eyes. After a few seconds he mumbled something like, "Er, yeah... sure... tonight... tomorrow... pay for it later..." I took Dawn's hand and led her out of the shop, leaving him standing there watching us disappear out the door. Dawn was staring at me with unconcealed awe.

"How did you do that?" she stammered. "What are you, some kind of Jedi Knight? That guy just stood there and let you take... oh, God, how much is all this going to cost?... Anyway, he just let you walk out of there without paying for it!"

I smiled. "It will get paid for, Dawn, no need to worry. And no, I'm not a Jedi. Let's go." Turning, I walked toward my car. Behind me, even as I walked away, I heard her sigh. Her next sound was a gasp as I unlocked the Ferrari.

She stood for a moment, eyeing the sleek lines, the gleaming red paint. Then she set her bags down, reached up, and ran one hand over the car almost reverently. "Oh, wow..." I thought back to Alex's garage and the heat inside me intensified.

On the way home she asked about my car. She was amazed when I told her I also had a Porsche. As the conversation rambled on, moving from cars to Star Wars to men to lingerie, I noticed her glancing sidelong at me quite often, and my heart beat faster as we got closer to my house.

There, we carried our bags in and decided to use the living room for our fashion show. Her bags went on the couch as I turned on the stereo. The heat intensified as I selected several specific CD's and loaded the CD player. Picking up the remote, I started the first CD - Diana Krall's "Love Scenes", and asked if she'd had lunch.

"No, actually, I haven't," she replied, looking around the living room. I went into the kitchen and called to her that I'd get some wine and make a fruit and cheese plate.

I put some strawberries and grapes on a small plate, along with two pieces of cheese. I then poured two large crystal goblets of wine, and carried them on a tray, along with the fruit plate and wine bottle, into the living room.

Dawn was sitting on my couch, her back to me, reading. The book that Alex had so carefully hidden at his house was always on the coffee table at mine, and as I came up behind her I saw Dawn was thumbing through it, her cheeks glowing. She paused and looked up at me, quickly closing the book and setting it down.

"If that book embarrassed me, I wouldn't have it out."

She nodded, grinned slightly, and picked it up again. As I placed the tray on the table, she pointed to the cover.

"The world of sexual dominance and submission," she read, her voice unsteady. "My boyfriend and I have talked about playing with this a few times, but we've never really dared to do anything." After today she'd dare, I thought.

Taking a sip of wine, I handed the other goblet to her. She raised it to her lips, then paused. Tilting her head ever so slightly, she held her goblet out, and we touched them together before each taking a sip. She set her goblet down with a sigh and a nervous lick of her lips. "That's good," she giggled. She picked up a piece of cheese and nibbled at it. I left the other one for her and picked up a grape, eating it slowly along as Diana sang "Peel Me A Grape". Dawn watched, cheeks flushed, eyes always searching for mine. At times I let her find them - and at times I looked away from her on purpose.

After half an hour or so, Dawn had eaten both pieces of cheese, the fruit and was gone, the wine was three quarters gone, and Dawn was quite content to sit quietly and gaze into my eyes for longer and longer periods of time. I had enjoyed watching the effect of two small pieces of cheese and a few glasses of wine on Dawn's empty stomach. Not drunk by any means, but she was surely feeling no pain. We had discussed many things in between bites and sips and dreamy stares. I knew she was twenty seven, had been going with her boyfriend for six months, had never experimented with anything 'different' sexually, and was very concerned she was going to make a fool of herself on Valentine's Day, when she modeled her new outfits for her boyfriend. Many times during our conversation she would fall silent, gazing deeply into my eyes. A moment later she would bring herself out of it with a dreamy smile and another muttered comment about my eyes. Watching her sliding in and out of trance, which I did nothing to assist or prevent, was making me ever so hot.

About the same time the CD ended. Dawn happened to be gazing at me when the silence fell, and it was quite enjoyable sitting quietly, allowing her to fall as deep as she dared into my eyes. After a moment, as always, she brought herself out if it - more or less. "Those eyes..."

I pressed a few buttons on the remote as she sat somewhat bewildered on the couch beside me. The familiar tingle ran through me as I pushed play - and repeat. the first song on this CD would become very special for Dawn.

The first sounds came to her - brief staccato beats. They continued, soon joined by a seemingly random background. She looked at me curiously as a voice chanted a few unfamiliar words, over and over. "What's this?"

"Music to move to." I stood and reached for her as the collection of irregular sounds suddenly melded into one, the drumbeat became more pronounced, and the chanting became singing, the words still incomprehensible. A bass line kicked in, and I pulled her off the floor and into the middle of the room. Her expression was so incredibly sexy, dreamy surprise and puzzlement and embarrassment. The tempo of the song picked up.

"I can't dance," she protested. I let go of her hands and, ignoring her objections, began swaying with the music, keeping my eyes on hers, staring at her with a soft smile.

"There is so much power in music. It can have an incredible effect on people. It's easy to get lost in music like this. Lost..."

She stood still, watching me. The song was about six minutes long, and I moved the entire time, watching her, waiting. I knew it would happen. Her eyes never left me, and by the time the song ended, she was indeed swaying slightly back and forth. There was a short silence followed by the opening beats as the song repeated. She blinked and looked startled, then took a deep breath. "Keep moving," I said, still staring deep into her eyes.

She opened her mouth, probably to say again she couldn't dance, but no words came. I was swaying from side to side, my eyes locked onto hers. Her swaying became more pronounced. Her hands moved, back and forth, back and forth, and her hips began to move.

"Move with me."

Her nervous smile faded, the color moving higher on her cheeks. Her motions were at first slow, hesitant, unsure. Then she seemed to sense she could let go. Let go to the music. "Allow yourself to let go..." As each second, each note, passed, her movements became smoother and smoother and smoother.

The song played through and repeated. In the short silence I kept moving. So did she, staring at me, her actions an unconscious duplication of my own.

So suggestible. I loved it.

She followed my movements throughout the song, and again, we continued moving in the silence, our eyes locked together.

As the music picked up the third time, I moved closer to her, almost touching her, looking deeply into her eyes.

"Yes. Move with the music. Move with me."

"Yes," she whispered.

Dawn was so focused upon me that her movements were now indeed mirror images of my own. I held her gaze for the duration of the song, my excitement intensifying. When the music ended, I kept moving - and so did she.

"Lost in it."

"Lost...."

The music played again, casting its dreamy spell over my new friend Dawn. We moved together, in harmony with the music, staring ever deeper into each others eyes. As with Alex, I had to wonder at times like this who was actually entrancing who. My hands brushed over my breasts, gliding easily down my body, and I moaned silently as my suggestible companion caressed her breasts and abdomen as well. Lost in it... she surely was.

The song began again, the constant, steady, repetitive beat of Mickey Hart's "Umasha" working its way into Dawn's mind, my eyes opening the path for it. As Dawn moved with me, for me, she drifted off, her body moving of its own accord, her mind quiet, her eyes staring deeply into mine.

"So easy. So easy to become lost in it. So easy to let go. So easy to let go. Let go now. Let go. Let yourself be lost in it. No cares, no worries. So relaxed. So deeply relaxed. Looking deeply into my eyes. Deeper and deeper. Deeper and deeper. Lost in them. Lost in them... This feels so natural, so easy, it feels so good, as you relax deeper and deeper. And the movement of your body is arousing, exciting, as the music takes you to a place you never imagined. Deeper and deeper."

"It feels so good. So good. The music. My eyes. My voice. Relax and let the music and my eyes and my voice carry you away... deeper and deeper... relax and imagine yourself doing an incredibly erotic strip tease... so sexy... so very erotic... so incredibly sexy..."

She sighed again, her cheeks coloring. Her nipples were straining inside her dress, her body moving effortlessly in a dance of total openness, total calmness - total acceptance. It was time.

And the timing was perfect, as the song ended again at that moment. I stared point blank into her glassy eyes, and whispered, "Let go. Close your eyes and relax completely. You will find the silence as compelling as the music. Compelling and arousing."

As I spoke, I stopped the CD player clicked the remote to change the CD to the last one I'd loaded. It was the perfect selection for the moment, with Dawn gliding gently, her eyes closed, her nipples begging me to take them between my lips. I pressed play and repeat and spoke to my guest once more.

"I'm going to count from one to five. At the count of five you will open your eyes, remaining deeply relaxed and focused on the sound of my voice. You will be perfectly aware of everything around you, and totally able to respond. For the next song, you will do what the words tell you to do. You will hear my voice singing the words, and you will remain deeply relaxed, highly aroused, and focused on the sound of my voice. The music will relax you, excite you, arouse you, more than you've ever imagined. On the count of five, one, two, three, our five, open your eyes."

The music started. Dawn's eyes opened and found me standing by the stereo. For a moment she just looked at me, then she smiled, and a spark flared deep in her eyes. "Oh..." Her smile changed, a subtle yet obvious change of expression.

Dawn was hot. Very hot.

Joe Cocker's voice came to her. "Baby, take off your coat... real slow..." Dawn's eyes widened. "Oh..." I gazed at her, waiting. "And take off your shoes", Joe continued.

Dawn looked down as Joe and I teamed up to sing, "I'll take off your shoes." I knelt before her and undid her shoes. Looking up, I found her staring at me, eyes wide, barely breathing.

She shook herself, and her shoes came off as Joe sang. "Baby, take off your dress... yes, yes, yes." Dawn shivered, sighed...

...her eyes closed, she moaned softly...

...and Dawn undid one button of her dress.

"You can leave your hat on," Joe sang. Inspired, I reached next to the couch and tossed Dawn my favorite hat - a leather one with a wide flat brim that went all the way around. It's like the hats the flamenco dancers wear, I'd gotten it in Cancun several years before. She caught it, looked at it, and smiled that smile again. The naughty smile, the one she'd flashed a few times but not kept on. This time it stayed on. So did the hat, as she placed it on her head and tipped it rakishly to one side.

"You can leave your hat on," Joe repeated.

Holding the hat with one hand, Dawn gave me a look and tossed her head. With that single act she seemed to shed any remaining inhibitions. "You can leave your hat on." Looking at me over her shoulder with a most mischievous expression, she licked the tip of one finger and ran it around the brim of the hat.

I decided against joining her as she danced. Instead I leaned back on the couch, next to her purchases, and enjoyed the show.

"Go over there, turn on the lights, all the lights," Joe sang in his unmistakable voice. Dawn looked around, saw the light switches on the wall. She glided towards them, swishing her dress, waving her hips. She reached out and swatted the light switches, and all the lights in the room turned on.

I was turned on as well.

"Come over here, stand on that chair. Baby, that's right."

Dawn looked around and saw the heavy old wooden chair in the corner. Without hesitation, she strode over to it and stepped up onto it, turning her back to me. Indeed she had lost her inhibitions.

"Raise your arms up in the air, and now shake'em."

She raised her hands over her head and shook them loosely, as if shaking off water.

So suggestible.

So hot.

Her hips were moving from side to side now. Her arms remained above her head, moving as well, winding around each other erotically. Every now and then she would look back over her shoulder, the fire in her eyes burning brighter every time.

I stopped the song and restarted it. Dawn danced on the chair for me as Joe sang once more about taking off her coat and shoes. When he said to leave her hat on, Dawn looked over her shoulder, grinned wickedly, and tilted it a bit more rakishly.

"Baby, take off your dress, yes, yes, yes."

She took hold of her dress on either side. Hips still swaying, she tugged the dress higher and higher, exposing her thin white panties. A look back over her shoulder to make sure I was looking, a grin when she saw I was, and the dress fell back down. For never having done this before, she was certainly a wonderful tease, and I quite happily took credit for that.

I loved it.

She was still holding her dress, swishing it back and forth around her legs as the music played. She turned to face me, and wide grin firmly in place. She was turning me on and she knew it.

Her dress rose again, eventually exposing her panties. I shifted on the couch, and Dawn's smile grew. She slid her hands under her dress, into her panties, and began working them downward. As the panties moved down, so did the bottom of her dress. Soon the panties tumbled from beneath the dress, and Dawn kicked them away.

"You can leave your hat on," Joe sang. I'd forgotten all about him, and I restarted the song from the comfort - and heat - of the couch.

Dawn's fingers moved to the buttons of her dress again. One by one they came undone. I stared into her eyes the entire time, and each button seemed to take her just a bit longer to open. Just like Alex, I thought with a thrill. So suggestible, so willing to fall deeply into my eyes. So deeply. She faltered on the last button, the fingers searching for signals from a mind that was no longer able to produce them.

"More," I whispered, moving my eyes to her dress.

A slight quiver, a smile - and Dawn picked up where she'd left off. The last button was undone, and my highly aroused companion shrugged her dress off her shoulders. It swished to the floor just as Joe sang "Baby take off your dress... yes, yes, yes" yet again. Dawn stepped out of it and kicked it away. She stood on the chair wearing only her white bra and a big smile. The bra didn't last long, and my whole body felt electrified as it fell to the floor.

I rose and helped her off the chair, then stood in front of her, staring deep into her eyes. She stared back, her smile fading, her movements slowing. Falling. Falling. Wanting. Needing. Then she was motionless, utterly lost in my eyes. Oh, God, this was so good...

"Deeper," I said over Joe's singing. "Close your eyes and go deeper." Dawn's eyelids closed, and I turned the music off. As I looked at her again I saw her nipples were so very hard. Almost as hard as mine.

"The silence is still as compelling and exciting as the music. You can hear my voice clearly in the silence, and it is even more compelling in the silence."

"Go deeper now, deeper into this place you've never been before, a place where you are totally relaxed, totally comfortable, and totally uninhibited. There is nothing you cannot do, nothing you cannot feel, nothing you cannot experience. No cares, no worries, no inhibitions. You are already extremely aroused from your exciting strip tease. So very aroused, feeling so wonderfully sexy."

"I am going to count from one to five. At the count of five you will open your eyes and be totally awake, totally alert, extremely aroused, and totally uninhibited. You will find that you cannot contain your arousal, your excitement, it must find release. You WILL find release for it, in whatever way you choose. You will find it exciting to ask me to join you in your pleasure. And every time you find yourself looking deeply into my eyes and hear my voice telling you to relax and let go, you will allow yourself to instantly return to this place of deep and total relaxation, focusing totally on the sound of my voice."

Before I awakened her, I did one more thing. Using the remote I played "Umasha" again, and pressed repeat. Silence is indeed compelling, but that song is wonderful background for so very many things.

"One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Eyes open, wide awake."

Dawn swayed as her eyes opened. She stood for a moment blinking away the fog. She took a deep breath, looked at me, looked down at her exposed body, then glanced up to see the hat still on her head. She smiled.

"I can leave my hat on?"

"You can leave MY hat on," I corrected her with a grin. "For now."

I was too hot to wait. I reached for her, took her in my arms. She gasped, a gasp that I silenced with a kiss. I felt her knees weaken and held her tighter.

I released her and looked at her, waiting for the next signal. It took a moment, but it came. During that moment Dawn stood perfectly still, the tingle of my lips against hers still very real, the feeling of my arms around her so very different from those of a man.

Dawn's arms went around me.

Plucking my hat from her head, I put it on - and kissed her again.

She returned the kiss with gratifying intensity. Her eyes closed and her breathing grew heavier.

The bags of new clothes could wait.