I’d known that Judith would choose hypnosis over giving me a blowjob, even though she’d eagerly sunk to her knees in the kitchen. It was that earlier conversation a couple of weeks before, about being made to “feel things intensely”. Though I didn’t have a clue what she was after, the thought of being hypnotized excited her, and she wasn’t stupid. All guys have dicks that can be blown, but how many can bring the mind and body together through such a potent form of hypnosis?

Watching her fetching ass climb the stairs to my office, I withdrew my initial assessment — this girl was stupid, if she thought she could force my hand like this without consequences. What she was doing was probably more reckless than mean-spirited — it sounded like Judith had some sort of hypno-fetish, or wanted to use me to tweak or intensify some other fetish. I could imagine how this all made sense to her, if I wanted to. I could feel some sympathy for the impetuousness of youth, or the human failing of biting off more than one can chew.

Fuck that. Even if her blackmailing methods had not really been intended to do me personal harm, this piece of teenage ass had threatened me in my own home, jeopardizing my marriage. Without knowing it, she had threatened to expose my past sins, too, which would surely cost me my career, perhaps even landing me in prison.

My cock was hard and angry when we reached my office. I pointed to the leather psychiatrist’s couch as I closed and locked the door, and studied the curves of Judith’s body as she leaned to remove her heels. She was a great-looking girl, and had figured me out enough to dress as I wished Coral would dress — elegantly whorish.

My heart beat wildly, and it occurred to me that I had never put someone into the immersion state when my emotions were this volatile. It felt like my balls were two boiling cauldrons, perhaps for the very reason that I felt months of restraint collapsing all around me. I had tried so hard to move on from these sorts of sexual manipulations, to create a world with Coral where I could be a new Michael, a more upstanding Michael. Now I had Mira cyber-invading my home and an eighteen year-old minx in black lingerie thinking she could hijack my special skills, and play me.

“What do I do?” Judith asked. “Lie on my back with my arms folded over my waist?”

You do any fucking thing I tell you to do, I thought. I recognized the impulse as insanely dangerous and self-destructive, if not checked. Was it already too late, though? With events moving so unpredictably, it seemed that there could be no escape from the misdeeds of the past, because they were all here, inside of me and inside my home. My mischievous manipulations had always been here to some degree, in my thoughts, and dreams, and the long string of evasions and lies. Now the past had taken shape, putting on black stockings and heels to twist my arm.

I had to regain control, and I had an extremely powerful weapon at my disposal, the very weapon Judith wanted. It was time to use it, not only with my pleasure in mind, but my fucking survival.

“Yes, lie back,” I directed. ”Arrange yourself so that you can relax every part of your body.”

“I need to tell you what I want you to do,” she said, settling in.

“Of course. This is all about you, after all.” I kept my voice calm, almost timid, and she didn’t pick up on the sarcasm. “Why do you want this, Judith? You’ve obviously thought about it. You were even waiting for this, weren’t you? For a chance for us to be alone to do this.”

One corner of her mouth turned up. “Me and my boyfriend… We’ve been trying to find my G-spot for months. He says that every woman has one, but… We’re still looking. I think he might be disappointed in me, and I need to please him.”

I kept myself from laughing out loud. The most recent ultrasound research I knew of indicated that perhaps fifteen percent of the female population even had the elusive pressure point. And what kind of twisted relationship did Judith have with this boyfriend? “You want me to find your G-spot through hypnosis? That’s what this is about?”

“Yes! And maybe…” Something in her demeanor changed. Whereas she’d been confident before, even threatening to blackmail me, I watched something inside of her soften, or shrink. “You can hypnotize parts of the body,” she stated, closing her eyes. “Just give me my G-spot. I’m… in your hands now.”

It was all too ridiculous. Besides that, I didn’t believe for one second that she’d divulged the real reasons for wanting this so badly. Perhaps she’d talked it all over with the boyfriend, the possibility of being hypnotized. Perhaps this unknown dipshit had put her up to it, which meant that Judith was not really the one at fault. None of which mattered. She was a perilous element in my home, and I would learn her truths. Once Judith succumbed to the technique, there was very little — perhaps nothing — that she could hide from me.

It took barely more than two minutes to put her into the immersion state, which had to be a record for a first-time induction. Whether it was her enthusiasm, or being so young… She was the youngest person I’d worked with to this point, by at least four years. Interesting to me, her youth made me feel that I was taking advantage of her in a special way. Some areas of the brain, especially those involving decision-making and the assessment of risk, are not fully formed until the early twenties. Could college-age teens be especially susceptible to the technique? It could be a new area of study for our program.

Or an opportunity to easily control and seduce students. Maybe even some of Coral’s students.

Filing that thought away for a rainy multiple-pussy day, I admired this girl's healthy curvy body, donned in the sexy black undergarments. Lovely cleavage and the tight muscles of her waist showed through the lacy middle of her corset, and her legs in the black stockings softly shimmered, the light from the curtained window defining their shapely curves. I leaned in and studied the darker seam at the top of the left stocking, and the way her youthful flesh bulged just slightly as it exited the constricting nylon. These were tanned thighs, strong and perfectly smooth all the way down to the sliver of black fabric that barely covered her pussy. She had known what she was doing, dressing as a temptress, almost a Lolita. Here in my hypnotic hands, however, Judith was completely open, and unfocused, awaiting my voice, and purpose, and direction. My direction. Not the boyfriend’s. Mine.

“Do you really want to find your G-spot?” I began.

“K…kind of…”

“Was that your boyfriend’s idea?”

“Yes, at first. He… says there’s something wrong with me. He wants me to enjoy sex more.”

She probably wasn’t all that into him; either that or the lazy ass wanted her screaming without going through the trouble of making her scream. “But you had other pressing reasons for being hypnotized, didn’t you Judith?” I followed.

“Y…yes.”

“Tell me.”

She seemed to struggle inside, the muscles of her mouth tensing, even wiggling, but no words coming out. It was quite unusual.

“Why did you want Michael to hypnotize you?” I tried again. “It feels good to speak the truth to Michael. It’s the best feeling in the world, telling Michael what he asks to hear.”

To my amazement, she did not answer, the strange writhing of her lips continuing. Was she resisting the directions?

“Listen closely, Judith,” I persisted. “I need to hear your reasons for wishing to be hypnotized. Your reasons, not those you’ve been given by somebody else. You’ve wanted to be hypnotized for weeks, I know you have. Tell me why.”

“I… want to be submissive and… bi.”

Well well, a two-for-one. “Sexually submissive? As in slave and master? That’s what turns you on?”

“Oh yesss…”

“Have you ever been someone’s slave?”

The wiggling lips, rather than words.

“Have you ever made love with a woman?”

“Only… petting.”

I chuckled at the quaint term. This girl was a potential goldmine, only it didn’t add up. Submissives, I knew, are what they are for any number of reasons, and to differing degrees. Some love the carefree feeling that comes from delegating decision-making to others. Some feel burdened by a surfeit of control in other aspects of their lives, so enjoying the thrill of an about-face in the bedroom. Some have weakly-formed personalities to begin with, or use the dynamic to feel they have become a part of something larger than themselves. Still others experience submissive behavior as a pathway around religious training, or other forms of sexual repression, or deeply rooted feelings of guilt or shame. And some, I supposed, are just kinky. If taken deep into sadomasochistic territory, replete with whips and chains, it might be considered very kinky.

I knew zilch about the specifics of Judith’s upbringing, and this wasn’t therapy, where I was paid to care. But I did know that aggressively instigating blowjobs and threatening men with sexual blackmail did not fit the submissive profile. Trust did, though — it was an integral component of any “healthy” sub/dom relationship. If Judith’s threats had merely been desperate tools to create the sub/dom relationship she so strongly desired, where she trustingly placed her being in my hands…

“Being hypnotized this deeply might be seen as the ultimate submissive act,” I concluded out loud.

“Oh yesss…”

As modeling for an artist might also be, on a different level. Being told how to stand, and where. Being told to not-move, and scolded if you did. Becoming an aesthetic mannequin, a pose-puppet. The pose-puppet of an extremely sexy woman. It was easy to imagine how working for Coral might have brought both of this girl’s repressed fantasies to the surface, stirring her inner pot until she felt ready to blow, and needed to act out.

“How far does this go, Judith? Have you wanted Coral to discipline you? Have you and Coral even fooled around?”

“N…no. She… mmm… mmmuhhh!” I watched, fascinated, as her mouth twisted again, the words choked off in a gust of hot air. It appeared as though she was resisting telling me what I wanted to hear — was able to resist. And she wanted to be submissive?

“But you are attracted to Coral,” I stated.

“Oh God yes. Coral is… mmmmmmnnnnn…”

It was more like yummy sounds this time. “Then tell me what you want with me. Tell me what you’ve fantasized being done to you through hypnosis.”

“I… my hypno… hyp…”

“Hypnotist.”

“Yes. They make me obey. They make me… get hot… when I obey. So hot… And…”

“And?”

“They… push buttons… unknown to me. They make me feel, and do… And I can’t help it! I… ohhhh God, yes, I can’t help it!”

Listening to and watching this teen melt while describing what I loved most had me ready to blow my hypno-wad. I’d never thought of my talents in these exact terms before, but perhaps I should.

“Why did you want to give Michael a blowjob so badly?” I asked next, trying to complete the puzzle.

“Mmmm… Muhhh…” she garbled, her mouth continuing to malfunction. Was it her youth, or her kink about submissiveness, causing these strange misfirings?

I might have kept beating at it, but there wasn’t time. With Coral due to return in fifteen or twenty minutes, the twisting roadways inside of Judith’s mind could not be traveled, not now. Later, though, if I made certain this would happen again…

I felt like slapping myself for not doing this before, giving myself a psychic free pass into every woman I’d ever hypnotized. I might have been able to exorcise Mira’s cock-lust, for instance. Or, if it struck my fancy, I could have gradually turned Coral into the world’s most determined cock-sucker in the weeks since our wedding. Doing that would have meant committing to my sins, however, and I hadn’t wanted that, or had struggled with wanting that. Now, however, the sins were following me, giving me no choice.

Unable to get everything I wanted out of Judith, it was time to force my desires inside. Her resistance to the commands was non-existent, and I had this paradoxical feeling as my words gripped her will, that I was doing right by her by fulfilling her deepest fantasies.

She was not to tell Coral or anyone else about being hypnotized by me, or anything else that transpired in this office. To the boyfriend, she would explain that my technique could only help alleviate pain. I could not make people do or feel things — that was all a juvenile fantasy about hypnosis, and what it could do.

“You… can’t… make…”

“But you know better, Judith. You know, deep down in a completely silent place, that Michael’s technique can affect you deeply, especially with additional attempts. You want Michael to hypnotize you again. You need Michael to hypnotize you again.”

“N…need.”

“You feel new energy coursing inside your vagina, Judith. You feel new sexual life between your thighs, and you know, deep down, that Michael can make you feel even more. Far more.”

“More. I want… more!”

“You want more? Dump your boyfriend, then. Tell him that you hate his ignorance about your G-spot, and leave him like the worthless piece of shit he is.”

“Piece of… shit…”

“His cock is a piece of shit, too. You don’t want something like that in your mouth ever again, do you Judith? It’s disgusting, your boyfriend's cock.”

Her lips scrunched back. She was picturing the dipshit’s repulsive tool.

“From now on, you will be consumed by fantasies of obeying Michael, and pleasing him. You would do anything for him — just thinking about doing what he wishes makes your pussy gush. And you recognize that Michael’s hypnotic talents are your key to happiness, your key to sexual fulfillment.”

“Full… fill…”

“But you cannot say a word of this to anybody, especially Coral. You cannot show the excitement you feel about Michael in any way, not unless you are in this office. Do you understand?”

“Yesss…”

“Who is Michael, Judith?”

“My… secret master.”

“What does Michael hold, Judith?”

“The key.”

“To what?”

“My sexual… fulfillment.”

“Who else will know this, Judith? Who will see it, and be able to tell?”

“Nobody!”

“Who will especially not see this?”

“Coral!”

I checked my watch, and decided to take the risk, after going through so much trouble. “Pull your panties aside, Judith. Show Michael where you feel so much new energy. Show Michael the slave-pussy he owns.”

She yanked them aside with such force that I thought they might tear apart. I kneeled beside her, bringing my head down for a close-up view. It was a very nice pussy, and unbelievably wet. Seeing it there, all pink and glistening and mine for the taking, I knew I could not send this girl away without a taste.

“Michael is going to insert his fingers inside your pussy,” I said, keeping my voice gentle. “You will not make a sound, even a tiny sound, even though it’s heaven, having Michael’s fingers inside of you.”

I watched Judith’s jaw open wide, her lips silently twisting in an entirely new way as I completed the deed. I pivoted my fingers, and leaned closer, taking her warm nectar onto my tongue. I could feel the tip of my cock pushing past the waist of my shorts, and looked up to watch her mouth move. This girl had a much wider mouth than Coral’s, and I believed what she had told me on the way up the stairs, that she was damn good at giving a blowjob. It would be so easy, to direct her to swallow me, even orchestrating how she was to suck, in what ways and for how long.

The truth was, i had always wanted that. Not only getting great sex after an immersion session, but plugging a helpless woman during a session, where I could drive their mind like a cock-sucking car, stepping on the gas or hitting the brakes as I wished. here was the perfect candidate, all sexy and skilled and desiring to be used.

There just wasn’t time, though, not now. Instead, I told her to instantly accede to my wishes if I ever wanted to hypnotize her again, anywhere and at any time. I told her to feel shivers of sexual excitement any time I ordered her around with my voice raised, or insulted her.

“Oh, and Judith?”

“Yes.”

“You are to dream about sucking Michael’s cock the entire time you model for Coral. You cannot show the incredible excitement you feel from these fantasies — no heavy breathing, no playing with yourself, no outward signals at all no matter how excruciating the lust becomes. In front of Coral you are to appear calm and professional, even though you are lost in your lust for Michael’s cock. Do you understand?

“Yesss…”

“And when you are done posing for Coral this evening, ask her whether Michael is seeing private clients. Whatever she answers, tell her that you would like to consult with me about some personal issues, perhaps even becoming a client. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“And Judith?”

“Yesss…”

“Don’t you ever fucking threaten Michael again, do you hear?”

“Yesss…”

“Shut up, bitch!”

It was beautiful, watching the soundless jolt rush through her. I didn’t have cruel and degradingly abusive inside of me, if her submissive streak went that deep. I had stern and forceful, though, especially with my back to a wall. “Even thinking about threatening Michael makes your cunt feel like it’s drying up,” I poured on. "Like it’s vanishing. Like you’ll never feel excited ever again. Like your cunt is becoming microscopic.”

Her body jerked soundlessly, the “shut up” part overwhelming her discomfort.

“Tell me what you want to say.”

“No!”

It wasn’t defiance. It was the formerly muted reaction to the dried-up cunt business. “No what?”

“I’ll never threaten Michael! I need…”

“What do you need, Judith?”

“My… my cunt!”

“Good girl. Now finger your pussy. My fingers are tired.”

Her fingers were trying to dive in before I’d even taken mine out.

“Stop,” I directed, not wanting her to come. Yet.

She stopped.

“Suck your pussy from your fingers.” I watched as she greedily complied, going at her fingers like a child with cunt-coated popsicles.

I gave Judith a final command to masturbate in bed all night long as she thought about being hypnotized by me, then slowly brought her out of the immersion state, not quite certain of the degree to which I’d been a controlling asshole. I might even be this girl’s fucking hero, since I was giving her a good hard taste of what she wanted.

Except the bisexual part. That, I decided, would require further thought, perhaps even some careful planning.

She worked her mouth as she blinked her eyes open, like her lips had become stuck to her teeth. “My mouth feels funny,” she said. Her eyes looked up at me, questioning. I let her see the tip of my dick escaping my shorts, and watched her lips involuntarily pucker.

“We didn’t… while I was away…” she sort-of asked.

“No,” I replied truthfully. “We didn’t.” It was beautiful, watching as the disappointment showed on her face. She didn't know how far we had gone, and how much she already belonged to me.

“I… could still take care of that," she muttered, her eyes locked onto my erection. "As payment.”

“You will not!” I declared, thrilled to see a tremor run right through her. She looked confused. “Get downstairs and wait for Coral in her studio.”

“How will I know…”

“Your G-spot? With any luck, you’ll soon be aware of new feelings inside your sorry vagina.”

Her breath caught at that. “I think… I think I feel new things already! Thank you! Thank you!”

I could almost hear the unspoken additional word, unconsciously wishing to roll off her tongue. Thank you, Master. She moved to hug me, but I put out the flat of my hand. “Don’t, you teasing bitch. Get downstairs, now!”

She stumbled as she reached down to retrieve her heels, and I could see goosebumps rise on the flesh of her arms. I wondered if she would try to masturbate before Coral returned.

I sure did.

I remained in my office after that, letting the dust settle. Because I was listening for it, I heard when Coral returned, and imagined Judith resuming her modeling downstairs, a very changed girl, though it wouldn’t show.

I kept bringing my fingers to my nose, breathing in the scent of Judith’s pussy. I felt stunned, shaken. I hadn’t fucked Judith, and I hadn’t succumbed to the offered blowjob, but it still felt like I had cheated on my wife. The pussy of a very beautiful girl lingered on these fingers, and I hadn't been able to resist planting seeds of further desire, which could only lead in one direction. In any book on marital ethics, I had already crossed a line. It all felt so inevitable, planned by the gods as much as by me and my devious mind, and it had me feeling somewhat disoriented. Dirty dealing hypno-sex was hardly a new thing for me; even so, it was as though my self-identity — or the fantasies of who I was or could be — were rapidly falling apart, with a whole new reality taking their place.

I didn’t have outright cruelty at my core, thank God, though Judith had almost been begging for that. And I’d known all along that I was no perfect husband, and could never aspire to that. But I had been making an honest effort to be a good one — at least it felt like an honest effort, as I knew the term. I still loved my wife, and the last thing in the world I wanted was to hurt her.

I took another whiff of Judith's scent, savoring it like the aroma of a fine wine. I felt uniquely alive at moments like this, knowing that a woman was going about her business with my instructions simmering inside. What felt odd about this instance was that hypnotizing Judith had not been my idea. She had been in and out of our home for weeks, and not once had I schemed to trick her into my office, and under my spell. I had not been looking to bring hypno-lust into our home, to have our intimacy invaded by…

Adrenaline cut through my heart like a sliver of ice. Invasion — Mira’s e-mail, unread and sitting on the kitchen table! Judith’s lingerie surprise attack had so fucked with my brain that I’d forgotten all about my laptop, left on and left out, where anybody could click and read it.

My legs wanted to run down the stairs, but I forced them to step normally, even with my heart pounding. I paused near the door to Coral’s studio, but heard nothing inside. I wanted her to be in there, drawing, not in the kitchen. Please please, not in the kitchen.

The laptop sat where I expected to find it, screen dark with the power light slowly pulsing. I brought it back to the office before clicking the screen alive.

The Mira e-mail had vanished. The one above, from Carlotta, was there. I hadn’t inadvertently deleted Mira’s message, had I? No, it hadn’t happened that way. Which meant that Coral had seen it, and erased it. Or Judith, although I doubted that.

This was an official disaster, the worst misstep since I’d met Coral. It could be worse — I had recently removed Rosita’s e-mails from my secret account, with their links to her personalized fuck videos. I had so much hiding on my computer, but buried in various subterranean files, giving me little reason to fear that they could have been unearthed in so little time.

But Mira’s e-mail… I hadn’t read it, or watched it. I didn’t know what it contained, or how incriminating it was.

And now it was gone, my private account found out and invaded, probably by my wife.

Fuck!

I’m standing onstage, with bright colored lights shining down upon me. In my hand is a magic wand, and I realize that I am a magician, performing my act in front of a large audience. I experience a moment of doubt — do I really know these tricks? Have I perfected the illusions?

I point my wand at a green bejeweled box, sitting upon a stool. In a bright flash and a puff of smoke, the stool is gone, and in its place is a much larger box, standing vertically. I open the door of the box, and it is empty. Closing the door, I tap three times with my wand, and hear a voice softly moaning inside. When I open the door, Coral steps out into the lights, her voluptuous body donned in a tight-fitting dress with a deeply plunging neckline. Sexual desire beams at me through the blue of her eyes. With one of her gloved hands, she reaches out to me, and we turn as one to meet the audience’s applause. She is my assistant, and my lover, and I now know that I will be able to perform my tricks. Not only do I feel Coral’s support, I also know her body will distract the attention of those in the audience, preventing them from seeing my sleight of hand.

She sweeps her arms, and brighter lights suddenly shine upon the four corners of the stage. In each corner is a wooden stool, with a scantily clad woman perched upon it. I’m not surprised by the identity of each woman. Judith, donned in the black lingerie from the evening, is crouched upon one stool, mouthing the words, “Please hypnotize me”. Rosita, her huge breasts squeezed into an ultramarine blue corset, is dancing on her stool, fixing me with her eyes as she gyrates around an invisible pole. In the back right corner — Lucinda, in a traditional ballerina’s costume, balancing with toes on-point. And opposite from her I see Grace, completely nude but for thick leather restraints that keep her strapped to her stool.

A giant spinning disc slowly descends at the back of the stage. Its colors are red on yellow, always in motion, like whirling hypnotic fire. I know this trick — I will now hypnotize all four women at once, and I know I can. I turn my head to wink at Coral, but I find that she is staring straight at the spinning wheel, eyes bank. The audience has gone conspicuously silent, and I feel my cock growing hard, and so huge that it tears through my pants like tissue paper. The audience is silent because I’ve already hypnotized them. I’ve hypnotized them all.

I gasp as somebody taps me on the shoulder, surprised that anyone an move. I turn and it’s Mira, her eyes ravenous. She grasps hold of my giant hard meat and slips it between her widespread legs, her pussy so wet that my cock becomes slick when she leans forward, making contact with virtually every part of her body at once. She wraps her arms and legs around my gigantic erection, sliding up and down the entire length of me, giving me my first ever whole-body-job right onstage.

I hear sounds, and see the other women abandoning their stools, rushing forward to share in a piece of my cock. Only Grace is left behind, struggling to break free from the restraints. She screams in fury, and the other women take pity on her, pausing in their quest for my enormous dick. They loosen her ties, setting her free. In a rush, they all pile on, tongues and hands stroking every centimeter of my length.

And I fuck them. I fuck them all, feeling my cock massaged by wet thighs, and embracing arms, and pillowy breasts, and…

“How are things going in the studio?” I asked three hours later, over Saturday croissants.

Coral appeared preoccupied and generally out of it — even after two cups of very strong coffee, she had yet to put on anything. She sipped her coffee completely naked with remote eyes, seemingly unaware of the sexy wobble of her right breast, grazed by her forearm every time she brought the mug to her lips.

“The studio is… mixed,” she finally replied. “It’s both exciting and frustrating.”

“How so?”

She didn’t answer straightaway, and I could see something momentarily evasive going on behind the blue of those eyes. I had placed my laptop on the table in the same position as the day before, hoping she would see it and show me something, either through her actions or her eyes. She totally ignored it, though, as though it wasn’t there.

“I’m nearly ready to transition some of these drawings into paintings,” Coral answered, which sounded completely benign. “I feel… inspired. I think I’m on to something, Michael. Like I’m just now making contact with something really big.”

Her forearm was, anyway. “Am I allowed to see?” I fished.

“Not yet. Soon, I hope. Things are feeling sort of complicated right now. I think I should let my drawings develop a little more before bringing you into the studio.”

I remained silent, hoping she might reveal more. I’d never seen this in her before, this action of withholding information. She was essentially lying, through being deliberately vague. It was only fair, I knew, as I had hordes of hypno-lies and evasions stuck to me like invisible post-it notes. I didn’t like it, though.

“I’m going to have to hire a new model,” Coral said, looking up at the ceiling. “Judith is… gone.”

Oh crap. Had I fucked up by neglecting something? “Gone? What do you mean, gone?” I held my breath, waiting. If it — the boom, whatever its nature — was going to be lowered, this would be the time.

“I just need a fresh model, that’s all.”

Another evasion, I could tell. I couldn’t see where I could have gone wrong when programming Judith… Unless, as I'd thought before, the suggestions had made her too calm on the surface, while she was boiling inside. Calm to the point that she was no longer effective for Coral’s series of porno drawings? “You’ve had problems with Judith?” I took the risk of probing.

“She’s not quite right,” Coral answered, which answered nothing.

“Not the right look, or something else?”

“Not right, that’s all. She looks wonderful, and she’s cooperative, almost to a fault. But… It’s hard to explain. Oh, and she wants to set up an appointment with you.”

“What?” I feigned surprise.

“I told her you weren’t taking private clients these days. You aren’t, are you?”

“Of course not,” I replied, struggling to remain calm. “I barely have time to keep up with the paperwork at the hospital, and… Wait. Is this why you’re not going to draw Judith anymore? Because she needs therapy?”

No answer. As though she hadn’t even heard me.

“I guess it would be weird, if she modeled for you while I was…”

“Not related,” Coral answered emphatically. “I have my own reasons for switching models.”

“Okay,” I said, not really believing her.

“But if you want my opinion…”

“Hit me.”

“I think you should work with her.”

“Why?” I asked, warily. “What issues did she say she needed help with?”

“She’s eighteen, she probably has issues with everything. I just think it’s time for you to start rebuilding your practice, that’s all. Why not start with her, since she wants it? You should do it.”

"She probably couldn't even pay me. She's been working for you part-time, but I'm expensive."

"See her pro bono then. Helping people shouldn't always be about money. You should do it."

I thanked my lucky stars, and the effectiveness of my technique. I just couldn’t see Coral being this good an actress, which meant I must be in the clear, at least on this one point. “I’ll… think about it,” I said. “The timing seems rather coincidental though, with you…”

Coral met my eyes, and opened up, just a little. “Look, I mean it. My no longer wanting Judith as a model has nothing to do with that. I need a new model because inspiration sometimes follows the hands, and goes in unpredictable places. As I’ve been doing these drawings, the ideas have been flooding in like crazy. I have all of these… you know, ideas. Good ideas. They’re kind of risky, though, and Judith isn’t right for them.”

“Risqué?”

“Risk-ee,” she corrected. "I’m juxtapositioning things, elements that don’t really go together. Only they do, that’s the secret!”

The secret. We were both keeping secrets now; I was certain of it. And what did she mean by the juxtaposition of elements that didn’t go together? All I’d seen were images of Judith’s hot body showing off various forms of lingerie and contemplative masturbation. What didn’t go together there?

“…maybe just a twin, to keep from crowding the space. What do you think?” Coral asked.

Crap. I’d tuned out, not even seeing Coral rise to fetch more coffee, and I had no idea where she had taken the conversation. I imagined two identical models walking into the kitchen, only distinguishable by their preference in lingerie. “Twins? I don’t know…”

“Just one, Michael! Why would I need two?”

“I’m still not certain why you need the one.”

“I just do, trust me. Do you think we’ll have to have it delivered, or could it go on the roof of the car? A twin isn't that big.”

It took an additional stumble or two, but I finally understood that Coral wanted to set up a bed in her studio, complete with an antique bed frame. Something elegant for reclining poses, she said.

She left after that, to look up mattress prices on the Web. I watched her astounding figure as she padded away, wondering. She was either feeling supremely comfortable with her nakedness, or distracted enough inside that she hadn’t even realized that she’d never put anything on.

I looked down at the table, as though I could see my cock through it. I was half-hard down there. Hard from Coral's body, and knowing that I'd get Judith alone in my office again, probably soon. Not fully hard because I felt so nervous, like I had entered the worst of all possible worlds — a place where I could no longer read my beautiful wife.