Charlie
By Licentious
Most guys go for a good ass or a nice rack, but give me a woman in her forties, at the peak of her game, able to cram a whole evening’s seduction into a single glance and I’m happier than a termite in a wood pile. Looking back on that night, I really shouldn’t have done it, not with a client anyway. But man, I’d have been kicking myself for the rest of my life if I’d let that one get away.
It had started out so normal. The guys in suits were seated around the table, engineers and MBA’s, all in varying shades of gray and black. The corporate reorganization games, where everyone agrees on the need to cut back and then fights ruthlessly to protect their share of the pie, were about to begin. I was playing my usual role: hired gun. I was there as an objective referee, someone to keep everyone honest, record the decisions and make sure the desired cost saving goals were reached. The whole head office was there, except for one out of towner, as I was about to learn.
“We can’t start without Charlie,” said one anonymous suit. The others agreed.
We waited. I filled in time with a review of the rules and (yawn) an introduction to myself and my services.
I don’t know what I expected Charlie to be like. I do know that the blond hair, pleated skirt and fire engine red blazer took me by surprise. She looked like she had come straight from cheer-leading practice.
“Sorry I’m late guys, the airline’s having a bad day.”
“That’s OK, Charlie.”
“Don’t worry, Charlie. We haven’t started yet.”
As we got down to work, the cheerleading image was quickly replaced by an iron fist in a velvet glove. She could cut you down to size in a second, but leave you feeling like you owed her a thank you and a dinner out. It’s nice to work with someone who clearly enjoys her chosen profession.
It was a grueling day, so there were no complaints when I suggested we all break for dinner. I insisted on my one rule: no negotiations outside of the boardroom. No side deals. I knew that rule wouldn’t hold for the whole meeting, but it might allow me to get some sleep the first night. Eventually, the guys all went home and I shared a cab back to the hotel with Charlie. The hotel bar was deserted. I suggested a nightcap. She hesitated and then agreed.
We talked about this and that, but then she got on the subject of her daughter and she just wouldn’t shut up. All the awards the girl had received, all the races she had won, even though Charlie was a single mom and had had to work her way up from receptionist. They were more like sisters than mother and daughter. Blah, blah, blah. You get the picture. Even though I was sitting next to a goddess in business attire, I was beginning to regret offering her a drink.
“You’re lucky,” I finally said. “I have a daughter at home and she’s a handful.”
That changed everything. Suddenly a different picture emerged. A picture of a rebellious teen driving her poor mother crazy. Charlie started treating me like a fellow sufferer. She didn’t ask me a lot of questions, which is a good thing because my daughter actually lives with her mom.
“So, what else do you do?” That question took me by surprise.
“I hypnotize people.” I know. What a stupid, stupid thing to say. It popped out. Really. She took it as a challenge.
“Well you can’t hypnotize me. I have a strong will.”
“You’re right.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, you’re right. I can’t hypnotize you.”
She turned the bar stool around to face me. “Aren’t you even going to try?”
I shook my head. “If you don’t want to be hypnotized, nobody on earth can do it.”
“Hunh?”
“It’s simple,” I launched into my standard spiel. “It isn’t a question of will. It isn’t a question of weak or strong. If you want to be hypnotized and you follow my instructions, you will be hypnotized. It’s that simple.”
“OK, so now you tell me to look you in the eyes and fall deeeeeeply asleep.”
“Um . . . no. You don’t want to be hypnotized, remember.”
“I don’t. I’m just asking how it works.”
That’s when I went for it.
I stood up and took her right hand in my left. “You would have to be really relaxed. Take two deep breaths and let them out slowly.” I mirrored her breathing. “Just let your hand go limp.” I shook her hand in mine and continued to shake it.
“Then I look into your eyes, right?” She clearly had a thing about eyes. I immediately changed my induction. OK, maybe I have a thing about eyes too.
“Yes, you would look deeply into my eyes.” I moved closer so she was looking up at me, still gently shaking her hand.
I waited until I saw her eyes start to lose focus, then I jerked her right hand hard, pulling her down. At the same time I barked, “Sleep!” and snapped my fingers. She went down like a bag of hammers. I immediately started deepening the trance, tapping the back of her neck and telling her how deep she was going. Eventually I sat her back up again. Then I noticed the bartender. He saw me looking at him and started to giggle.
“Want to see something cool?”
He nodded.
I put my hand on Charlie’s shoulder. “Deeper and deeper. Just listen to my voice. Everything I say is true. In a moment, I will count to three and you will awaken, feeling relaxed and happy. When I say the word ‘Sleep’, you will immediately return to this deep state of relaxation.” I counted to three.
Charlie’s eyes opened.
“How do you feel?”
She grinned. It wiped years off her face. “Wonderful, that was fun.”
“Charlie, I’d like you to put your hands together. Now, interlace your fingers. I want to show you how powerful your imagination is. I’m going to squirt superglue here, between your hands,” I tapped both hands as she held them together. “There is so much superglue that you can feel it oozing between your fingers. It’s warm right now, but as it cools and hardens you might feel it getting colder.” She nodded. “We’ll give it a few seconds to set good and hard. You may find as you try to separate your hands, that it gets funnier and funnier, like when you were a little girl and couldn’t stop giggling. You may even start to laugh uncontrollably.”
I waited a couple of seconds. The bartender could barely contain himself.
“OK, Charlie. The glue will have dried as hard as concrete by now. Try to separate your hands.”
She tried. You could see the effort on her face. She started to smile. I encouraged her to keep trying. “Remember what it felt like once when you couldn’t stop giggling?” The smile turned into a laugh. She began to shake. I had to steady her in the bar stool. Still the fingers remained glued together. I let her keep going until I thought she might have an accident. Then I used the trigger to send her back into hypnosis and removed the suggestions.
The bartender was killing himself. You’d have thought I had hypnotized him as well. I asked him for the tab.
“No sir! This one’s on the house. How did you do that?”
I leaned over Charlie and instructed her that when I counted to three only a part of her would wake up, sufficient for her to go to her hotel room without assistance. I brought her out of trance. She seemed to wake up and sat there smiling, the most beautiful creature in the universe. I yawned and said it was time to get some sleep. Charlie and I headed for the elevator.
After she got out her key card and I ushered her into her room, she just stood there, as if waiting for instructions. I led her to the bed and sat her down.
“Sleep!” The muscles in her neck and shoulders melted in slow motion, as if the weight of her head were too great to carry. My heart was beating so loudly in my ears that I’m amazed the sound didn’t wake her up.
“With each breath you sink deeper and deeper into trance. In a moment, I am going to ask you questions. You will find that you are able to answer them clearly and completely, with every word taking you deeper into relaxation. You may also say yes by nodding your head.” I paused and took a deep breath. “You love the feeling of being hypnotized.” She nodded faintly. “What do you want to experience?” Silence. I waited a good minute. No response. “Are you feeling conflicted right now. Just nod your head if the answer is yes.” She nodded her head. There was something going on here.
“Let yourself sink deeper and deeper into trance. Feelings of safety and comfort are washing over you. I am a friendly stranger. Tomorrow I will leave. You feel safe with me because I will be gone tomorrow. You can say anything you want because I will not change any of your relationships. This is your opportunity to put down your conflict for a while. This is your chance to talk to someone who cares about you. Imagine there are no rules, imagine nothing is holding you back, imagine you and I are the only people in the whole world right now. What do you want to do with me?
For a long time, she stayed motionless. Then her lips started to move. I bent over to hear. “. . . must stay strong for my baby and . . .” I waited a little longer. “I want to give myself . . . ” She shook her head slightly.
“Allow yourself to remember a time when your heart won over your head. Remember a time when your emotions were so strong that you took risks because you are a woman of strong emotions.” It was a gamble, but if she was a single mother, then there must have been a time when her heart ruled her head. Her breathing started to speed up. “Remember how it felt. Immerse yourself in the feelings, the want, the need.” There was an intensity to her breathing now, as if she was forcing the breath from her body. “The feeling is growing so intense now. Let go now. Give yourself to your emotions. The feelings are stronger than you have ever felt now.” I paused. And then, an idea.
“In a few moments, I will count up to three. You will find that your hands are no longer under your control. You will feel no responsibility for them or whatever they may do. They will do what they want to do. You will have no way to control them. Your hands will do what they want. It will feel so natural to you.” With that, I counted her up.
She sat looking at me for a while, a ghost of smile on her lips. Her eyes focused on mine and then got that thousand yard stare that is oh so sexy. But her hands did nothing. They lifted a little from her lap and hung there, motionless. I waited to see what would happen. A thought occurred to me and I sat down beside her. It worked. Her hands lifted and came slowly up to the level of my throat. You should have seen the look of surprise on her face as her fingers reached for and began undoing my tie. I soothed her with gentle affirmations and let her hands continue their work. I had to bend closer to allow her hands to get the tie over my head. She then went to work on the buttons of my shirt, moving slowly, a little awkwardly. When she got all the buttons undone, I eased the shirt out from my belt and had to lean in as she placed her hands under the fabric and slowly raked her nails down from my shoulders. That feeling, combined with the blank look on her face just about did me in there and then. She then pushed the fabric up and over my shoulders, pushing it down and off my arms.
There was no emotion on her face as her hands started on the buttons of her blouse. The thin fabric fell quickly away and fluttered down from her shoulders with a shrug. The camisole came over her head in the same business like fashion, leaving her bra. Some women become very self-conscious about their breasts, as they gradually succumb to gravity and lose a little of their shape. Idly, I wondered about how Charlie felt about her body, as her hands made their way behind her back. As she undid the fastenings, she arched her back. Another shrug and the bra was lying, formless in her lap. What a perfect, beautiful sight! I felt an involuntary sudden intake of breath, as though my lungs belonged to another person. My hands felt like they had a mind of their own too. But what happened next surprised me even more.
Charlie’s hands raised up over her head and seemed to be pulling her backward. Almost in slow motion, she fell against the mattress. Her hands pressed into the bed, palms down, fingers splayed. She seemed to struggle for a moment, then lay still, her breasts rising and falling with the exertion of her movement.
“Are your hands stuck, like they have been superglued to the bed?” She nodded. “It’s OK. Everything is perfectly natural. Every movement takes you deeper and deeper into relaxation.” Inside my head a battle was taking place. Taking advantage of this woman is so wrong. But if she didn’t want it, she would have popped out of hypnosis long ago. There will be hell to pay tomorrow. She’s only doing this because she wants it.” Some men are strong. Some have the strength of their convictions. Not me. The rest of my clothes joined the puddle of fabric on the floor. I slid the zipper of her pleated skirt down and shimmied it off her hips. She lay completely still as I rolled off the panty hose, leaving just the cotton briefs between me and bliss. They were white and practical, but then I guess she hadn’t planned to end her day this way when she decided on an outfit that morning. At that point, I was long past caring. The briefs quickly joined the rest of the clothes.
I wish I could say that we made love for hours, that we went through thousands of different positions and put the Kama Sutra to shame. We didn’t. I was more excited than I have ever been, before or since, and she was ready to rock and roll. As I entered her, her legs circled my body, clinging to me, while her shoulders thrashed against her invisible bonds. While her face remained blank, her body more than made up for it in responsiveness. She bucked and heaved, but when her climax engulfed her, she was suddenly still and silent, her only movement being the pulsing of her muscles as the orgasm rolled through her body.
I wanted to stay. God, how I wanted to stay. But I kept up with the deepeners and suggested that she rest for a while, then get up and make all her preparations for bed, putting away her clothing the way she normally would and having a restful sleep. My final words to her were, “You have a choice. You may choose to remember or forget as much of our time together this evening as you wish. When you wake up tomorrow morning, all of this may be forgotten or it may be a fond memory, or you may choose to remember it as a wonderful dream.” Whatever I suggested, I knew that the memory would surface sometime. Best to put the best spin I could on it.
The next day I was a basket case. I kept expecting a lawsuit or a least a sudden interest in me by the police. As we worked our way through the corporate negotiations, Charlie was her normal self. The barracuda was back in her favourite hunting grounds. After a heated lunch (and I’m not talking about the food), she convinced one of the younger managers to fall on his sword (i.e. allow his plant to be shut down completely). That managed to achieve my cost saving goals, so we were able to complete the assignment in time for me to catch an evening flight home. Hand shaking all round. Charlie had more or less ignored me the whole day, but when our hands touched, she looked into my eyes and gave me just the hint of a smile.