Kate looked over at her blind date, pleasantly surprised for once. In the past few weeks she'd been set up with one dickhead after another by well-meaning friends, although if they thought she went for arrogant arseholes who spent their whole time talking about money and how important they were, well, she'd have to give them a talking to. To be fair though perhaps they were just judging by her disastrous history. Why they thought to reverse those disasters by handing her another was more of a mystery.
"...and that's when we realised the boat was sinking," Sammy said, rounding off his anecdote with a rueful grin. Listening to him tell it, she felt the urge to steal a rowboat too. Although she hadn't realised at first he was a good-looking guy, warm inviting eyes and floppy hair that could use cutting, a ready smile and good strong arms. She'd tried to judge his body through his t-shirt and all she could say for sure was that he was nether muscular nor fat. She'd caught him checking her out whenever she stood up to get more coffee, making sure he got a look at the toned legs beneath her summer dress, or when she stuck her chest out just a little bit too far to fiddle with her shoulder-length brown hair. There wasn't a huge amount to stick out in truth, but he seemed fine with that.
She giggled appreciatively. "Hope you can swim."
He grinned. "Never learned. Luckily it wasn't too deep though!" She laughed with him.
"You should come swimming with me one time. I'll teach you." She paused to finish her coffee - her fifth! - letting him imagine her in bikini. From the look on his face, he liked what he saw.
"That...sounds like fun," he said after a moment, then nodded at the clock. "That you?"
"Yeah I need to go," she said regretfully. "Class tonight. This was fun though!"
"It was," he agreed as they both stood up, and folded her into a hug. Kate was surprised, but only for a moment and hugged him back. He felt good there, she realised, a head taller and long arms that held her close. She gave him a squeeze and stepped away.
"Call me," she said. "And get your mankini ready for next week!"
*
Weeks passed, and things went well Parading round in a bikini on a second date wasn't something Kate normally did - that was more a third date thing - but it made Sammy's eyes pop and that was what mattered. After a few dinner dates they started hanging out at Kate's place but despite all the subtle and nowhere-close-to-subtle hints Sammy never took the logical next step of ripping her knickers off and pounding her on the sofa. Still, she thought it was sweet. Frustrating, but sweet. Obviously she could always make the first move, but that just wasn't done. She already felt like enough of a slut waving her tits in his face and squeezing into ever-shorter shorts, taking the initiative herself would just make it seem she was gagging for it. Which honestly she wasn't; it was the intimacy she wanted, not the sex.
One evening the talk to turned to Kate's 'mysterious' course. She hadn't told anyone what she was actually studying because they would probably have laughed, but it wasn't a particular secret either.
"Hypnosis?" he said, laughing. Bloody men! "That stuff never works. Or maybe it just works on people with no willpower."
"So you wouldn't mind if I try on you?"
Sammy suddenly looked wary, but he couldn't really say no after dismissing it out of hand. "Well..."
"Good!" she said, patting the couch. "Just lay down here and you can make me look silly when nothing happens."
"You will look silly," he said, but he seemed less sure than he had been. "Fine."
He lay down and made himself comfortable. Kate had learned a few ways to do this, but the one she seemed best at was to talk softly, to let the words come like a gently flowing stream that washed over the subject. "Focus on my voice," she began. "Focus on your breathing, and follow me."
After a couple of false starts and maybe fifteen minutes of uninterrupted talking, Sammy seemed to be in the trance state she needed, halfway towards the edge of sleep but still aware, on some level. Time for a test.
"Did you sneak a look at me while I was getting changed the other day?" she asked.
"Yes," he said. Normally he'd have stammered, blushed and pretended no such thing.
"How much did you see?"
"Just your arse really," he replied, sounding somehow far away. "You're fucking gorgeous."
Yes, well. It seemed to have worked. "So you fancy me?" she asked
"Yes."
"Do you want to be my boyfriend?"
He nodded. She'd known that anyway, but it never hurt to be sure.
"Why so nervous then? You must know I like you." It was like he had some weird inferiority complex. Maybe hypnosis could help.
"Small penis," he said.
Huh. That would explain it. Kate looked him over, then shrugged. She didn't care, but if it made him embarrassed it could be fun.
"Well then, we'll have to focus your mind a bit. From now on, you'll have to concentrate really, really hard to stop thinking about me. I don't want you masturbating though. Until I tell you otherwise, you won't be able to get an erection. Do you understand?"
He nodded again, no emotion on his face and well into the trance.