Indecent Suggestion - By Elizabeth Bevarly Page 0,77

was a dumb question. Turner knew the answer before Dorcas even gave it to him. Or, at least, part of the answer. He hadn’t been making love to Becca because of any word he heard. He’d been making love with Becca because he loved her. Completely and irrevocably. Till death do him part. But Becca…

He tried to remember what was going on that first time she’d come on to him with such surprising enthusiasm. It had been that evening in her cubicle, when they were working on the pitch for Bluestocking. What had he said just before she unbuttoned her blouse and dumped herself into his lap? What had they been talking about?

Think, Turner, think…

The slogan, he remembered. They’d been trying to come up with a slogan, and they hadn’t been having any luck. And he’d been tired and irritable, and he’d been about to give up. And then he’d said… What had he said…? Something about how he couldn’t believe they were going to so much trouble just to sell some dumb lingerie. No, wait. Not dumb. He’d used the word stupid. And not lingerie, either. He’d said he couldn’t believe they were going to so much trouble just to sell some stupid underwear.

Oh, God…

But the second time, he hurried on, not wanting to accept anything at face value. What had happened then? It had been right after the presentation of their pitch to the Bluestocking people. Oh, man, no way could he remember what had been said then. There had been a lot of people in the room, and they’d all been talking at once. Still, it was a good bet the word underwear had come up in discussion at least once.

Oh, God…

But that third time, he hurried himself forward again, had been at their boss’s house the following weekend. And that had been a high-society party. Ain’t no way anyone could have been talking about underwear there, he tried to reassure himself. And just before Becca had come on to him that night, they’d both been talking to their boss. And Englund had said… What? Turner thought, trying to remember. Something about the presentation the week before, and something about his and Becca’s bonuses, and how they’d be pleased with what they found in their Christmas stockings this year, in addition to—

All the free underwear either of them could ever use.

Oh, God…

He thought about all the other times he and Becca had been together. And just about every time, the Bluestocking Lingerie account came into play. Even if he couldn’t remember exactly what was said, it was a safe bet that the word underwear had come up prior to Becca’s sudden interest in having sex.

It was true. Becca had been coming on to him not because she cared about him that way or because she was turned on by him. And not because the two of them had been working on a racy-lingerie campaign. It hadn’t even been because she was stressed out and working under pressure and not thinking straight. It was because she’d been told by a hypnotist that when she heard a certain word, she’d want to have sex. Hell, for all Turner knew, she would have responded to Robert Englund himself if it had been their employer with her on those occasions instead of Turner.

She hadn’t been making love to him because she loved him, he realized. She’d been making love to him because a certain word made her horny. That was all.

But if they’d both been hypnotized, which Dorcas had insisted they were at the time, then why hadn’t he responded to the word, too? Turner asked himself. That first time with Becca, he’d been turned on, sure, but he was in a perpetual state of arousal around her. When she’d initially come on to him that first time, he’d thought she was joking, and he’d done his best to tamp down his desire for her. If he’d been affected by the posthypnotic suggestion, then he would have been all over her, wouldn’t he? But there had been a lot of hesitation on his part, and not just that first time, either. Why hadn’t he been as turned on by the word underwear as she had been?

Not all people are able to be hypnotized. And of those who are able to be hypnotized, not all respond to hypnotherapy.

Dorcas’s disclaimer from that day in her office came back to him then, and Turner understood. She may have put him under, but the posthypnotic