Indecent Suggestion - By Elizabeth Bevarly Page 0,84

me and Turner the past few weeks never would have happened if I’d been in my right mind.”

Dorcas studied her thoughtfully, long enough that it began to make Becca feel a little edgy. Finally, though, she started talking again. “Just because someone is hypnotized, Becca, doesn’t mean they can be made to do—or feel—something they wouldn’t otherwise do—or feel—if they weren’t hypnotized.”

Now Becca studied the hypnotherapist thoughtfully right back. “What do you mean?”

Dorcas leaned back in her chair, obviously feeling more relaxed about matters now. “I mean that the greatest hypnotist in the world can’t make someone do something or behave in a manner that that person wouldn’t normally do or behave in while not hypnotized. While in their right mind, you might say.”

“Go on,” Becca said softly.

“It’s impossible,” Dorcas said, “to coerce someone hypnotically to behave in a way they would find morally, ethically or personally offensive when not hypnotized. Which is why a hypnotist can’t make someone rob a bank, say, or commit a murder, or be a traitor to one’s country. If the person under hypnosis is a moral person, he or she can’t be made to do any of those things.” She met Becca’s gaze pointedly as she added, “So a woman under hypnosis could never be compelled to have sex with a man whom she had no desire to have sex with in what you call her ‘right’ mind.”

“Which means…” Becca began, feeling both hopeful and fearful. Not to mention more than a little creeped out.

“Which means,” Dorcas finished for her, “if you’ve been having sex with Turner, it’s not because you were hypnotized into doing it. It’s because on some level, you’ve wanted—very much—to have sex with him, anyway. Otherwise, the posthypnotic suggestion wouldn’t have worked for you. All the hypnosis did was help you move past whatever fears and inhibitions have been holding you back. For the past few weeks, all you’ve been doing is something you’ve been wanting to do all along on some subconscious level. If you’re having sex with Turner, Becca, it’s because you want to. And you probably have for some time now. You were just too scared to act on your desires.”

Becca thought about what Dorcas said for a long time without speaking, and suddenly, it was as if a little light went on in the back of her brain. Actually, she realized, she hadn’t been making love with Turner because she wanted him. Well, not just because of that. It was more because she loved him. And she probably had for a long time now. She had just been too scared to acknowledge it.

Her feelings were genuine, just as she’d told herself they were. And if her feelings were genuine, then her love for Turner must be genuine, too.

Holy moly, she thought. All this time, she’d been in love with him and had never even realized it. She’d been too afraid to accept it. Too afraid of its strength. Too afraid maybe he didn’t love her back. But she had always loved him. Just as he had always loved her. That was why the two of them had ended up horizontal at the office Christmas party two years ago. It was why they’d come close to having sex in college. It was why they’d fooled around when they were teenagers. Even then, they must have been falling in love. And even then, they’d been too half-witted to realize it.

Or at least Becca had been too half-witted to realize it. Turner, she thought, recalling the look on his face the Saturday before, had known all along. But he hadn’t told her, because he’d been afraid he would lose her. She, who had always said sex would mess things up in their friendship.

She was such an idiot. She should have realized that, with Turner, sex would be infinitely more than just sex. It would be love, too. And it would only make what the two of them already shared better. Better than better. Perfect. Because that was how she’d felt over the past few weeks with him. As if nothing in her life would ever be wrong again.

“But the posthypnotic suggestion didn’t work for Turner,” Becca objected. Though why she was objecting when it looked like things were going to be okay, was beyond her. “He told me the other night. And I remember that first time, when I came on to him, he did his best to put me off. I mean, he did put me off. It