Under His Spell by Jade Lee, Kathy Lyons Page B

problem is, it goes way beyond last night.”
    She shook her head, her expression defiant. “There is no problem. Not really. I just need to understand what happened so that I can go back to work.”
    “I don’t have your answers.” But God, how he wished he did.
    She set down her spoon and looked at him, her heart in her eyes. “I want you to do it to me again.”
    He froze, his mind spasming with ideas that had no business being in his head. He’d gone from eating his meal to rock-hard and horny in less than a breath. “What?” he managed to gasp.
    “Hypnotize me. Or unhypnotize me. Or whatever. Just put me under again and tell me to go back to work.”
    He blinked, his disappointment keen. Not that he had really expected her to want him to repeat certain other activities, but still, that didn’t stop his dick from being frustrated. “Um, that’s the last thing I’d tell you to do. You’re exhausted, you have panic attacks andyou’re thinner than a runway model. Nicky, you need a vacation.”
    “Just humor me, Jimmy.” Then she held up her hand before he could correct her. “Jim. Please. Put me under again and unsuggest—”
    “That you share your fantasies with me?”
    She flushed scarlet. The shift was startling. Who knew her face could get that red that fast?
    “Yes,” she said softly.
    He huffed, torn between his honest desire to help her and the sneaky, depraved thought that once Nicky the Vixen was released, all sorts of fun things could happen. Which was case and point for why he should not be the one hypnotizing. “Wouldn’t a trained professional be a better idea? I’m a stage act, but there are psychotherapists. Doctors who are trained with hypnosis.”
    “No!” She shook her head so sharply, a lock of hair escaped from her bun. “It has to be you.”
    “Why?”
    “I don’t know.” When he tried to make eye contact, she slurped her soup while avoiding his gaze.
    “This isn’t a good idea,” he said over his dick’s loud objection.
    She lifted her gaze. “It has to be you.” He opened his mouth to argue, but she held up her hand. “Please don’t ask me why. I don’t know. Just everything in me says it has to be you.”
    “After everything that’s happened between us, what makes you think it would work a second time? You have to trust your hypnotist. I don’t think—”
    “I trust you,” she said. The words were rushed, but they were absolute.
    “But—”
    “I trust you, Jimmy. I always have.”
    He studied her face. For perhaps the first time today, she was absolutely still and not the statuelike, I’m-about-to-lose-it still. She was confident in what she said. In fact, looking at her now, he was forcibly reminded of the high school girl she’d once been. And maybe that was it. Maybe she needed a psychological return to prom night when he was the one who had saved her from her asshole date. Or maybe it was more complicated than that. He hadn’t a clue what was going on in her beautiful head. Either way, it didn’t matter. She’d come to him for help and he’d never been able to refuse her.
    “Okay,” he said as he forked up a mouthful of meat loaf. “But we have to do it at my place. I can’t just hypnotize you here.”
    She didn’t even flinch. “Yeah, I figured.”
    “And order something more to eat. Everything makes more sense when your stomach isn’t in knots from hunger.”
    She looked up at him sharply. “That’s exactly what you said to me prom night.”
    Had he? He didn’t remember. “Well, it’s still good advice.” He was being gruff with her, trying to cut the tension in him with macho orders, but she didn’t seem to mind. And everything he said was good sense. Still, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was stepping into something that was going to turn his life inside out. Looking up, he gestured to the waitress before turning back to Nicky. “Get a full meal including dessert. Then we’ll go back to my place and…we’ll