Pliable Inhibitions
Zenobia Renquist
High Relief, Book One
Emily’s negative body image is killing her marriage. She doesn’t believe her husband Lucas when he says she’s desirable, especially since their sex life is nonexistent.
Lucas has a radical solution to their problems—hypnosis. Emily was wild in her college days and he’s convinced she can be wild again with a little help from a so-called magic coin. While college was a lifetime and several dress sizes ago, she’s willing to play along. She’ll experiment with friends, neighbors, coworkers and whoever else Lucas chooses if it means renewing their wedded bliss.
She knows the coin is a fraud and hypnosis isn’t real…but what Emily knows and what really happens when Lucas uses the magic coin are two totally different things. And what happens is sex so mind-blowing neither Lucas nor Emily will ever be the same.
Inside Scoop: This title contains lesbian and ménage (m/f/m and f/f/m) sex scenes so steamy they’ll leave you gasping for air.
An Exotika® paranormal erotica story from Ellora’s Cave
Pliable Inhibitions
Zenobia Renquist
Chapter One
Emily gave her husband the most incredulous look she could manage and still felt it wasn’t strong enough. “Say all that again because I know I misheard you.”
“I found this magic shop.”
“Yeah, I got that part.” She tossed the shirt she was holding into the laundry basket near the bedroom door and then stooped to grab a discarded sock while glancing around for its partner. Why Lucas couldn’t leave his clothes in a pile, since he refused to use one of the three hampers she’d bought, was beyond her.
“And the old guy behind the counter showed me these three coins.” Lucas held up a bronze coin dangling from a silver chain. “This one with two heads, another with two tails and a third with heads and tails. This one makes the person under the spell do anything I want. The two-tails one makes it so the owner won’t be seen or heard no matter what they do. The third one is a combo of the two.”
“And you got the first one obviously. For how much again?”
“Don’t worry about that.”
She shook her head. “Which means it cost way more than it should have and you don’t want me to pitch a bitch when I find out how much.” She caught sight of the missing sock under the bed, grabbed it and straightened so she could look Lucas in the eyes. “I can’t believe you wasted money on that.”
“It has a one hundred percent satisfaction guarantee with a no questions asked refund.”
“Sure it does.” After walking the socks to the basket, she looked around for any articles of clothing she might have missed. The bedroom floor was clean…for now.
“No, listen. The cutoff date is on the receipt so there’s no mistake. I have until 11:59 that night to a full refund, with or without receipt. The place is twenty-four hours and it’s three exits away. What’s the harm in trying it out? I can take it right back if it doesn’t work.”
“The harm is that you spent money on it in the first place. The harm is that those one hundred percent satisfaction guaranteed products always have some hidden fine print that keeps you from getting your money.” She grabbed the coin from him. “What is this thing supposed to do anyway, besides look ugly?”
The face on one side of the coin was a demonic-looking monster. His snarling visage sported a gaping maw full of sharp teeth. The flip side should have had the same picture but instead the monster smirked, still showing sharp teeth but in a condescending sort of way. If this was a play on the happy-face-sad-face, it fell a little short.
Lucas took the coin back. “It’s a mesmerizing coin. It puts a person under hypnosis.”
“Yeah right. I can’t believe you fell for such a blatant lie.”
“So let’s try it out and see.”
“On who?”
“I bought it, so I’m the owner. You be the hypnotee.”
“Me?”
“Yeah.”
She shook her head again. “No way. I would be out of my mind to put myself at your mercy. You would probably have me doing weird stuff, like pretending to be a rodeo clown.”
“I would never do that. If anything, I would use it for sexual favors.” He wiggled his eyebrows.
“Sexual favors like what?”
“All the kinky stuff you’re too scared to do anymore.”
“What kinky stuff? You never said anything about wanting to try something. Did you want to tie me up? You don’t need a trick coin for that.”
Lucas perked up. “Really now? You’ll let me tie you up?”
“No, which is why you don’t need a coin for it.” She stuck her tongue out at him when he rolled his eyes.
“Come on, Em. Let me hypnotize you. It’ll be fun.”
“For you.” She headed for the basket, walking away from the conversation because it was too silly to keep participating.
“I’ll make it fun for you too. I promise. Cross my heart and everything.” He drew an X over the left side of his chest with his right index finger when she glanced at him. “Nothing embarrassing and only sex-related stuff. Stripteases and blowjobs and anal—that type of thing.”
“Anal, huh?” Emily faced him and put her hands on her hips.
“Like the good old days when we were young and wild and didn’t have kids. I miss those days. Don’t you?”
“You mean when we were young and doing stupid shit at frat parties, which got us the kids.”
“Like I said—wild. Those were good times, Em. You have to admit that at least. We hooked up at a frat party and started dating after, remember?”
She crossed her arms. “I remember you being number four in a seven-man train and then a week later you asked me out when your frat buddies reminded you of that fact.”
“Yeah, I was more than a little tipsy and things were a blur but I could never forget what a fine ass you had.”
“Had. I was a size six. Now I’m pushing a size twelve.” She curled her upper lip as she looked down at the mommy weight she couldn’t seem to shake. Actually, she had no issues shaking it. Getting it not to shake or make her favorite jeans feel too tight, that was the problem.
“You’re still hot as hell. Sure we hooked up under some questionable circumstances we can’t share with our kids when they ask how we met, but we turned out okay. Our second date was a lot better.”
“You mean the second date you set up so we could fuck again while you were sober?”
“And then a few years later, we got married and lived happily ever after in the wedded bliss of boring sex.”
“Correction—we got knocked up, had a shotgun wedding and lived happily ever after with two kids in the house and no time to have sex because we’re both too exhausted.” She looked pointedly at the pile of laundry that required her attention.
Lucas heaved an annoyed sigh. “Come on, Em. Live a little. It’s summer. The kids are gone. Cut loose and pretend life is for having fun. You can’t tell me you don’t miss those days. How about a gangbang for old time’s sake?”
“Not going to happen. The last thing I want to do is be naked around our friends, especially Claudia. I get an inferiority complex every time I stand next to her.”
“She exercises almost every day to look like that. You could do the same thing, if you wanted.”
“So now you’re saying I’m fat.”
“I didn’t say that. Em, stop. Just stop. You look fine. Claudia is cute and all but she’s her. You’re you. If you want to be as small as her, then exercise like you did to drop that weight for your high school reunion.”
Emily groaned. “Don’t remind me. That was horrible. I said I would never do that again
. Crash diets suck.” She hefted her breasts. “Besides, if I lose weight, I lose the double Ds too. I know how much you like them.”
“Which is why I said you’re hot the way you are. Leave my fun pillows alone.” He waved the coin. “Come on. You always turn down Duke and Claudia’s invitations to their after-hours, close-friends-only parties with some excuse about not being able to find a babysitter or some other convenient lie to get out of attending. There was a time you would have been the first one there, stripped and ready to do everyone.”
“That was a long time ago.”
“Not that long. I know you’re self-conscious. Think of this like hypno-therapy. Once you’re under, you won’t care about your weight. Don’t you want to feel that carefree again?”
She looked at the coin and then at Lucas. “Hypnosis to get sex. Is this what we’ve resorted to?”
“Call it a spice.”
“For you. I won’t remember anything.”
“I’ll tape it.” Lucas nodded. “Yeah, I’ll tape everything I do so you can see that I didn’t do anything weird or embarrassing and that you enjoyed it. It’ll be a great keepsake.”
“A keepsake that better not end up on the internet.”
“It won’t. Promise. So what do you say?”
She regarded Lucas and the coin and couldn’t think of a solid argument against his request. It wouldn’t work anyway. What was the harm in saying yes? “Fine. You can hypnotize me, but let’s make it interesting with a bet. If this doesn’t work, you have to admit you’re gullible.”
“Okay.”
“And you have to come with me to Yolanda’s wedding.”
Lucas groaned as a pale blush rose up his neck. “Come on. No.”
“Then I’m not doing it. That’s my deal. Take it or leave it.”
He looked at the coin. “You know what? I will take that action. If it works, and I know it will, I don’t have to go to Yolanda’s wedding and you owe me once-a-day blowjobs for two weeks for doubting my judgment.”
“You are such a dog, but you’re on.” She stuck out her hand.
Lucas shook it. “We’ve got a deal. No going back when you lose.”
“Same to you.” She pointed at the coin. “So where do we start?”
“With a time limit. It’s a thirty-day money-back guarantee, so you give me twenty-eight days to make it work. That’s plenty of time to get the refund.”
“Acceptable.”
Lucas grinned. “I’m going to love this and so are you.”
“It’s not going to work but knock yourself out. Now that that’s settled, I have laundry.”
“Hold up. The laundry can wait. I want to try this out.”
“Right now?”
“Yes now. We’re already in the bedroom. Sit down and relax.” He waved her toward the bed.
Emily shrugged with a soft sigh and sat on the foot of the bed.
After pulling a folded piece of paper from his back pocket and reading it, he said, “According to the directions, I hold up the coin and you have to stare at it.” He held the coin out.
“You don’t have to swing it?” At least if he swung it Emily wouldn’t be left to stare at the snarling monster. The thing made her feel as if it would jump off the coin and attack her any second.
“No. You just stare at it. I say the magic words and then you say the trigger word or phrase.”
“Me? Not you?”
Lowering his hand, he reread the directions. “Yeah, it says you make it up so it’s personal to you, like a safe word. You have to have it in mind before I start the spell. You come up with the termination word or phrase too.”
“Okay. Give me a second.” Emily closed her eyes and tried to think of two phrases that wouldn’t be everyday. She knew how safe words worked and opened her eyes when something came to her. “I’ve got it.”
“Good.”
“If this works, and I’m not saying it will, but if it does, you seriously better not do anything I wouldn’t do if I was awake and aware. I mean it, Lucas.”
“I wouldn’t do that to you.” He cocked his head to the side. “Now when you say things you wouldn’t do if you were awake, is that just now or back in college too?”
She started to speak, stopped, thought about it and then shrugged. “I’ll be fair. If I did it in college, it’s fair game. But only stuff I did in college up to now. If I haven’t done it before then you can’t make me do it.”
“You’re leaving yourself wide open, you know that, right?”
“It wouldn’t be the first time.”
Lucas snorted. “True.” He held the coin in front of her face. “Ready?”
“Ready…to not be impressed.”
“Just give the trigger and termination phrases when I say and stop being a smartass.” He lifted the directions so he could read the strange words that didn’t resemble any language Emily had ever heard.
She stared at the coin and tried not to laugh at how serious Lucas appeared. He really thought this would work. She was looking forward to him showing up at Yolanda’s wedding. The two were exes from college who had ended as awkward friends. That awkwardness had followed them into adulthood, except Yolanda had gotten over it and invited Emily and Lucas to her wedding while Lucas still blushed a little whenever Yolanda was a topic.
Emily couldn’t guess what the two had done but it was something neither wanted to talk about. That made her all the more curious.
“Trigger word.”
She said, “Snip-snip out.”
Lucas read some more from the directions and then said, “Termination word.”
“Sew-sew in.”
He read the rest with a frown. At the end, he lowered the coin and asked, “So-so?”
“Not S-O. S-E-W. You know, you snip something out and then sew it back together. I figure that makes sense because I’m not supposed to remember anything you make me do.”
“Ah. Smart.” He looped the chain attached to the coin around his neck. “Let’s take it for a test drive.”
“Whatever. Prepare to be disappointed.”
“Snip-snip out.” Lucas stood wearing an expectant expression.
Was he waiting for her to start glowing? If so, she would be curious to see what color her dark-brown skin would give off. She was a spring. Maybe she would glow yellow. A soft orange would be nice too.
She didn’t glow or anything else. Lucas watched her and she stared at him, trying to figure out how long she should sit there silently before telling him to go get the refund. Except he wouldn’t because she’d agreed to twenty-eight days of this. She repressed a sigh. This was not how she’d planned to spend their kid-free summer.
Lucas said, “Sew-sew in.”
“Told you it wouldn’t work.”
“You don’t—” He stopped and then shrugged. “Yeah. Didn’t work. This time. I still have twenty-eight days to figure it out.”
“You do that. I have to get started on the laundry.” Emily rose from the bed, grabbed the laundry basket and left the room. This bet was as good as won. She would finally get Lucas and Yolanda in the same room together and maybe, just maybe, she might be able to pry out of them why they were so uncomfortable around each other. It would serve Lucas right to have a few of his insecurities on display the way Emily’s always were.
Cool air fanning across her chest brought her attention to her open shirt. The top three buttons were undone. She set the basket down and grumbled nonsense as she did them up. She needed to stop wearing this shirt. The buttonholes were worn and loose so it never stayed secure. All she had to do was bend over or stretch and her breasts decided to try for freedom…the way they did when she stooped to retrieve the basket.
But this wouldn’t happen if she could find button-up shirts in her size that didn’t feel baggy and frumpy. The buttons popped free again. She decided to give up a losing battle. “Whatever.”
She walked into the laundry room and started piling a load of dark clothes into the washer. The one
good thing about the kids being away for the summer meant laundry day became laundry night, meaning she didn’t have to devote the whole day to it.
“Em, you forgot these.” Lucas stood in the doorway, holding a skirt and pair of panties out to her.
“Thanks.” She grabbed them, put the panties in the delicate pile and the skirt in with the rest of the darks. When Lucas didn’t leave, she glanced at him. “Did you need something?”
“Just admiring you work.”
“Instead of admiring, you could help. There’s laundry in the dryer that needs folding and most of it is yours. Or you could do the dishes.”
“Folding it is.”
“Thank you.” Emily tossed in a detergent ball, dialed in the cycle and then looked over at Lucas. He was gone. She frowned. When did he leave? Better question, why had he taken the clothes out of the dryer and left them in a heap on the folding table? She tamped down her annoyance as she faced the doorway. “Lucas, why didn’t you fold the laundry?”
“Because I’m in the kitchen doing the dishes.”
“Oh.”
He poked his head around the doorjamb, grinning wide and appearing pleased. “Did you need me?”
“Every minute of every day. You know that.” She blew a kiss at him and then stuck her tongue out.
“Uh huh. Just wait.” He held out the chain around his neck. “This coin is going to ensure I have the last laugh.”
“You know what they say about he who laughs last, right?”
“He laughs the best.”
“No, he thinks the slowest.”
“Ha. Ha.” He returned to the kitchen and then called, “You want to watch a movie after I finish the dishes? The kids aren’t here to hog the remote. We should celebrate with one of those after-hours movies from Skinemax.”
Emily started to say no, but changed her mind. “Sure. I might even let you get to second base.”
“Promises, promises. But I don’t need your handouts. I can use my trusty coin to score a home run.”
“If it worked.”
“It will.”
Emily decided to let Lucas have the last word. They could argue about this forever but time would decide the victor.
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