Josh had just started to unwind after a long day when the doorbell rang. “Who the hell could that be at dinnertime?” he grumbled.

“Probably someone selling something,” Hannah called from the stove, not bothering to look up from stirring the sauce. “Tell them we’re not interested.”

Josh snorted, “Oh, we’re not? Obviously.”

Hannah rolled her eyes. Josh didn’t hear what she muttered to herself.

The doorbell chimed again—two long, deliberate presses.

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Josh said as he stalked to the front door. Through the frosted glass, he could make out a dark silhouette.

Josh yanked the door open, ready to cut off whatever sales pitch was coming. “Look, we’re right in the middle of—”

Something about the man on his doorstep made him pause mid-rejection. The man was older than he was by a decade or two. He was small and dressed in an expensive dark suit. He stood eerily still, with his long fingers steepled under his chin.

“Good evening,” the stranger said. “I apologize for disturbing your dinner hour.”

Josh blinked. “Uh… ok. What do you want?”

“Only a moment of your time. Pay close attention.”

The man took a step closer and raised his long, deft fingers. He passed one hand in front of Josh’s eyes.

Josh’s instinctive reaction to the man entering his personal space dissolved into confusion. “What are you doing?”

“There’s no need to worry,” the man assured him. “Everything is fine. Just watch.”

The man passed his other hand in front of Josh’s face, in the other direction. Then he subtly changed the position of his fingers, and passed his hands up, and then down.

Josh opened his mouth to ask another question, but the man spoke first.

“I’m fascinated by the human mind,” the stranger said, “and the keys that unlock it.”

He made another pass across Josh’s face, and then another, and a third. Each time in a different direction, his fingers arched in slightly different ways. Josh found himself looking not at the stranger’s hands but at his eyes. Those eyes, despite the man’s placid voice, pierced him with ferocious intensity. He couldn’t look away.

Josh tried to gather his thoughts—any of them.

“Did you say… unlock? My mind?”

The man hushed him, murmuring something imperceptible. Passed his elegant hands again and again before Josh’s wide, wide eyes. Josh hadn’t noticed himself staring, not blinking. He hadn’t noticed himself standing up straighter in the doorway, hands relaxed at his sides. Hadn’t noticed the quiet docility taking over his mind and body.

“What did you say your name was?” the man asked.

It took some effort to answer. “It’s Josh.”

The man made another pass, then another. Josh saw only his eyes. Heard only his voice. Thought nothing in particular.

“Pleased to make your acquaintance. Anyone else at home?”

Josh intended to nod, but couldn’t move. “Yes. Hannah. My wife.”

“That’s good,” the man said, passing his hand across Josh’s glassy eyes. “Isn’t it, Josh?”

“Yes,” Josh agreed, forgetting what he’d just been asked.

“Good,” the stranger said, satisfied. He snapped his fingers in front of Josh’s face a few times, smiling at the mesmerized man’s lack of response. “Very good. Your name is Adam now, understand? Your name is Adam.”

“My name is Adam,” Josh confirmed.

“That’s right. Now invite me inside, Adam, because you want to introduce me to your wife. You want this very much.”

“I want to introduce you to my wife,” Josh—Adam—repeated.

The stranger smiled and placed a gentle hand on Adam’s shoulder. “Naturally. Lead the way.”

Adam turned mechanically and walked back through the house, moving like someone in a dream. The stranger followed quietly.

“Darling,” Adam called as they approached the kitchen, his voice flat and distant. “There is someone here to see us.”

Hannah looked up from the stove, wooden spoon still in hand, about to ask who their visitor could be. When she saw her husband’s blank, glassy-eyed expression, she froze. What was wrong with him? And who was the distinguished little man who stepped into the kitchen beside him, greeting her with a slight, old-fashioned bow?

“Josh, what’s going on?” she asked. She couldn’t quite bring herself to add, “And why didn’t you tell this guy to fuck off?”

“My name is Adam,” her husband corrected, as though announcing that it was raining.

Before she could react to this baffling statement, the stranger stepped forward, gazing at her intently. “Good evening, my dear. Whatever you’re cooking there smells wonderful. I’ll only take you away from it for a moment. A few moments.”

“Who are you?” Hannah demanded, gripping her spoon tighter. “What’s wrong with Josh?”

“Don’t worry,” the strange little man said. “He’s fine. Everything is fine. I do hate to upset you, but you won’t be worried for long.” He took another step closer, and Hannah backed against the counter.

“Stay away from me,” Hannah warned, brandishing the wooden spoon. “I’m calling the police.”

“Of course, of course,” the man soothed. He raised his hands. “There’s plenty of time for that. Just a moment, first, if you please. Look right here.”

He passed his long hand in front of Hannah’s face.

Hannah’s eyes darted to her cell phone on the counter, just an arm’s reach away. The man made another pass, distracting her. She looked into his eyes. His gaze was smouldering, intense. His hands were a dark blur across her vision in comparison. She tried to move towards her phone, but couldn’t. Something about the stranger’s eyes held her frozen in place.

“That’s right,” he murmured. “You’re responding perfectly.”

“Responding to what?” Hannah wanted to ask, but she couldn’t speak.

The man made another pass across her face. And another. Back and forth. Up and down. Back and forth. The wooden spoon slipped from her fingers, clattering to the floor. She didn’t notice.

“That’s right,” the stranger said. “Just a few more passes. That’s my girl.”

His girl? Is that what she was? Hannah wondered, but the wondering was far away. It felt like her mind was somewhere else. Or nowhere. She looked deep into the stranger’s eyes.

When Hannah stared into space, standing stiffly next to the stove, the man lowered his hands and smiled at his handiwork. Behind them, Adam—for he didn’t remember being Josh—watched his wife become hypnotized without opinion on the matter.

“Perfect,” the stranger said. “Now, Hannah, I want you to listen carefully. Your name is Eve. Eve. You know that, don’t you?”

“My name is Eve,” Hannah said.

“That’s a good girl. And Eve is a very attentive subject, isn’t she? Eve wants to please and obey.”

“I want to please and obey,” Eve repeated, her voice soft and vacant.

“Excellent!” The stranger turned to Adam, still standing motionless in the doorway between hall and kitchen. “Adam, I want you to finish preparing us this delicious meal. Can you do that?”

“Yes,” Adam replied, moving mechanically toward the stove. Neither he nor Eve acknowledged each other’s existence.

The stranger looked back at Eve, still swaying gently above her forgotten spoon. He looked down at the spoon and snickered. “You’ll want to get a fresh spoon for that sauce, Adam. Eve is going to come with me to the living room now. We have some things to discuss.”

Eve nodded obediently. “I will come with you to the living room now.”

The stranger offered her his arm, and she allowed him to guide her from the kitchen. Adam began stirring the abandoned sauce, as unbothered as if Eve—for he didn’t remember a wife named Hannah—had asked him to do it herself.

In the living room, the stranger left Eve standing beside the couch while he sat. He made a relieved sound as he sank into the cushions, like a man who’s been on his feet all day.

“You have a lovely home, Eve,” the stranger said, looking around the room. His gaze settled on the mesmerized woman’s body. “And you’re a lovely wife. Tell me, how long have you been married?”

“Seven years,” Eve informed him in a mindless monotone.

“Seven years, indeed,” he said. He admired her body with a sigh of pleasure. “But tonight is different, isn’t it, Eve?”

“Tonight is different,” she agreed.

“Tonight, you get to experience something wonderful. You get to experience a pleasure like nothing you’ve ever known, Eve. And you get to give pleasure. You want to give me pleasure, don’t you, Eve?”

“I want to give you pleasure,” she said, without thought or hesitation.

“Good girl. Show me your beautiful body, Eve. Slowly. Take your time.”

She obeyed without thinking. Her hands moved to the strings of her apron, untying it, then lifting it over her head. She unbuttoned her blouse, and the stranger watched with obvious appreciation as the fabric fell away. Eve felt no embarrassment, no self-consciousness, no self… only a simple, irresistible compulsion to follow the man’s instructions.

“Magnificent,” the stranger whispered, as Eve slid out of her jeans and underwear. He grinned as a playful thought came to him. “Put the apron back on, Eve.”

She complied. Soon she stood before him, staring into space, her naked body hidden only by the kitchen apron—it was white, with a pattern of small red apples. The stranger admired her, so open and vulnerable in her trance state. It was delicious to have her so close, to want to touch her but deny himself the pleasure.

Deny himself only briefly. He undid his trousers, which were becoming uncomfortably tight.

“Kneel for me, Eve. You’re going to give me such exquisite pleasure.”

He slid forward on the couch. She slid to her knees between his legs.

“I will give you exquisite pleasure,” she assured him.

He nodded, reaching out to touch her face. Her wide, pretty eyes met his, but she had no mind to process what she saw.

The stranger’s voice trembled a little. “Please me, Eve.”

She slid her hands along his thighs until they reached his cock, feeling it stiffen in his underwear. She squeezed with light, deliberate pressure, making him gasp. He relaxed into the couch as she obediently pulled his waistband down, leaned closer, closer, and slowly licked the head of his cock.

From the kitchen came the sound of Adam chopping vegetables, toiling with the same mindless expertise his wife now used to get the stranger off.

Soon the man wanted more, and he commanded Eve to slide into his lap. The apron bunched around her waist, and there was no resistance as she lowered herself down, his cock finding her hot and wet and sliding deep inside. Her body was as awake and responsive to his strange hypnotic spell as her mind was passive and asleep. The stranger clutched her, groaning happily.

“You’re such a sexy little thing,” he praised, “so eager to please me. Tell me what you want, Eve.”

“I want to please you,” she chanted, the mantra becoming more urgent as she fucked him. “I must give you pleasure.”

“And that’s…” he grunted, as she bounced on him with more and more urgency, “that’s exactly… what… you’re doing!”

“Yes,” she moaned, as the stranger’s hands caressed her, as he sucked one of her swollen nipples into his mouth. “Oh! Yes, oh yes, yes…”

Eve’s moaning mounted louder and louder, drowning out the sound of her husband preparing dinner. As the stranger and his mesmerized plaything lost themselves in each other’s bodies, Adam, oblivious, carried out his instructions without a thought about the sounds of ecstasy from the adjoining room.

When dinner was ready, the stranger adjusted his clothing with a languid sigh of satisfaction. Eve in her rumpled apron stood by, awaiting his next command. She panted, still catching her breath, but her eyes remained glazed and vacant. The man reached out, took her pliant fingers in his hand, and led her to the dinner table, next to the kitchen counter where her husband laboured.

He sat. She did not.

“Adam,” the stranger called out, “is everything ready?”

“Yes,” came the automatic reply.

“Good. We’ll only need one of these place settings.”

Without hesitation, Adam took the plate from in front of the stranger and served him the dinner he and his wife had planned to share. He set it down and opened a bottle of wine at the stranger’s instruction with the same blank obedience, paying no attention to his wife or her state of undress as she stood waiting beside the man’s chair.

The stranger took an appreciative sip, tasted his meal, and looked up at the couple standing to either side of him, mindlessly waiting to be told what to do. “This is excellent, really. You should be proud of yourselves. I haven’t eaten this well in a long time.”

Some dim part of Adam and Eve registered the praise, and their toneless voices uttered thanks, but their minds, locked under his control, merely waited to be filled.

When he’d finished eating, the stranger pushed his chair back from the table, reclined with a happy sigh, and freed his cock from his trousers once more.

“Eve,” he said in his polite, matter-of-fact way, “I enjoyed that so much you get to have dessert. Come here and take me in your mouth.”

“Yes,” Eve replied, sliding gracefully down to position herself between his knees. The man savoured the last of the wine along with the sight and sensation of Eve’s sweet lips enveloping him. She moved her head in a slow rhythm, responding immediately to his touch as he stroked her hair.

The stranger looked up at Adam and said, “Watch closely. Do you see how well Eve serves me?”

Adam looked down at his wife’s bobbing head, and if he felt any emotion about what he saw, it didn’t change his blank expression. “Yes,” he confirmed.

“She’s completely dedicated to my pleasure. Do you see?”

“Yes,” Adam agreed. “She is dedicated to your pleasure.”

The stranger squirmed and gasped happily as Eve took him deep in her throat. “That’s right, Adam. And so are you.”

“Yes,” Adam said, as he watched Eve worship the stranger’s cock. “I am dedicated to your pleasure.”

“That’s good,” the stranger said, his voice trembling as he held Eve’s head close with both hands. “Oh, that’s very good.” Whether he was referring to Adam’s submission or Eve’s service, neither of the couple had a mind to question.

He looked down at Eve, stroking her hair away from her face, admiring the blank stare she fixed on him as she sucked his cock. He let her keep going for another long minute, but his eyes kept drifting to her hypnotized husband. Eventually, they stayed there.

“Now, Eve, be still. It’s time to tidy up. Since Adam was nice enough to make us dinner, you’ll clear the table and wash the dishes. Don’t worry. There will be more pleasure for you soon enough.”

Eve rose at once, her movements still dreamy and automatic. “I must clean up now,” she said, beginning to clear the table.

The stranger watched her with a smile, absentmindedly keeping his cock at attention. Then his eyes shifted back to the entranced husband. “Adam, come here. You must take Eve’s place.”

Adam moved forward without hesitation, kneeling between the stranger’s legs. His empty gaze settled on the man’s swollen shaft. “I must take Eve’s place,” he affirmed.

The stranger placed his hand gently on the back of Adam’s head, guiding him forward. Adam responded with mindless compliance.

“That’s right,” the stranger murmured. “Such a devoted husband. Devoted to obedience. Devoted to my pleasure. Let’s see if you can outdo Eve in giving me pleasure.”

Adam may have been unfamiliar with the act, but he swallowed the stranger’s cock without hesitation. He licked up and down its length. Nearby, his wife did the dishes, oblivious.

The stranger leaned back, abandoning the control he’d maintained during Eve’s service. His breathing grew heavier, louder, as Adam sucked him, the stranger’s mysterious spell overriding any conscious resistance.

“Oh, that’s good,” the stranger said, his voice hoarse with pleasure. “Yes. You watched and learned, didn’t you? Eve taught you well.”

Adam made no reply—couldn’t think of a reply—but tightened his lips around the throbbing cock as the stranger squirmed.

The man gripped Adam’s hair as he reached the edge. “Look at me,” he commanded. “I want to see your eyes when you swallow my cum.”

Adam’s wide, glassy gaze met the stranger’s eyes, showing no recognition, no personality—only the blank of complete surrender.

The stranger groaned, his body tensing. Whatever he’d meant to say next came out as a gasp. Adam shivered slightly, accepting the stranger’s climax with the same vacant compliance he’d shown for every other command.

The stranger slumped back and considered his servant, while Adam knelt and absentmindedly licked the unfamiliar taste from his lips. From the kitchen, the sounds of cleaning continued—Eve obeyed the stranger’s commands, unaware and uncaring about what had just taken place at the dining table.

In his own time, the stranger stood, ignoring Adam at his feet as he restored his clothing to its original state. “You’ve been excellent hosts,” he told the hypnotized couple, “but it’s time I let you enjoy the rest of your evening.”

He walked toward the front hall, his footsteps echoing softly in the silent house. Adam and Eve remained where they were, both waiting with eternal patience for their next commands.

At the front door, the stranger paused. Perhaps he’d always meant to, given his flair for the theatrical. He turned back towards the kitchen with a smile.

“Actually,” he called, his voice carrying through the house, “I think I have one more scene to act out tonight. Adam, Eve—come to me. Kneel here in the hallway.”

They obeyed immediately. Adam, not bothering to stand, crawled on his hands and knees into the hall. Eve followed him, dropping her towel carelessly on the kitchen floor. Within moments, they both knelt side by side on the hardwood, their eyes vacant and expectant.

The stranger looked down at his perfectly obedient subjects with deep satisfaction. “You’ve both performed so well for me tonight. Let’s end this engagement on a high note.”

He circled around behind the couple. “Eve, get on your hands and knees for me. Ass in the air. Present yourself.”

Still wearing only the kitchen apron, she moved into position without hesitation, lowering her chest to the floor while keeping her hips raised, displaying herself with complete vulnerability. The stranger touched her delicate body with obvious appreciation.

“That’s my girl. And you, Adam,” the stranger continued, unzipping his trousers again, “I want you to watch your wife get used the way she deserves. Touch yourself while you watch. Show me how much you enjoy seeing me fuck her.”

Adam, still on his knees, turned to have a clear view, beginning to stroke himself into arousal while he fixed his glassy eyes on his wife’s submissive position.

“I will enjoy seeing you fuck her,” he told them.

The stranger got on his knees behind Eve, caressing her, his cock quickly stiffening. “Tell me, Eve,” he murmured, spreading her cheeks apart. “Have you ever been fucked in the ass?”

“No,” she replied simply, without apprehension or comprehension. Adam watched them, masturbating.

“Indeed,” the stranger nodded. “But you want to accept my cock so deeply and completely, don’t you?”

“Yes,” Eve agreed, speaking into the floor. “I want to accept you. Deeply and completely.”

He teased her asshole with his thumb. “That’s right. Open yourself to me, Eve.”

Compliant surrender remained her only possible response to him. “Open,” she moaned. “Accept.” Eve gasped and shook as he slowly, carefully filled her with his entire length.

The stranger gripped her hips and pumped with increasing urgency. He watched Adam, who continued his own mechanical rhythm, his cock throbbing. The hypnotized husband drank in the sight of his wife being utterly dominated by their uninvited guest.

“Look at him, Eve,” the stranger panted, his thrusts becoming more forceful. “Look how much your husband enjoys watching you be my perfect little whore.”

Eve turned her head to meet Adam’s empty gaze, and something passed between them—not recognition, not love, but a shared understanding of their complete subjugation. Adam stroked faster as he watched his wife’s face contort with helpless pleasure.

With a final powerful thrust, the stranger buried his cock completely inside her, shuddering with release. Eve cried out alongside him as her orgasm washed over her.

Adam reached his own climax moments later, his seed spilling onto the floor as he watched his wife cum with the stranger filling her beautiful ass.

The stranger remained inside Eve for long moments, savouring the complete control he held over both of them. Finally, he withdrew, got wearily to his feet, and fixed his dishevelled suit with the same nonchalance he’d shown all evening.

“That was perfect, my friends,” he said, looking down at the exhausted, compliant couple. “Bravissimo.”

The stranger stepped back towards the door and admired them—Adam and Eve still kneeling in the hallway, their bodies glistening with sweat and other evidence of the evening’s activities. He sighed, satisfied. It was time to go at last.

“Stand,” he commanded.

They rose with the same mindless obedience they’d shown all night. Side by side they stood in their own front hall, empty and waiting.

The stranger took a step forward, raising both hands. He began the familiar hypnotic dance with his fingers, tracing intricate patterns in the air. His subjects’ eyes widened immediately, captivated.

“Look deeply,” he intoned, “and hear only my voice. Your minds are completely open. Let every thought, every memory, float away like fog from the surface of a still mountain lake.”

Eve and Adam somehow became even stiller, more expressionless, more utterly blank. Their breathing synchronized, deep and rhythmic, as the stranger wove his final spell.

“This evening never happened,” he continued. “You will remember only preparing dinner together, as married couples do. You were looking forward to a quiet evening at home. Dinner was delayed. You won’t question why.”

Adam and Eve swayed slightly on their feet.

“Dinner was delayed,” Adam said.

“We won’t question why,” Eve agreed.

“When you wake, you will be hungry. Hungry for food, yes, but hungrier for something else. The passion you felt when you first met, the desperate need you had for each other—all of that will return in a rush. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” they replied in unison.

“You will not remember me. You will not remember being Adam and Eve. You are Josh and Hannah, married seven years, about to rediscover the fire that brought you together.”

The stranger passed his hands over their faces in one final downward movement. “Sleep now, both of you. Deep, peaceful sleep. And when you hear the door shut…”

The stranger turned, opened the door, stepped through, and closed it firmly behind him.

Josh’s eyes fluttered open, confusion creeping across his features as consciousness returned. “Hannah?” he mumbled, his eyes watering. “Why are we…?”

Hannah stirred beside him. “Huh?” She looked around the hallway, then down at their naked bodies, then at Josh’s face. He shared her complete bewilderment.

“I don’t… why are… what were we DOING?” she asked, confused. But even as she questioned, deep, intense hunger overcame the need to understand. Her skin felt electric as Josh gazed at her.

Josh tried to think. “I remember… dinner. We were making dinner. Right?” He forgot the question as soon as he asked it, distracted by the sight of his wife’s body, clad only in a crumpled apron. She was so beautiful, so sexy.

“God, Hannah,” he breathed, his voice suddenly husky. “I just want to…”

The sudden rush of desire seemed to come from nowhere. She felt it too. The way he was looking at her, the way her body was responding, it was like being twenty-two again. Like that first night in his apartment.

“Josh,” she whispered, stepping closer. Her nipples brushed his chest through the rough fabric of the apron. “I need to, um…”

He pulled her in with desperate urgency, his kisses hungry and wild and completely consuming. Josh pressed her against the wall, his hands roaming her body with frantic need.

“Right here,” Hannah gasped. “Right here, in the hall. Right fucking now.”

She wrapped her legs around him. The head of his big cock was already throbbing, pressing up against her. They fucked with a passion they hadn’t felt in years, completely lost in each other, up against the wall in their front hallway. They didn’t understand the overwhelming need that consumed them, but they had to surrender to it completely.

When they finally slid to the floor, arms around each other, breathing hard and trembling, they met each other’s eyes in amazement.

“What was that?” Hannah laughed. “Where the hell did that come from?”

Josh stroked her body, still trying to catch his breath. “No idea,” he said. “But… I’m starving. Aren’t you starving? When did we eat last?”

Hannah’s stomach chose that moment to growl loudly, making them both laugh. “God, yes. What time is it anyway?”

They helped each other up, both feeling spent, satisfied, and completely unbothered by the strange gaps in their memory.

“Come on,” Josh said, pulling Hannah toward the kitchen. “Let’s see what we can throw together.”

Neither of them noticed the spotless dishes drying in the rack, or the expensive wine bottle sitting empty on the counter, or the faint scent of unfamiliar cologne clinging to one of the dining chairs, shoved far back from the table.

They knew the evening had been perfectly ordinary. Just a married couple, rediscovering their passion for each other on a quiet night at home.

That was all it had been. That was all they ever needed to remember.

THE END.