It’s Just Like Home 

 Dan’s plane had touched down two hours ago, and those two hours had felt as long as the entirety of his cross-country flight. 

Traveling east to west was better than the reverse, but not by much. 

Having the airline lose, then find your luggage was better than having them just lose it. Losing your rental car reservation, even though you verified it, and had your confirmation number, because there was ‘an issue’ somewhere in the system and the location then being completely out of vehicles, may have been better than losing it due to idiocy or a manual error, but not by much. That was travel though, and Dan had done enough of it to have run into each of these pains in the ass separately, and the worse versions of each multiple times, but this was the first time he’d gotten the hat-trick of shitty experiences. Worse still, there was a line for check in. 

The sun was setting, the jet lag was in his veins, and it was like no one in front of him in the line had ever checked into a hotel before. 

“Hello there, welcome to…” 

The check-in clerk went through his paces, Dan went through his, and luckily it all actually went smoothly. 

Extended Stay. 

It was like a time-share, but for business. 

It was like staying with your relatives, if you had to pay for the pleasure of living in their Mother-in Law-Apartment. 

 Three weeks out west. 

 One conference, one hundred meetings, a thousand business meals, and twenty-one nights not sleeping in his own bed, under his own roof, in his own time zone. 

And for what? 

The personal touch, when most, if not everything he was doing could be done remotely? In a world of paperless offices and pointless email chains, there was still room for the self-indulgent pizzazz of the functionally unnecessary business trip. 

At least someone else was paying for it. 

There was a knock at his door, and no declaration. 

He was in a pair of basketball shorts and a tank top. The shorts were for lounging around, and the tank top was the one he’d been wearing all day. Dan was in socks, but not shoes when he opened the door. “Hi, I’m Meagan, I’m next door, I just wanted to come over and say hello.” 

She was about his height, with an angular face, a pronounced narrow nose, almond shaped sharp pale gray eyes, and long wavy brown hair that went to her shoulders. Her dress was an armless summer blue with yellow sunflowers on it, her skin was smooth with just a touch of a golden brown tan, and her smile was full of bright white teeth. 

“I’ve been here a couple weeks already, and I think I have it all figured out.”

She was beautiful. 

“Hi, I’m Dan and I just got in. You didn’t hear me did you? These walls aren’t thin are they?” The slowly constructing realization that he may have to hear anything and everything around him started to… “No, I mean, I heard the door a little while ago but that was only because it was really quiet in here. It’s a quiet floor, thick walls, don’t worry.” She had a non-regional dialect like a news caster or a… “Let me guess, sales rep?” Dan was pretty good at this. 

“Bzzzzz,” she shook her head and smiled. “How many sales reps have to stay in places like this? That’s a three nights tops visit and you know it. Let me try you.” 

Her eyes narrowed, “I want to say, general upper middle management.” 

It was his turn to smile, “What gave it away?” 

“If you were a programmer, or a tech guy you’d have your laptop out and unpacked already. If you were real upper management you’d have a better room, and if you were real middle or lower middle management, you’d be in worse shape.” 

It was true, oh god it was all true, “Well you got me figured out. What about you?” 

“I’m the Human Resources version of you. We’re probably both here for the same conference, and we’re probably both here for the same fallout. But, you know, I have a rule with my hotel friends, no business names, and no business cards either, okay?” 

There was a pleasantness to her, and it was easy for Dan to imagine someone else trying to be this fun and just coming off as cloying. But, she was genuinely enjoyable so far. 

“You know what, Meagan right? That actually sounds great. But I’m beat, so…” 

He trailed off because he had no idea what to say to follow that. 

“So,” her eyes were smiling at his “you need to call it a night, but you’re all out of sorts and you’re tired, but you’re not comfortable right?” 

That about summed it up. 

“That about sums it up.” 

“Well,” her gray eyes sparkled with enthusiasm, “I have a trick for that. It’s really easy and I can teach it to you if I can come in for a minute. It’s so easy I really can show you in a minute, and we can leave the door open too so it’s not weird that I’m just walking into your room.” 

“It’s not making fists with my toes and walking around on the carpet is it?” He took a step back out of the doorway, and it had felt like her presence had pushed into the room ahead of her. She stepped over the threshold, “No, this one actually works.” 

The door was weighted to close, but she grabbed his suitcase and stuck it in the way. “Sit on the couch.” She walked in front of him once he did, “Okay, for me it’s about making these rooms feel like home, that’s my trick. And it’s hard, because we’re not in our first studio apartments after collage right?” Meagan’s smile was infectious, “And last year I had to spend more time in extended stays and hotel rooms than I did my own home, so trust me, this will work if you let it. So, here’s how you do it.” Dan appreciated her energy, and her attention. “Find a spot in the room that you can make yours. It sounds silly, but like I said, it works. Pick a spot, like here on the wall, it doesn’t matter, so let’s try right here.” She pointed at a nondescript section of wall, “Look right where my finger’s pointing, relax, and just think about being comfortable, think about being where you are, done with travel, done with moving, trust me,

think about all of these facts, facts about where you are and how you feel, these are just facts, and think about how it can feel just like home if you let it.” 

Dan had taken a breath and was really listening to her, but it didn’t sound like much of a trick. “You’re not doing it.” Meagan gave him a look that absolutely said HR management, then tapped her finger against the wall. “It won’t work if you don’t do it. Take a centering breath, focus here, and try it, you’ll be happy you did. 

Dan laughed, “Okay, sorry, yeah, I’ll try it. Are you on that side of the wall?” 

“I am.” Her reprimanding look turned into a smile. “Now, okay, just relax, look right here, just with your eyes, and think: I am comfortable, I am relaxed, I am done with everything else, I am here, and it’s just like home.” 

This time, as Dan played along, he felt a remarkable sense of relief as she repeated “I am done with everything else.” 

When she finished leading him through her little mantra her smile got a little bigger, “See, I told you it works.” 

“I do feel better.” Dan did too. 

“That’s good. The secret though is to do it over and over until it really sets in. So let’s do it a few more times, and I’ll leave once you’ve finished winding down and I know you can get some sleep.” His eyelids were starting to get heavy, and he was feeling very content to just sit on the couch, and there had to be a way to make plans with her, or talk about something else once she was done with this. “Okay, just take a deep breath, I am comfortable, I am relaxed,” her voice became softer, her tone was more soothing, and her words came a little slower. He felt his eyes blink 

“I am done with everything else, I am here, you can close your eyes Dan, it’s just like home. Relax, you’re where you need to be, it’s just like home Dan.” 

He felt good. 

“Open your eyes, I know they’re heavy, I know you’re spent, it’s been such a long day, but this is the last part. Look right here, look at my finger, right here, it’s just like home. Take those words inside yourself now, feel their meaning, feel how relaxed you are, it’s just like home, it’s just like home, it’s just like home.” His mouth moved, “It’s just like home.” 

His eyes closed again, and when he said those words he felt the stress of the day, the tension, the anxiety, and the apprehension of the trip, all fade away. 

“See,” Meagan’s voice returned to its enthusiastic tone, “it works, and now you’re ready to call it a day, just like home right?” 

When her voice picked up its pitch and tempo Dan’s eyes opened and he knew he was smiling, sort of uncontrollably but when she said ‘just like home’ it felt like a warm blanket was wrapping around him. “You should visit me tomorrow when you get back from work, it’s my day off, and it would be great to talk to you about something other than my trick for making things feel just like home. You’ll come visit me won’t you, on the door to the right of you on this side, okay?” 

It sounded really nice, “Yeah.” 

She was half way to the door when he responded, and as he watched her go, he noticed that she had a nice butt. It was a slow thought, and he wondered if he was answering her question or agreeing with the sight

in front of him. It had been a long day. 

“Good, it’ll be good to talk tomorrow when you’re more with it. Sleep well.” 

And with that, she was gone, having moved his suitcase out of the way so the door could close behind her. 

“Hi! Dan, it’s so great to see you, come in. I’ve been here a while, so, sorry it’s a little ‘lived in’ in here, how was your night? How was your day?” 

Dan’s first day had been smoother than he’d expected, but the weird thing was that he’d stopped by Meagan’s room before even walking into his. 

“It was alright. I got a sense of what I was doing, you know how it goes. And I’m sorry about last night, it was nice of you to come over, but I was just beat.” 

Her hair was up in a loose bun with a few long strands falling down her cheek, and she looked remarkably relaxed. “Oh, it’s okay, I’m glad I could help you relax, you needed it. 

Being more awake, and more focused, it was even more clear to Dan now just how attractive Meagan really was. She was wearing black tights, a long, frilly, sleeveless white blouse that was almost a dress, knee high brown leather boots, and frameless glasses. Dan realized he was staring. 

“So,” she was smiling at him and he wondered if it was because he’d been staring, “what did you do with your day off?” 

The reality was he had no idea who this woman was, and the same went for her and him. “I slept in, watched some TV, went for a walk, did some boring sight seeing, you know. There’s not a lot to see but I like to take in the local flavor, I also went to the gym. Boring day, I guess. Are you hungry?” He was. 

“I am, but, I feel a little over dressed for being out.” 

“Hold on.” 

She closed her door, then a moment later opened it again and stepped back into the hallway with her purse. “Let’s go to the restaurant downstairs. It’s nice, and you’re dressed for it.” 

It wasn’t so much of an invitation as it was a declaration of what they were doing, and he was kind of fine with that. 

“Dan, do you ever feel like people make too much out of what they do professionally sometimes? Do you know what I mean?” 

He might have been dressed for the restaurant but somehow Meagan was too. It might have been her poise, or the quality of her casual wear, but she also seemed to fit right in. 

“I don’t know, I mean jobs are a big part of our lives aren’t they? Just in general they open up what we can and can’t do. What’s good here?” 

“I normally get one of the specials anytime I go out to eat anywhere, it’s a rule of mine. I mean, when will you be back? When will it be back on the menu? You never know when you’ll get another chance to try it. And I know what you mean, but I think we don’t see ourselves as best we could when we see who we are in relation to our work and what we do.” 

The waiter came by, and they ordered drinks. He ordered a gin and tonic, and she smiled, said that sounded good, and ordered the same.

“It’s like this Dan, take you. I don’t want you to tell me what you do, like I said, no talking about work, no business cards, always order the special, but you have a way of seeing yourself don’t you? And you can see yourself now, one way, even in this moment sitting here, just listening to me talk, you can see yourself in one very clear and specific way.” 

 She stopped speaking to take a drink from her water glass at the same time he did. “You’re probably even thinking about cause and effect related to your job, how you’re talking to me now, in this moment with me right now because you’re here, and you’re only here with me now, focused on this moment now, because you were sent here by your job. And the way you see yourself in this moment is that work was responsible for this, but when you see yourself sitting here now, do you think about how I knocked on your door? How that’s a happy accident for both of us?” 

This time she stopped to take a drink first, and Dan followed. 

“But the reason I knocked on your door isn’t because it’s work related, why I’m here in this building doesn’t get to determine what I like, and I like to know people. I see myself as outgoing and social, I see myself as engaging and I hope I’m interesting and fun, and I wonder if you can notice that about yourself too now Dan, can you notice that in this moment whatever you thought you were going to be doing, whatever you thought was happening one way, or for another reason, is happening separate from all of that?” He found himself taking a another drink of water as she asked him this. 

“It’s a big abstraction isn’t it? But you’re right, I know what you’re saying.” 

She smiled. 

“It is. But it’s like this. I knocked and you answered, we talked and you listened, and we made plans and you followed through, and now we’re about to enjoy this meal, and get to know each other more, because it feels good to connect with people on our own terms, separate from everything else, separate from the context of what we think we’re supposed to be saying or doing, what we’re used to communicating and focusing on. Can you see yourself now, separate from that image of self, able to focus on what you want to share, what you would rather be saying, not engaging in defining yourself by what you do for a living, but by telling me about who you really are? So we can really connect as people?” 

Their drinks arrived, and the waiter listed the specials. 

They both ordered the fish, and a bottle of wine to go with it. 

“I like puzzles. Like, jigsaw puzzles with hundreds of pieces. I do them upside down so the colors don’t fool me.” 

There was something challenging about Meagan that, besides the fact she was beautiful and this really felt like a date, made Dan want to impress her. The way she spoke, the way she sat, it felt like she was pulling something out of him, compelling him to meet her on her level, whatever it was. 

“Oh wow,” her gray eyes lit up with her smile, “I would have had you for a crossword guy. I’m a big crossword fan. I like clues and hints and riddles, tell me why you like puzzles.” 

“I like the immediacy of a puzzle, how you use your hands and you have to have soft eyes for them too. You can’t just look for one piece, you have to look at what pieces you have in front of you, especially after you start from the edges.” 

Meagan was nodding along with him, “Plus it’s something you can just focus on and get lost in. When you solve a puzzle you’re imposing your will on it, solving the questions it answers, but while you make it into

what you want it to become, a solved problem, you have to play by its rules. You have to understand it, submerge yourself into it. Do you ever lose time when you do puzzles?” 

“I don’t think I know what you mean? Like lose track of time, sure.” The gin was good, Sapphire probably, he didn’t have a sensitive palate. 

“Sort of, but losing time is more than that. It’s like blacking out from being hyper focused, and then coming back into yourself and realizing you’ve done half the puzzle. Has anything like that ever happened to you?” 

Dan laughed, “The closest I’ve come to that was drinking too much and waking up to having eaten a whole pizza.” 

She laughed. 

They talked more. 

The wine was good, the fish was good, and they ordered dessert, and it was getting late. “This has been so much fun Meagan,” he signaled for the check. 

“Good, I’m glad. I’ve been having fun too.” She leaned in a little closer to him, “Dan. Can you see yourself walking me up to my room now?” 

Her voice had dropped, but her intensity had stayed at the same level. More so though, the pull Dan had been feeling all night seemed to crystalize. As she asked him about walking her up, Dan’s mind flashed into a clear, sharp image of the two of them holding hands as they walked out of the restaurant and back to the elevator… 

“Good Dan, I can see you seeing it, hold on to that image. Tell me, what happens when we get to my room?” His mind shifted, and his mouth started to move before he could catch himself. “We start kissing just inside the door.” Dan spoke, then started to blush. “Why did I say that?” “Because I asked you what you saw happening, and you wanted to tell me.” She had kept eye contact with him the entire time. “Also, because I tricked you.” 

“You tricked me?” he blinked. 

“Yes. I tricked you.” She reached across the table and put her hands on his. “If you say the right things the right way, and you read someone as they respond, you can hack their brains a little, and get them to open up, or answer truthfully, by disrupting their decision making process.” 

“Do you tr…” 

She squeezed his hands, “No work questions, no work talk. Pay the bill.” 

They were making out like bandits before her door closed. 

“Is this what you were visualizing,” her lips were soft and her fingers traced down the back of his head as she whispered in his ear. 

She kissed him hard then before he could answer, “Come here. Stand right here and focus on me okay. It’s late. I know you’ve had a long day, I know there’s a lot going on, but none of it matters Dan.” Her fingers were tracing down his cheeks, “Listen, I don’t normally do this this, this right here means a lot to me, and I hope it means a lot to you. I want you to feel what I’m feeling now, can you see what I’m feeling?” 

Dan was looking into her eyes, they were sparkling with life and warmth, and his hands were on her

hips, sliding down to her ass, and she moved closer to him. 

“I just want you to be in this moment for me, Dan. Look at me. Nothing,” her hand slid between his legs and she kissed him again, “else matters right now. I want you to say it.” 

He kissed her, “Nothing else matters.” 

He was getting hard as she rubbed, “Good. 

His pants were coming down, “Say it again.” 

She was stroking him, skin on skin, “Nothing else matters.” 

She knelt down and her lips brushed against the tip of his cock, “Nothing matters.” 

Dan’s hand was on the back of her head, and her lips parted for him as he said, “Nothing matters.” After a few gentle, sucking bobs, she was back on her feet and stripping down, “Come here and take off my panties.” 

She was sitting on the edge of the bed when she spoke, her leggings around her ankles, top off, fingers unfastening her blue… her blue bra. 

Her panties were blue too, and Dan slid them down to her knees. 

As her bra fell free, Meagan’s hand dropped between her legs, “Tell me nothing matters, and take them all the way off, kneel down and take them off with your teeth.” 

“Nothing matters,” he said that before the slight damp taste of her panties pressed against the tip of his tongue. 

He heard her gasp, and the slick squish of fingers sliding into her wetness, “ I want you inside me Dan, stand up.” 

He did. 

“But first,” her finger slid out, “I want you to see how turned on I am, just watch for a second.” She slid her sticky finger under the base of his shaft before bringing them back to her clit to start tracing circles around it, “I just want you to watch, nothing matters Dan, just watch what I’m doing, enjoy it.” He bit his lip as she let out another hot sigh, “I like your eyes, just watch me now. Let me see you watching me, following, just use your eyes now. Watch and relax, nothing matters, watch and relax Dan.” Her hair was down, the lights were on low, and her skin was warm. The throb between Dan’s legs was a humming distraction, and the feeling, the ache, made him have to focus on restraining himself and not just jumping on her. The show she was putting on was hot, and Meagan had him even more hooked than she’d had him over dinner, for obvious reasons. 

“Just watch, you can rub a little, but not hard, save it for me, just watch, and focus on my finger, right…” she started playing with a breast with her free hand, “here.” 

“Just watch,” her hips arched slightly, “nothing matters Dan, just watch. Just breathe and watch.” He did. 

“Watch and breathe, relax, nothing matters, breathe and watch, relax, nothing matters.” The slow, gentle swirl of her finger around her clit kept Dan staring, and the steady cadence of her voice was quieting his mind. He was breathing, and everything else was fading away as he stood there watching her, his cock throbbing almost in time with her caress. 

Nothing mattered, there was nothing else. 

“Watch and breathe, relax, nothing matters, breathe and watch, relax, nothing matters.”

He felt good, still, quiet, calm, focused, and so hard. The world began and ended with her pussy. “Come here and fuck me,” it was like before at dinner, only instead of answering without thinking, he was moving without awareness, and then he was inside her. 

“Slow, like that, slow and deep, deep and slow,” her fingernails traced down his back, her lips were on his neck. 

“Deeper,” Meagan moaned and one of her legs wrapped around his, “deeper.” 

His body moved with slow, easy thrusts, following her lead, and the pressure was building. She was so soft, even the sting of her nails down his back was gentle and her moans became his heartbeat, “There’s nothing else, nothing matters Dan, nothing matters.” 

He grunted, his body was getting rigid, arching with the need to move faster, the want to fuck with more purpose, but she kept him in her world, in the slow orbit of her pace, “let me.” Now, Meagan was on top of him, and he was looking up at her. 

Her breasts were full handfuls, her stomach was flat, and her eyes were wide as she started riding him faster, “Here,” she pointed to her eyes “focus here, just here.” 

Hey gray eyes were swallowing him with their intensity and focus. Just like the rest of her, they were soft, inviting, and… and commanding. As he lay there under her, painfully close to cumming, Dan realized it, she wasn’t just commanding, she was domineering, but so softly domineering it was invisible. His hands moved to her breasts, and she let him. She covered his hands with hers, then grabbed his wrists softly. “I want my pussy to feel just like home.” 

There was something warm, something quiet, and something dark descending across his mind. His hands went loose, like every muscle in his body was relaxing all at once, and he started to cum. “That’s it Dan, let go, nothing matters does it?” 

She was descending on him, her hips milking him, and he was starting to drift away, “Stay with me just a little longer, say it and stay with me.” 

“Nu, nothing matters,” it felt so nice to say it, and she kissed him once he did. 

“That’s it, let go Dan, you can let go, you can just let go and stay with me.” 

The bed Dan woke up in felt like the one is his room, but it wasn’t his room, and this one wasn’t empty either. “Good morning, you.” 

A soft hand was between his legs, “Last night was fun, is this fun too?” 

It was, it was also hard not to gasp as he filled up in her hand, “I, yeah, uh, what time…” “Nothing matters Dan.” 

His mind quieted, and his cock got a little harder. 

“I’ll take care of everything, work doesn’t matter right now, nothing matters Dan, let me make the pieces fit, I am the puzzle.” 

“I have to…” 

“No you don’t, because nothing matters, listen to my voice Dan, hear only my words, nothing matters, work doesn’t matter. You’re here with me because I want you here. You’re here with me, feeling this, because I want you to. Nothing matters Dan, you don’t matter.” 

The vigor of her hand increased slightly, slowly, “You don’t matter Dan, your decisions don’t matter

here do they? You didn’t decide to feel this way, I did. You’re in my moment…” 

Then she was on top of him again, “You’re inside me, and you don’t matter, nothing matters, you don’t matter, nothing matters.” 

Dan wanted to know what time it was, he wanted to know if he was running late, but he knew, or felt, or existed in a state inside her, in her world, where he knew he didn’t matter, because nothing mattered, so it didn’t matter that he didn’t matter. It just felt good. 

“Doesn’t my pussy feel just like home?” 

He felt the first sharp pleasures of release as she said those words. 

“Doesn’t my pussy feel just like home Dan?” 

He was cumming hard, and trying to keep his eyes open, trying to keep his ears open, but it felt like the bed was swallowing him whole. 

“…just like home… nothing matters, just like home… work doesn’t matter… just like home… just like…” 

Dan was in the elevator coming back to his room when he realized he had no concrete memory of his day. He knew, instinctively, that it had been a long and productive day at the new office, and he felt a sense of accomplishment and contentedness, but whatever had made up the individual parts of his day was gone. He’d been busy, he felt that and he knew it; he’d certainly been busy. 

There were email chains with him as a part of them, responding, asking questions, communicating, and as he tried to reflect, he could start to piece together a clear sense of accomplishment, with bits and pieces of precise labor, and an awareness of meetings gone to, and conversations had, but that was it. 

The elevator doors opened, and Meagan was about to walk in as he was walking out, “Oh hi!” He blushed as he said that, and looking at her in her sports bra and stretch pants, with a towel over her shoulder and water bottle in hand, he could only see her naked, could only imagine that finger slowly teasing her clit. 

She kissed him, “Hi yourself. Are you around later?” 

“I, uh, should be.” 

Her hand slid between his legs, “Good, I’ll let you know when I’m home. You’ll make time for me tonight.” 

She was so sweet, and so soft and chipper that Dan didn’t realize he’d said, “Yes, of course” until she was already gone. 

He thought about that, and other things about Meagan, as he sat and waited for room service. Tomorrow he’d have to go grocery shopping and get settled in. It would have been a day two activity, but Meagan had blown that up. It was something he could have done tonight, but there was this nagging desire in the back of his mind not to want to miss her when she came by. 

Maybe she’d need to go to the store too, or knew what was close and good. 

He’d stayed the night with her on their first date. 

He hadn’t even thought about how odd that was for him to do, it just felt right. 

Maybe not right, but fun. 

It had felt fun and exciting, and Dan felt a level of relief he never felt. Not at home, not anywhere, not at all. It was really when he was around Meagan, she sucked up everything in the room and simplified it all. There

was basically just her, and then not her, and she always had all of his attention. It was, if Dan was being honest with himself, kind of hard to think when she was around, but he never realized he’d stopped thinking because it never felt like anything had actually happened. 

His food arrived. 

It wasn’t great, but it was good enough and Dan was hungry. 

Maybe nothing had happened, he only really had one evening with her, and a good part of that had been spent in bed, not really talking. 

She was undeniably charming, and maybe that was how it all fit together. 

Maybe she was so charming, and so warm, and so engaging that she just won him over. Dan wasn’t complaining, there had been a lot to enjoy about being won over, but a piece was missing. Of course, maybe it was also as simple as being on vacation. 

He wasn’t really ‘on vacation’ but the way Meagan thought, and acted, the way she’d encouraged him, the way they talked, and her rules about refusing to address work, had made the last few days feel dissonant. There was a knock on his door. 

“Hi, how was your day?” 

It was Meagan, freshly showered, with her wet hair back, no makeup, and dressed in a loose white V neck tee, and fresh black tights. 

She also clearly wasn’t wearing a bra. 

“It was short, and it was kind of weird. But…” He didn’t know what she would and wouldn’t want to hear about, but at the same time, as he spoke she walked into his arms and kissed him. “Weird how?” Her arms were around his neck, she was pressed close to him, and her eyes were bright and focused on him. 

“The day just sort of flew by. It was kind of like what we were talking about at dinner, what you were explaining about losing time.” 

“Maybe,” Meagan took him by the hand and walked them over to the couch, “it’s like when you hear or learn a new word, and then you start noticing it everywhere?” 

They sat, and she leaned against him with an intimacy that was both surprising and comforting. Dan liked it, “Maybe. How was your day?” 

“It was good, long but good,“ the feeling of her skin on his was nice. “This is a nice little end to it.” Her hand slid between his legs, “Can I ask you something?” 

She sounded deliberately coy, and her fingers found his cock through the fabric of his pants. Dan wanted to kiss her, but her lips were on his neck and she was kissing up to his ear. 

“Do you remember last night Dan?” She stopped kissing and rubbing, and sat upright next to him, “have you been thinking about it at all?” 

“I,” he had. “I have.” 

Meagan’s bright gray eyes sparkled, “Good. Did you notice how easy it was when I had you watch me? Can you remember what that felt like to just watch and wait? Can you remember how good it felt to be in that moment with me?” 

She’d brought her hand up and started moving her fingers in the air in the same small circles, rubbing the air the way she rubbed herself, “Did you notice how easy it was when nothing else mattered anymore?

How easy it was to just be? To. Just. Be.” 

He let out a happy little moan and in that moment he was back to the night before, transported to the moment before he slid inside her, waiting, mind almost blank, body hard and anxious. “Yes.” “Good. It’s important that you can let go of everything and enjoy just being with me, just being in this moment, learning to let go of everything else, because nothing matters now, not when you’re with me, here, because I want you. I want you to be with me, and nothing else matters. I want you to just be with me, to let go of everything else that doesn’t matter, and just stay here, like this, feeling this good being with me.” Her fingers were moving in that same small circle and Dan felt disconnected from everything else, fascinated by the motion and the smooth, easy tone of her voice. “You don’t need to say anything when you can just notice now how wonderful it feels, notice how easy it is to feel, to be close to me, knowing that what I’m saying matters, listening, following, like the moment is a puzzle, and my voice is forming the edges, holding you, compelling you to see more of what’s taking shape, focused only on the simple task of being here, listening and following as you remember and feel, feel and remember for me, last night, this morning, because nothing else matters now does it Dan?” 

She pressed herself against him again, and kept her fingers moving slowly in front of his eyes, her breath on his neck, her lips teasing his ear as she rubbed up against him, “Nothing else matters, nothing matters, just what I saw now, just what I want now, because I’m making it all happen, you know it’s just me Dan, just my wants, nothing else, not even yours, just me. Nothing matters right now, not even you, not really.” It was kinky. 

She was into kinky bedroom stuff. 

That was the rational playing out in his mind as those little circles stopped and she waved her hand in front of his face just like on that first night, “Close your eyes, let go, and know that nothing you want matters, so all you can do…” 

She undid his pants as she spoke, then slid her hand around his cock, “…is enjoy what I’m giving you now. I’m the puzzle, and you have to play by my rules.” 

He felt her breath on the head of his cock before her lips, but as she started to kiss and suck, slowly playing with the base of his shaft as she did, he felt that strange sense of distance from everything else becoming more profound. 

“Tell me nothing matters,” her lips slid back down on his shaft, but only after he did what he was told. “Tell me only I matter now.” He was given the same reward when he did again. 

“Good, now come and fuck me Dan.” She stood up, “Come here, take my clothes off, and fuck me till you earn the right to cum inside me.” 

She stood up, and walked backwards, still facing him, her eyes fixed on his. 

He stood to follow her, and his hands worked on their own, peeling away layers as he kissed and groped and squeezed. Her own hands worked over his body, stripping him down, but only after she was naked in front of him, “Fuck me hard Dan, fuck me until you’re so deep inside me there’s nothing else.” 

He pushed her back onto the bed, and she rolled over into her stomach, “Fuck me the way I want to be fucked, like this.” 

Meagan wiggled her ass out towards him, and slid a hand down between her legs, “Right in my slit, just like this.”

He did, and as he felt her warmth and her wetness, his mind went blank while his body went to work. It felt good to touch her, to feel her body telling him what she wanted, her voice nothing more than moans and grunts. The simplicity of it was soothing, and the closer he got to cumming, the more attentive he became, the more obsessively compelled by her pleasure he became. 

“That’s it.” 

Her words sounded alien at first, like hearing someone speaking a foreign language. “That’s it, nothing matters. That’s it Dan, only I matter, only this matters, nothing else.” His cock was aching to burst, but his pace didn’t change. He couldn’t, he had to keep on like this, for her pleasure. 

“Nothing matters, only me, nothing matters only me.” Her voice was breathless, as hungry as he felt. “Nothing matters.” 

They were quick, gasping, eager. 

“Nothing matters Dan, only me.” 

She moaned. 

“Only me, cum for me, only me. Only me.” 

Those words became soft, beckoning him, “Cum for me because I want you to. Do it for me, only me.” He grunted, his back arched, his fingers squeezed, and he came. 

“Only for me Dan, only my wants, only me. Nothing else matters, only me.” 

He gasped, “Only you,” 

They collapsed into a heap together, bodies entwined, kissing, touching, moaning in bliss. “Listen to me Dan, close your eyes and notice how good it feels to just listen now. Let go and listen.” She was all over him, all around him, and her voice become a dream. 

They saw each other every day for the next week, and every day at work time became compressed for him, Meetings had no meaning, work had no purpose, everything was a blur, time that existed between seeing her again. 

Work didn’t matter. 

It was almost like he could hear Meagan’s voice in his ear telling him over and over that work didn’t matter. 

That was why the strange things that he found himself doing didn’t seem to register in his mind consciously or not. He was doing things he didn’t remember, invisible acts within the office that had some effect somewhere for someone, but no one noticed, and whatever this array of pointless, little things he was doing was, it didn’t seem to hurt anyone or anything. 

If anything, Dan seemed to be excelling. The quality of his work only seemed to improve. Work had gotten easier, and that just made the time pass at the office even faster. 

Then came the conference, and both of their nights were spent with work obligations, going out to happy hours, going out to unofficial meetings after hours, dealing with everything that went along with their jobs. 

It was odd though, there was a lot of talk about a merger, and talk about rival companies that seemed like they were doing the exact same things as his was.

There was a lot of talk about a lot of things, and any time Dan heard a rumor, or heard a detail, something was flickering in the back of his mind, a lot of things that almost fit together but not quite… He called out sick on the last day of the conference, made his way to coffee shop on the other side of town, and sat down with a pen and a pad of paper. 

The reason he did puzzles with the art face down was so that the details wouldn’t distract him from the actual shape of things. 

He started jotting down notes, asking himself questions, and as he did he started to lose track of time. He zoned out, and when he came to, he’d written: 

 Meagan doesn’t care about my work. 

We never talk about work. 

I don’t remember everything we talk about because nothing matters. 

Nothing matters. 

Nothing matters. 

He was knocking on her door. 

“Meagan, it’s Dan.” 

He heard her on the other side of the door, “Just a second.” 

It was hard not to be struck dumb by her when she opened the door. She was wearing a tight black spaghetti strapped dress, her hair was curled and piled up, and the heels she was wearing made beauty even her even more imposing. Those dull gray eyes of hers focused on him and sparkled to life. The slight arch to her lip told him she was reading his concern or displeasure plain as day. 

“We need to talk.” He walked in. 

“Do we?” She reached out to touch him, but he didn’t stop. 

“We do. What are you doing to me? What are you all about?” He didn’t think he sounded mad. He didn’t feel mad, but there was a foggy feeling to his emotions, a confused, chaotic sense of motion in his feelings that made him wonder what exactly he was feeling. 

“Nothing.” She was smiling, and she looked relieved. ‘I’m not doing anything to you.” “But,” she took a breath, let it out, walked over to him, and took his hand, “that doesn’t mean nothing’s happening though.’ 

His first instinct was to pull away, but the slow circles her finer was tracing on the palm of his hand felt like they were draining his tension away, and his mind was flooded with images of her masturbating in front of him that first night they slept together. 

“I’m not making you do anything. I’m not forcing you to act a certain way, or to do anything at work, I just talked to you about the realities of your situation, and I reminded you about what does and doesn’t matter Dan. I showed you what does matter. I showed you how to be happy and content, relaxed and comfortable, and I showed you how good it feels to be with me, but I didn’t do anything to you. You did it to yourself.” 

She’d started to run her fingers down his cheek with her other hand, and all of the touch, all of the physical contact with her had paralyzed him, or at very least disoriented him with warmth and softness. “You just agreed with what I told you, and you just decided to let yourself go along with what I wanted to teach you. Like how to let go, how to feel just like home inside me, and that nothing matters.”

After she said all that, she kissed him, and Dan felt his cock stiffen so fast that it was like all the blood had drained from his brain down into it. It also felt like he was inside her now, and as she kissed him, he felt her pussy wrapping around him. 

“It wasn’t easy though,” her hand slid between his legs and started working his zipper and his belt, “you have a complicated mind, and if you hadn’t let me in that first night, to show you how to entrance yourself, it would have been even…” she paused until her hand was around his throbbing cock, “harder.” 

“But,” she kissed his neck as she started to stroke, “I’ve always been charming, and I know what a lot of people need to hear. I’m just happy that you’re so likable. I’m not usually this hands on, I meant it when I said I don’t normally do this sort of thing, not like this. I don’t, but lucky for us both, it works so well with you.” 

She pushed him down onto the couch, “You want to ask what I’m talking about, but you’re not really able to process things right now. I taught your cock to turn off your brain, and when it’s on, your thinking switches off, so let me explain it to you.” 

She pulled up her dress, pulled her panties to the side, and slid down on him. 

“I love the way you feel inside me Dan, I really do, and you love my voice inside your head, so just listen.” She was riding him slowly, very very slowly. 

“I hypnotized you that first night, as much as anyone can really be hypnotized. You see, it’s all self hypnosis in the end, and I showed you a trick, and I taught you a shortcut without explicitly saying it. That’s why, when I fucked you, I told you my pussy feels just like home. That’s right, just like home.” 

He was a passenger in his own body, listening, absorbing, unable to move or to talk, and not wanting to do either. 

“Then, once I showed you how to enter that state, I started to help you think about things differently. I used what you told me about yourself to frame the way you could see me, and that first night at dinner, and after, I started dumbing a whole bunch of ideas into your mind through conversation, and later, that I knew you’d start to piece together into suggestions you thought were your own idea. Those first few nights were subtle and soft, and they were setting you up for the next few.” 

Her pace was picking up, and he could tell through the fog of the moment that she was getting off on explaining everything. 

“But once I had you opened up, and playing along, working with me, then I could start pointing you in more deliberate directions. And by never overtly addressing anything I wanted from you, not once talking directly about work, projects, or the company, or anything else, your conscious and subconscious never put it together to stop yourself from sharing what you thought was unprompted information out of context. But, you told me everything, and you did everything I wanted you to.” 

She was panting, and he could feel her orgasm on top of him. 

“And now, with a week left together, and the ‘damage’ done, there’s nothing I need from you, and nothing you can do to stop what’s already happened. But..” 

She leaned in and kissed him hard, before pressing her lips to his ear, “You’ll still cum for me.” He did. 

It was hard too. 

After a week of being fucked senseless every night, then almost a week of nothing at all, he had quite the load built up, and was powerless to stop himself from enjoying every moment of it.

“And now that I’ve told you all about my convert system of not doing anything, now it’s going to be easier to just do everything. After all, I do really like you Dan, and you’re mine now. You’re all mine, and you’ll stay that way, because you know only I matter. You know only my desires matter now.” The truth of it was, she was right. 

He felt it in his heart. 

He felt it in his mind. 

She’d proven it to him, and even though he knew she was lying, somehow that just made it all more true. 

They woke up together, naked and entwined, and he came to with her hand between his legs. “I have some business to take care of today,” her voice was soft, as cloyingly sweet as the stroke of her hand up and down on his shaft. “It would be nice to know you’re waiting for me to come home later. It would be nice to know you weren’t thinking of anything else.” 

“Meagan, stop, I don’t…” 

She kissed him, “It doesn’t matter what you want, nothing matters Dan, not tomorrow, not yesterday, not what will or won’t happen, listen to me, I matter.” 

She slid herself onto him, and her warmth and wetness, the eager gasp she made as she made him enter her was all too much for him. He focused on taking a breath, and the sound of Meagan’s voice started to swirl around him as she began to bounce slowly. 

“Does it matter what you want Dan?” She took one of his hands and put it on her tit as she rolled her hips. “Does anything matter now that I’m in your head?” 

His fingers squeezed, his hips bucked up into her, and as desperate as he was to argue, it felt too good to agree. It felt to good to just say, “Nothing matters.” 

“Ooh, “ she gasped and he felt her body quiver, “say it again.” 

He did, “Nothing matters Meagan.” 

She pressed her hands down on his chest and dug her nails into him, “That’s right, nothing matters.” Her pace picked up, and she ended up sliding a finger in his mouth, before pulling it out, leaning back on him, and rubbing her clit as she rode him to mutual completion. 

Spent, and under her, he couldn’t think straight as she stretched out over him, “I don’t want you to think of anything today, I want you to wait for me, and be as empty headed as possible. Don’t try and think about anything, or wonder about everything, I want you to just go through your day, don’t try and make any more sense of anything else, you know it doesn’t matter. Don’t try and think about work or your future, work doesn’t matter, nothing matters. You’re mine now, and nothing else matters.” 

She whispered those words in his ear again and again until he couldn’t help but repeat them himself, chanting them almost as her whispers grew softer and more distant. 

“The room in just like home Dan, I’ll be back later, miss me.” 

He was asleep again, and she was gone. 

That day, however, did not go according to Meagan’s imposed plan. 

When he came to again, Dan stared to go through the paces of a regular weekend. He had breakfast, he

showered, and though he didn’t really want to, he found himself checking his work email. It was a battle to sit down and do so, and as much as he didn’t feel like doing it, there was an itch in the back of his mind. He was thinking about Meagan non-stop; the way her dull gray eyes came to life and brightened up when she saw him, memories of her soft voice were distracting him from his itch, as was the sense of her body still on his, still touching him. But the more he thought about her, the more persistent the urge to check his email became. 

Since everything was all sideways now, it felt like it shouldn’t have mattered. The ‘damage’, as she’d said, had already been done, and clueless as he was he’d willingly played her games. Even now he didn’t know what he’d shared, or leaked, or stolen, or hacked, or otherwise violated. 

Worse still, Dan had no idea what ‘damage’ he could even do in the first place. 

But then he saw the emails. 

People were getting fired, policies were changing, and he was still in the loop on all of them. The worst email though was one from a local superior that he was looped in on with his boss back at his home office. They wanted to promote him. 

They wanted him to relocate out here, and move up. He felt sick. A cold, hand was squeezing his guts, and he felt weak. A voice was telling him… His own voice? Meagan’s voice? Her words said with his voice? … that nothing mattered, that he didn’t need to think about any of this, not yet, not until Monday, or at all, but he had to scratch that itch. 

What had she done? What was he missing? 

She’d told him how she hadn’t ‘done’ anything, but that was a lie. She was inside his head. She’d hypnotized him that first night, she said it but said it was his own doing. And, and well her logic wasn’t flawed, it was just self-serving and diabolical. Her lies weren’t plain untruths, just incredibly stretched out differences of opinion and omission of details. 

Maybe hypnosis was just talking, but it was precise talking, it was deliberate and planned, it had a utility and a focus to it. She’d gotten inside his head, she’d confused him, conned him, and seduced him, and every time they fucked, she’d clearly been deepening his trance, or reintroduce his hypnotized state, or something like that. 

She’d told him as much, and even though she’d been with him for hours and hours afterwards, manipulating him, Dan had still been working on the puzzle of her actions even though he didn’t realize it. But there was still something missing, something he couldn’t see, or remember, or track. It was impossible, the lost piece he was looking for was worse than the itch to check his work email had been. Dan went through his phone, but there was nothing. He went through his phone’s usage history to see if he’d deleted anything, and he hadn’t. There was no trace of having sent anything, or received anything on any format. There were no new contacts, or unknown numbers, there was nothing at all, digitally, or analogue. Hours passed as he tried once again to parse out what had happened, and like before, as he started to take notes and map out ideas, his hand fell into the habit of writing ‘nothing matters’ over and over again until his mind wandered and he found himself watching TV instead. 

This was wrong though, it was all wrong, and then finally she was knocking at his door. “Hi, can I come in?”

She was wearing a long floral skirt and a thin white sweater. Her hair was down and she had her purse with her. 

Dan didn’t answer, he just stepped back. He wanted to say something snide, but that would have meant admitting to the reality of the situation, which despite absolutely everything that had happened over the last two weeks, he still didn’t really want to do. 

How could he admit to the absurdity of a mystery woman hypnotizing him with sex into corporate sabotage? 

“It looks like your mind’s been a little uncooperative today. That sucks, and I’m sorry. I’ve tried to make all of this as easy on you as possible, I hope you know that.” She sounded honest, and as she moved closer to him, Dan didn’t back away or stop her from kissing him, but he couldn’t bring himself to kiss her back. 

“You know what would have been really easy on me is not doing…” he looked at her, her pretty face, her eyes that seemed so kind and understanding right now, her gentle patient smile, and almost decided to forget all about it. But, he didn’t “…doing whatever it is you’ve been doing to me, or using me, or hypnotizing me, or whatever it is you’ve done. And it would be even better if you stopped.” 

She stayed close to him, and even as he moved away from her, she moved with him and reached out to touch him. “Have you ever thought that maybe I’m not the bad guy here? That, maybe, maybe I’ve been doing good things for you while I’ve been using you.” 

“How’s messing with my mind and, I don’t know, brainwashing me, doing me any favors or doing anything good for me?” On instinct he reached out to hold her too, to put his hand son her hips, and he stopped half way there. 

“I explained part of what I did, and you’ve done your best to figure out a little bit of the rest, or guess about it, but you can’t see why, and I won’t tell you why either. You’re trying to figure out a part of the process that doesn’t matter. You’re trying to think through actions that you’ve done that don’t really matter to you, and it’s for the best Dan. It’s worked out for me, it’s worked out for you, and it’s for the best.” He just stood there partially in her embrace, “This doesn’t make sense.” 

“I know,” she was smiling, “and if you let me, I can help you to live with it a little easier.” “Unless it’s an explanation, I don’t want to hear about whatever it is, and I want you to stop messing with my head.” Unfortunately, being so close to her, feeling her hands on his and seeing the warmth in her eyes made him sound less resolved, and a whole lot more petulant and confused. 

She touched his face and kissed him again, “Ever since you let me into your world, into your mind, I’ve been inside you, inside your head and that won’t change, but it will get easier. Most of what I’ve had to do, most of what I’ve needed from you has been subtle, elegant direction and manipulation. I’d apologize for it if I were sorry, but I’m not. The only thing I’m sorry about is that it hasn’t stuck the way I wanted it to. But now that things are a little more out in the open, I think I know how to make it stick this time, and no matter what you say, you like me too much to want to lose me, you like the way I make you feel too much to resist me, not entirely at least.” 

She pressed herself up against him and started to stroke his neck, “And if you really don’t want to just go along with what I want, there’s only so far I can push you, and after tonight, if you don’t bend, or buckle just the way I want you to, then I’ll leave you alone with your thoughts, and your curiosity, and any of the guilt you think you’re supposed to feel.”

“Why? Why are you like this? Why can’t you just…” She put a finger to his lips. 

“Because what I do is important, and because I like what I do, and until a day ago, you did too. Now, look into my eyes. Hypnotism is only a part of my approach, but for you, right now, for what you need, it’s going to answer both our questions. So, just look deep into my eyes.” 

“Are you really going to…” again she placed her finger on his lips. 

“If you think this is all there really was to what happened, then yes, I’m really going to do this. Well this…” 

Her hand slid between his legs, “…and this. And all you have to do is listen to me for a few minutes while I see if I can’t prove to you that nothing that’s happened has really mattered, and nothing that you’ve been thinking matters at all.” 

“This,” he let out an involuntary sigh as those deep gray eyes filled his vision and his hips moved forward towards her gentle ministrations, “isn’t fair.” 

“Life isn’t fair Dan, but you only think you want to complain right now. Look into my eyes, focus on how good I’m making you feel, and just listen for a moment. No answers, no questions, no thoughts, just listen and feel, and remember how good it feels to really be with me, just with me. If you don’t like the way I make you feel, if you don’t like the way it feels to just be with me, in my voice, under my caress, well you’ll start to reject more and more, and the pleasure you feel will start to fade more and more. But, the better it feels to you, to listen, to be touched, to be blank, the more you’ll want to find yourself letting go and accepting.” 

With one hand she undid his zipper, and then his belt. Dan’s pants were falling down as her eyes sparkled bright and intense, “Just look, just feel, and just listen.” 

His cock was in her hand now, and she was rubbing it slowly, almost like it was a passing thought for her, and it felt good. It felt really good, just like it always did. 

“As you feel the pleasure of losing yourself in my eyes and following my voice now, you’ll start to feel heavy, hypnotically heavy as your mind begins to bend, as you begin to surrender to the pleasure of just being mine, and the freedom of knowing that nothing that’s happened matters at all, that nothing in your life has mattered at all before this moment. The better this feels, the more aroused it makes you, the more coherent and connected everything I’m saying is becoming, and all you have to do to reject the sound of my voice and the influence of my words, is to reject the pleasure of my touch, and it’s soft, hypnotic sway over your body, making everything heavy, from your eyelids to your limbs, so warm, so happy, and so hypnotically heavy now.” 

She had a way of speaking, that no matter what she said, she could pull him in. He felt it from the first moment, and now it was even more intensified than before. Now, as she stroked him and kept his gaze fixed on her, the weight of her personality was pressing down on him, slowing his mind down, and making him feel so warm and heavy. It was getting too hard to keep standing up as she stroked, and his legs started to bend as she pressed down on his shoulder with her free hand. 

Now, they were back on the couch, with her sitting next to him, hand in his lap, “See how good it feels to let go of your own desire to resist, to define yourself against me, feeling how pointless it is to do something as simple as standing up when I want you to sit. Just keep looking into my eyes until your own eyes need to close, or until you want the pleasure to stop, and want to walk away from just being mine.” 

He tried not to let his breath quicken or his body shiver as she brought him closer to climax with every slow stroke, and he even tried to speak, to say something, anything at all, but she squeezed a little firmer and

rubber a little faster, “No more words Dan, no more thoughts, just feel it, just listen, and your mind will do what it craves. Your mind will do what it wants. If you want to resist, stand up and walk away. If you want to surrender, close your eyes for me now.” 

She had shifted so one leg was under her now, and with her free hand she’d pulled her panties down partially. “Just don’t think about the past, don’t think about what you know is going to happen, and how good it feels to fuck me. Don’t let the memory of my fingers on my clit, teasing myself, toying with myself like I’m toying with you now flood your mind. Don’t lose yourself in the pleasure that comes from being under me, inside me, lost in my body like you’re lost in my eyes, like you want to lose yourself in my voice. If you don’t want to be mine, just resist…” 

She was on top of him and he was inside her again, “…and don’t cum inside me when I tell you to. Cum faster, cum harder, cum with me, cum for me, just don’t cum when you’re told, don’t cum inside me unless you want to belong to me, and let me decide your life, your fate, and your desires. Don’t cum inside me unless you’re ready to admit that nothing matters. Nothing matters Dan, just cum inside me, just cum hard when you’ve accepted that fact again.” 

There was a burst of light behind his eyes and his cock shot deep inside her. 

His head swam, his eyes wanted to close but he couldn’t look away from hers, from the smile of pleasure and triumph, from the genuine happiness in her gaze. 

His whole body was leaking into her from the tip of his cock, and the volume in his brain was turned all the way down into a static hum. 

“It’s okay Dan, you needed that, and you need to close your eyes and make yourself at home in my control again. The sound of my voice is just like home for you, the touch of my skin is just like home for you, being under my control in every way I desire is just like home Dan, close your eyes and sink into me, you’ve made up your mind, you’re mine.” 

He was. 

The End