Never Naughty Enough. Jill Monroe

drafting board.”

      Good to know Heather could multitask—throw a coasterless party with ease, aid and abet a delusional male in the name of fun, all while brokering her next potential roommate.

      Jeff led the growing group down the narrow hallway. He opened the door and they all filed into the nearly empty bedroom. Only a desk, lamp, chair and bare mattress, angled against the wall, remained.

      “Shelley’s going to pick up her desk and lamp tomorrow, but the mattress you can use since she and her fiancé are getting a queen-size bed,” Heather announced.

      “Ladies, please. We need to create an ambience.”

      Heather laughed. “Whatever. I used to date you, Mike—I know all about your, uh, ambiences.”

      Mike closed the door behind the last person, positioned the desk chair in the middle of the room and gestured to Annabelle that she should sit down, which she did. He flipped on the beat-up banker’s lamp. “Hey, someone switch off the overhead lights.”

      One of the women giggled when darkness flooded the room. “Why do I feel like we’re in for a session of light as a feather, stiff as a board?” Katie whispered.

      “Oh, hey, I remember that game.”

      Memories of late nights, bowls of M&M’s and bras in the freezer filled Annabelle’s memory. “That game we used to play at slumber parties? We could never get it to work on me. Just don’t let anyone put my hand in a bowl of warm water.”

      Katie laughed.

      Mike cleared his throat. “It’ll need to be quiet to pull this off. Okay, Annabelle, you’re getting very sleepy.”

      She chuckled. “Oh, please. Can you come up with a line a little more original than that?”

      Mike rolled his sleeves up to his elbows. “Just work with me. Close your eyes and clear your mind. Forget about everyone in the room.”

      She exhaled sharply, but closed her eyes. The sooner he tried to hypnotize her and failed, the sooner she could go home and sink into a warm mountain of bubbles in her bathtub.

      “Go back in your memory. Search it for a time when you were at your most relaxed.”

      She opened one eye. “I’m never relaxed.”

      “It’s true. I’ve never seen her relaxed,” Katie said.

      “Okay, then a favorite memory.” Mike made a hand motion to indicate she needed to close both her eyes.

      Favorite memory? Now, that was easy. That would have to be the time when she’d worked late with Wagner and fallen asleep on the soft leather couch in his office. He’d woken her up with the smell of fresh coffee under her nose. She’d opened her eyes and nearly fell into his deep blue ones, so much more alluring without his glasses. His eyes had darted to her mouth.

      For one heart-stopping moment, she’d thought he might kiss her.

      “Have you got one?” Mike asked, his voice slowly swimming toward her.

      It took her a moment to answer. “Yes.” Her voice sounded heavy and slurred. Why was she having so much trouble saying only one word?

      “Good. Now keep thinking of that time. Concentrate on the good feelings that memory brings to you. Let everything else fall into the background but those feelings and my voice.”

      “Yes. Background. Coffee,” Annabelle repeated. She swayed a bit in her chair. Through the fog of memory, she felt a hand on her shoulder, steadying her.

      “Maybe you should stop, Mike.”

      Was that Katie’s voice? Weird. She sounded upset. What was she doing in Wagner’s office? The voice faded. Annabelle must have made a mistake. The scent of Wagner’s cologne filled her senses and she felt the delicious sensation of anticipation as his lips almost touched hers. She arched forward, closer to—

      “What should we do?” Heather whispered.

      “We should give her a suggestion. What does she need? Does she have any bad habits?” Mike asked.

      Annabelle fought through a haze of vaporous words and ever-dimming darkness. Who was talking? No one was in the office with them. It must be a client outside the door. Back to Wagner…

      “What she needs is to forget about work once in a while. Take a day off.”

      “Great. You’ll be spontaneous.” The words, spoken next to her ear, made no sense. She squeezed her shut eyes tighter. Annabelle didn’t want talking, she wanted to return to her beautiful memory. Couch. The smell of coffee.

      “You’ll crave marshmallows.” Marshmallows for coffee? Annabelle thought Kelli, Heather’s possible roommate, sure had some weird ideas.

      “You’ll be a sex fiend,” someone blurted.

      Katie gasped. “Oh, Jeff. Take that one back.”

      “What’s the difference? This isn’t working anyway.”

      “Yes, it is. Look at her.” Was that Mike?

      “Just change it,” Katie told him, her voice growing more and more concerned.

      What a weird dream.

      “Okay, you’ll be daring, sexually.”

      “Let’s give her something she could really use. I know, you’ll enjoy doing sit-ups,” Heather said.

      “Your thighs won’t bother you,” Kelli said, her tone wishful.

      “You’ll run naked through Bricktown Ballpark.”

      Mike cleared his throat, cutting off any objection. “Okay, Annabelle, when I turn on the light, you won’t remember any of this, but the suggestions will remain with you.”

      “Oh, come on, Mike. Not fair.” There was Katie’s voice again.

      “Okay, okay. I was only joking. I’ll take the suggestions away and leave her only with a nice, rested feeling.”

      Light flooded the room. A shock of awareness scorched through her body and she struggled to open her eyes.

      A young woman stood in the open doorway, her hand on the light switch. “Oops, sorry, didn’t know you all were in here. What’s going on anyway? A séance?”

      “Oh, no,” someone said.

      Who was in the room with her? And Wagner? Wait a minute, she wasn’t on a couch. She was sitting in a chair. The scent of Wagner’s coffee had disappeared.

      Annabelle blinked a few times as her eyes adjusted to the bright light. Six faces turned toward her expressing varying shades of alarm. If she hadn’t been self-conscious before, she definitely was now. “Why are you all staring at me like that?”

      Katie cleared her throat. “Belle, are you okay?”

      Annabelle shrugged. “Sure, fine.”

      “What about the…” Her friend’s voice trailed off as she shot a pointed look in Mike’s direction.

      With a few odd glances at one another, the rest of the group dispersed quickly from the room. Actually, they almost looked as if they were making a break for it. Mike had lost the carefree expression he’d worn earlier. His eyebrows were raised and his shoulders tense. He appeared borderline anxious.

      “Annabelle, don’t you remember?” Tight lines strained Katie’s face. She looked worried. Strange. Annabelle felt great—there was nothing wrong with her.

      You’re getting sleepy. Now she remembered why they were all in this room and why everyone was acting so odd. Annabelle suppressed a giggle.

      “Oh, the hypnosis thing? Sorry, Mike, it didn’t seem to do anything. Look, I’m a little tired, though, and I’d just like to go home now.”

      “You’re