Roger Grayson - The Two-Way Mirror

"Karen, pet… come in," she without rising, her lovely smile wane and welcoming.

"Thank you… I'm not too early, I hope," Karen replied, noting quickly that the room was a combination study and lounge, embellished in the same chaste hue and manner, with a large circular bed-like couch at the far end.

"No, not at all," Claudia Gray assured her while her sparkling onyx eyes swept the length of her beautiful blonde guest with one approving, if calculating, glance. "You may leave us, Margot… unless Karen would like a drink… I never touch it myself, but you go right ahead, pet…"

"No… no, thank you," Karen said, turning to the attractive young girl whose chic black uniform seemed almost in harsh contrast to the resplendent surroundings.

"Come sit," Claudia Gray invited, motioning toward a chair only a few feet from, and facing, her.

Karen did. She was experiencing a certain stomach-chilling spasm of anticipation that caused her to tremble nervously.

"I do a great deal of my work right here," the woman said in her throaty voice, gesturing at their surroundings with a long, slender, delicate hand. "It's so much more conducive to accomplishment than a stuffy office, don't you think, pet?"

"It's beautiful," said Karen, feeling free to look about her once more.

"And so are you," Claudia Gray said huskily.

Karen's eyes came back to her quickly, staring, embarrassed. She didn't know what to say.

Claudia Gray smiled. She said: "I can help you, pet. I know what you're after… and what you must go through to get it," she said levelly. "But it's the same for all of us; good things don't come easily. We must give to receive… it's part of life. Have you learned that yet, dear?"

Karen's nervous apprehension had suddenly increased. The woman was obviously referring to her stupid affair with Karl Fletcher last night… Was she guessing, or did she actually know the truth? She felt her cheeks flushing.

Claudia Gray leaned forward and patted her knee affectionately, her smile warm and understanding. "Never mind, pet," she said softly. "We women have all been hustled down the road of humiliation before. You mustn't condemn yourself." Her hand rested warmly on Karen's knee. "Remember what I said to you? That we females must stick together?"

Karen nodded, trembling lightly as Claudia Gray's exciting eyes seemed to penetrate to her very soul. She sensed the increasing pressure of the slender, delicate hand on her leg, and momentarily, the urge to jump up and run out of there nearly overwhelmed her. Then, the stunning woman straightened and leaned back in her corner of the loveseat once more.

"And so we shall, pet," she said, almost regally. "Now… tell me all about yourself… your childhood, boyfriends, likes and dislikes, wants and needs… You see, pet, I must know a client almost intimately to be of any real help to them. Later, over dinner we'll discuss your book and our plans for it, and after… well, let's just take it as it comes, eh? Now, you go ahead, darling… just start talking…"

Karen felt quite compelled to obey her, the woman's dominating personality seeming to subjugate her. She began talking, nervously at first, but gradually with increasing confidence as she gave a brief resume of her life, of Jeff and their short marriage, surprising herself as she unfolded the whole history of her frigidity and its cause, but opening up even more as Claudia Gray expressed her sympathy and understanding. Time seemed to race by as they talked and Karen became less and less inhibited, enchanted with the stunning woman's tender insight.

They dined by candlelight in the small dining room, then returned to the study where Margot served them a sweet, thickened black coffee and Claudia Gray dismissed her for the night. Actually, Karen's story had kept them in conversation and they had yet to get to her book, but they had reached that point when the woman suddenly got to her feet and crossed the room to her desk.

"I never drink," she said over her shoulder, "but I do have other vices."

She smiled beautifully and Karen watched her. The beauty of the woman entranced her. She obviously wore nothing beneath the sheer gown of silk and her breasts and soft, secret pubic area became enticingly visible when the folds of silk fell just right, or clung to her amply curvaceous body, and Karen felt a mixture of excitement and revulsion at the sensuous stimulation the sight was causing her.

She returned with a small silver tray of what looked like thin brown cigarettes, and held it out in front of her.

"What are they?" the lovely blonde girl questioned

Claudia Gray smiled. "You mustn't question the hostess, pet," she said lightly. "Try one. You'll like it."

Karen took it and Claudia Gray lighted it for her with an ivory based table lighter, then, her own. As the woman returned to her loveseat, Karen purposely sniffed at the sweet-smelling smoke drifting up from the lighted end.

"It almost reminds me of some kind of incense," she said.

"Try a few puffs… if you find it unpleasant, put it out," Claudia Gray said.

Karen dragged at it.

"Slowly, pet, at first," the woman said. "Like this…" and she drew in gently, but deeply, inhaling in the same manner.

Karen did as she was instructed, finding the taste strange but not unpleasant. She repeated the act, taking more and drawing it deeper down into her lungs, holding it there for a few seconds in the manner of her hostess. Neither spoke for a passing of minutes while Karen continued to experiment. After a few inhalations, she could barely notice it going down, it was so smooth. Finally, she took a long, deep measure of the smoke and held it as long as was Claudia Gray across from her.

"It's marijuana, isn't it?" Karen heard herself say, but her voice sounded a distance off.

"Hashish, pet… the very best," Claudia Cray's voice came to her seemingly from a distance, also. "Do you like it?"

"I-l really can't say," Karen laughed lightly, feeling strangely soft and wonderful. The longer she withheld the smoke, the more elated she seemed to become. She saw Claudia Gray's beautiful face smiling at her from what suddenly seemed away off. She was a beautiful, beautiful woman… and she was speaking…

"… Will require considerable re-writing, but I'll help you with it. We can work here, darling. You can move in with me, and we'll just spend all of our time together until it's finished… you, Splendor and me… it's going to be heavenly, pet… just the three of us…"

Karen saw her rise, almost float to her feet, and she was coming toward her, holding out her hands. Slowly, Karen arose to her own feet, feeling as if she were drifting ceilingward, a momentary fleeting trace of apprehension endeavoring to make itself felt, but passing immediately in the aftermath of warmth the cigarette had spread throughout her entire being.

The apparition seemed to engulf her as suddenly she sensed the delicate slender hands on her breasts, causing an ensemble of mixed emotions to tingle within her mind and body, yet she had no power nor desire to resist. She felt as if mesmerized in her state of delicious intoxication as the delicately exquisite face moved closer to hers and its perfect soft mouth closed down upon her own, tenderly, wetly, warmly… and alas, more urgently.

Her own mouth felt strangely soft in response, and she sensed her lips being pressed apart by the vision's sweet-tasting tongue, slipping between them into her mouth as the strong, statuesque body came hard against her, its thinly veiled stomach and loins beginning an intimate undulating motion.

"You are a beautiful girl, Karen pet," the husky voice whispered hotly into her mouth. "And I am going to help you be what you want to be… just as you must help me be what I am."

"I-I… what do you want… me to do?" Karen managed, slipping even more into the ecstasy of her dream world.