Jason Demovic's lips pressed against Melissa's and his hands searched lower. Finding the top of her panties he slid them off her ass and left her fully exposed. He was barely clad himself with his shirt hanging open to reveal his ripped, movie stars six pack and tousled 'I'm ready to fuck you now' hair.

"So what would you like to talk about today?" David's voice was soft, unhurried, gentle and wrenched Melissa back from her reverie into reality. She looked at him as though he had just appeared out of thin air before her. Since the news of her disciplinary hearing she had been meeting with her counseling supervisor at least once a week just to keep her on track. He was the only person who knew how deeply the whole ethics committee thing was getting to her.

The highly experienced psychologist was tall, good-looking and ruggedly handsome in a blonde blue eyed sort of way, but Melissa felt no attraction to him physically or romantically. As a therapist who she respected and looked up to however, she certainly felt drawn to him and the truth was that just at the moment he was the support to her that no-one else in her life could be.

"Melissa. Did you hear me?" He said.

"I'm sorry David." She shook her head. "I'm so distracted lately and today I had this unusual client--" She cut herself off. She hadn't planned to talk about her unsettling experience with Jason Demovic. She had other much more pressing things to deal with.

"Unusual? How so?" David smiled at her in his comforting big brother way. "Not unusual just… different. Look, can we forget about him--" "Him?"

"Yeah, it was a guy, just some guy--"

"You said he was an unusual client and you mentioned him as a reason for your being distracted. I think that might be worth discussing, don't you?"

"Can we come back to him later? I got the letter today with the date for my hearing. It's getting to me David, no matter what I do I just can't shake this anxiety."

David didn't say a word.

"It's next week. and this could be it. All those years of hard work and dedication, gone. For nothing. Just because of one tiny, stupid..."

David waited.

"God damn you." Melissa said. "Why are you so good at this?"

Her supervisor smiled.

She knew he wouldn't let it go and she knew he was right. Demovic was an issue. It was no accident that she had mentioned him, she knew better than that. In psychotherapy there was no such thing as an innocent slip of the tongue. Sure she was worried about the hearing but somehow her encounter with the

incredibly handsome and obviously rich young man was playing on her mind, unsettling her.

She still wasn't sure if she wanted to tell her supervisor about it though.

She needed her work than ever and if he advised her not to take him on as a client then she would feel obliged to take that advice.

"I'm good with you Melissa. I know you. Now why don't you tell me what's really been eating you today."

A standoff ensued. Melissa knew the game well--she had used it often enough herself. The power of silence, the waiting, the openness and lack of judgment. Worst of all she knew how effective it was and she could feel it working now. She felt tears begin to come, as they so often did in David's office; the tears she denied herself anywhere else in her life.

David pushed a box of quilted, floral tissues towards her.

She snapped one angrily from the box, wiped her eyes and then blew her nose.

"Screw you David." She said.

He smiled.

"Come on Melissa, we're running out of time and you're acting like a new client on the first day. Stop avoiding and let's deal with this issue head on, whatever it is. Have I ever let you down?"

"Okay, you win. I got the letter about the hearing today and--"

"The guy Melissa. Tell me about the guy."

"Jesus Christ almighty, okay, okay. There was a client today and he wanted to…"

"He wanted to what?"

David watched her like a hungry hawk. He was an excellent psychotherapist and very well respected in his field. He could smell a psychological rat a mile off.

"He flirted with me." Melissa cringed inside. She had never lied to David in all of their time together and it pained her to feel herself dodging the issue at stake.

David waited for more.

"I had the feeling he wasn't serious about therapy at all."

"I'm not getting why this is so upsetting Melissa. Why don't you tell me about the flirting?"

Melissa bit her lip as David fixed her in his gaze. She didn't feel like going into detail but it would be better than coming clean and talking about the offer of a retainer to sign off on fake therapy sessions.

"He said it was a problem for him that he found me attractive."

David made a note in his pad.

"He said he knew I was one of the best new psychotherapists in the city but that he hadn't expected me to be the most beautiful as well."

David didn't move, didn’t blink an eyelid.

"He said my gorgeous green eyes had made him uncomfortable from the first moment I looked at him."

David's eyes dropped from hers momentarily but then darted back again. It only took a micro second but it was like a slap in the face to Melissa. David never reacted that way. He was hiding something. Or more accurately, failing to hide

something. Talking about herself in these terms was profoundly awkward for Melissa--she had to force the words out, but why would David look awkwardly away from her?

Her supervisor cleared his throat.

"Do you want to, uh, tell me why these remarks made you feel so uncomfortable?"

"I… I guess I'm just not used to hearing those things and certainly not from a client like this."

There was a short silence.

"Like what?" David asked.

The feeling of being trapped was excruciating, but she knew from experience that this was often the precursor to a breakthrough, an insight of some kind. She sighed deeply and looked down at the floor while she spoke.

"This new client, he's young, extremely arrogant, good-looking, obviously wealthy--"

"Good-looking?"

"Among other things."

"But you said 'good-looking'."

"Yes."

"How good looking?"

"Very. I would say unusually attractive."

David was silent for a moment, deep in thought.

"Are you attracted to him?" He asked.

"Of course not." Melissa bit back, far too quickly.

There was another silence. Melissa felt her exasperation rise. It always did when David was onto something. The man was like a blood-hound when it came to human analysis.

"Maybe a little bit." She conceded.

"How little is a little bit?"

"He reminds me of a guy I had a crush on in high school."

"I don't imagine you as ever having had a crush on anyone." David said.

It was an odd comment, but Melissa instinctively trusted her supervisor. He had guided her through so many difficult encounters in the past.

"Well I did. A terrible one. I was a total geek and he was a total jock. An arrogant ass, just like this guy."

"And what happened?"

"I fantasized about him. Just briefly."

"Well I presumed you would, it was a teenage crush after all."

God damn it.

Melissa felt herself redden. She had misunderstood David's question. "Are you blushing?" David sounded awestruck. He had seen the whole

gamut of her emotions in his years with Melissa, but he had never seen her go red with embarrassment.

"You were talking about your client, not your high school crush." He said. "No I wasn't."

"Yes you were. You fantasized about your client while he was talking to you."

"I didn't."

"There's no point in lying to me Melissa, it will only slow down the therapeutic process and besides, this is a perfectly normal reaction. Therapists feel attracted to clients all the time, we're only human beings, I don’t need to tell you this."

Despite her discomfort Melissa felt relieved. It was painful for her to talk about things like this but at least it would keep David off the scent of the thorny issue of being bribed for fake therapy. She lifted her eyes from the floor and looked David directly in the eye.

"An image flashed through my mind. Just for a second." She said. "Would you like to share with me the image that 'flashed' through your

mind?"

When David asked if you would like to share something it meant that therapy would go no further until it was out in the open. Melissa sighed. The image flashed through her mind again and she felt a thrill of pleasure run straight through her.

God, this is ridiculous. She thought. He's just a guy not some archetype of male sexuality.