Self-confidence was the keystone. Patricia had more than her fair share of problems, he'd used up several pages of his notebook just listing them all, but her poor self-image was his over-riding concern. Crack that one and the rest would come tumbling down.
Mostly, self-confidence is about empowerment. Persuade the client that they can take charge of, and responsibility for, their own lives and that's that. "You're cured. Have a nice life and please send in the next client on your way out." Patricia's problem was the other sort. She was deeply unhappy with the way she looked: Possibly a valid concern as she had a minor curvature of the spine and saw this as the reason men were not attracted to her. He couldn't just tell her that was rubbish: It wasn't. But a physical abnormality is not an insurmountable problem. How many men aren't married to super-models? How many women aren't dating Brad Pitt? How many happy people haven't got perfect bodies?
* * * * *
Patricia wasn't actually Andrew's client. She was his girl friend's sister: A relationship that pretty much barred Andrew from taking her on as a client. Patricia was over from Portugal, staying with them for a few weeks combined holiday and job hunt. She'd had an interview with the BBC world service: If she got the job, she'd find a flat to rent, otherwise she'd return to Lisbon.
Elena, Andrew's girlfriend, was a dancer and her rehearsal schedule had given Patricia and Andrew a lot of evenings together. Andrew was a professional good listener and, before she knew it, Patricia was telling him her life story.
The solution for Patricia's self-confidence issues was not something Andrew would ever even contemplate. It had come from Elena, His girlfriend. Late one night, as she nestled against his shoulder in post-coital reverie, Elena had said "She's a virgin. Did she tell you that?"
"Honey Bunny, you know I can't discuss your sister. Ethics."
"Poo! She's not - couldn't be - your client. Ethics."
"Still - its not appropriate to discuss her. She's learning to trust me and that's a fragile thing. Lets talk about something else - what to do with this stiffy for instance." He raised the duvet with one hand and admired his second wind.
"That's what I'm trying to discuss." Elena rolled on top of him, straddling his hips and pushing herself upright. "Patricia's a virgin - that's her problem. This..." She slid backwards, pressing her bottom against his erection. "...This is the cure."
"You're joking." He looked at Elena's eyes. She didn't look like she was joking.
"I love my sister. I want her to be happy. Tell me that this won't work." She rocked against his cock again.
"It won't. Sure, she needs to get laid, but not by me. She's your sister for Christ's sake! I am not going to sleep with your sister: That'd screw her up in a whole new way. It'd screw us up too, eventually."
"You think I will be jealous?"
"I love you. I won't even risk making you jealous."
"I won't be jealous. You and Patricia are the two people I love most in all the world. She needs this." She looked severely sincere.
"She'd never sleep with her sister's boyfriend. The guilt would stop her, even if I did make a play for her." He couldn't believe what he was hearing himself say. Was he seriously discussing deflowering his potential sister-in-law?
"She has a crush on you."
"Really?" Surely he'd have noticed. It was a common problem in his line of work. Trust often translated into fixation.
"Yes, really. And you are very persuasive."
"Persuasive?"
"You seduced me - on our first date too." She smiled as she said it but it raised a valid point. He was 15 years older than Elena and, by the conventional rules, she was way out of his league. She had been 20, talented, startlingly pretty and as bubbly as shook champagne: He'd met her at his own 35th birthday bash. A workout buddy had brought her along as a date. She'd stood her date up by 10pm and that was that. She moved in the following weekend. Every time he looked in the mirror he wondered at his great good fortune. He wasn't bad looking - for 37. An hour a day fighting the battle of the bulge at the gym had given him a reasonable physique though nothing like the male dancers Elena knew so many of. His penis wasn't world beating either - seven inches, perhaps a little more on special occasions and good for two performances a night but nothing to write home about. Yet Elena seemed so happy with him. Best not to dig too deeply into why.
"You're really serious about this, aren't you?"
"Yes." She pressed back harder.
Andrew could feel the heat of her arousal as Elena's labia pressed against his penis: She was really turned on. The whole prospect was actually exciting her, in which case... It might well be...
His train of thought careered into a tunnel as Elena moved again, guiding his cock with slim fingers into her body and sinking back down onto his hips, gyrating slowly.
"Ok...ok...But you're gonna have to come clean with her after: Tell her it was your idea."
Elena looked delighted as she flung herself forward and kissed him. That was settled then. As their kiss drew out, his hips started to rock, pistoning him gently inside her. Elena moved in response and their rhythm soon established itself. There was no more talking, just a sharing of body fluids at either end and a frenzy of roaming hands in between. Elena controlled the pace from on top, upping the tempo to the full flash dance pace before climaxing loud and long as Andrew, going rigid, unloaded into her for the second time that night.
In the darkness, in the guest room, Patricia's cheeks were wet as she listened to the muffled sound of her sister's orgasm. It wasn't the first time - they seemed to be at it every night - but it was the loudest, most obviously ecstatic yet and it all just rubbed salt in Patricia's emotional wounds. Nobody had ever made her feel that good. When the silence returned, she cried herself to sleep.