The Librarian Principle (4 page)

“Sounds good.” Liese crossed the room and sat in her chair while Ryder pulled one up beside her. He loosened his tie and undid the top button on his shirt. Sidling in close, he picked up the folder with her most recent research.

They spent the next two hours poring over documents. She found herself enraptured by the breadth of his knowledge and his passionate stance. She couldn’t decide what she was attracted to more, his intellect or his exterior. The combination was lethal—the worst kind of aphrodisiac imaginable. She counted every instance in which his shoulder touched hers, every comment with an undercurrent of teasing, every moment of prolonged eye contact. She was sure she could plot a graph to demonstrate the rise in all three over the time they’d spent together. Then she could plot a second one to illustrate how her level of infatuation correlated with those findings.

Liese shifted in her chair and reached across her desk for the chart they were discussing at the same time Ryder did. They knocked shoulders, and his fingers brushed the back of her hand. Flustered, she rolled back in her chair, sending several sheets fluttering to the floor.

“Sorry.” She bent to pick them up.

He pushed back his chair, too, ever the gentleman. “Nice shoes,” he said as he retrieved several pieces of paper.

“Thanks.” Liese couldn’t believe he’d noticed them. Maybe Marissa had been right.

They nearly cracked heads as they sat up at the same time, both holding fragments of her research. Ryder’s eyes dropped to her lap and stayed there. Liese looked down to find that her skirt had ridden up, leaving the lace band of her thigh highs peeking out from the hem. Shuffling the papers into one hand, she smoothed a palm over her thigh, pushing her skirt back down to cover the garters she should never have worn in the first place. She glanced up at Ryder, who continued to focus on her lap.

The sudden buzz of her phone as it rattled against her keys snapped him out of the trance.

“Would you like to check that?” he asked, clearing his throat as he yanked on his tie.

“It’s probably my friend Marissa.” She discarded the papers and plucked her purse from the floor beside her desk, sifting through the contents until she located her phone. Marissa had sent her a message and left her a voicemail. Liese had no intention of checking either with Ryder seated beside her.

He looked at his watch. “I’ve monopolized your time long enough.”

It was nearing six, well beyond the initial length of their meetings. Each subsequent meeting seemed to stretch on a little longer. At first it had been an hour, then a bit more, and now tonight they’d spent well over two hours talking, and not always about her research. In fact, the conversation had deviated frequently to topics bearing no relevance to education.

After they’d settled on a date for their next meeting, Ryder and Liese gathered their things. He helped her into her jacket, which smelled vaguely of his cologne since his coat had been humping hers for the past couple of hours.

He waited as she turned out the lights and locked up the library. They traveled the darkened, empty halls of the school together, the click of her heels echoing loudly around them. Ryder held the door for her as they left the building, his hand at her elbow as they descended the stairs to the parking lot. The lot was well-lit, and Liese had parked beneath one of the lights, which now illuminated her modest vehicle. Ryder walked her to her car and stood with his hand in his pocket as she put the key in the lock.

Liese had the ridiculous urge to hug him, or make out with him, as if they’d been on some kind of date. She really needed to stop indulging in her customized porn album right before bed; the dreams the images inspired didn’t help keep reality separated from fantasy. “Have a nice weekend.”

“You as well.” Ryder held her door open as she slipped into the driver’s seat. He hesitated and leaned in as she turned the key in the ignition. Liese turned her head in his direction and waited. For a moment she had the irrational notion he might kiss her.

“One last thing,” he said with quiet seriousness. “Just so you’re aware, sometimes you make me nervous, too. See you Monday.” He retreated and closed the door. More confused than ever, all she could do was gape after him as he crossed the parking lot. How the hell was she
not
supposed to read into a comment like
that
?

Liese hadn’t been able to get the principal’s parting comment on Friday out of her head. All weekend she kept imagining what could’ve happened if she’d had the guts to make some kind of move. Maybe she should’ve grabbed him by the tie and yanked him into the car. Each fantasy became more and more explicit, until she’d concocted an entire scene, which ended with them in the back seat of her sedan, windows fogged.

On Monday, Liese couldn’t wait to show Ryder the research she’d come up with over the weekend. She figured it was a good excuse to see him for a few minutes under the guise of professional business. But she was such a wreck in the morning she misplaced her thumb drive and ended up bringing her whole laptop to work instead.

Nevertheless, luck was on her side; the principal popped by the library during lunch, giving her the opportunity she’d been looking for. It might not have been a private meeting, but she’d take what she could get.

Liese stood behind the checkout desk with her laptop propped open in front of her. Ryder drove her to distraction as she tried to locate the right folder. He stood behind her, so close she could hear him breathe. Liese felt like a nuclear plant ready to combust. In the midst of all this, she was thankful for the good sense to stay put, otherwise she would have succumbed to the impulse to step back into him. Fortunately, her brain seemed to function independently of her hormones for the time being—sort of. Mostly. Not really.

Electric lust permeated the air around her as the images she’d conjured over the weekend resurfaced. Liese shut them down, though, because taming her physical, emotional, intellectual, and sexual response to Ryder in the presence of others had become her second job. Also, there were students present, and making a pass at him in front of them breeched the realm of inappropriate. Not that she hadn’t contemplated the idea anyway.

Though she’d been successful thus far in managing the impulse, it was becoming increasingly difficult to control. During the privacy of their meetings, his mask of professionalism dropped. He was passionate, well spoken, funny, attentive, and encouraging—none of which should have been an issue. They were all traits she wanted in an advisor.

Unfortunately, those same traits were what she sought in a boyfriend, and disentangling the two prospective roles proved a challenge. Not that she wanted to date Ryder. She only wanted to re-enact every single one of the photoshopped scenarios Marissa had sent her over the past months. Some of which were incredibly debauched.

Initially she discounted the sly glances and inadvertent touches she and Ryder had shared. As individual episodes, she hadn’t misconstrued them as improper, but cumulatively—well, that was something else. When he let his guard down and teased her, Liese tried to convince herself it meant nothing. It wasn’t flirting. But it was difficult when he followed up with comments about how she made him nervous, too. With so many conflicting emotions, Liese worried she would crack soon, which could have a catastrophic effect on their professional relationship.

“It’ll just take a second.” She glanced over her shoulder, fretfully clicking through folders.

Ryder rocked back on his heels, his hands shoved into the pockets of his pants, smiling patiently. “Take your time.” His voice was luscious caramel, wrapped in dark chocolate and rolled in sugar. She had the unconscionable craving to lick him and find out if he tasted as good as he sounded.

Liese found herself caught in the vivid teal of his eyes until they opened wide and his jaw dropped. One hand came up to pull at the collar of his shirt, and he coughed in a way that sounded much like a groan.

Liese’s head whipped around as the laptop screen flashed with bold red letters spelling out the word
LUBE
, followed by the encouraging tag line: “Ease into ecstasy.” In the ensuing video, the “easing” was anything but gentle. The figures slapped harshly against each other, making Liese thankful for the lack of sound. And, of course, the graphic scene was completed by Liese and Ryder’s heads photoshopped onto the fornicating bodies.

Her own stupidity smacked her in the face. She could lose her job over something like this and end up banned from working in a school. Shame rushed through her as she slammed the laptop shut; a futile apology spilled forth. “Oh my God! That wasn’t what I meant to show you. I’m so sorry, Mr. Whitehall.”

She spun to face him, checking the library to be sure no students had witnessed the show. Ryder looked positively irate. Although losing her job scared her, Liese also feared how this would taint his opinion of her.

His nostrils flared as he breathed, unmoving except for his mouth when his lips parted in preparation to speak. “That’s quite obvious, Ms. Harper.” His voice was a heavy rasp.

Liese opened her mouth, closed it, and opened it again, only to find no words would come out as the tension between them morphed from embarrassment and shock to something magnetic and dangerous.

Ryder addressed the students seated around the study tables. “Ladies and gentleman, the library is closed for the remainder of the period.” Completely in control, he embodied the cool authority that so enamored Liese. Currently, it also terrified her.

The students sitting at the computer banks and tables fell silent. They looked up in unison, regarded their principal with a mix of fear and awe, and hurriedly packed their books, stealing curious glances on the way out. Ryder followed behind them, a forced smile plastered on his face. He ushered the stragglers into the hall, closed the door behind them, and turned to face Liese.

She’d seen him angry with students before. Hell, she’d seen him angry with other staff members, but this was something new altogether. Fury seethed below the surface, fused with a foreign emotion. Her mouth went dry as he returned. Her unspoken desire—the fragile thing she’d worked so hard to quell—merged with a sense of dread. Her heart raced and her palms felt damp.

“You have no idea how much trouble you’re in.” His tone held none of the subversive humor that typically colored their private exchanges.

She swallowed as he stopped in front of her. The way he loomed over her now made her weak in the knees. The notion their relationship could be anything more than professional should never have entered her mind, no matter the temptation.

“I can explain.” Her eyes darted around the room in search of an escape she knew didn’t exist.

“Your office. Now,” he ordered, grabbing her laptop in one hand and her wrist with the other.

Though she was horrified, his warm fingers wrapped around her wrist thrilled her. The pull she fought ignited, flashing across her skin like fire. And then she remembered this might be the end of her career. He propelled her into the library office and dropped the laptop on her desk. He released her wrist and shut the door, turning the lock.

“Do you have any idea—” His eyes blazed, the words cut short as he tugged at his tie. Liese watched apprehensively as he paced the room, his head down, fingers gripping the back of his neck, jaw working as he ground his teeth together. She couldn’t begin to imagine what he would do if he saw some of the other images she’d saved.

He gestured to the laptop. “What the hell was that!?”

Liese jumped, a squeaky sound came out of her, and she clapped a hand over her mouth. Ryder rarely raised his voice.

It would be in her best interest not to reveal that her best friend had created a whole series of photoshopped pictures of the two of them. She also thought it wise not to say anything about the folder she’d created to store them, or how they fed her unhealthy infatuation with him. Or how they functioned as her primary source of masturbatory material.

“It was mostly a joke,” she mumbled.

“Do you think this is
funny
?” He looked incredulous as he towered over her, but his voice was smooth silk. Livid though he was, the tension between them pulsed like shock waves through the air.

“Not particularly, no,” Liese replied, refusing to look away for fear of appearing weak, or guilty. If she could maintain a façade of self-righteous indignation, maybe he wouldn’t touch her laptop again. In her peripheral vision, Liese noted the way his hands continued to clench and unclench at his sides.