Page 19 of Seduce

“I need to remember to get up more often.” Tessa followed Allie out to the main desk. Allie turned right to go to the children’s area for reading hour, and Tessa went to the main desk.

A man stood there with his back to her. She tilted her head. The man looked familiar. “Can I help you?” He turned. “Damon.” He was here. In her workplace.

“Tessa? I forgot you were a librarian.” He smiled at her.

“That’s me.”

“I’m hoping you have this book on industrial design.” He told her the title and author. Tessa brought it up in the system. “We don’t have that exact book. I can ask another library for it, but we have others by the same author. Would you like to see the ones we do have?”

“Yes, please.”

“Okay, follow me.” Tessa walked between the stacks to the back of the library.

“You know, librarians get me all hot and bothered,” he said softly.

Tessa stopped in her tracks and faced Damon. “Damon, this is my place of work. Please respect it.” She wasn’t sure why she was coming down so hard on him. Yes, she was. Her body was already aroused by his presence, and she didn’t need to be reminded of her attraction to him.

“I’m sorry. You’re right.” He looked contrite, and Tessa’s stomach tightened.

“Be aware that other people may be around and not understand we have… I don’t know what we have.” She found the right stack and turned down the row.

“I’d like to say we have a budding relationship.”

That was a good word for it. Tessa put her hands on the books. “Here you go.”

“Thank you.”

“If you need anything else, come to the front desk.” She stepped back to get around him.

Damon leaned close to her. “What if I need you?” he whispered.

Warmth spread from her toes to her cheeks. “Behave, Mr.— Heck, I don’t even know your last name. Klineman?”

Damon laughed softly. “Kline. Klineman’s is the name of the store.”

“Why not Kline’s?”

“Because only select people know I own the store.”

She nodded. “Behave, Mr. Kline or I’ll have to go all librarian on you.” With that, she marched away with what she hoped was an exaggerated sway of her hips.

* * * *

Damon stifled his laughter as Tessa sashayed away. That was the only way to describe it. His lady in blue/librarian wasn’t going to be a pushover. Good. He didn’t want that. She hadn’t mentioned the restraints; then again, this wasn’t the place for that kind of conversation. Back to business, he reminded himself.

He glanced over the books, pulled four of them off the shelves, and found a table.

Two hours later, he came up for air. Two of the books had some of what he wanted. He needed to take them home and see if the information panned out. Standing, he stretched, picked up the books, and walked to the desk.

Tessa sat there typing on the computer. She glanced up. “Did they help?” she asked.

“Two did. How do I check them out?” He set the books on the desk.

“You’ll need a library card.”

“And how do I get one of those, my pretty librarian?”

Her face flushed, and she glanced around. There was no one near them. In fact, the library was pretty empty.

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