Page 7 of Three Pucks and a Baby

Grayson sucked in a ragged breath. “Okay, you got me. I do have a reason for wanting to talk to you.”

“And?” I prompted.

“I wanted to ask if you’d go out for dinner or drinks with me.”

A high-pitched nervous laugh trilled from my lips. “You’re joking.”

“No. I’m not.”

I glanced left and right to see if I saw some of his team standing by. Like it was some part of a prank to ask out the librarian. But I didn’t see anyone.

Oh my God. How was this real? I’d spent months on dating sites where no one swiped up for me unless they had a fetish that involved me doing inappropriate things to books. But completely out of the blue, there was an impossibly good-looking, ridiculously sexy young man asking me for a date.

By the look smoldering in his eyes, he was dead serious. I was completely floored. Outside of my online dating attempts, it had been weeks, possibly even months, since I’d been asked out on a date, least of all gone out with a guy. “Youwant to go out on a date withme,” I repeated.

A sexy smirk curved on his full perfect lips. “I sure as hell do.”

I blinked at him. “I can’t believe this.”

Grayson tilted his head at me. “Why is that so shocking? I’m sure you get hit on all the time.”

My face warmed at his compliment. In a way, Grayson was right. Students of both sexes harmlessly flirted with me. To them, it wasn’t necessarily about looks but more about the allure of the taboo and forbidden of dating someone who held authority over them. Of course, I didn’t imagine a librarian holding the same allure as banging a professor. The power balance between a professor and a student was completely different than between a student and a librarian.

In the last three years of working at the university, there had only been a handful who’d actually asked me out, and they were usually freshman babies who just missed their moms. They certainly weren’t hockey gods who probably waded through mounds of panties thrown at them by the adoring female population.

“Um, well, yeah, I get hit on, but I certainly don’t encourage the attention.”

“That just makes you even sexier.”

My eyes bulged at his remark. After glancing left and right, I hissed, “Shh, someone will hear you.”

“Is that a problem?”

“You telling me I’m sexy could be a problem.”

“I’m pretty sure there’s nothing in Southeastern’s code of conduct about a student having a potential working dinner with a staff librarian.”

“Now you’re asking me on a working date?”

He grinned. “I’m just trying to find a way to make you comfortable with the situation. Macroeconomics is off the table, but I’m sure we could find something academic to discuss.”

“You’re not giving up on this are you?”

He slowly shook his head back and forth. “I just realized that although you know my name, I don’t know yours.”

I licked my lips that had run dry before lamely flashing my Southeastern badge at him. “It’s Vivian.”

“Like inPretty Woman,” he replied.

“Did you just liken me to a prostitute?” I asked before I could stop myself.

His blue eyes popped wide. “No, that’s not what I meant at all. You’re like the farthest thing from a hooker ever.”

I laughed. “You’re not the first person to say that about my name.” Tilting my head at him, I asked, “Do you often watch old rom-coms?”

“My mom loves the movie.”

Hismom.That was the jolt I needed to remind me I wasn’t standing around flirting with a man my age. Grayson was considerably younger than me. I slowly shook my head back and forth. “You’re a student.”

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