For His Desire(11)

Being in the library ordinarily would have thrilled Elena, as his private collection of books was astonishing. Tonight, though, her mind was elsewhere – to wherever in the house Michael was. She knew he had to be close and she couldn’t help her innate curiosity. She felt drawn to him, as though she had to see him even though she knew it was irrational. After all, he would be with her as soon as he finished whatever business he was conducting.



Elena opened the heavy library door and peered out, not seeing anyone in the hallway so she squeezed through the doorway and began walking as quietly as possible down the hall, searching for signs of Michael and whatever might be happening within his house. She walked slowly, not wanting her heels to make too much noise on the floor. She decided not to take off her shoes, as she might have a hard time explaining why she was wandering around Michael’s house carrying her high heels with her.



Elena listened in the stillness of the house and in the quiet she heard voices coming from a room near the end of the hallway. She eased her way toward Michael’s home office – or what she thought was his office. She had been paying attention to Michael’s tour, but he had such a disarming way of distracting her. She blushed again just thinking of him and then distinctly heard his voice. Just the sound of it made her listen intently, even though he wasn’t talking to her.



“This recent software package has the most up-to-date military applications you’ll find.” Michael said. As always, Elena noticed how confident he sounded.



“Including all of the defense strategies we discussed?”



Elena did not hear Michael’s reply and she didn’t dare get any closer to the door. She heard random voices, some of which sounded familiar though she couldn’t quite place them. Michael’s voice stood out to her most of all, though; it was a voice that she heard in her dreams. She could only imagine the discussions that had been taking place in Michael’s office, but it all sounded very serious. Military defense? No wonder he didn’t talk about his work, though she was quite interested to learn more about it.



Unfortunately, Elena heard the meeting breaking up and she hurried down the hallway back to the library. She closed the door behind her and as her heart was pounding, she searched the shelves and grabbing a book at random. She seated herself in a plush, oversized chair and opened the book just in time to hear the door open.



“Hello, Elena,” Michael said and just the sound of his voice was enough to send shivers through her. His voice always sounded so calm and yet there was an undertone of something else there as well. Did he know she had been listening? How could he possibly know.



“Hi, Michael,” she said, a bit breathless. “I just thought I would do a little light reading while I waited.” She tried to sound nonchalant, but was certain she was failing miserably.



“What are you reading?” Michael held out his hand and Elena handed him the book. “Tropic of Cancer. Henry Miller. No wonder you’re out of breath.” He smiled and Elena blushed again. He had that influence on her.



“Well, at least it wasn’t The Kama Sutra or something,” she said, smiling back at him.



“That’s on the shelf across the room,” Michael said, pointing and Elena couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. She decided that it didn’t really matter – and he was likely not.



“You really know all of the books in here?” Elena asked.



“Of course,” he responded. “I keep close track of everything in my life.” Elena couldn’t help but notice how he was looking at her. She felt a flush of arousal through her; he was able to get to her so easily.



Elena was thinking how exciting it would be to have sex right there in the library among all those books, feeling all of that knowledge and the history contained within the pages all around them as they tore into one another. Elena loved that duality of Michael, the way in which he was the owner of a state-of-the-art software company and yet he had so many vintage books, beautiful first editions in his library.



“I brought you in here for a reason,” Michael said, interrupting Elena’s daydream. Was he somehow reading her mind? “Not for the reason you might be thinking, Elena.” Again, his voice did not betray whether he was serious or kidding. “We need to make decisions before we go any further.”



“Decisions?” Elena asked. “What kind of decisions?”



“Sit down, Elena,” Michael said, pointing at a chair and Elena was aware everything had suddenly turned serious. She worried perhaps something had gone wrong; it seemed unlikely they would have to have a discussion if everything was going well. Elena was suddenly nervous and hoped that nothing was amiss.