Rodrigo bounced up the stairs to the fourth floor of the library, his long legs easily taking them two at a time. He was in a hurry, not quite late yet, but he hadn’t left himself enough time to get the materials he wanted and then rush across campus for his meeting. The last thing he needed was to make a bad impression; Professor Sullivan was one of the most demanding faculty in the Art History department.
He grumbled to himself. All of the computer terminals had been commandeered by undergrads researching their first midterm projects. Shaking his head and feeling even more annoyed with himself for looking up the information at home but failing to write it down, he made for his usual area in the stacks and hoped he could just find the books he needed by sheer luck.
He’d forgotten that it was midterms week. He really ought to have known, but this was the first semester that he wasn’t a TA, and that had been a last-minute change. As usual, the department hadn’t asked him if he wanted to be Professor Sullivan’s research assistant so much as told him that he was going to be. He wouldn’t have refused. Like everyone else, he was a bit intimidated by the man but their academic interests were similar enough that he didn’t mind the assignment.
Not to mention the facts that Professor Sullivan was utterly gorgeous and that his slight Irish accent made Rodrigo’s mouth water.
That combination had nearly proved disastrous. At their first meeting, Rodrigo had been so tongue-tied with his attempts to fight off inappropriate arousal that he’d barely said a dozen words and had most likely come across as either terrified or dimwitted.
And now he was going to be late for their second meeting unless he could quickly find the books he needed, something about tools used in archaic Greek sculpture. Too bad he couldn’t remember the titles.
Or authors.
Or anything other than that it was the one topic Professor Sullivan had specifically requested he bring some materials on.
After five minutes of scanning titles on the shelves, Rodrigo was ready to admit defeat. If he couldn’t find what he was looking for soon, he’d have to go look it up on the terminals downstairs.
Rushing through the stacks, he turned a corner and ran into one of the most gorgeous backsides he’d ever seen. It was round and firm and filled out the jeans encasing it as if it had been poured in and molded by God himself. Or perhaps Eros. Rodrigo couldn’t see much else of the man the butt belonged to, but the jeans fit his legs well and were complemented by work boots and a black T-shirt. He had messy reddish-blond hair and was humming as he pulled books off the bottom shelf.
Unfortunately, Rodrigo literally ran straight into his upturned ass.
He only had a split second to notice the other physical details before he slammed into the bent-over man and knocked them both off balance. One of Rodrigo’s hands shot out to grab the shelf. The other graciously reached out to stabilize his victim, grabbing him by the nearest possible body part. Which was, of course, his ass.
It was a nice and firm ass too. And its owner didn’t pull away from the touch of his hand the way a straight man would have.
Once both he and the owner of the luscious ass were both upright, Rodrigo apologized profusely, both for the collision and the unplanned groping. He was relieved that the other man kept laughing rather than looking like he wanted to slug him; brawling in the library wasn’t likely to help his academic career. Furthermore, it had been quite a nice ass to grope, even by accident, and it was attached to a great body as well. The sense of humor simply topped off the package and sent an enjoyable frisson of arousal down into Rodrigo’s groin.
His victim reassured him that he was fine. His eyes darted to Rodrigo’s backpack, which had fallen on the floor face up, rainbow triangle patch on display. “I don’t usually let people get that far without at least buying me a beer first,” he teased.
“Maybe some other time then?” Rodrigo grinned, getting a smile in response.
They both knelt at the same time to pick up the books that had fallen and laughed again as they almost bumped heads. Rodrigo backed off, pulling a few towards himself. Some of them had opened and he glanced at the pictures as he closed and stacked the books neatly.
“Wait! Is this Greek art? About armatures and sculpting tools and stuff?”
The man’s eyebrows went up. “Yeah. It is, actually. Do you need that book for something?”
“Yeah, it’s one of the ones I was looking for. Looks like I ran into the right guy. Sorry it was so literal.”
“No problem,” the man chuckled.
“So… are you using it?” Rodrigo asked, getting to his feet.
“No, I work here. I was just putting them back.”
“Awesome,” Rodrigo grinned. “I feel really awful for just running off like this, but I’m horribly late for an appointment with a professor. Can I just take it?”
“Sure. I assume you know where the Circulation desk is?” At his nod, the librarian smiled and got back to re-shelving the books. “Great. Well, let me know if there’s anything else I can help with. I’ll be at Reference if you need me,” he offered with a wide grin and a glint in his eyes.
Rodrigo grinned back. “Thanks. And really, I’m sorry to just bail like this; I don’t usually hit and run,” he apologized, grabbing his backpack.
They exchanged rushed goodbyes, and Rodrigo raced down the stairs and through the checkout at the Circulation desk. In moments he was out the door and jogging down the hill to Professor Sullivan’s office.
That’s one hot librarian, Rodrigo thought, his heart pounding as he reached the Arts building. Nice ass, nice body, cute face, and really easy-going. Hardly the stereotype of the stern and repressed or quiet and bookish librarian. Nope, this one was kind of sexy, and if they’d met in a club or a bar, Rodrigo would have definitely been checking him out. If he’d had enough to drink, maybe even going over and trying to pick him up….
On that note, he realized he was standing in a hallway he believed to be his destination and that he really needed to get his brain out of his pants and try to remember which office belonged to Sullivan. Last time they had met at the Student Union, grabbing a few minutes between their respective classes.
It wasn’t that difficult to find; not only was the door ajar with Professor Sullivan waiting inside, but it was the only office door framed by a collection of postcards of various Greek sculptures. All male nudes, part of Rodrigo’s brain noticed. Interesting.
The decor on the interior of the office was the same – not one female figure in the bunch. One might almost suspect his professor and he had something in common aside from their academic interests.
In his own office, Professor Sullivan (“Call me ‘Daniel’”) was much more approachable. He mapped out the specific topics he wanted Rodrigo to hunt down and gave him a list of resources that might be helpful, as well as a list of the books he already knew were dead ends. Sullivan made it clear that he’d be relying on Rodrigo’s greater experience with computers, admitting that he was a bit of a Luddite.
All in all, it was a successful meeting. Until the end, when his professor got up and walked him out of the building, bringing one large hand to rest on Rodrigo’s shoulder. The heat from Sullivan’s hand sent an undeniable bolt of arousal down to Rodrigo’s crotch. Something about the older man threatened to turn him on unbearably if Rodrigo let it, and he knew the rest of the semester was going to be torture of the most delicious kind.
Damn, he really needed to get laid, he thought to himself on the bus ride home.
It had been four months since his boyfriend of almost two years had moved out and he still felt a little bruised, hesitant to go out anywhere where he might run into Todd. And though he was tired of his own right hand, he wasn’t much interested in picking someone up at a bar just for sex. That was how he’d hooked up with Todd in the first place. Once bitten, twice shy and all that.
Although frankly, if his dick was going to think every man he ran into was worth getting hard over, maybe he’d have to reconsider that option.
Then again, maybe those two particular men were just special….
