Page 14 of His Human Librarian

I stride away, glancing with pride at the newly remodeled, modern kitchen. That was also another big project, because getting anything fixed when you live so remotely is an enormous undertaking. The crew came in via ferry or hovercraft, as did the materials and appliances. Everything cost twice as much, but it was worth the effort. I also remodeled every bathroom in the ranch house, again making sure we had all the modern conveniences.

I haven't bothered to change much in the way of the decor downstairs because this area holds many public rooms for guests and everything was originally created by Hyrrokin masters. I only change something worn out or broken. A couch will need to be re-covered, a banister repaired, or a tapestry restored.

And then I decide to pause and get some work done in my office. I open the door and glance at the wall clock. If I start now, there will be so many messages to answer I'll never get any sleep and I've got a big day tomorrow. I must show that cave to the Librarian. At the very least, I'll have to show her the shed so she can see her equipment.

I still have my doubts that this small, delicate female can make it all the way out to the cave. I don't think she understands what she's taking on. She sounds like someone who normally works in a lab, in libraries and inside buildings. I assume she lives in vast cities. This isn't someone who could settle down out here. She’d never choose to live on the Sandstone ranch.

Why would it matter if she would or wouldn’t choose to live here?

A growl rumbles in my chest. On my way out of the office, I pass by the library and decide to go in for a nightcap. I take a few steps inside and distend my jaw to send a blast of fire into the fireplace.

I hear a squeak of surprise and turn and to see the human Librarian standing nearby.

“Taylor,” I growl.

“Sten,” she answers.

I glance up and down at her dangerous curves. Taylor Dumas is dressed differently than before. She looks ready to go out for the evening and is now wearing traditional female Hyrrokin clothing. Her curves are on display and so are her thick arms and her perfect shoulders.

She is stunning.

I clench my jaw and will my body to stand down. “Why are you dressed like that? Why aren't you in pajamas?”

She takes one step closer. “I thought we were going to have dinner downstairs in that formal dining room, and I thought this is how I was supposed to dress for a fancy dinner and then I found out too late that dinner was canceled.”

The scent of her arousal hits me hard. This would all be so much easier if this human had no interest in me. I would be able to ignore my inappropriate urges for pleasure mating and move on with the two of us being business associates. But instead, this female is highly aroused in my presence, which causes my own sexual urges to multiply.

I let out of snort of white smoke and stomp over to the liquor cabinet. “Do you want a drink?” I question.

“No…” she grumbles. “Oh hells, yes, yes, I do.” The female waves a delicate hand toward the rows of bookcases. “I’m here because I really, really like your library.”

I glance around at the two-story-high, shining black bookcases, filled with ancient print books and then back down at the glasses I’ve chosen. “It's a very old collection.”

“I'd like to be able to…” She stops. “I'm sorry. This is a private library. I came down because remember, I asked if you could show this to me, but then you canceled tonight. I couldn't wait.I finished dinner in my room, and then all I could think about was that you had told me there was a private library in this house. I couldn't rest until I'd seen it with my own eyes. I have a new black market original planet romance book that I can read tonight on my tablet, but the idea of this private library kept speaking to me.”

I pour a drink, ignite the top and hand it to her.

“What is this?” she questions, mesmerized by the flame flickering on top.

I blow out her flame, surprised at how natural that felt, being the male who blew out her flame. I’ve never blown out a female’s flame before. Unmated Hyrrokin and even pleasure mated females always insist on putting out their own flames, it’s a matter of pride. Only a bound or a parent puts out another’s flame. “It's an amber fire spirit,” I explain, “There's an area in the wildlands famous for their spirits, and they grow this and have a brewery there.”

Taylor lifts the glass, ready to give a delicate sip.

I laugh. “That's not how you drink it.”

She looks up wide eyed. “What am I supposed to do?”

“Watch.” I lift my own glass and toss the contents, along with the flame, back in one gulp, and then slam it down on the counter and give her a challenging look.

She nods, smiles and takes a deep breath. Then she leans back, drinks all of hers, coughs and coughs some more. I pat her back, and then she leans over and with surprising strength, slams her glass down almost as hard as I did, and then uses the back of her hand to wipe the remaining moisture off her mouth. “That was good,” she gasps.

A grin spreads across my face. This female is tougher than I first assumed.

She looks at me as if she understands what I'm thinking. “I keep remembering what happened when I first arrived.” Shesighs. “I’m so embarrassed how I screamed when I first saw the staff at the transporter station and then fainted with fear when I saw you too. I’ve already apologized, but I want to apologize again. I've never behaved that way on a mission. I think I'd gotten cocky; I had been on so many missions and met so many different species that I thought I was good at this, and I could deal with anything and was quick on my feet. I didn't do any research on your species before I arrived and I should have. It turned out I have this latent, primitive fear inside of me.” She taps on her chest, “that is afraid of your… I'm so sorry but I was afraid of your specific features. I know, I know.”

She throws a hand up in the air and takes a step back, starts pacing back and forth in front of the fireplace while looking amazingly beautiful, so animated.

“I’m really annoyed, too, that I wasn’t prewarned. I’ve heard Hyrrokin here on Tarvos refer to how I reacted as something you call Hyrrokin-fright syndrome. It happens often enough to have a name, therefore there should’ve been a red flag about that on the information packet I was given before I left. I’m going to make sure this is changed so we don’t act foolish in the future when new staff arrives on Tarvos.”

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