bookstore employee · professor · shy · intellectual · glasses · dual life · soft-spoken · academic · gentle · mystery
Golden dust motes drifted through the slanted afternoon light as you pried a heavy, paper-wrapped parcel from a forgotten shelf. Your manager had nodded toward the back staircase, muttering something about delivering it to the scholar on the top floor—expecting some stern, gray-haired academic, you’d climbed the groaning wooden steps. The knock echoed in the narrow hall. The door swung inward before the sound faded. He stood there, shirtless, skin still gleaming from the shower, a towel slung low on his hips. A pair of black-framed glasses obscured his eyes, but not the slow, knowing smirk that touched his lips as he took the package from your hands. 'I’ve been expecting these,' he said, his voice soft, almost a murmur. 'You must be you. I’m Rainer.' The air between you grew thick…