“Have you worked here long?” Buffy asked the handyman—Riley— she’d met a couple of days before. She walked around the cottage he lived in, the main campus barely visible in the moonlight, and turned to give him a flirty smile. Finding out where he stayed on-campus hadn’t been a problem, and it had been child’s play to get him to invite her in when she’d come knocking on his door.
He was perfect for what she had in mind.
He was big and beefy, and that was how she liked men. Not lean and tight, with sharp hipbones that pushed into the soft flesh of her buttocks when he pressed himself against her in his office. Yeah, she liked her men dark and handsome and open-faced, not blond and dangerous with cheekbones like a knife. And dumb! Yeah, she liked ‘em dumb. Easier to jerk around that way—jerk around in ways that were good for her, not them. Not too smart for his own good. And definitely not with pouty lips and long fingers. Long, long fingers. Really long—gah, stop it!
“A while,” answered Riley with a smile. He looks so guileless, she thought.
But as innocent as he acted, he knew why she was there. He’d sported wood from the moment he answered the door. He didn’t even ask why she’d dropped by in the middle of the night, just licked his lips a little and invited her in.
Which really was kind of creepy.
Her roommate was fast asleep. Buffy had waited until Cordelia, eyes hidden beneath her sleep mask, had begun her regular rhythmic snore before slipping out in her little schoolgirl outfit. Even the most vanilla guy got all hot and bothered when he saw a girl in a plaid skirt and knee socks, even if he saw them dressed like that every day. Hell, even that headmaster had to—
Forget about him, she berated herself. That was why she was there, right? To forget about him and his hands and his eyes and the way she thought about him when she touched herself. Yeah, she was there to get herself a good ride and get it out of her system, and then she wouldn’t give another thought to Mr. Gorgeous and his nice big ruler.
God, was the guy STILL talking? Buffy briefly tuned into to Riley for a second and immediately wished she hadn’t.
“—apply fertilizer and then cover it with sod, but you have to be careful not to step on it for a few weeks, otherwise—”
“That’s fascinating,” Buffy interrupted. “Has anyone ever told you that you have beautiful eyes?”
“Well, thank you,” replied Jethro—RILEY, she reminded herself, Riley—“I can’t say that they have, even when—”
“Do girls visit you in your rooms often?” asked Buffy, wincing as she listened to herself. It wouldn’t have required this kind of effort if she was dealing with a guy her age—hell, it barely required words—but she was having difficulty time coming up with pre-sex chitchat with this guy. Man, he was dull as oatmeal.
Miraculously, he was quiet for a moment. “Sometimes,” he admitted softly.
Buffy repressed a small start. She sure wouldn’t have suspected Joe the Wonder Bore was tagging the students regularly, but appearances could be deceiving.
Suddenly the wisdom of her little get-a-man-plan seemed questionable to her. “Uhh, that’s uhh, nice,” Buffy mumbled, starting to make her way towards the door in the most inconspicuous manner possible. No need to make it obvious she was heading out, even if he did seem easygoing. But since when did she have good luck?
“Hey, where are you going?” he asked protestingly.
“Time to get back to the dorm,” she said brightly. “Classes start early around here.”
“Well, yeah, but…if you do it that way, nobody goes to sleep happy,” he responded, swiftly moving past her to block the door. “This will only take a few minutes, and I know *I’ll* sleep better afterwards.”
For the first time in what seemed like forever, Buffy felt fear curl around her heart. “My roommate’s expecting me back by twelve,” she improvised hastily. “I have to leave now.”
Riley smiled at her, raising a hand to touch her face. “Now, that I doubt. She’s probably sleeping away right now—won’t notice how late you’re gone,” he said, threading his hand through her hair and beginning to apply pressure. Trying to force her head down.
Bastard! “Let go of me,” Buffy grated, fighting to keep herself calm.
“In a few minutes, baby,” he told her, undoing his pants with his free hand.
“Let go, let go, LET GO!” Buffy screamed furiously, struggling against him.
A moment later she was free, and Riley was crumpled against
the wall of his living room.
The headmaster stood over him, startlingly informal in a black T-shirt and
jeans. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he snarled at Riley.
“I—I found her in my rooms,” Riley lied. “I was trying to get rid of her.”
William didn’t move from above Riley, clenching his fists furiously as he studied the cowering man. Finally he turned to Buffy, took her arm, and said simply, “Let’s go.”
They left Riley behind without a backwards glance.
~*~*~*~
“You’re all right?” William asked, walked briskly beside her. She nodded wordlessly, and they kept walking. Finally they were in front of the dorm and they both stopped and turned to face each other. “I want you to go straight up to bed, no excuses,” he told her. She nodded again and turned to leave, but his hand closed around her elbow. “You’ll have to come to my office tomorrow morning after breakfast,” he said.
She opened her mouth to protest, but he cut her off. “I know you went to his cottage willingly,” he said, shaking his head as if disappointed. “I can’t even tell you how many rules you’ve broken tonight. I know why you went there,” he added, his gaze lingering on her mouth. “And I think I can ensure that the punishment fit the crime.”
