Liz fiddled with her camera in the cushy chair while she waited for Ryder to find... whatever it was he was looking for in the damn office of his. He had taken over fifteen minutes. And if a guy knew that little about keeping a girl waiting, then he really had no business hiring her and telling her to come meet a few co-workers in the photography company.

Sighing exasperatedly, Liz got to her feet, shaking her black hair around behind one shoulder over her crisp white shirt. Her black camera was in her hands, the broad strap around behind her neck, and she strode decisively up the stairs to where Ryder's office was. She was going to give that boy a piece of her mind, no matter how irressistibly attractive he was...

Remember Victor, she suddenly had to remind herself sternly. Victor, her now-fiancé, who loved her more than anything. More than the air in his lungs, even. Or so he'd told her, and he had no reason to lie. But Liz allowed her mind to wander back to her partial boss, Ryder. He was a decent man, if a bit cold and unresponsive, and got a job done to where it exceeded just about anyone's satisfactions with the photography he and his little underlings got completed.

Liz stepped up the stairs quickly and quietly, ready to throw the door open, make him jump, and then demand an explanation. However, her hand an inch from the doorknob, she paused briefly. Would she probably get fired for this? Yeah, most likely. Had he kept her waiting too long? Of course. Was she angry at him? Beyond all belief. Was she ready to do this, did she have the guts to go through with it and probably get fired?

... Not really, no.

Steeling herself and gritting her teeth, Liz grasped the gold knob, turning it and opening the door. It swung open completely silently, though, and was placed to where it couldn't hit the wall. Damn. But the sight that met her eyes wasn't at all what she expected.

Ryder sat at his desk about ten feet from the door, head laid down on his arms over the desk. His straight, chin-length blonde hair draped over his face, but his vibrant green eyes were closed. He breathed softly, the light from the windows behind creating a sort of almost-halo effect around him and the surface of his desk.

Liz blinked. This was definitely not what she had expected. Ryder had somehow fallen asleep at his desk? No, that wasn't possible. The man was perfect, flawless, always knew exactly what to do, say, or whatever. He wouldn't fall asleep before a meeting with co-workers. And yet...

Who's to say everyone's perfect? Liz wondered. Perfection is just an illusion. Something we all reach for, but can never quite achieve. And I, being the idiot that I am, actually thought someone had stretched for it and touched it.

Naturally, right after this, it occured to Liz exactly how peaceful Ryder was. He never looked this vulnerable at work. She bit her lip for a moment, debating. Then she silently lifted her large, bulky black camera, focused the lens, and... snapped a picture. It made no sound, but it was just the rule of the universe that if something cute or adorable is taken a picture of while sleeping, it instantly wakes up.

The same rule applied here.

Ryder's green eyes flew open, and he jerked his head up from the desk. Liz saw him do this on her camera screen, and hastily lowered it, ensuring that the picture was in her gallery on the thing. She could tell simply by his posture as he stood- he was furious. Yes, she had known Ryder for a few months now, but she had never seen him quite so angry. He made an irritated sound, striding around his desk to pass her, slamming the door. He whirled to face her, green eyes snapping emerald fire.

Oh, fuck.

Even Liz's thoughts couldn't contain the cursing as she realized she was in really, really deep shit. Even so, at the back of her mind, the girlier part of her couldn't help but notice exactly how... attractive... that Ryder looked when he was angry. It made his eyes gleam with a sort of hidden fury, readiness to fight, and though it scared her, it also made him look really, really sexy.

What are you thinking? Get your mind out of there!

Liz blinked quickly, letting her camera fall on its strap to bump gently around her neck. Ryder made a sort of growl sound, and pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger. With his other hand, he wordlessly held it out for the camera. More worried about her camera than herself, Liz took it off, placing it delicately in his hand. Ryder moved to place it without moving his feet on the nearest tabletop, then his arm folded tightly across his chest. Even an amateur at reading emotions could see the tension in the way he stood, eyes closed, just radiating a sort of aura that would make anyone sensible scram.

Problem was, Liz wasn't sensible. Not always, in any case.

She could barely see a sort of vein in his forehead, above his closed emerald eyes, and internally sighed.

I always bring out the worst in him, she thought dryly, surprising herself with how calm her thoughts sounded. But then, he brings out the worst in me. All I did was take a picture of him...

"Calm down," she sighed gently, biting her lip. She really wasn't sure what to say in this kind of situation. "I won't do it again. It was just-"

Suddenly, in a move that happened so fast it didn't even exist, Ryder had Liz against the wall of the office, his hands trapping her wrists against the simple cream surface. Her back was flat against the drywall, her arms pinned at eye level on either side of her head, and Ryder was a little... close. His emerald-colored eyes bored into her gentle, but hard, brown ones edged with gold, and Liz simply returned his furious gaze levelly.

With him so close, her mind snapped into hyperdrive, and her heart felt like it was going to thump right out of her chest, it was beating so frantically. Problem was, Victor was the furthest thing from her mind at the moment. All she could see was Ryder. Or smell. Liz had never noticed before, but... Ryder had a sort of... scent, she thought you could say. It almost smelled thick, and woody- almost like sawdust- but with something else, too. Something she couldn't place. Though at the moment, that was the least of her worries.

Her one functioning brain cell fought to remain in control.

It was just... at that moment, angry and frustrated at her as he was, Ryder just looked so... so... vulnerable.

"Don't. Ever. Again," he murmured under his breath, his green eyes unexpectedly going slightly softer as they met her chocolate ones. His hands on her wrists loosened slightly, but Liz didn't pull away. For some reason even she couldn't name, she just offered a tiny smile. Just the smallest twist of her lips.

"I'll try not to," she whispered, blinking back at him. A small, but significant part of her mind noted that their faces were less than two inches apart by this point. Where he touched her, it felt like a live wire, like some sort of lightning had struck him, was running through her in less than a heartbeat, then returning to him. As it was, she didn't dare to move any part of her body, mainly because the only way she could think to move would involve going forward, and... well, Liz could just imagine disasterous end results. So she just held still, her heart pounding out her death song, eyes wide, pressed flat between Ryder and the wall.

For almost the first time in her life, Liz was speechless. She couldn't say anything now, even if she was sure there was anything to say. Then again, she was pretty sure the part of her brain that handled speaking was pretty much shot. Slowly, carefully, Liz slipped her left hand, her dominant hand, out from under Ryder's grip, tentatively and gingerly brushing her fingertips over his lips. He said nothing, did nothing, his gleaming emerald eyes simply watching her, fixed on her chocolate eyes that were quickly becoming distracted. Ryder's lips parted slightly, and she felt his slow exhale, feeling the slight dampness on her fingers. It almost made her skin prickle.

And then she pulled away.

She didn't know how Ryder would react to anything she did, anything at all, so she ducked down below one of his arms and slipped out, black hair swinging. She moved to the corner of the desk to pick up her camera behind him, and murmured quietly, "We need to go."

Ryder gave a curt nod, and made his way towards the stairs. Wordlessly, Liz followed him out of his office, neither saying anything as they went to meet the co-workers. The silence between them wasn't quite frosty, at least not like before- but it wasn't a comfortable silence, either, like the pause between words. And evidently both Liz and Ryder agreed on one thing; that the silence would remain so.

At least, for now.