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She’s a temptress and I don’t think she’s even aware of it.
“As I was saying,” I clear my throat.
What the fuck was I saying?
“How do we avoid corruption on the global scale? Unfortunately, we don’t. You’ll find that there’s not a single regulatory agency that isn’t corrupt. Ethics in the age of globalized trade isn’t something that we’ve cracked yet.”
Two of the girls seated in the second row right in front of Nera giggle when I look at them. They give me flirty smiles when I don’t immediately look away. Behind them, I see Nera’s jaw clench, irritation spreading across her face in response.
I turn away, already distracted enough. Secretly, I’m pleased to have seen her be as affected as me.
I teach the lesson for another fifteen minutes before clapping my hands and looking up at the students.
“Alright, we’re going to use the rest of the class for a quiz.” The class collectively groans. “Bad idea revealing how much you hate quizzes, I might have to give them every class now. Save myself the trouble of speaking to you all.” They laugh as is I made a joke. They pass around the handouts I gave to the front row. “You have until the end of class, roughly twenty minutes, to answer the essay question on the paper that was just handed to you. No books or phones allowed, just that eighty thousand pound a year education of yours. Good luck.”
I sit in my chair and throw my legs up on the table as I recline and watch them work. Nera is focused on her paper, her brow creased adorably in concentration, so I get to openly stare at her. She’s wearing a pleated green skirt and beige skin tight top with red buttons along her right shoulder.
She looks like a Christmas present, one I’m desperate to unwrap.
I must stare at her longer than I’m aware because I’m jolted out of my study of her by the bell ringing, announcing the end of class.
The students stand in a cacophony of chairs scraping and loud talking.
“Drop your quizzes on my desk before you leave. I’ll return them to you graded in a few days.”
I make a show of organizing the papers as they’re handed to me so I don’t watch her approach. I’ll be well rid of her once she leaves my lecture hall.
Who knows, maybe I’ll be able to focus on actually teaching my next class if she’s not around.
“Babe,” Rex calls and I immediately know who he aims those words at. “Let me talk to you.”
I tense, my back and neck rigid.
Babe.
I fight not to look up at them as they approach. She comes up to drop her test and he follows her.
Why is he calling her babe? And why isn’t she immediately correcting him?
“Nera, stay after class,” I bark.
For fuck’s sake.
Short of buying a shovel and digging myself a hole, I’m doing a near perfect job of burying myself alive here. I want to tell her ‘never mind’, but I also want to tell her never to speak to him again.
When she speaks though, I know I’ve made the right decision.
“I can’t be any clearer, Rex. Please don’t wait for me, I need to talk to Professor Novak.”
I’d internally purr in victory if she’d actually said my name and not the cover name my father came up with to hide my identity while I’m here.
It should serve as a reminder of why I should stay away from her, but it only irritates me further.
The students filter slowly out of the classroom, the only exception is Sixtine who I hear whisper to Nera, “Do you need me to stay?”
She’s anxious, I can hear it in her voice, and she’s protective of her friend. She should be wary of leaving her here with me in my current state.
“No, it’s fine. I’ll see you at lunch.”
