The big glass doors of the office building loom up in front of me. The rush hour traffic streams past on the sidewalk and for a second, I’m a leaf in a stream, getting blown along with the tide.

I take a deep breath. I hate starting new jobs.

I wasn’t even looking for something new, to be honest. I got a call out of nowhere from a recruiter talking about stupid amounts of money doing what I was already doing, a form of opposition research. Only I’d be doing it for an education company, and I’d be researching new markets.

It was too good to pass up, and when I nailed the interview, I knew I had to take the job. So here I am, a few weeks later starting at a company I don’t know a whole lot about doing a job I’m not sure I even fully understand yet. I’m nervous and I’m excited and I have no clue what’s going to happen from here.

I guess that’s the beauty, the uncertainty of it. Anything might happen. Maybe I’ll love this place, but maybe I’ll hate it. Only one way to find out

I push through the big doors and step into the lobby. I fall into the flow of people and follow them into the elevators, riding it up to the tenth floor. Quest Education has three floors of this huge downtown office building. As soon as I step off the elevator, I fall in with a whole group of new hires. There are probably ten of us in total, and soon we move into a conference room to begin our little orientation session.

I’m distracted, chewing on the back of my pen, as the guy from HR goes over the employee handbook. It’s pretty boring stuff, your typical first-day-of-class garbage. That triggers an old memory, one I haven’t thought of in a while: Mr. Drake, pressing me up against the blackboard.

I haven’t thought about him in a few years. After high school, I went to Princeton, and got a pretty good job in the city after graduating. I’ve had boyfriends, but nobody stuck. Now I’m twenty-eight, single, and starting a new job, thinking about a guy I don’t even know anymore.

It’s pathetic, but god was that hot. Hell, he was gorgeous, one of the most attractive men I’ve ever met. I can’t believe I was so stupid back then, wearing those slutty outfits for him, flirting with him so mercilessly. And I can’t believe it worked, even for a second, but I must have caught him on a weak day or something. After that one kiss, he didn’t try anything or act inappropriately. But that kiss, it was something else. I’ve gotten myself off many times just picturing what else he would have done to me if he hadn’t gotten control of himself.

After lunch, we break into our departments. Four other people are with me in a smaller conference room, three guys and another girl names Darlene.

“Call me Dar,” she says, smiling. “You’re in the analytics department, too?”

I nod. “Yep. Where were you before here?”

“Harvard,” she says.

“Oh, first job?”

She nods, all bushy tailed and bright eyed. “That’s right. I’m nervous.”

“Don’t be. This is my, oh god, third now, I guess.”

“Really, where did you work before this?”

“Fox Wilberts,” I say. “Law firm downtown, doing this sort of stuff.”

“Law firm? That’s really cool.”

“I guess. They’re tough though, track every single dime.”

Just as she laughs, a man walks in through the door. He’s in his thirties, balding a bit, bags under his eyes, with a big smile on his face. He’s a little out of shape, and immediately my creep alarm bells go off.

Every girl has creep alarm bells. We’re like hardwired to get a bad feeling any time some creepy guy comes around. And this guy makes my alarms go off like crazy. I’m instantly a little uncomfortable as he steps into the room.

“Hello, everyone, I’m Karl Slay, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” He beams at us and I notice that his teeth are unnaturally white—definitely veneers.

Eventually I learn that Karl is my new boss. He’s not so bad, at least not so far. He shows us the ropes of the department, how to log into our computers and all that stuff, and eventually shows everyone to their little cubicles.

“And this is you,” he says to me. As I step into my cube, he sort of guides my body by putting his hand on my lower back. I get the chills and he definitely shouldn’t touch me, but the moment quickly passes.

“Get comfortable, bring in personal items, whatever,” he says to me, still beaming, an unnerving grin. “This is your personal space. And I hope a second home.”

I laugh nervously. “Thanks, Karl.”

“No problem. I’m glad you’re on board, Sofia. Why don’t you get comfortable, log in, set up your email and all that? Holler if you need anything.”

He waves and heads off with Dar. I feel bad for her, but at least I’m free of him.

So far, so good. Karl is a little creepy and off but hopefully that won’t be an issue. Maybe he’s not so bad, and I’ll like him as I get to know him.

I sit down and soon the rest of the day melts past. I lose myself in the mundane boringness of an office job, setting up my stuff, exploring which websites are blocked and which ones aren’t. Fortunately, I can still get on G-chat and Facebook, which is kind of all I ever need.

Just as five thirty is rolling around, Karl comes out of his office. I watch him walk across the room and stop near the elevators. The doors open and another man steps out. Together they walk back toward the cubes.

“Hey, everyone, new people, can you come meet us over here?” he calls out.

I stand up and freeze. I can’t believe what I’m seeing. I have to blink and rub my eyes to make sure that I’m not dreaming at my desk or something, but it’s not a dream.

Standing next to Karl is Mr. Drake. He’s ten years older, so probably in his late thirties, a bit older than Karl. But he doesn’t look a day of it. In fact, he looks even better: more rugged, more handsome if that’s even possible. He looks like he has even more experience. He’s wearing a suit that fits his muscular frame perfectly and he looks like he needs a shave.

I finally get ahold of myself and join the others. We’re gathered in the break room of our department. Mr. Drake looks at me and recognition flickers across his face. I stare at him but he looks away as Karl starts speaking.

“Everyone, this is Jacob Drake. He’s the founder and CEO of our little company. Jacob?”

“Hello, everyone,” he says, and a familiar chill runs down my spine. I’d recognize that voice anywhere. Deep, rich timbre, like a radio personality. “It’s nice to meet you all. I like to try and come down and meet every new person we bring on board.” He hesitates and grins. “Helps when we can do it as a group.”

We all laugh nervously. I can’t believe it’s him, it’s really Mr. Drake. We do introductions, and when it comes to my turn, I almost don’t know what to say.

“Uh, hi, I’m Sofia---“

“Sofia Wolf,” he finishes for me. “I remember you.”

There’s an odd moment where we’re shaking hands, staring into each other’s eyes, and I feel it all over again. That head-rushing, stomach-flipping spark of desire that I felt almost every day in high school when he was my teacher. I haven’t felt this in such a long time, I didn’t even know I could again.

“Uh, Sofia and I go way back,” he says after an awkward beat, dropping my hand. “Back before Quest, when I was a substitute teacher.”

The moment passes and we finish introductions, but I don’t hear anything else anyone says. When he’s finishes, he says goodbye and leaves the room. Karl dismisses us to head home for the day, and as I go back to my desk, Dar catches up with me.

“You know Jacob Drake?” she asks me, grinning like mad. “He was staring at you like you guys were close.”

“No,” I say quickly. “No, he was my substitute math teacher.”

“Ah,” she says. “Wow. I can’t imagine having him… oh, never mind.”

I laugh a little bit. “Yeah, he looked like that back then, too. Imagine being a teenage girl.”

“I can’t,” she says, a little dreamy. “I’d be a mess every day.”

“Yeah,” I say. “Well, that was a long time ago.”

“Good point. Still, pretty cool you know him. Could come in handy.”

“Doubt it. I wasn’t a great student.”

She laughs and waves. “Have a good day.”

I watch her go for a second before dropping down into my chair. I take a deep breath and have to calm myself down. My heart is pounding and my fingers are tingling.

I was just thinking about him today, which is the craziest part. Like somehow I knew I was going to see him again. He looks good, really freaking good. I had no clue he was the founder of Quest. I probably should have done more research, but this all happened so fast.

I lean back in my chair before finally grabbing my bags. Well, at least this was the most interesting first day I’ve ever had. I doubt I’ll even be seeing him, anyway. He’s too important around here to bother with a small fry like me.

I’m sure that was the only time I’ll talk to him while I’m working here. Besides, there’s no way he remembers what happened between us. Everything’s going to be fine, I’ll concentrate on my work and forget all about him.

If that’s even possible.