I look out at the sea of faces and, for only a second, I wonder if I’m doing the right thing.

I’m not the kind of man to second-guess myself. I’ve made a lot of money, gotten a lot of success, by not second-guessing anything.

My instincts have served me very, very well so far in my career.

But coming to this college and teaching like this? It’s strange, even for me.

Teaching was never something I wanted to do. I always imagined myself at the helm of a huge company, steering things into victory and profit, slowly taking over the world.

Been there, done that. Now I’m forty, with more money than I could ever hope to spend. I did the whole hedonism thing for a while, fucked a hundred women, drank my fair share of expensive whisky, but now I’m ready to settle down.

Well, not entirely. I’m ready to settle down into a new project.

Fortunately, I know the dean of Monray pretty well, an old school friend named Roman Flores. He agreed to let me teach a class on a topic of my choice.

So here I am, looking for the next crop of the best and the brightest.

Maybe I’m looking in the wrong place. My old business partner, Larry, said I should be at Stanford or Harvard or someplace like that, but I think he’s wrong.

I think there are gems here at this school, and it’ll take a person like me to find them.

But after grading those tests, maybe I was wrong.

There were only two that I felt were genuinely successful. Two tests out of a class of forty. I expected at least five, maybe even more, but fucking only two really impressed me at all.

Ah, well. There are three more that’ll do fine, but the top two…

It doesn’t matter. I think I can make it work, if these two are as promising as they seem.

I start the class out normally. “No test today,” I say, to their palpable delight.

But there’s an edge to the class. They want to know who the top five are and what that means. Better to make them wait.

“Today, we’re going over the syllabus and starting with some basic concepts…”

I’m not a cruel man. Really, I’m not. But sometimes it’s just more fun to make them wait.

I push it until the last possible second. I string them along, let them worry that I might not announce the winners at all.

I admit, I’m enjoying myself.

The whole class, I keep glancing up to the top left corner, up to a little cluster of students. It’s where she’s sitting, the only girl in the class.

I try not to make it obvious, but I lock eyes with her at least twice. Clara looks back at me, a little smile on her pretty lips, her big, green eyes wide and drinking in every detail.

She’s fucking attractive. God damn, I didn’t expect it when I first came here. I figured these college girls would be too young, too immature. But Clara, she has the look I love.

Wavy auburn hair, pale skin, full, perky breasts, round ass. It’s exactly what I look for in a woman.

Even if she is half my fucking age…

Doesn’t matter. She’s a student, and everyone knows it’s fucked up and against the rules for a student to date her teacher. So I keep my eyes off her, even if I do keep glancing in her direction.

Finally, two minutes before the end of class, I put away my notes and clear my throat.

“Okay, that’s enough of that. I bet you’re all wondering about that test yesterday.”

Murmurs of anticipation. I catch Clara frowning slightly, but I don’t let myself linger.

“I have five names that I’ll call out now. The five of you can meet with me after class to go over the details.”

I clear my throat, open up my bag, and take out a piece of paper.

“Truth is, most of you did abysmally. It was a hard test, but I did expect more out of you all.” I glance at their faces, and I can see more than a few annoyed grimaces. “The five following people did reasonably well. Howard Moon, Parker Gray, Alan Sleight, Coop Smith, and Clara Nelson. Well done, you five. Everyone else, you’re dismissed.”

There’s a general grumbling as people get up to leave. I can spot the winners, talking with their friends, excited and grinning like mad.

Except for Clara. She’s still sitting in her seat, looking absolutely bewildered.

A few guys throw her some dirty looks. I bet they didn’t expect her to be one of the top five, but of course they were wrong.

They were incredibly wrong. Clara was one of only two people to succeed.

The other was Howard Moon. He’s a skinny guy, acne scars on his face, thin glasses shoved up his nose. He’s wearing an Iron Maiden t-shirt that’s too big and baggy jeans. He’s grinning ear to ear as he comes stumbling over toward me.

The others join him, with Clara coming up last. The four guys give her looks, but nobody says anything.

Alan has tan skin, wide eyes, and a big smile. Parker is short and slight and looks nervous as hell. Coop is the biggest of the group, tall and fat.

Clara doesn’t look like she fits in at all. I can’t keep my eyes off her, although I know I need to give the other four my attention, especially Howard. He’s as promising as Clara is. The other three, well, maybe they’ll develop. Either way, they’ll be useful for a little while at least.

“Congratulations,” I say to them. “Just to be clear, this opportunity is entirely voluntary, and turning it down won’t affect your grade at all in my class. Understood?”

“Understood,” Coop drawls. “What’s the opportunity?”

I smile at him. “It’s an internship on my new project.”

All five of them buzz with excitement. Even Clara seems to smile and perk up.

“What are you working on?” Alan asks, nudging closer.

“Well, you might not be surprised to learn that it’s a virtual reality application,” I tell the group. “Right now, VR needs incredibly sophisticated hardware to run accurately, but I want to make it cheap and easily reproducible.”

“We don’t do hardware,” Howard grunts.

I glance at the kid. “Neither do I.”

He frowns, but doesn’t say anything.

“We’re doing it in software?”

I almost don’t hear her. The guys all glance back at Clara. Coop snorts derisively. “Ain’t gonna happen, right?” he says, looking at me.

I smile at him placidly. “Clara’s right. We’re doing it in software.”

All five of them stare at me. Clara smiles slightly and I nod at her.

“We’ll be using some advanced techniques, neural nets, big data, all that stuff. I have a lab at the edge of campus, I’ll email you all the address. Show up there tomorrow morning at eight. Will that work?”

They all agree and I dismiss them. They all begin to wander off, all of them except for Clara.

She lingers behind, looking at me. I frown at her as I pack up my things.

“What can I do for you, Miss Nelson?”

She grins for a second. “Clara.”

I laugh softly. “Okay, Clara. What’s up?”

“Well, I just… wanted to ask you about this.”

“About what?”

“You choosing me.”

I hesitate a second. I wonder if she knows, if she noticed me looking at her…

Women can be pretty intuitive about these things sometimes. They read body language like it’s a fucking poem. Maybe I need to be careful about her.

“What about it?” I ask.

“Did you choose me because I’m a girl?”

I stare at her for a second, surprised. “Of course not,” I finally manage to say.

“It’s just that, you mentioned it the other day, and I know it looks good to have diversity on a team, and—”

“Okay, hold on,” I interrupt her. “I don’t give a shit about diversity, okay?”

She looks surprised. I can’t tell if it’s because I cursed or what.

“Really?”

“I only care about getting the job done,” I tell her. “I chose you because you were one of the best. I wouldn’t pick someone that couldn’t handle what we’re about to do.”

She bites her lip. “Okay then. Thanks.”

“Don’t let them define you,” I say, gesturing at the guys that are receding away from the class. “Those fuckers are just insecure.”

She grins at that. “You’re not kidding. College guys are…”

“Still children,” I finish for her.

“Right. Not grown up.”

“But you are.”

“Maybe.” She laughs a little. “I don’t know.”

“You look grown-up.”

She hesitates, maybe understanding what I’m saying. I shouldn’t have said it, but it just came out.

“Looks can be deceiving, Jason,” she says.

I laugh. “True enough.”

“Anyway, why choose college kids, if we’re so immature?”

“I have some theories,” I admit to her. “But I don’t plan on sharing them right now.”

“Secret stuff?”

“Pretty much.”

“I can keep a secret.”

I swear, she knows what I’m thinking. My heart beats faster. I can imagine fucking her right here on this desk, keeping her mouth shut, keeping her quiet, as she strains against my cock, begging to scream out in pleasure…

“I bet you can,” I say.

“It can stay just between us.”

“Some other time.”

“Sure, okay.” She smiles lightly. “Anyway, thanks for choosing me.”

“Like I said, you chose yourself. I just read the papers.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow morning, Professor.”

“Jason,” I correct her, but she’s already leaving the room with a smile on her lips. I know she’s messing with me, and it’s driving me crazy.

What the hell am I doing, flirting with this girl? It’s so stupid and dangerous. And yet I can’t help myself.

She’s so fucking sexy. Smart and sexy. Exactly what I want.

I sigh, gather my things, and leave the classroom. I have to put her out of my mind, focus on what I’m here to do.

Or else risk letting my dick get me off course and fuck things up for myself.