Page 59 of Tenure

“Yes. You do.”

I’m panting, but so is he.

“I don’t know,” I whimper.

“Figure it out.”

I close my eyes, hovering on the edge of an orgasm, my whole body spasming.Oh fuck, oh my God, keep it together. I will not come in front of all these people, I will NOT come in front of all these people . . .

“The contravariant is . . . It’s . . .”

“THINK. You can do this,” he says, his voice sharp.

I can almost hear it, theyou WILL come in front of all these people.

“I can’t.”

“You can.”

Fuck. Fuck. FUCK.

“NOW, Kiernan.”

I open my eyes and look up at him.

“On the function map . . . the answers are SL(n) and C(R)n, respectively, with a positive or negative coefficient of one.”

He stares right back at me, face bursting with pride.

“Good girl,” he murmurs.

And I fuckingexplode.

43

James

The room has faded out to white, and all I can see is her. All I can hear is a faint ringing in my ears.

She’s sucked in her bottom lip, and I know it’s to keep from screaming. She’s gripping her thighs so hard she’ll probably be bruised, the veins in her throat pulsing as she tries to pretend she’s breathing normally. Her eyes are open, glazed, unfocused, but she’s looking at me.She’s looking right at me.

“Professor?”

I blink, force myself to look away from the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, for . . . Samir?Fuck you, Samir. Fuck you and your fucking question. I’m missing this for YOU.

“What?”

“I don’t understand how she got a positive. No matter how many times I run this problem, I get zero or negative two.”

I’m missing this for you and your STUPID fucking question.

“Kiernan?” I say, shifting my eyes back to her. My knees nearly buckle; she’s subtly rocking her hips, her top lip sucked in too,and I can’t tell if she’s still coming and riding it out or trying to make herself come again, but either way I’m about ready to blow my load in my pants. Feels like I half-have already.

“Yes?” she says. Her voice sounds remarkably normal.

“Care to explain why he—”

“You’re not applying the subgroup rules. I think?” She looks at me for confirmation, and I nod.

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