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There was the sharp sound of metal on cement as the back bumper of the machine hit the post and dented, sending Jim’s body lurching forward, then backward from the impact. Thinking fast, he put the machine into park to keep it from pushing against the post.

“Oh shit,” Jim groaned, wincing.

“Don’t move!”

I ran over to him, verifying that the machine was indeed in park, then I reached into the cab to turn off the engine. Jim stared straight ahead, looking shocked and possibly a little green, although maybe it was the fluorescent lights.

“Are you hurt, Alvarez?” I asked, my heart racing.

When he didn’t answer, I touched his arm to get his attention. Just like when we shook hands on my first day here, electricity arced between us as soon as we touched. His eyes dropped to his arm, then flew up to mine. He groaned again.

“Are you in pain?” I asked. “Did you hurt yourself?”

“No, I’m fine,” he said. “But damn it, you’re gonna have to write me up for that, aren’t you? There goes my perfect safety record.”

Jim

Icouldn’t believe I’d just crashed the forklift. A slow crash, to be sure, but there was still damage. I couldn’t decide if I was more irritated with myself or embarrassed that it had happened right in front of the woman I wanted to impress.

Way to look smooth, Alvarez, I mocked myself. Such an idiot.

It was completely my fault too. Instead of looking in the rearview mirror as I backed up, I was staring at Jordan, noticing how hot she looked when she got that stern boss look on her face. It had been impressive the way she’d dealt with the guy berating his coworker.

“Let’s get you to the nurse,” Jordan said, breaking into my self-deprecating thoughts. “Can you walk?”

She seemed concerned about me, which I didn’t mind at all. Her green eyes were darkened with worry as she scanned me, looking for injuries.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

Nothing was hurt but my pride. I hopped down, then walked around to survey the damage. It didn’t look too bad, but management was still going to be pissed, especially David Weston. That guy took every workplace accident like it was a personal insult.

Speaking of piss, they were going to drug test me now too. It was standard procedure when there was any kind of accident on the job site. Not that I had anything to worry about, the only thing I’d ingested today was black coffee.

“Okay let me go with you to the nurse’s office in case you feel dizzy or something,” Jordan said, sounding concerned.

She was standing close enough to me that I could smell her shampoo. It was something citrus. I was feeling perfectly fine and could have gone by myself, but I wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to spend more time with her away from the other guys. The nurse’s office was way on the other side of the building, so we had a nice long walk ahead of us. Ignoring the stares from our coworkers, Jordan and I headed out of the work area.

“How are you settling in here?” I asked as we entered one of the long hallways that connected the work areas.

The hallways were mostly empty. The suits from the admin office didn’t come down this way if they could help it, and with both the lunchroom and the locker room in the other direction, there wasn’t much reason for any of the workers to come this way.

“I’m settling in just fine thank you.”

She seemed a bit uncomfortable, looking down at the floor while she walked. I took the opportunity to check her out. As usual she was wearing faded jeans, a tee shirt, and work boots. It was basically our uniform here, but on Jordan the outfit seemed sexy. At least in my overactive imagination.

“I’m real sorry about damaging the forklift,” I told her. “Don’t worry, I’ll be the one who gets in trouble, not you.”

She looked at me in surprise. “I wasn’t worried about getting in trouble, I was worried about you. You could have been seriously hurt. Thank God you weren’t going any faster.”

My heart warmed a bit at the attention. I’d been scheming ever since she got here to try to find a way to spend more time with Jordan and get to know her. Crashing the forklift seemed kind of dramatic, but clearly it worked.

I asked her a few questions as we walked, learning that she’d been born and raised in Michigan, and this was her first time living outside of that state. She told me she’d gotten a little too comfortable at her factory back home and was looking for a new challenge. I figured she must be good at her job if upper management recruited her to come here.

“Where are you staying?” I asked.

“I got a short term rental on the outskirts of town until I decide where I want to live long term,” she shared. “It’s called Glendale Heights.”

“Glendale Heights?” I repeated. “That place is a dump.”