That day during my run I kept thinking over recent events in my head. Had she put high turnover items in the back on purpose? She had seemed very comfortable this time. Was she intentionally trying to catch me changing?
She had also showed up much faster this time. That bit was kind of a relief, as I would definitely have lost composure if she tried to squeeze past me in my boxers.
Would it have been so bad though? I mean she didn't seem to mind, and I had almost certainly caught her checking for an erection at the end of our exchange earlier. But to catch me after just losing my shirt, she must have been right behind me going back there.
Had she seen me come in and chosen that time to go grab some restock for the front?
I decided that regardless of her intentions, I was going to count my blessings and just let it be.
-----
It started happening more often after that. I don't know if working up the courage to initiate contact last time had emboldened her or if she was just that comfortable with me, but by the time winter rolled around we were "meeting" back in the racks around once per week.
Sometimes our little meetings consisted of her catching me pulling my running shoes on after changing, and sometimes they involved more light touching, squeezing past, or accidental bumping.
Around Thanksgiving, the people in charge at work decided we didn't have to wear masks anymore. It completely changed the mood between Katie and I. No longer was I just guessing what she thought based on eye posture. You really don't appreciate how much communication happens facially, until faces are covered up. I was happy to see her whole face on my little visits, whether we happened to "run into each other" in the back or not.
Once, I got to the warehouse and didn't see her anywhere around. When I got back to my little changing area I realized why; she was standing back there with a clipboard digging through some boxes of stuff.
"Oh, hey!" she called as I rounded the corner. "Don't mind me, just checking some numbers for quarterly reports." I could swear she was grinning at me as she said it, but at this point I think I may have been enjoying our game as much as she was.
I mumbled an acknowledgement and started unbuttoning my shirt. I was trying my best not to overtly watch her, because I wanted to see whether she was checking me out. Sure enough, I caught her stealing a flew glances as my shirt came off, and then again as I kicked off my shoes and started opening my pants.
Then she faced away and bent at the waist, rummaging around in a large box of children's toys. Suddenly, I was the one stealing glances. Her pants were snug around her ass and hips in just the right way, and doubled over like that I could almost see the contours of her nethers thanks to a seam running down the middle of her slacks.
I had almost started to drool and then... whoops. Suddenly I was flying my flag at half staff again. Standing right there in my boxers. This was dangerous. Thankfully she hadn't noticed, but then I heard her grumble something about being short on her numbers.
I peeked down over her shoulder. "What's wrong?" I thought maybe talking shop would distract me from the enticing view presented in front of me.
"I'm short one of these toys. Have a look up there for me? Maybe there's one on the shelf."