I had been watching my foreman, Mike Thompson, ever since I'd been hired on with the construction company as a flag girl three weeks before. He was, to my feverish mind, like a long, cool drink of water. He filled out his work denims beautifully, the hard muscles of his thighs showing through the rough fabric. Add to that a defined upper body (I was only guessing at that, but his t-shirts seemed molded to his pectorals), tousled, boyish blond hair beneath his white hard-hat, and the bluest eyes I'd ever seen, and I was in definite lust. He seemed reserved, though, and not at all flirtatious and chatty like the other foremen on the job.
He picked us up--all the flaggers, that is--every morning from the field office, and delivered us to our posts without a word. Often, throughout the day, he'd stop to replace a hand-held radio battery, or give a lift to the port-a-johns, and just like the morning rides, he was always silent. He didn't much look at us, either, just stared out the windshield. I think the only time I'd ever heard him talk was to the other foreman on the radio, or sometimes to equipment operators. Yep, strong, silent, and sexy as hell, that was Mike.
It was so hot out, I couldn't think. The a.m. radio newscast had forecast 34 degrees celsius for the day. I just wished I could enjoy a cold drink--maybe a beer--and sit down for a couple of minutes in the shade to relieve my sore feet. I sighed, pushed the loose strands of hair back up under my hard-hat, and swivelled my sign around, allowing the traffic that had been patiently waiting in front of me to pull out into the opposite lane.
When my line of cars had finally exhausted itself, I glanced back behind me down the tarmac, thumbed my radio, and asked Linda--my opposite number--if there was any traffic coming from her end of the lane closure. When she called back a negative, I squatted down and rocked forward onto the balls of my feet to give my cramped thighs a rest, balancing my sign across my knees. I kept my eyes open for approaching traffic, and took a long, deep drink from my water bottle.
"There's no sitting on the job," said a rough voice behind me, some minutes later. I jumped, dropping my sign in the process, and spilling my water over my jeans. My cheeks bright with embarrassment, I looked over my shoulder to see Mike a few feet behind me, leaning up against his truck.
"I'm sorry," I stammered, "I was, uh, just taking a quick moment to relax." My voice trailed off as I met his icy-blue stare. I couldn't afford to lose this job, what with student loans, and credit card debt. I could feel my whole body growing flushed with anxiety. He looked at me for a long, hard minute, and then abruptly jerked his thumb at the truck.
"Get in," Mike said. He walked around to the driver's side, leaned in, and grabbed his radio. As I took off my hard-hat and walked slowly towards the vehicle, my heart in my mouth, I could hear him calling someone else to come and take over my position. I was convinced that I had lost my job, for a five minute break from the godawful pain of standing on my feet for twelve long hours on the hottest day yet of the season. Hell, I hadn't even sat down, or left my position at the lane closure. Was the bastard really going to fire me? I was beginning to think that he wasn't quite so handsome after all.
I climbed up into the passenger side, feeling like I was going to cry. Mike started the engine, and as we pulled out from behind the pylons, I took a quick moment just to savour the air-conditioning that pumped from the vents. I might have just lost my job, but a blast of cool air wasn't wasted on me.
After ten minutes of silent driving, I ventured a quick look at his strong-featured face, all cheekbones and heavily-stubbled jaw line. It gave nothing away, so I decided to risk a question.
"Am I going to lose my job?" He seemed startled. Mike's eyebrows shot up his forehead, and he glanced over. After a couple of seconds, he started to smile.
"Is that what you thought, Katie," he drawled, "that I was going to fire you?" I nodded silently.
"No, I'm not getting rid of you. I just thought that you could use a break for more than a couple of minutes. We're going to the gas-station to get bottled water for the flaggers and the labourers." I sighed in relief, suddenly elated--not only was I not going to lose my job, but I had whole minutes to sneak sideways peeks at what had to be the most gorgeous man I'd ever seen. I smiled, and leaned back into my seat, after adjusting the vents to blow more of the refreshingly cold air onto my overheated body.
After we'd stopped at the gas station in town, to fill up on diesel and six cases of bottled water, Mike pulled the truck back out towards the highway, but didn't take the exit for the construction site.
"Um, the site's back that way," I pointed out, hesitantly. "Did you miss the turn-off?" He shook his head, and grinned. I thought I might be going into shock. That was the second time I'd seen Mike smile in less than an hour. It might even have been an all-time record. Not to mention that I'd heard more words out of him in that time than I had in the whole three weeks that I'd worked for the construction company.
"No, I just don't feel like going back to work right away. Do you?" He said that last almost teasingly, I imagined.
"Oh, no," I replied quickly, "if we can take a couple of minutes longer, I'd be thrilled. It feels great to have the hard-hat off for a little while."
Suddenly, Mike veered off the highway, onto a small dirt track. It looked like a skidder-track, or an old logging road, overgrown from disuse. The big Ford truck bounced over the track with ease. Never taking his eyes from the ruts in front of the truck, Mike flipped the lid of the small cooler that sat between us. I could see four or five bottles of beer nestled in melting ice inside it. He must have heard my indrawn breath, because he gestured impatiently at the cooler.
"Are you going to open one for me, or not? Grab one for yourself, too. Go on, Katie," he urged. I needed no further convincing. The contents of that cooler looked like manna from heaven to my eyes, and dry throat.
"Oh," I said, " that's the best damn thing I've had all day. You must have read my mind." He only chuckled. The first swallow went down in one long, cool draught, emptying almost a third of the bottle that I held. After that, though, I slowed down, not wanting to catch a buzz in this odd situation with my foreman, especially as we were going to have to return to the site eventually. Not so for him, though. Half the contents of his bottle were gone in one gulp, and the other half in the second. As we pulled into a small clearing, he gestured at me.
"Open another one." I didn't like his peremptory tone, but did as he asked, and handed it over to him. We drank in silence for a little while, before he reached in the cooler and grabbed me a second beer. I shook my head and looked away out the window, but he grabbed my hand and gave it to me anyway, and opened a third for himself. He opened his door, and slid out of the truck without looking at me, calling back over his shoulder "C'mon, out you get."