Special thanks to kkmounsey for editing this story, my first submittal. All errors are my own.
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Kara Jenkins enjoyed her job working as an engineer in a large automotive product development center. She'd been with her company since she'd graduated with her Masters in Electrical Engineering more than five years ago. She loved her job, the people she worked with, and especially being considered the expert on something. She had a small core group of close friends and a large group of friendly acquaintances. She was quite content.
If she had any complaints it was about the lack of romance in her life. She sometimes found herself looking around the room while in a meeting and counting the wedding bands. Her male colleagues, whether older, her age, or recent college graduates all seemed to be married. Happily married, from what she could tell. Her female colleagues, one and all, seemed to be married to someone else at the company. After having been burned herself by an office romance not too long ago, she had no interest in attempting that route again.
Monday morning, she was sitting in a large conference room going over functional requirements with a small team. As was typical, she found herself the only woman in the room, but other than making a mental note of it, it didn't faze her. She'd known all the guys for years and they all had friendly, joking relationships with her. Until they needed to be serious and then they were more than capable of being serious. This morning's meeting was just a group review of the requirements they were documenting and the relaxed atmosphere in the room reflected that.
She found herself on the side of the table facing the long row of windows but didn't pay much attention to what was happening outside until her boss, Tim, commented on the construction going on around the building.
"Has anyone heard when they are going to be done with the parking lots?" he asked. "I'm getting tired of having to walk from the parking garage."
"Eh, it's not so bad... now," Kara responded with a grin. "It was terrible when they first started it back in February. I could have done without the long walks in the snow!"
"Well, we all know you get in so early that you can park in one of the closer parking lots, so of course it doesn't bother you," her software support manager, Mike teased her.
"Yes, well, nothing is stopping you from getting up early and being here to get a plum parking spot too," Kara grinned.
"Nothing but my nice warm bed."
"And your nice warm wife," Derrick grinned.
"Her, too," Mike laughed in agreement.
"Anyway...," Kara slid back into the conversation, "now that it's warmer and the sun is up when I get in, it's quite a pleasant walk."
"That's good, because from what I hear they will be working on the water main replacement under the street before they finish our parking lot," Derrick said. "It's going to be late summer before we get our lots back."
"Just so long as it's done before Thanksgiving...," Kara sighed.
"We hear you."
The conversation moved back to discussion of requirements. Kara made some suggestions, but she found herself distracted by the construction workers she could see in the parking lot. Since it was still early spring it was chilly in the morning. The guys all had on long-sleeved day-glo yellow t-shirts, orange reflective safety vests, jeans, Timberland boots, and hardhats. They all had strong, hard bodies, their skin tan and weathered a bit. Most also wore mirrored sunglasses for some reason. Then her team pulled her back into the conversation and she forgot all about mirrored sunglasses.
The following week it was finally warm enough to dig out her summer clothes, or so Kara decided against some evidence to the contrary. She was tired of her tailored slacks, sweaters, and sensible ballet flats. She wanted to welcome spring by showing a tad bit more skin. Nothing business-inappropriate of course, but knee length dresses or skirts and strappy sandals with wedge heels would soon be seeing the light of day again like the flowers that were now blooming all over town.
Tuesday morning, she picked out a green and blue tie-dyed sundress to wear. She wore a white cardigan shrug over it to cover her shoulders and to obscure her expansive cleavage. She wore white high-heeled sandals on her feet and her legs were bare. Her Titian hair hung loose around her shoulders. When she parked her car at work she looked in her rear-view mirror and applied some sheer lip gloss, pulled her lanyard over her head and got out of her car. She opened the hatch of her vehicle and got her laptop bag and purse and then started the long walk toward her building. She had long since gotten used to the fact that the construction workers were arriving at the site about the same time she was so she barely noticed them. She did notice how two of them eyed her up and down as she walked toward them on the sidewalk. She blushed at their frank appraisal but they didn't say anything and she nodded politely as they passed.
She didn't take any time to think about the encounter during her morning as she worked in the requirements capturing system.
When she went to get her second cup of coffee, she ran into Mike, her software guy. "I do love the signs of spring," he said, eyeing her up and down and wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. She blushed and laughed. At 11am Kara decided to head out for a quick lunch and to reset her brain by getting away from the office. She grabbed her purse and keys and headed towards her car. She noticed a half dozen construction workers pause to watch her walk by.
"Hey, baby! Nice tits!" she heard someone yell. She scanned the six tanned faces that were facing her, her own pale face flaming red with embarrassment. She couldn't tell who had shouted and hurriedly got in her car, started it up, and put it into gear.
She was back with a sandwich and iced tea from a local shop in less than 20 minutes. When she got out of her car, she saw that the workers were now taking their lunches, sitting on the grass in the shade of the buildings. As she walked briskly back towards her building, she saw one of them rise from the ground and walk towards her. She wasn't sure whether she should walk faster to avoid him or wait for him to reach her. She made the snap decision that she had nothing to be afraid of, there in broad daylight on her company's campus and slowed down to wait for him.
"Miss?" he said, "I'm sorry miss. Jimmy has been notified that his behavior earlier was inappropriate. I just wanted to let you know. And apologize."
"Oh! Well, I appreciate you telling me. He was wildly inappropriate."
"Yes, miss," the man agreed, his pale blue eyes intense on hers. She had a moment to wonder why he wasn't wearing the ubiquitous mirrored sunglasses but dismissed the thought as being irrelevant at the moment.
"I'm Kyle," he said, holding his hand out to her to shake. "I'm the foreman on this job. If there are any other... incidents... please let me know. I will take care of... discipline."
"Of course. Thank you," she said, shaking his hand. "I'm Kara. Nice to meet you." The feel of his large callused hand engulfing hers caused a flutter in her stomach and a small gasp to escape her lips. He looked at her sharply, a small smile curving the corners of his mouth. She didn't notice in her embarrassment. She pulled her hand away and rushed away.
The following few days went without incident as far as Kara was concerned. She got into work early, noticed but did not engage with any of the men working around her building, worked through the morning, went out to grab lunch and rush back before spending the afternoon grinding away. She'd then leave in the late afternoon, stop for dinner on the way home, eat, read, and then go to bed only to wake the next morning and do it all over again.
She wouldn't admit it to herself, but she did spend an inordinate amount of time daydreaming about Kyle. She wondered how tall he was. She decided close to 6'3" maybe even 6'4". She was 5'10" in her stocking feet and when he'd approached her she had on 3" heels and he was still a couple inches taller. She wondered what his hair looked like. Under the hardhat, all she could see was that it was close-cropped in the back. She supposed that having longer hair would be uncomfortable in the heat. In her bed at night she spent far too much time thinking about how his t-shirt stretched across his chest and around his muscular arms and how his Levis hugged his ass. She found herself thinking about him and what his large hands could do to her as she used her vibrator to bring herself some relief.
One day on her way back to the office with her lunch she heard someone shouting but didn't think much of it until she heard her name.
"Hey! Kara! Want to eat with us?"
