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As evidenced by the crazy sexy dreams I’d been having about him since I saw him. And the fact that his daughter was sleeping soundly at home.
I was still willing myself not to think about the dream from the night before when I got into the compound. When I walked into the main office building, Glenda, the receptionist, directed me to the HR office. That sounded very formal, and I was inexplicably intimidated until I got where she directed me and realized it was just Minette Freeman’s office. The elegant older woman sat at the desk deeply engrossed in something on her computer screen when I walked in.
“Good morning, Kelly!” she exclaimed when she noticed me. “Welcome.”
“Good morning, Minette. Thank you.”
“Please… Minnie,” she said. “Come on in and sit down. Let’s talk a bit before you head out to work.”
I nodded and sat in the chair across from her. The conversation was easy, and she made even potentially uncomfortable topics like confirming vacation time, paid time off, sick days, raise opportunities, and expectations casual and unintimidating. As we talked, I realized I really liked the older woman a lot, even if I was very aware she was Darren’s mother. And that she was doing everything she could to figure me out without me realizing it.
When we were finished talking, she stood and gestured for the door.
“You can head on down to the garage,” she said.
“Really?” I asked, not really meaning to, but so surprised I couldn’t hold it back.
“Of course,” she said. “Unless there’s something else you need to talk about.”
“No,” I told her, shaking my head. “I just figured someone would bring me down there or something.”
She laughed. “Did you forget how to get there?”
“No.”
“Then you don’t need anyone. We all think of this place as our second home, and that’s what it is for you now, too,” she told me.
The touching sentiment brought a smile to my face as I left the building and made my way through the lush green of the center of the complex and down to the garage. My heart trembled a bit when I saw Darren already inside, standing next to his father, as both men stared down at a bike they had partially dismantled. His grease-stained jeans and black tank top were hot as hell, and I had to wrench my eyes away from him to keep from drooling. Instead of letting myself get completely distracted by his sexiness, I didn’t hesitate and instead made my way right to the pieces of the bike. That was my job, after all, and I was going to do it. No matter how chiseled his arms looked or how well he filled out his jeans.
He looked up at me and smiled. I didn’t know if the hint of nerves I noticed in his eyes made me feel better because at least he felt the same way, or worse because seeing that nervousness was going to make it even harder to convince myself we were only friends.
“Hey there, Kelly,” Gus said, looking up at me.
“Good morning,” I said. “Looks like the two of you already got quite the start today. What are you up to?”
He gave me a rundown of what the two of them had been doing and why. He explained the issues Darren was having with the bike and his goals for improved performance and pointed out the different things they were considering trying. I listened carefully, organizing it all in my brain so I would know how to best work on what he needed.
“What would you recommend?” Gus finally asked when he was done.
It was a sincere question. The older man honestly wanted to have my input in the situation and know what I thought about their ideas. It didn’t feel like the tests I’d been put through by other companies when trying to land jobs.
But Gus didn’t use that tone. He really wanted to know, and it made me feel like he was completely confident in recommending me as their new hire. I was already a part of the team. Eager to live up to it, I pushed up my sleeves and dug right into work.
Crouching down to get closer to the machine, I rested my hands on it. I didn’t want to rush with my response to him. Sounding like an eager second grader participating in my first spelling bee wasn’t going to make me look like I knew what I was talking about. I needed to carefully go over everything the two men told me, compare it to what I was observing in the machine and its parts, and bring it all together into a cohesive response.
Not holding back from touching and handling the different parts, I talked Gus and Darren through every step I would take to mitigate the issues he was having and improve the performance of the bike. I already noticed a few problems that could easily be rectified and give him a dramatically improved ride experience. Part of me felt a little strange talking to the former owner of the racing company and the professional rider this way, breaking it down for them and implying there were things they didn’t see or know. But when I made myself step back from that, I realized it was silly to feel that way. Just because they were familiar with the bikes and worked on them frequently didn’t mean they had all the answers. I was a professional and damn good at what I did. If they didn’t need the insight, they wouldn’t have hired me.
