Page 11 of Handling the Boss

“Okay,” I sighed, wondering what I was going to do in the meantime. “Thank you.”

I disconnected the call, then jumped as I heard Jim’s voice behind me. I was in the corner of the lunchroom, but my back was turned to the door so I hadn’t heard him come in.

“Troubles?”

His deep voice made me shiver.

“It’s nothing. It’s just going to take longer than I thought it would to fix my car. They say they need to order parts.”

Jim slid into the seat across from me and placed his lunchbox on the table. I usually took my lunch a little later than him, but I wanted to talk to the mechanic so I’d taken my break early.

“Don’t you worry about a thing. I’ll drive you wherever you need to go.”

“Oh no, thank you but it’s fine,” I said quickly. “I’ll figure something out. Maybe I can rent a car or something.”

“Jordan.”

Jim did that thing again, the thing he’d done last night where he deepened his voice and sounded the tiniest bit stern. It did funny things to my insides.

“I’ll drive you wherever you need to go.”

I should have been irritated at the way he was trying to order me around. Or at least annoyed. Instead I released a sigh of relief and said, “Okay.”

Jim

Her acquiescence felt like a big victory. Getting Jordan to let me drive her to and from work ensured that I’d have plenty of time to spend with her, but then the wind went out of my sails a little bit.

Jordan looked around us to make sure no one was nearby, then leaned in close and whispered, “No more kissing though.”

She leaned back in her seat, picking up a pickle she’d brought in her lunch. I waited for her to take a bite before I drawled, “That’s a damned shame, because it seemed like you enjoyed it as much as I did.”

She glared at me while she chewed her food.

“We can’t talk about this here,” she hissed after she swallowed.

“Fine, we can talk about it later,” I conceded. “Now finish your lunch.”

“Excuse me!” she said indignantly. “Just because we did…,” she paused and looked around again before finishing her sentence, “what we did, that doesn’t give you the right to boss me around.”

“That’s okay, we can take turns being in charge. I’m an enlightened guy.”

I gave her the smile that had been making women drop their panties for me since I was fifteen, but it didn’t seem to have the same effect on Jordan. She slammed the rest of her lunch into her lunchbox and stood up so fast I thought she’d knock her chair over, then stalked off without a word.

Maybe I’d overplayed my hand here. I wanted to keep her from retreating behind her walls, but I also didn’t want to do anything to undermine her here at work. I knew from watching Lillian and other women who worked at the factory that it was hard for females to be respected in this environment.

Realizing I needed advice, I texted Lillian. I knew she was just starting her lunch break on the other side of the factory and was glad when she agreed to meet me at the picnic tables outside. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised to see George and Leo were with her. Those two were nosier than any women I knew. We settled at the table that was farthest away from the building so I could talk to them in private.

“Thanks for meeting me,” I said to Lillian.

“I just saw you last night,” she pointed out. “What’s happened since then? Does this have something to do with Jordan?”

I felt a flush rise up in my face for some reason, and Lillian broke out into a big smile.

“I told you,” she said to the guys before turning her attention back to me. “You guys owe me ten bucks. Now spill it, Jimmy.”

“Her car wouldn’t start when we left last night and it was after Jensen’s closed, so I gave her a ride home and…,” I looked around the same way Jordan had, wanting to make sure that no one was walking by who could hear anything and put two and two together. “When we got to her apartment I kissed her.”

“This wasn’t your first kiss, was it, kid?” Leo asked.