Shifting the Night Away (38 page)

At age 27, she'd been with the company seven years. Pushing papers at first, she worked her way up to forklift operator and now loaded the large trucks for delivery. She was the only female in the warehouse and while it made many tease her, she was proud of it.

She kicked off her shoes and slipped off her navy blue uniform. Prepping her bath for a long soak, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror as she went to put today's clothes in the hamper. Long dark hair fell all around her shoulders while jade green eyes stared back at her. She cocked her head as she stared at her full round breasts, her wide hips, and the soft curves of her thighs and ass. She definitely could be defined as "hourglass".
 
Through trial and many diet errors, she had determined long ago that no matter how much she ate, or how little, her weight and size didn't seem to fluctuate. She was a curvy girl, filled with sass.

It was that sass that seemed to drive off the majority of boyfriends she'd had in the past. Her headstrong ways and her acerbic wit was something that many, while finding it charming in the beginning, had difficulty dealing with on a daily basis. Katie knew her man was out there somewhere but she wasn't going to change herself to find him.
No, my man will love me just as I am, smart mouth and deadly curves all.

It was shortly after she was out of the bath and resting on the sofa when she got the text message. It was from her boss at work and if he was texting her at this hour it was never a good sign.

Got a new person coming in next week. Need you to train and show him around. Name's Linc Bishop. Show him why he wants to stick around; you know we need all the help we can get. --John.

Katie groaned a bit when she read it, but merely typed:

No problem John. I'll give him the Bryan Logistics best!

While she readily agreed that they needed more people on the floor, training was something she hated the most about her job. Typically they were younger guys who thought they knew it all. In the same respect, most quit a month after joining. It was a never ending cycle and drained her every time she had to go through the motions again and again. This time, she was determined to have Linc Bishop stick around and finish what he started.

Chapter Three

Linc rolled his eyes after getting off the phone with John. He could have come up with a better alias than Linc Bishop for his undercover job if he had given it some thought. Instead he called John to give him the details and had to make up a name on the fly. He just hoped he could get through the week, get the information he sought on the employees and the morale, and get out of there before he was caught. At least he didn't have to get used to a new first name.

He had to admit the idea was slowly becoming fun instead of a way to show the executives that he could do this. He knew what they said behind his back and he was determined to prove them wrong. No matter his age and his background, he knew he could take the company in a new direction by listening to the people that worked for them.

The plan was pretty good, he admitted, but there were complications he hadn't thought of. He rented a blue minivan for that week, since driving to work in his cherry red '67 Mustang would probably draw attention. While he could easily afford some very expensive cars, he still preferred investing in the classics. Still, in a minimum wage warehouse, he better blend in.

Shopping for clothes wasn't an issue, he still had a suitcase full of the clothes he came to the company with from his days at beach sales. The only thing that he was going to have to keep an eye on was his wolf. There was a full moon in the lunar calendar for the middle of the week that they had chosen for him to go undercover and no amount of pleading with them to shift it to a different week worked. While he could always control the wolf inside him barring scenes of intense stress, a full moon made it a constant struggle. If he wasn't thinking about it or got distracted, it could easily slip out before Linc could reel it back in.

Perhaps if I went out and gave it some exercise it would help that
, Linc thought,
maybe just a quick visit to the woods outside of Reservoir before I had down to the warehouse floor tomorrow.

The woods provided Linc that freedom he loved while living by the coast. At night, he could run and let it go. All his cares and all his frustrations would just melt away. He would miss that living in the city.

While all his friends were telling him how lucky he was and how intense falling into so much money had to be, he was still unsure if he were meant for that. Generally a loner, he wasn't much into that lifestyle. He knew it was important to his father for him to do this and it was the only reason he had agreed to it. He owed the old man something for all the past hurt between them.

After a couple of hours he changed back to his human form and headed back to his place. Perhaps if it all worked out he could look for real estate somewhere in a secluded area like this. Someplace where both his human and his wolf could rest and relax, far away from prying eyes.

Chapter Four

Katie arrived a little early to the warehouse to make sure everything was ready for the new trainee. She didn't know how Linc would take to the fast paced environment, especially for the low pay. She just hoped he would be better than her last trainee Robert Gilson.
 
It was maddening to work with him through all of the sexist jokes, the ass slaps, and the unbearable way he kept calling her "darling" and "sugar" all the time. More than once, Katie caught him leering at her when she would bend over to grab boxes to pack up on the pallets. Once she swore he even brushed her ass, but she couldn't prove it and he denied it. Thankfully, Robert lasted two months and then left for greener pastures in waste management.

Today Katie would be grateful if Linc showed up on time, was respectful, and kept his damn mouth shut. That would make her a very happy floor manager.
 

Linc arrived a few minutes after his appointed time and came through the roll-up door already spouting "sorry" to everyone.

Not bad on the eyes
, she thought,
if you like the tall, dark, and painfully handsome type.
Linc looked more ready to go surfing than spending all day loading and unloading boxes, but that wouldn't matter once he slipped on their uber-attractive blue jumpsuit uniforms.

"Hey there, you must be Linc. I'm Katie," she said, extending her hand. After a cursory handshake, she begins telling him about dress codes, lunch breaks, production schedules, and forklift maintenance.

"That sounds like a lot to get done every day," Linc said to her looking around to see the cleanliness and how the workers were acting. Were they busy or just standing around?
 

"Yea, they expect us to work like dogs and pay us accordingly." The words had slipped out before she realized it. By the look on Linc's face, she realized her error.

"I mean, it's great here and all. Good people. You'll love it!" she rushed out and went to get the loading dock sheets he'd need to start the day.

I can't believe I just said that to him. God, he'll never stay now.

The day went well for a first day trainee. Katie could tell he'd not done hard labor before coming here, but she thought he had potential. Other than being very distracted and looking at everything and everyone, Linc could definitely be a good employee here.

"Great first day, Linc. Tomorrow you'll learn how to pack a pallet for shipping, how to work the shrink wrapping machine, and perhaps learn a few things on the forklift." She said, grabbing their time sheets and clocking out for the day.

"It was really fun. Where do y'all go afterwards?"

 
Y'all. That's something you don't hear up here often. Wonder where that came from?
She thought.

"Well, typically we're bone tired and head straight for our homes," she laughed, "what do you have in mind?"

"We could walk over to the cafe and grab something to eat. You could fill me in on the company and what it is like working there, instead of just teaching me the nuts and bolts of what to do."
That and I only have a week, so I need to pump you and your friends for as much information as I can gather before I'm gone.

"That sounds fine to me. Let's go."
 

The small cafe was quaint with bad lighting and mismatched seating, but served a mean club sandwich. Through the meal, he quizzed her on different things about the company. What he didn't expect was to be more captivated by her soft brown eyes and the way that her mouth creased in one corner whenever she gave a smile. There were several times he had to ask her to repeat herself as he was getting more and more interested in her than the task at hand.
And her calling me Linc makes me think she's talking to the real me, I keep forgetting I'm playing a role here.

"While working conditions aren't ideal, it is paying the bills. Work hard and you'll stay. They aren't fans of firing people. They like people to stay."
Hmmm, she thought, don't we all?
 

Her memory briefly went to her ex Chance and how he left. There had been no fights or disagreements, there was no stress in the relationship, and he just left. Looking back, she realized that the lack of any lows and highs signaled a lack of passion. Neither simply cared or bothered enough to raise a fuss and the relationship just died quietly.

Slowly the conversation turned from work related items to personal, with both retelling stories of their youth.
 

"I grew up in Alabama, had a love for the ocean, and left home to work on the coast instead of going into the family business." Shit! Linc realized that he was slipping and giving out information that could link him as CEO of the company.
 

"I've been here all my life. Guess that seems pretty boring."

"What did you aspire to be when you grew up, Katie?" he asked, genuinely interested in her.

"I wanted to be a small animal veterinarian, but had to get a job right out of high school to help out at home. Then it seemed like it was too late to go back and get training. You? Did you aspire to be a warehouse worker?" she laughed at the last bit.

"I never had plans at all, which is probably why I ended up the way I did." In retrospect, he realized the abject truth to that statement.

"Well here's to us warehouse workers and us earning corporate executives their new homes," she said, glass raised.

He couldn't look her in the eye when his glass hit hers.

Chapter Five