Hal was grabbing his megaphone and walkie-talkie as I spoke. A voice came through the radio the second it was in his hand. “Hal, we’ve got an accident on the pond. Finn is in the water. Jem went in after him. Over.”

Hal lifted the walkie-talkie. “Do you see either of them yet? Over.”

“Negative,” the voice returned.

I followed Hal out of the office. The man who’d been knocked into the water was Finn, Everly’s crush. Other workers were racing toward the pond. Hal moved too slowly. I ran past him and followed the others. Jem’s brother, Dane, was at the front of the pack.

All machinery had been stopped, and aside from a low hiss of steam coming from the mill, it seemed there were no other manmade sounds in the yard other than the worried mumbles. The man who had been running the giant claw machine was standing at the edge of the cement curb with his hand shading his eyes as he surveyed the water.

Hal had finally reached the river. It took him a few seconds to catch his breath. But his workers in the cold, treacherous pond didn’t have a few seconds. They’d already been under for what seemed an impossibly long time. I crossed my arms tightly around myself to stop the shaking.

Logs rolled over the surface of the pond sealing shut most of the escape routes. In some places there was only a solid surface of raw logs with no signs of the dark blue water beneath. I joined the men lined up on the ridge of cement to look for signs of life. Jem had gone in after his coworker so quickly, I badly wanted to erase any of the negative thoughts I’d had of the man.

“Jem!” His brother’s face was stretched smooth white with worry. He didn’t stop on the shoreline like the rest of us but lumbered right off the shore and onto the nearest log. Like his brother, his incredible balance made it look easy, even with no spikes on his shoes. His long legs stretched from one log to the next at a frantic pace.

I bit my lip to keep myself from crying. Just as Dane reached the unmanned boat, a head broke the surface of the water. Jem gasped for breath while struggling to hold onto something heavy. That’s when a deathly pale face appeared on the surface of the pond.

Dane got down and straddled the log. He leaned over to help Jem lift the unconscious man out of the water. There was little they could do but drape him over the log. Jem looked cold and exhausted, but he stayed in the water and helped navigate the log through the debris and back to shore. Several men on shore helped pull Finn to dry ground. Dane hopped back onto solid ground and gave his brother a hand out of the water.

Jem dropped to his knees to catch his breath. The usual hard, confident shell had been cracked. Pain and worry showed through, contradicting everything Everly had warned me about. In fact, he was the man who’d just risked his own life to save his coworker, the man Everly loved.

Hal went right to work giving Finn mouth to mouth. He looked pale and lifeless. A circle of grim faces looked on as Hal knelt over his victim. It was a shocking, horrid scene, a bad first day on a new job. In the far distance, through the quiet, crystal clear forest air I heard a siren. Red lights spun overhead on the highway as the paramedics rushed toward the mill road.

A cough broke the tightly wound tension in the yard and sighs of relief followed. Finn was alive. Hal stayed knelt next to him, while receiving a few well-deserved pats on the back. The color was just returning to Hal’s usually ruddy face as he looked around. “The medics are on their way down, so Finn is in good hands. I think the rest of you have work to do. Jem, go inside and change. The pond is a big mess.”

Jem pushed to his feet.

“Oh, and Wolfe,” Hal barked and then he lifted his chin at him, in what I decided must have been sawmill code for thanks because Jem retuned a nod. And that was that. A man, two men, had nearly met their makers in the icy pond, and it was back to business as usual for everyone but poor Finn.

The red paramedic and fire trucks swept up a cloud of dust as they raced into the yard. My heart had barely returned to its normal pace as I reached the office. I stepped inside and stared down at the rest of my organization task. I’d only had ten minutes for lunch, but I was no longer hungry. The entire scene outside had been surreal. The other workers, who had been visibly shaken, snapped right back to work with hardly any hesitation. One thing was certain, the bravery medals for the day went to the Wolfe brothers. Dane had jumped onto the logs without a second thought. Of course, it was his brother who was under the ceiling of raw timber. Still, not one other person had lent a helping hand out on the water.

I skirted around the remaining files to find out where I’d left off. My dramatic lunch break had left me slightly frazzled. Lunch break. I’d left my lunch out on the table. I headed to the break room to clean up after myself.

It took only a second to realize I’d opened the wrong door. Jem was standing in front of the lockers. His wet clothes were piled on the bench. He made no attempt to cover up his naked body.

“Oh shit, wrong door,” I chirped as I backed up. My head and back smacked the edge of the open door, and it shut behind me, leaving me standing in the locker room. I quickly proved to myself that I was completely human. My face felt hot and my breath was stuck somewhere deep in my chest. I couldn’t pull my gaze away from him. There was no other way to describe it. He was finely chiseled perfection. And the crooked grin on his face assured me that he knew it.

Slowly, he stepped into his pants. “Not a problem.”

I had to will myself not to stare at him, at all of him. There was nothing disappointing about the man . . . physically. He pulled up the jeans but left them unzipped as he rested his hand up on the top of the locker door. My eyes kept getting drawn to the dark line of hair bisecting his abdomen and disappearing below the wide open fly of his pants.

I knew full well that I should spin right around and leave, but it had been so dramatic out there on the river and it seemed to me that an almost imperceptible chin lift from the boss was not enough recognition for what he’d done. “That was really brave—” His half naked body and handsome face were making it hard to sputter the words out clearly. “What you did out there on the water. I saw you dive in and—” I reached behind me for the doorknob. “Anyhow, just wanted to tell you.”

A faint smile crossed his face as he turned to pull a shirt from the locker. A thin river of blood trailed across his shoulders.

“You’re hurt.” I released the doorknob and stepped closer.

“It’s fine.” He went to pull on his shirt.

“No,” I said louder than necessary. “I know there’s a first aid kit in the office. Let me at least clean it off and put some antiseptic on it.” I held up my hands. “Don’t move.” I rushed out to the office. From the front windows, I could see Finn sitting up on the gurney while the medics took his vitals. It was a relieving sight to see. I grabbed the first aid kit from the shelf on the wall and carried it back into the locker room. Jem was sitting with his long, thick legs straddling the bench.

“It’s just a scratch, Woodstock. But then, how stupid would I be to turn down first aid from an incredibly hot nurse.”

“Yes, and since there aren’t any hot nurses around, you’ll have to settle for one slightly shaken office worker.”

“If settling means having you tend to me, then consider me extremely settled.” There was no way to ignore the suggestive tone behind his words.

“Most mortal men would still be reeling from the incident outside, but here you sit, bleeding and wet, acting as if nothing happened and making suggestive remarks to a girl you hardly know.” I circled behind him, and following his model, I straddled the bench.