Page 5 of Boxed In

He paused for a moment, then asked, “What?”

“Get me up and running again, and we’ll talk about it,” she said. In truth, she was thinking that maybe this would be the push Luke needed to ask her out. He was so damned cute with his shaggy dark hair and that sexy cleft in his chin. But since he’d taken over the repair job, he’d struck her as a study in contrasts. He was confident when it came to his work—and a little unsure around her.

She knew he liked her. So why couldn’t he ask her out?

Unable to squelch a feeling of anticipation, she got up and unlocked the door that she’d locked a few minutes earlier. While she was up, she made a quick trip to the ladies’ room where she used the facilities, then combed her chin-length blond hair, stroked a little mascara on her lids, and put on some fresh lipstick.

“Going out on a date?” Betty Custer asked as she came out of the other stall. Betty worked down the hall for a trucking company. A petite redhead, she was a few years older than Olivia, and they’d gotten to know each other.

“I wish,” Olivia answered. “Carl has me stuck here for the evening.”

“You’re not putting on lipstick for Carl, are you?” Betty asked as she washed her hands.

Olivia flushed. “Luke Garner is coming by.”

When she’d found out Betty had gone to high school with Luke, Olivia had pumped her for information about him. And Betty knew Olivia liked him.

“Did he finally ask you out?” Betty asked.

Olivia inspected her appearance in the mirror, liking the way the mascara set off her blue eyes. Not too bad for a woman who’d been at work all day. “Maybe I can push him over the edge tonight.”

“Good luck.”

oOo

In truth, Luke Garner was not fifteen minutes away. He was in a parking lot a few blocks from the Peterbalm offices.

From his remote location, he’d disabled Olivia’s computer, and now he was on his way over to fix the problem he’d created.

Damn. He hated lying to Olivia, but that had been part of his cover assignment from Decorah Security.

Frank Decorah had told his staff that something big was going to happen at Peterbalm’s. It had to do with a crate of antiques that had been shipped from France. There was an item in the consignment that Frank wanted secured. And Luke had been given the assignment of scooping it up. He was in the Decorah IT department, but really, he wanted to switch to the detective staff. And maybe this gig would do it.

Another plus for Luke was that he’d grown up in Baltimore. And he’d actually worked for a computer shop in the city before joining the Decorah IT team.

All that had made it easy for Frank to get him onto the Marathon repair staff. Decorah was paying his salary, and Luke simply had to be on standby to fix any computer problems at Peterbalm—of which there had been a lot recently.

He started his engine and drove the few blocks to the warehouse where Peterbalm had his import business.

It was after hours. Olivia would be alone. Too bad his dealings with her had to be strictly business. But when the Decorah assignment was over, maybe they could get something going. Unless she found out he was the one who’d been screwing up her computer.

He gave Decorah a call and got Brand Marshall, one of the agents.

“The shipment Frank’s looking for may have come in from France.”

“Okay good.”

“I disabled the office machine, and I’m on my way to see what’s up.”

“Keep us informed.”

oOo

Olivia paced back and forth as she waited for Luke to arrive, glancing occasionally at the carved chest that still sat on the table with the other antiques. It was just a box, for Lord’s sake. But the damn thing made her nervous. She couldn’t help thinking that it was going to bring her bad luck. Really, she’d like to get it out of the office. But she couldn’t just throw it away. Not when Carl had already seen it.

Wait—what was she thinking? Throw away a valuable antique. Of course not.

Instead of focusing on the chest, she turned her thoughts back to Luke Garner. By her standards, he was a rough-around-the-edges kind of guy. Not like the young businessmen or lawyers she’d met at church. But she’d been attracted to him from the first time he’d come to the office to fix a mysterious computer glitch.

---