Page 17 of Double Delivery
“Weren’t we just discussing that?”
A retort died on my lips as Ollie returned, and I shifted to hide my erection. I grabbed a box and slid it onto the upper shelf.
“Thanks, guys,” Ollie said softly. “You didn’t have to.”
“My idle monitor will be chirping at me when I get back to the truck, but it’s not like I would have saved that much time by just leaving them,” I replied.
Tripp laughed. “How about you make it up to us by joining us at the bar tonight?”
Ollie sighed. “I wish, but I have to go through those boxes and inspect everything. These are my Christmas designs, and I should have been shipping them weeks ago. But everything got pushed back for the move, so now I’m behind. It’s going to be late nights for me—sorting and packing—until the Christmas shipping deadline.”
I slid another box onto the shelf. “So you’re saying we should bring a bag for pickups now?”
“Probably,” Ollie sheepishly replied. “At least through the holidays.”
“Noted,” Tripp stated as he slid his last box onto the shelf. He pulled his scanner from his belt, and I heard the familiar beep as he accepted his outbound. Then the bouncing sound of an empty hand truck as he wheeled it back out.
I hefted my last box and pushed it onto the shelf.
“Thanks again,” Ollie mumbled as he handed over the outbound for me. “That was really sweet of you guys.”
I smiled, savoring his presence. “It was nothing.”
He shook his head. “I know it’s getting to be your busy season. Every minute counts.”
“Some things are worth an extra minute.”
His cheeks flushed an adorable pink, and he pushed up his glasses. “I… Ummm…”
I laughed. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
He nodded. “Tomorrow.”
My empty hand truck bounced and rattled as I returned to my truck. I secured it and had just started the engine when Tripp stopped his truck beside me and motioned for me to open the window.
“See you tonight?” he yelled over the roar of our engines.
I blinked. Even though we often ended up at the bar together, it had never been a coordinated thing.
Why the hell not?
“Sure,” I yelled back.
He grinned. “Great. See you then.”
I waved as he drove off, then shook my head and got moving.
The rest of my route was uneventful, with Tripp and I leapfrogging each other a couple of times. However, there was a weird fluttering in my middle whenever I thought about that night.
It didn’t make sense. Tripp and I sat together at the bar all the time now. It hadn’t ever been planned before, but it wasn’t new. So why the strange anticipation?
I was tired by the time I got home, but I wasn’t going to stand Tripp up. I changed out of my uniform and walked into the bar twenty minutes later.
Tripp was there, but instead of sitting at the bar, he’d grabbed a table off to one side.
I was glad it was a quiet night as I made my way around the pool tables and sat across from him.
“Already busy?” he asked, pushing a bottle of beer toward me.
