“Oh yeah, that would have been Mr. Larken, but he isn’t in today. He decided he would work from home,” said Angie.
“So, who do I need to talk to?” he asked.
“Well, Margaret is out to lunch, but she should be back in about ten minutes. Want to wait, or do you want to look around and see just how bad the damage is?” she asked. “We had a pipe burst and it really flooded the building.”
“Yeah, I’ll walk around and see just how bad it is. Mind if I set my bag down here on the desk?” he asked.
“Not a problem hon. All the offices are open and the server room is down the hall to the left,” she said and pointed.
“Thank you Angie,” Luc said and headed down the direction she pointed. He pulled out a notepad and started jotting down things. From the looks of it most of the walls were drying out. Not a lot of drywall to replace except in the back offices. All the carpet was ripped out and from the way the cable runs were done, most of them were okay. Sheldon Electrics had a bad habit of dropping everything from the ceiling. Only one out of twenty runs was actually on the floor. The server room had been a write off. The bottom servers were soaked. He might be able to retrieve the data, but he sure hoped they had backups. Larken’s office was next. Once again, not a lot of damage, but enough. More notes. Next was a corner office. It was fairly well stripped. Furniture piled to one side and the desk covered in a drop cloth. Drywall had been replaced and the room was ready to repaint. Luc was crouched down on the floor examining the plug layout. This room wasn’t a drop down wire arrangement.
“Damn,” he said to himself looking at the mess. He realized that this office backed onto the server room. He dropped to one knee and started to make notes.
Meg hurried back from lunch and saw the computer contract van in the parking lot. Alpha Wolf Tech, LLC was blazoned on the side with a large paw print as the logo. “It couldn’t possibly be,” she thought as she headed inside. She knew Luc worked with computers, but business was something both of them had avoided like the plague. There was a big case sitting on Angie’s desk when she walked in.
“Hi Angie,” she said.
“Hi hon. The contract guy is here, and is he a hunk,” Angie said softly. “He’s taking a look at the damage and probably totting up a bill.”
“Okay. Thanks Angie,” she said and headed back towards her office. The door was partially closed, and she peeked around to find a man’s rear end on the other side of the door. One she swore she recognized.
“Surveying the damage?” she said hoping to startle the man.
“Yes, and it’s nice to see you,” Luc said turning as he stood up. A smile lit up his face.
“Damn! I was hoping to startle you,” she said.
“Meg, you smell way too good, and I know your scent. However, it is nice to see you.”
“I agree. I’d begun to wonder if you’d fallen off the face of the earth, or if you were locked up in the dog pound.”
“Oh, low blow!” Luc said. “I’ve been working my tail off, and now I have to find someone named Margaret to see if she can authorize this contract,” he said.
“That would be me,” she said.
“Meg, Margaret. I should have known,” he said with a smile. He shifted just a bit and flashed a bit of fang.
Meg smiled when she saw his smile. “Let’s see what you propose,” she said.
“Can we go back to Angie’s office? The smell in this end of the building is really bad,” Luc said.
“Sure, I guess it is pretty bad,” Meg said and turned to head back to the front door.
Angie cleared a spot on her desk for Luc and Meg to work. An hour later Luck walked out of the building with a contract to repair the network and wiring. The company would start work in the morning. Luc headed back to the office.
“He sure was nice looking,” said Angie.
“Oh yeah,” said Meg. “Almost edible,” she said. “And I want to play Little Red Riding Hood to that wolf,” she thought.
Ginny was at the front door when Luc got back to the office. She blocked him from entering.
“What gives Ginny?” he asked.
“Give me your tool bag and clip board and then go home,” she said.
“I have work to do,” he protested.
“Luc, take your testosterone overloaded self home and at least take a shower,” she said.
Luc sighed. He sniffed the air around him. Ginny was right. Seeing Meg had revved up his system. “Fine. See you in the morning,” he said and headed for his car.
Ginny smiled and headed back inside. She picked up the phone and dialed the number on the notepad. “He’s on his way home,” she said when the phone was answered on the third ring. “Yes, have fun,” she said and hung up.
Meg arrived at Luc’s house about five minutes after he had. She found the spare key Ginny had told him about and let herself in quietly. Putting the cooler down on the floor just inside the door and headed into the house. She could hear the shower running and dropped her clothes just outside the bathroom door. Luc was splashing around making enough noise that she didn’t worry about being heard. Slipping into the shower, she almost got her hands on him before he noticed her and jumped.
“Damn! Meg! Oh damn you startled me,” he said.
“Glad to know I can sneak up on you,” she said as she got all the way into the shower.
“How did you get in?” he asked.
“I had help,” she said.
“Who?” he asked, and then it dawned on him. “Ginny! That’s why she met me at the door and sent me home!”
“Yeah, I called after you left, and we had a good conversation. Seems you’ve been working too hard, and how did she put it? Oh yeah… ‘all work and no play makes Luc a crabby wolf.’ I think is how she put it,” said Meg.
“Ratted me out about the long hours eh?” Luc said running his hands over Meg and grabbing the soap.