Max is greatly interested in Julia’s work outside of her IT job – she and a friend are trying to get enough funding to get a first person female-oriented shooter game made. It’s obvious that the chemistry is off the charts between them and that they both are interested in similar things but this gives the reader a bit of a chance to see just how something deeper could be established. I really liked that the author took time to construct ways in which to explore their characters, get them to share things about themselves prior to giving into the sexual attraction. I enjoyed their banter and their game of ‘two truths and a lie’ which they play whilst hocking into some contraband moonshine-type stuff. This book is pretty hot – Julia aggressively owns her sexuality and once it’s established that Max is no longer married and is getting a divorce, it’s really only a matter of time until the chemistry wins. Faced with not being able to remove himself from any temptation, Max discovers that Julia is a perfect match for him in more ways than one. He’s been fighting an attraction to the IT girl for the longest time – way too long and it makes him uncomfortable because she’s younger than him. He’s still at the same small station, his marriage has ended and his best friend, a 16yo boy in a 32yo body has crashed his place apparently to provide “company” but mostly to just provide a mess. She’s never had a real relationship and thanks to her proximity to her sister’s bedroom, she also knows that she’s never had really good sex in her whole life. Her dad left when she was young and hasn’t played a role in her life since. Julia has some commitment issues – she was raised by an alcoholic mother who had a succession of boyfriends that drew police attention. Although Max is in the process of getting a divorce, somehow Julia has managed to miss hearing this piece of office gossip and she’s determined not to act on the attraction – she doesn’t want to be that person, even if it’s going to prove almost impossible in such tight confinement. Asked to organise some confiscated computer paraphernalia in the evidence room, some mistakes lead to her being locked in there for a long weekend with Max Connor, the sexy cop she’s had a crush on. Locked Box is a smart, well written story about Julia, a 24yo IT worker who works at a small police station. I am a one-click demon for a story that involves the hero/heroine being forcibly stranded or locked in somewhere together. Despite having approximately one zillion and one books to read, I couldn’t resist this one because it has some of my favourite things. I downloaded this based on a tweet from Kat Book Thingo, master of all things romance. Surrounded by three decades’ worth of drugs, guns, and floppy disks, M ax and Julia are forced to confront the heat that lies between them with dangerous, funny, and occasionally toe-curlingly sexy results. And that was before he locked the two of them in an evidence room. He’s getting divorced, his best friend is squatting in his house, and his inappropriate crush on the IT girl is getting way out of hand. Funding for her video game is low, her day job is sucking her dry, and to cap it all off she’s locked in a police station with the very handsome, extremely married guy she’s been avoiding at all costs.

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