Against the Fire by Kat Martin Read Free Book Online Page B

number of times over the years, starting with the first time he’d asked her out. She had politely refused, telling him she believed in keeping her personal life separate from her work. Not telling him she simply wasn’t attracted to him. Mel had persisted to the point where she had been forced to be rude. Every once in a while, he still gave it the old college try.
    And there was her recent promotion. Mel had been with the company longer than she had. He believed he was the one who deserved the job as head designer and an office with a window.
    “Excuse me, Mel. I’ve got work to do.”
    “Well, pardon me for getting in your way,” he said sarcastically, his smile as phony as the flashy diamond stick pin he wore to company parties.
    Mel was the type of guy women sued for sexual harassment, but Mattie believed that if a woman wanted to be equal to a man, she had to stand up for herself, force them to treat her as an equal.
    It didn’t always work, of course, and there were extreme cases, but aside from being a jerk, Mel seemed harmless enough.
    Mattie walked past him into her office and firmly closed the door. She needed to get to back to the art gallery project; she didn’t want to fall behind. She loved her job and even obnoxious Mel Freeman wasn’t going to spoil it for her.
    She had only been working half an hour when a light knock sounded and the door swung open. Aaron Kreski, one of her dearest friends, rolled his wheelchair into her office.
    “I hate to interrupt, but I’ve got a question on the Franklin elementary school project.” Aaron was slender, black-haired and wore square, dark-rimmed glasses. At thirty, he was an attractive man in a nerdy sort of way, one of twelve detail draftsmen who worked in the office, the best of them as far as Mattie was concerned. He’d been wheelchair-bound since a car accident in his teens left him paralyzed from the waist down.
    Mattie got up from her chair and walked over to where he sat, a rolled-up set of drawings in his lap. He handed her the plans, explained a problem with a covered walkway, and she rolled the drawings open to see exactly what he was talking about.
    “You’re right. The walkway is a problem. I’ll give it some thought and get back to you as soon as I can.”
    “Great. We still on for dinner Friday night?”
    Mattie frowned. “Oh no, I forgot all about it. I planned to work late. I’m getting kind of behind. Could we do it next week?”
    Aaron looked disappointed, but he just nodded. “Sure, no big deal.”
    The door swung open just then. “Aaron, there you are.” Emily Bliss, a petite, dark-haired and attractive drafts-woman, cast Mattie a guilty glance. “Sorry, Mattie. I just had a quick question for Aaron.”
    “It’s okay. We’re finished.”
    “Talk to ya later,” Aaron said.
    “I’ll have an answer to your problem before the end of the day,” Mattie promised.
    Aaron rolled out the door and no one offered to help him. Everyone knew Aaron Kreski preferred to take care of himself.
    Emily hovered over him, though, her short brown bob swinging forward as she leaned down to ask him a question she probably could have answered herself. Mattie had a strong suspicion Emily had a crush on Aaron, though he didn’t seem to notice.
    That was too bad. Emily was a great girl and Aaron was a terrific guy. Mattie smiled as she returned to her desk. Her own love life might be the pits but deep down she was still a romantic.
    Which made her think of Gabe Raines and inwardly she sighed.

    Gabe arrived at the Taj Restaurant a few minutes early, figuring Mattie would probably be right on time. The place was kind of dark, draped with heavy gold velvet curtains and ornate brass latticework along the walls. The maître d’ led him to a table in the center of the room and he wondered if Mattie had asked the man to seat them there so they would be surrounded by people.
    Gabe just shook his head and pointed to a table in the corner. If he still got the