Against the Fire by Kat Martin Page B

said, kissing the top of her head. “You’re a very passionate woman, Mattie. What you needed was a man.”
    He meant a real man and yesterday she would have argued. Not tonight. Tonight she was a sexy femme fatale and she could handle a virile man like Gabe.
    Her insides began to tighten.
    Tomorrow she would again be practical Mattie Baker.
    And she would have to find a way to deal with Gabriel Raines.

    Gabe awoke late the next morning, more relaxed and content than he had felt in weeks. He had turned off his alarm last night, looking forward to sharing coffee and doughnuts with Mattie. He smiled as he reached for her, hard again though they had made love three times during the night. When his hand landed on cold, empty sheets, Gabe rolled onto his side in search of her, but Mattie was nowhere in sight.
    Damn.
    He had been sleeping so soundly he hadn’t felt her move off the mattress, hadn’t heard her leave. But the sexy silver dress he had draped over a chair last night was gone and so was Mattie.
    Swinging his legs to the side of the bed, Gabe silently cursed. He should have known she would run. Her lusty response to his lovemaking had scared the hell out of her. He almost smiled. She would be even more scared if she knew that as soon as he realized how little experience she had, he had held himself back.
    Still, she had run like a scalded cat out the door this morning and maybe even out of his life.
    His shoulders tightened. He been lusting after Mattie Baker since the day he’d met her. He hadn’t thought it was more than that until now.
    Maybe it was nothing, just that she was one of the most passionate women he’d ever met and they were incredibly good together in bed. Maybe it was just that he wasn’t ready to give up the great sex they’d shared.
    As he padded naked toward the bathroom, he remembered how upset she had been when she thought he hadn’t used a condom. Funny thing was, once she realized he had, she seemed almost disappointed. The lady was definitely hard to read. And yet there was no question that the mind-blowing sex was beyond anything he’d ever experienced before.
    Gabe turned on the shower. As he waited for the water to get hot, he spotted a note on the granite counter.
Gabe—
Last night was amazing. You showed me the woman I am inside and I will always be grateful. But my life is my career. Though we will probably run into each other on occasion, I hope you will behave like a gentleman and forget about last night, as I intend to do.
Mattie.
    Forget about it? Having her again was all he could think about. And he was hardly a gentleman. A gentleman wouldn’t have undressed her in a storage room. A gentleman wouldn’t have pulled up her skirt and cupped that round little ass in the palms of his hands.
    Gabe clenched his jaw at the memory. He turned the shower from warm to cold and climbed in, the cold spray ending his erection. Mattie wanted him out of her life. Fine, then he would leave her alone. He’d never had a problem with women. He didn’t need one who didn’t want him.
    The icy water poured over him, calming him a little. So what if Mattie only wanted a one-night stand? It was the way things were these days. He should look on the positive side. He’d wanted her. Now he’d had her.
    As he ducked his head beneath the cold spray and goose bumps rose on his skin, the thought didn’t make him feel any better.

    Mattie worked hard all morning. Her job was never easy, but today she found it nearly impossible to concentrate on the endless tasks ahead of her.
    Nearly impossible to keep her mind off Gabriel Raines.
    She sighed as she studied the drawing she was modifying on the CAD program on her computer. One of the reasons she had been promoted to head designer was her ability to think outside the box, to come up with ideas that were both inventive and functional. Currently, she was working on a design for a contemporary art gallery over on Olive not far from the Dallas Museum of