Against the Fire Read Online Free Page B

Jake?”
    “Better than it should be.” Jake lifted his hard hat, mopped his forehead with a handkerchief, then stuffed the cloth into his hip pocket. “Always makes me nervous when things are going too well.”
    Gabe thought of the destruction at the Towers and hoped that evened things out, at least for a while. “I know what you mean.” He toured the site with Jake, made a few suggestions, then fired up his truck and took off for the theater.
    As he pushed through the ornate front doors, looking forward to continuing his work on the stage, his cell phone began playing the first few bars of Brooks & Dunn’s “Hard Workin’ Man.” He unclipped the phone from his belt and flipped it open. “Raines.”
    “Mr. Raines, this is Mattie Baker. We met at the police station.”
    “I remember.” Gabe thought of the woman with the tantalizing auburn hair. She had a damned sexy voice to go with it.
    “You mentioned you would be willing to help me with Angel, and I had a couple of questions I was hoping you might be able to answer. I was wondering if you might have time to meet me for a quick cup of coffee.”
    “Sure, I can do that. Where would you like to meet?”
    “Well, I work in the Coffman Building. There’s a coffee kiosk in the lobby. Any chance that would be convenient?”
    “Not a problem. My condo’s just a few blocks away.”
    “Great. How’s four o’clock?”
    Gabe checked his watch. He’d be finished with his meeting with Parsons by three. “That’ll be fine. I’ll see you there.”
    Mattie thanked him, and Gabe closed the phone. She wanted to see him. He might have found that interesting if he hadn’t heard the strictly business note in her voice. Still, he couldn’t help a trace of anticipation. Aside from an occasional sleepover with one of his old girlfriends, he hadn’t been seeing anyone for the past six months.
    His brother had recently married. Jackson was happier than Gabe had ever seen him. After the devastating breakup his little brother, Devlin, had suffered with his fiancée, Amy Matlock, Dev was an even more dedicated bachelor than Gabe.
    Which didn’t mean he didn’t like female companionship. He just didn’t really think the pretty little redhead was going to be his type, no matter the physical attraction.
    Still, he had promised to help if he could. The Ramirez kid was only seventeen and he remembered the mistakes he had made himself when he was young.
    Gabe thought of his four o’clock meeting, thought of the redhead and smiled.
    Three
    Mattie sat at a small, round, iron-mesh table in front of the coffee kiosk in the lobby of her high-rise office building. The place was only six blocks from her condo, the reason she had decided to buy it, allowing her to walk to work in the mornings.
    Apparently Gabriel Raines lived somewhere in the vicinity, though she had never seen him until their accidental meeting at the police station. She took a sip of her cappuccino, which was hot and foamy, just the way she liked. It was one minute after four. She wondered if Raines would be on some kind of ego trip and make her wait.
    She hated the games people played.
    A subtle wave of relief slipped through her as she spotted him crossing the lobby, heading for the neon sign above the kiosk. She guessed him to be in his early thirties, maybe three or four years older than her twenty-nine years.
    She stood to meet him. “Thank you for coming.”
    “I said I’d help if I could. Mind if I get myself a cup of coffee before we talk?”
    “Not at all. I’m completely addicted myself.”
    Raines smiled and went to the counter. He had a nice smile, she thought, recalling she had seen it before. She had a feeling women fell all over themselves to get one of those easy smiles, silently grateful he wasn’t her type in the least.
    Paper cup in hand, he sat down in one of the little white wrought-iron chairs, making it look like it belonged in a doll house. “Now, what can I do for you, Ms.