Free Against the Fire by Kat Martin Page B

Mattie at the end of the long, dimly lit hallway, disappearing into the ladies’ room. He leaned back against the wall to wait, folded his arms over his chest, his gaze riveted to the spot where she had disappeared.
    Mattie came out a few minutes later, looking cool and unruffled. He wished he felt the same. Instead he was hot and fiercely aroused. As she made her way down the hall, he stepped out of the shadows in front of her.
    “That was some performance, Lena,” he said.
    Mattie’s head shot up. She moistened those glossy pink lips. “Gabe. What…what are you doing here?”
    “I didn’t know you’d be here, if that’s what you’re thinking. I came with my foreman, Sam McBride. He seemed to think I might enjoy the entertainment.”
    For once she didn’t back away from him. “Did you?” The words held a note of challenge. He had never seen her more in control.
    “I liked everything I saw on that stage. And for the first time since I met you, I think I’ve got you figured out.”
    One of those fiery eyebrows went up. “Is that right?”
    “Yeah, that’s right. Watching you up there gave me the answers to the questions I’ve been asking myself since the day I met you. I know what you need, Mattie Baker. Believe me, I’ve got exactly what you need.”
    And then he caught her face between his hands, lowered his head, and claimed her mouth in a burning kiss.
    Eight
    Mattie couldn’t move. The man of her midnight fantasies stood right in front of her. The last person she expected to see tonight was Gabriel Raines.
    But as his hands cupped her face, as he lowered his head and those soft lips settled gently over hers, coaxing and at the same time insistent, something hot and ragged broke loose inside her.
    “Gabe…” she whispered as he deepened the kiss, and instead of pushing him away, she opened to him, giving in to his subtle demands, tilting her head to allow him better access. Heat rolled through her in long, powerful waves. Desire stirred deep in her belly and dampness slid into her core.
    His hands dropped to her waist and he drew her against him. Her palms came to rest on his muscular chest and she felt the power there, the strength, and her heartbeat pounded in her ears.
    “Gabe…” she repeated, kissing him back, letting her tongue slide over his, teasing, asking for more. He nibbled and tasted, alternately coaxed and demanded, and desire swelled, began to expand like hot liquid in her stomach.
    For an instant, she thought of stopping, ending what would surely wind up a disaster. But the instant she started to pull away, Gabe caught her wrists, lifted and pinned them against the wall above her head.
    She tugged a little, testing his determination, felt the implacable strength of his hands. His mouth claimed hers again, a leisurely and thorough exploration that spun her into a world of sensation, and his grip did not lesson. He wanted her and he meant to have her.
    Her body relaxed against his. Now that the decision had been taken away from her, she felt free in a way she never had before. Gabe wouldn’t let her resist. He was going to take what he wanted.
    Give her exactly what she needed.
    She moaned into his mouth as he pressed himself more fully against her, let her feel his powerful erection. He was big and hard, promising what she hadn’t understood she had been craving.
    He was all solid male, nothing like the men she had slept with before, and it made her yearn to know what it would be like to make love with a man like that.
    She barely heard the door open beside her, just felt herself being subtly moved into some kind of storage room, then the door closed and the room fell into semidarkness. A sliver of moonlight poured in through a narrow basement window near the ceiling, just enough to light Gabe’s face, enough that she could see the naked hunger in his fierce blue eyes.
    “I want you,” he said. “I can’t remember ever wanting a woman more.”
    Fresh desire spilled through