Sabrina slapped her palm down on the digital clock on her nightstand. The Dollar Store clock spit out from under her fingers, flew off her nightstand and ricochet off her closet door. It rolled across the carpet still blaring its wakeup screech. Sabrina wrestled off the bed covers. The half open clasp of her bra, Carl had never mastered the hasp, bit into the small of her back. Reaching behind her, Sabrina flipped open the clip and tugged off the offensive garment hugging her belly.

She rolled out of bed, naked. Sabrina walked to the clock and stomped on the snooze. To Carl she said, "Work in forty."

Carl grunted into her pillow.

"I'm taking a shower."

Carl grunted again.

She slipped into her tiny bathroom. Sabrina locked the door. She wasn't up for company, even if she'd had the time. If Sabrina was lucky, Carl would make himself useful and whip her up some breakfast. That'd been his MO the morning after, once upon a time.

Thirty seven minutes later, Sabrina crunched on the Grape-Nuts she'd tossed in her yogurt cup. She shoveled the last few bites, walked over to the bathroom door and screamed, over the running shower, for Carl to lock up when he left. She grabbed her purse and trotted down the stairs to her white, non-descript, pre-owned, Ford Focus, because, single, overachieving white-female engineer wages.

Sabrina flat ironed her hair during the pauses in the ten-mile per hour crawl in Southbound Interstate-5's traffic. She finished her makeup at the lights in Lynwood. In her office, five after seven, she ran an emergency lint brush over her pant suit because, yeah, the previous owners of her Focus had a cat. It'd probably once been super cute but was now hairless, because, yikes. She needed to get the car detailed.

One cup of office black and the first fifty, of two-hundred, email later, many of the other early risers had arrived. Conversations blossomed in the hall. An urgent meeting request from the Brian Hayward, the Engineering Manager popped up for nine. Watt Engineering's Lynwood office was nice, state of the art and the offices had doors for most everyone. Yet, as the morning inched towards Sabrina's nine a.m. meeting, the hubbub of business rose in volume.

Sabrina didn't have time for chit-chat. Especially since one of those voices in the hall was, Kyle, The Zit.

Not that Kyle was unattractive. Kyle was too attractive. He was also really, to the third power, tall. Like taller than Sin from last night. And although Cole probably could've tied Kyle into a pretzel, Kyle still had muscles that she, Sabrina, had, in much weaker moments, fantasized about licking. His eyes were the color of a mossy forest floor—green and brown. Sabrina absolutely should have known better than to fantasize. As a sixth grader Kyle'd made a game out of tugging her ponytail. If she said something, she'd get detention. Somehow Mrs. Olsen had never caught Kyle in the act. Teacher's pet. So unfair.

In high school he'd edged Sabrina out of valedictorian by taking one more AP class than she. The class had required an investment that Kyle's doctor dad covered but that a welfare kid couldn't touch.

They'd competed for high marks in statics, dynamics, thermodynamics, statistics—essentially, all of the engineering core classes—at Oregon State University.

Oregon, assigned seating, side-by-side, eight hour State administered, Fundamentals of Engineering exam.

Washington, assigned seating, side-by-side, sixteen hour State administered, Professional Engineer test. Sabrina knew he'd aced both. He aced everything!

No, Kyle's likeness to a zit wasn't that he was disgustingly ugly, because his I-want-to-lick-that-body was beyond hot, or because he was less intelligent than Bevis and Butthead, because, spoiler alert, he could do Fourier transforms without a calculator. His zit power was that he never, ever went away. Even when Sabrina had sworn she'd finally ditched him, he'd show up again, just like the monster zit she'd gotten on her chin three weeks before Junior Prom. Case in point, six months ago Kyle had shown up here, in Lynwood, as an employee of Watt Engineering. He'd even been assigned to her team. Her team! Her team was power engineers! He was civ, for Versace's sake!

That was why Sabrina was on the ASCE licensed website updating a project map with earthquake zones, shear and acceleration for the new Bonneville to Seattle 765kV powerline that BPA wanted to build. There was no way, no how she'd grant Kyle a victory by asking him for help even though earthquake zoning was civil engineering, not electrical.

The two minute meeting warning on her computer went off. Sabrina doubled down on another minute-thirty of work, logged out of the ASCE software and sped for the emergency meeting. It was an office wide, all engineers on deck, type meeting. She arrived in time to get the last seat, which, ugh, was right across from The Zit in the too crowded room.

Kyle's lips bowed in greeting. Sabrina glared. Kyle's smile faltered. The line of his lips compressed. Muscles flexed in his cheeks, drawing Sabrina's gaze away from his eyes. Instead, she ogled his jaw. His very broad, very square jaw. It spoke of a strength that rivaled the marble chops of Michelangelo's David. Even at nine a.m. Kyle sported just the barest shadow of stubble. Given the ultra-dark chocolate, rich color of Kyle's hair, Sabrina supposed she shouldn't have been surprised.

I wonder what that would feel like between my thi— Sabrina's brain made a broken record scrape. Warm champagne fizzled low, too low, in her torso. She goose-pimpled because not even a broken record could scratch out her gutter thoughts. This was too much!

Sabrina called upon her tween, pigtail pulled fury. A molten ball of emotion formed behind her sternum. Even as it cooled into a solid ball of steel, a single drop of heat dripped free and wormed its way into her core. The butterflies disturbed there metamorphosed into hornets and stung their way up to her face. Kyle crooked an eyebrow, which made the hornets sting all the harder.

Brian strode into the room. "Good morning!" he bellowed. Chatter stilled. All heads turned towards him. The gray haired, hadn't-been-young-since-Armstrong-trotted-on-the-moon, boomer dropped a stack of paper upon the table. He did not pull up a chair.

"Last night, Blackwax Oil Limited, had a fire in Cracker, Wyoming. Watt has been tapped to provide engineering support for the restoration effort."

Voices rose in a cacophonous babble.

"Quiet!" Brian's bark was sharp. The room stilled. "The fire started in the CAT cracker. The bulk of the damage is localized to that one unit. The refinery's not complex."

"What do they do?" somebody further down the table said. Sabrina thought she might've recognized Matt's voice.

"Reduce crude wax so it can be piped to refineries on the Gulf. It's a niche market that won't last long. It's a multibillion dollar investment with stratospheric margins—when the cracker was online. Right now BO is losing its shirt." Someone snickered. "We are being paid premium. I need volunteers to evaluate structural, mechanical, instrumentation, pipe and electrical. We've also been tapped to source an EE to lead the electrical restoration."

Sabrina leaned forward, her eyes glued to Brian. This was big. Going to be huge. A chance to prove herself in the field, giant. Excitement stirred in her chest.

"What's the timing?" Gary, an Xer to Sabrina's right, asked.

"A week, two tops, for the evaluation." Brian ran a hand through his iron gray curls. He usually kept it short but it looked like he might be overdue for a cut. "Volunteers will be on the first plane out of SeaTac."

A hubbub of voices rose. A name or two dropped in the metaphorical hat.

"What about the electrical engineer lead?" Sabrina dared.

Concern flashed in Brian's eyes. It evaporated so fast Sabrina wondered if she'd imagined it.

"BO has only started bringing in labor. Skilled labor will be trickling in from around the world. Whoever goes should plan on six months. It'll probably be less, but it might not. Better to be prepared. As the assignment is so long, we can afford to give him a day to get his affairs in order. He won't need to be a plane until Sunday morning."

Him. His. He. As in dick wielder. Discomfort soured Sabrina's stomach. Watt Engineering employed a lot of women. Women drafters. Women designers. Women accountants. Women lawyers. Women process engineers. But process engineering was not participating in the meeting. Sabrina was suddenly very aware she was the only person in the room without a sausage. At least she wasn't alone in the boobs department. Ted was roly-poly and probably should've been wearing a bra.

Discord voices crescendoed once more. Sabrina screwed up her courage. Six months was a long time. But this was big, and if she was successful, happy dance, almost lunar landing huge.

Sabrina raised her hand. "I'll do it." Her voice might've squeaked, just a little.

Silence crashed. A pin dropping on the moon might've made more noise than the men in the room.

Brian cleared his throat. "I've already tapped Ted to do the electrical engineering eval."

Sabrina's gaze darted about the room. Everywhere she saw disbelief or shock. Disdain ghosted across the faces of some of the less friendly men. Only Kyle seemed to be evaluating her with...more curiosity than fear.

"I meant—" Brian knew what she'd meant. Sabrina was sure of it. But, yeah, she was dickless. She hadn't expected that from him. She'd have sworn he was better than that. Sabrina pinched the bridge of her nose, because, fuck if she was going to let this room full of assholes see her cry. Christina Koch wouldn't have cried. "—I volunteer for the EE lead position."

Brian scowled. Chairs creaked as if in sympathy with their occupant's discomfort. "Anyone else?" Brian growled.

Air whooshed out of Sabrina as though she'd been kicked in the gut. She had been kicked in the gut. This was exactly what being kicked in the gut felt like. Bile rose in Sabrina's throat.

"Six months is a long time," someone, Sabrina couldn't tell, she was still too busy trying not to vomit, said.

Voices muttered in general agreement. Someone said sixteen hour days.

"Fourteen—max," Brian said, "Most the time WE will expect you to limit yourselves to twelve. Nor are you to work more than six days a week. Normally it'd be fourteen before a day off, but six months is a long haul."

"It's still a very long time," someone said.

Gee, Sabrina felt like she was a smear on the floor. No one wanted the job except her but no one wanted her to have the job. Her courage felt like a possum in the middle of Interstate-5—in other words, flattened. She sucked in a breath that shuddered in her lungs. Some small part of Sabrina's conscious noted Kyle was watching her.

"I said," Sabrina's words gained force, "I'll do it."

Brian's gaze dropped towards his feet. He pushed his glasses aside. Much as Sabrina had, Brian pinched the bridge of his nose, although she didn't think he was going to cry. "You don't know what you're askin'."

"I'm asking to be given a chance."

"Look around you Sabrina!" Brian waved his arm at the whole room. "You think you're out numbered here? Cracker, Wyoming exists for the sole purpose of supporting BO's refinery and the men that work there. And they'll be importing more men, from a variety of cultures, some even more repressive than ours. And those men won't be the nerds in this office. These will be the type of men who make their living by the strength of their arms. You'll be outnumbered a hundred to one!"

Sabrina had to admit, she was unnerved. But nothing ventured, nothing gained. Some woman would be the first to walk on the moon. "Yay, me." Her voice was weak. She pretended to wave a flag in the air. "Smorgasbord." What had possessed her to say that? Sabrina blamed her years as an Axeman cheerleader.

Chuckles sounded from a handful of men. Kyle hid his profile from the front of the room with the flat of his hand. Sabrina could clearly see the smile that played on his face. She bit her lip to hold back a laugh. His gaze flicked to her lips and went—molten?

"Damn it, Sabrina, this is not a joke!" Brian thunder god stormed.

Sabrina's gaze snapped back to the man that controlled her future. She probably shouldn't have been challenging him in front of the whole department. The fight made her look childish. But she was an electrical engineer, she wanted the job when no one else did, if she bent, even a little, she'd lose out. If she'd been a dick wielder, there wouldn't have been a fight.

"I know!" Frustration made cinders of her throat. She scooched forward until she was on the very edge of her chair. She waved her arm in a sharp gesture at the room. "No one else wants the job. I do! And you're not letting me do it!"

"Sir—"

"Not now, Kyle," Brian snapped. "Sabrina, it's not that simple."

"Why not?" Her tone, and words, were sharp.

Brian growled. He actually growled. "Because I don't want to lose one of my two best up and coming engineers because she got hurt, or scared, or simply fed up with the opposite gender and quits."

Sabrina rocked back in her seat. He thought—she was—Sabrina could feel the shock that must've painted her face. The expressions of several men darkened at Brian's words. Their glares focused on Sabrina like a constellation of targeting lasers.

But despite his glowing review, Brian was still not letting her go. "You don't think I can do it?" Her words were pianissimo.

"Yes. No! Damn it, Sabrina. Yes. If the world were different, yes, yes you could. But it's not!"

Sabrina's words remained weak, quiet. "But how are we supposed to change it if no one tries?"

Half way across the room, Brain jerked away from her as though he'd been slapped. He took a forceful step, he clearly wanted to pace, but the conference room was too tight, too packed with bodies. He rounded on her and made a gesture with his hand. "Fine," he snapped. "But I'm still your boss, we're doin' this my way. You're getting someone to back you up. Force people to listen when they won't listen to you because—damn it! I need another volunteer! Any discipline!" The final word came out fortissimo.

"I'll do it." The words, spoken in a low, gravelly voice, hit Sabrina like a basalt fist to the jaw. She touched her chin. Oh my God! Was she getting a zit?

ANNOUNCEMENT: All 446 pages of Fire Cracker is available for free for Amazon's Kindle Select members at amazon.com/author/kayleelark