Flyboy (Harlequin Blaze #353)

If what they said about reincarnation was true, Sedona Stewart decided she was coming back as a man in her next life.She snatched her sheet of paper from the copy machine and marched back toward her office, determined to ignore the sounds of merriment coming from the small conference room to her left. Another promotion was being celebrated, the third in as many months, all of them going to her male counterparts.Despite the fact that she had as much education, experience and time on the payroll as any of them, she had been passed over yet again for the position of senior engineer, and for Bob Lewis of all people. It was like a slap in the face. The guy was a total dork. She'd be damned if she joined them in their good-old-boy ass-slapping and shoulder-punching congratulations.She threw her paperwork down onto her desk, flung herself into her chair and acknowledged it was time to look for a new job. As an aerospace engineer for the Department of Defense, she'd worked damn hard to earn a promotion. She'd played the game, tried to be one of the boys, in an environment dominated by the opposite sex. She'd taken on additional duties, worked long hours, traveled when nobody else was willing to, sacrificed her personal life for her career, and where had it gotten her? In exactly the same position she'd held for five years now.She gave a snort of self-disgust. So much for the edicts her father had imposed on her when she was younger. He'd disapproved of any activity, extracurricular or otherwise, that didn't further her chances of being accepted into the best technical college in the country. How many times had he expressed his opinion that women could only expect to get ahead in a man's world by emulating them? A woman who came to work dressed in a manner that distracted men shouldn't be surprised when she bumped her head on a low glass ceiling.As a teenager, cheerleading hadn't been an option. School dances were prohibited as frivolous and rife with opportunities to go astray. Her father had been unrelenting in his belief that short skirts, makeup and jewelry would only result in an unwanted pregnancy and the end of all her dreams.His dreams, really.Her father hadn't had a clue about her dreams. But she hadn't dared oppose him, and in the end, had reluctantly boxed up and gotten rid of her feminine frills and fripperies. She'd even given up her dream of pursuing a career in fine arts, though she hadn't been able to give up her sketchbook. Some people kept a journal, others took photos; Sedona documented life through her drawings and sketches, not that she'd ever share them with anyone. Nope, drawing had become her secret thing, her escape when her overbearing father became too much to handle.She'd obediently followed his advice and obtained an advanced degree in aerospace engineering. When she'd accepted her current position, the artist in her had secretly thrilled at the beauty and power of the fighter jets the company produced. It seemed impossible for so sleek and elegant a machine to contain so much strength and speed. She'd thrown herself into her job with a determination that surprised even her. It was only now, looking back on those years, that she realized she'd spent so much time trying to be one of the guys, she'd all but forgotten how to be a woman. These days, she didn't even know what it was like to feel feminine.What would her dad's reaction have been learning that despite all of her hard work and sacrifices, she'd been passed over for promotion yet again? Her shoulders sagged. Her father had been gone now for three years, and while there were times she missed him terribly, she told herself she no longer had to please him. She could do what she wanted without fear ofFoley, Karen is the author of 'Flyboy (Harlequin Blaze #353)', published 2007 under ISBN 9780373793570 and ISBN 037379357X.