Protecting Alabama (SEAL of Protection Book 2) (4 page)

But Alabama’s simple act of taking the time to douse him with water and find a coat to cover him up with floored him. Alabama startled the hell out of him when she’d dumped the pitcher of water on his head, but luckily he’d known immediately what she was doing. He’d never have forgiven himself if he’d retaliated against her for thinking she was a threat.

But what sealed the deal for Abe was when they were crawling across the floor and Alabama had reached back and handed him something to breathe through. She hadn’t said anything; she hadn’t wanted anything from him. She’d simply acted to do something
for
him. That was it.

Abe doubted she even realized how momentous her actions were to him. No one “took care” of him. He took care of others, always. Even his mom hadn’t taken care of him in a long time, since he was little. He still called her every week when he wasn’t on a mission to make sure she was all right, to see if she needed anything. He’d do little chores around the house and generally make sure all was right in her world.

It was the same with his sisters. Abe would always take care of them. He loved them, of course, but it was more than that. He didn’t want them to suffer any hardship if he could prevent it. He went all out on their birthdays and the holidays.

But no one took care of him. Abe hadn’t even noticed it until Alabama and that damn napkin she’d handed him. Even when he was sick, he cared for himself. Once when he’d gotten in a minor car wreck, his family and SEAL team were there in the hospital for him, but as soon as he was discharged, they’d gone back to their homes and lives. Abe didn’t feel slighted at the time, but now? That damn napkin meant everything to him. He wished he still had it. He’d frame it and put it on his wall.

He wanted to ask her why she’d done it. The thing that really struck him was that they were in the middle of a life-and-death situation and she’d done it. Hell, they didn’t even
know
each other. Abe couldn’t name one other woman that would’ve taken the time look out for him in that same situation. It was human nature to look out for yourself first. He’d seen it over and over on some of the rescue missions he’d been on and in all the foreign countries he’d been to over the years.

He chuckled bitterly. Adelaide certainly hadn’t cared how he was or what he was doing. It wasn’t until they were outside and safe and the EMT had come over to them, that she’d even tried to pretend to have any kind of concern for him. It had been too late for that. Way too late.

Abe still had a lot of unanswered questions, but the bottom line was that he had an urgent drive to find Alabama. He had to get to know her better. He had to see if this feeling was mutual. Tex had made fun of him and wanted to know more about the mysterious Alabama, but Abe told him to mind his own business.

Abe had hunted her down and was taking her out for coffee in the morning. It was almost pathetic how excited he was. He hoped to get to know her better. Abe wanted to know everything. How old she was, where she was from, if she had brothers or sisters...hell, he wanted to know anything she’d tell him. He chuckled to himself. He’d be lucky if she said anything. Alabama was quiet as a mouse. He couldn’t deny a part of him wanted to be the one to bring her out of her shell. To hear her call out his name in her quiet melodious voice while be brought her to orgasm.

              Hell, Abe was already picturing them in bed together and they hadn’t even had a first date. He tried to reign in his overactive imagination. There’d be time for that later. For now he had to think about how he was going to get Alabama to go on a second date with him.

Alabama didn’t sleep well that night. She tossed and turned and couldn’t stop wondering why Christopher had asked her out for coffee. She worried he might be doing it on a dare, or because he thought she was a challenge. She really had no idea why he’d ask
her
out. Adelaide was beautiful, and it was obvious they were dating. Was he cheating on Adelaide? If so, Alabama would be extremely disillusioned. She wanted him to be the gallant man she’d dreamed about.

She started worrying again why he’d be asking her out. Once in high school one of the boys on the football team had asked her if she wanted to meet him at the skating rink. She’d been ecstatic. She wasn’t the type of person guys noticed. She’d spent a long time getting ready and trying to make herself look as pretty as possible. She’d even shown up at the rink early, she’d been so excited.

As she sat and waited for the boy to show up, she’d quickly realized it was a set up. Every other football player had been there along with most of the cheerleading squad. They’d skate by her table and giggle and laugh. After an hour of sitting by herself enduring the stares and giggles, she’d slunk out of the building, humiliated. She’d found out later it had been a type of initiation for the guy. The rest of the team had dared him to ask out the school “weirdo.” He had, and the joke lived on in infamy in the halls of her high school.

Alabama had honestly thought he’d asked her out because he saw something in her worth dating. It wasn’t until she was out of high school that she’d dared to try to go out with a guy again. Unfortunately, that had been a disaster as well. She’d lost her virginity to that man, only to find out he’d been trying to make his ex-girlfriend jealous, and he’d really not even liked her all that much. Of course he’d “stooped” to sleeping with her, even though he hadn’t wanted to see her again. The whole experience was embarrassing and just another disappointment in a long line of them when it came to men.

With Alabama’s history she just couldn’t understand why Christopher would ask her out and be serious about it. She was just a cleaning lady, he was….hell, she had no idea what he was, but she was sure whatever it was, he was good at it.

After a few hours of twisting and turning in her bed and worrying herself sick, she made the decision that he probably asked her to coffee to some way to get back at Adelaide. She decided she just wouldn’t answer the door when he got there in the morning. She’d pretend to not be at home. He’d knock then go away. Alabama could avoid any embarrassment and humiliation he was sure to be trying to pile on.

Alabama was way too nervous to eat any breakfast in the morning. She’d gotten up very early and paced the house. She finally decided to put on a pair of jeans and a long sleeved V-neck shirt. She wasn’t expecting to see Christopher, but just in case, she wanted to be prepared.

At the last minute Alabama figured she probably should’ve left the house altogether instead of staying inside and pretending to be out, but it was too late by the time she’d thought about it.

At ten fifty five sharp, Christopher knocked on her door. Alabama sat on her couch staring at the door, wishing he’d give up and leave. He knocked again and she heard his voice through the door.

“Alabama? Are you there? Come on, sweetheart. Open the door.”

Alabama stayed silent and bit her lip in trepidation.

“I know you’re in there. Open the door and talk to me, well, at least let me see you so I know you’re all right. If you don’t come to the door I’ll assume you’re sicker from the fire than you let on and I’ll have to break the door to get in to make sure you’re okay.”

Alabama wrestled with herself. Damn. She had to open it. She didn’t want to have to pay to have the stupid door replaced. She figured he’d do just what he said; he’d break it down if she didn’t open it. Christopher was certainly strong enough to do it without even breaking a sweat.

She walked quickly to the door and cracked it open, just as she had the night before. Christopher was leaning against the doorjamb looking way sexier than anyone had the right to look. He was wearing a faded pair of jeans and a scruffy pair of tennis shoes. He had on a polo shirt with a few buttons undone at the collar and a light windbreaker was over his shoulder to top off his outfit. His hair was messy, as if he’d run his hand through it a couple of times.

“Hey, Alabama. You ready to go?” Abe acted as if he hadn’t just told her he’d break her door down if she didn’t answer it.

Alabama knew she should be scared of him, he’d just kinda threatened her after all, but she couldn’t be. She knew he wouldn’t hurt her. How she knew that she had no idea, but she did. She nodded at him and backed away from the door to get her purse.

Abe gently pushed the door open and took a step inside her apartment. It wasn’t very big, but it was clean and homey looking. She had placemats set out on the tiny kitchen table and there were two stools pushed under the table. There was a vase with some wildflowers in it. The one room didn’t have a lot of furniture in it, but it still seemed a bit cramped. There was a small bed up against one wall with a blanket thrown over it. There was a tattered loveseat couch across from the bed. It was obviously a second hand piece of furniture because it had a sheet thrown over it and he could see the legs on the thing were chopped off.

There was a small television across from the couch that was sitting on an, again, obviously second hand table. Even though he could tell many of the things she had were hand-me-downs, it didn’t look ragged. Alabama had gone to great lengths to try to clean and polish everything up. She’d put in a lot of effort into her home and he actually liked it much more than Adelaide’s large, polished, perfect apartment.

Abe watched as Alabama walked over to the kitchen counter and grabbed a small purse. When she turned around he couldn’t help but be dazzled by her. The V-neck T-shirt she was wearing wasn’t provocative at all, but she still looked sexy as hell in it. He could see a hint of cleavage and being a breast man, he could tell she was all natural. He hadn’t realized until this very moment how much he disliked fake boobs.

Alabama turned back toward Christopher, who was now standing just inside her front door. She was embarrassed he’d seen her little apartment. She knew it was nothing special, but it was all she could afford. She’d worked hard at finding just the right furniture for her home. She’d spent a few weeks going to the different thrift shops and garage sales to find what suited her. It wasn’t new, but it was comfortable, that was all that mattered to her.

But now, looking at it through Christopher’s eyes Alabama was embarrassed. It was old. It was beat up, and it was obvious. She headed back toward him looking at the floor hoping she’d make it through the morning and whatever humiliation was in store.

Abe took Alabama by the elbow when she got close to him. “I like your place, Alabama.” He was surprised when she snorted in response. He smiled. God that was cute. “No seriously, you’ve done a great job at making this place comfortable. Oh I know, it isn’t fancy, but it’s you. It’s cozy and lived in. I’d much prefer that to living in a place that was hard and stilted and way too fancy. You’ve done a good job.”

Alabama looked up at him. Was he serious? She saw the small grin on his face as he looked down at her. Whoa. He
was
serious. “Thanks,” she said softly returning his smile with a tentative one of her own.

Satisfied that she’d taken his compliment gracefully, Abe steered her out the door and held out his hand. “Keys.” He chuckled at Alabama’s look of confusion. “Give me your keys, sweetheart. I’ll lock your door for you.”

Alabama looked down at the keys she was holding tightly in her hands. Why did he want to lock her door? She could do it. She didn’t say anything though, and dropped her key ring into his outstretched hand and watched as he put the key in the lock and turned it. When he put her keys into his pocket after he was done, she couldn’t keep quiet.

“Give them back,” she said as sternly as she could, not looking into his eyes and trying not to panic.

Abe had put her keys in his pocket without even thinking about it. He’d naturally kept them, planning on being around to open her door for her when he brought her home again. At her tone of voice he took a second look. Alabama was panicking. It was obvious, especially to him, as he’d been trained to read body language. He immediately put his hand in his pocket to retrieve her keychain.

“Don’t panic, sweet, here they are. I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to scare you. I didn’t even think about it. I wasn’t trying to keep you from your home.”

Alabama breathed in a sigh of relief and closed her fingers around her keys again. He was right, she
had
been panicking. She’d once stayed at a foster home where the parents didn’t give the foster kids keys to the house. She’d had to sit on the stoop all the time waiting for them to get home and unlock the door. She felt like a stranger in her own home. One evening she’d been locked out all night because they’d gone on an overnight trip and hadn’t told her they were leaving. She didn’t like to ever be without a way to get into her house ever since. She nodded at him in embarrassment and thanks, and dropped her keys into her purse.

Abe walked them to his car, an ordinary four door sedan. For some reason Alabama thought he might have owned something a bit more flashy.

He must have read her confusion because he told her without a bit of embarrassment, “I know it’s not anything fancy, but I prefer reliable over flash.”

When they got to the passenger side of the car Abe opened it and waited until she sat down. Then he grabbed the seatbelt and handed it to her.

Alabama took the belt without a word and watched as Christopher walked around the front of the car. She continued watching him as he sat in the driver’s seat and got comfortable.

When he looked over at her and saw she was looking at him he smiled a small smile and asked, “What?”

Alabama just smiled shyly at him and shook her head. She couldn’t put into words what she was feeling, even if she wasn’t reticent to talk.

Abe didn’t push the issue; he just started the car and pulled away from the apartment complex. They didn’t talk during the ride, but the silence wasn’t uncomfortable. Alabama felt safe with him. He was a good driver. He wasn’t reckless, he wasn’t driving the speed limit, but he also wasn’t being a speed demon.

They pulled up to the local coffee shop. It was a cute little building and the shop was called simply
Coffee and More
. Alabama had stopped in a few times in the past and enjoyed the little snacks and the flavored coffees they offered.

Abe parked the car and turned to Alabama. “Stay put, I’ll come around and open your door for you.” He waited until Alabama nodded before getting out and walking around to her side. He opened her door and held her elbow as she climbed out of the passenger seat.

On their way to the front door, Alabama felt Christopher’s hand on the small of her back. He wasn’t groping her, just confidently leading her where he wanted her to go, without being in front of her. It felt good. It’d been so long since she’d been touched. She led a solitary existence and hadn’t ever been touched affectionately. She hadn’t missed it until right this moment with Christopher’s hand warming her back.

Abe opened the door and followed Alabama into the small shop. The décor was just as cute as the outside of the shop.

One side of the room had the counter and the kitchen area. The rest of the room was filled with seats. There were a few loveseats with big fluffy pillows. There were also some tables scattered around the room. Some were square and others were circular shaped. There was even a long table against the wall that had electrical outlets along the back side, for those that wanted to sit and use their computer while they enjoyed their coffee. The floor had two big circular rugs in bright colors. It brightened up the room and made it seem more homey.

The pictures on the wall were obviously done by children. They were framed and matted as if they were done by a master painter. Alabama had heard the owner held a contest every year and whichever child won got to see their picture up on her wall. The place was comfortable. The music wasn’t playing loudly. It was a place people could relax in. She’d always loved the coffee shop and was happy Christopher picked it.

She still wasn’t sure why he’d chosen to bring her here, but for now she was going with it.

“What can I get for you, sweet?” he asked leading her up to the counter.

“Vanilla latte, please.”

“No problem. Do you want anything to snack on?” At the shake of her head he told her, “Okay, I’ll take care of this. Go ahead and choose a place you want to sit, I’ll be there in a sec.”

Alabama hesitated for just a moment. She felt as if she should offer to pay or something, but she knew he’d probably be offended. She mentally shrugged. It was only a coffee after all.

She headed over to a small circular table that was near the wall on the other side of the restaurant and sat facing the room. Alabama watched as Christopher strode over to the table not too much later. He had two coffees and a small bag.

When he got to the table, Alabama expected him to take a seat and get right down to business telling her what he wanted her to know.

Abe put the drinks on the table and set the bag of muffins down as well. When he didn’t sit down Alabama looked up at him. Abe looked uncomfortable. He ran his hand over the back of his neck. Finally he said, “Sweet, I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable here, but I can’t sit with my back to the room.”