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lowered his voice like that she couldn’t not agree with anything he said. He was right, she wasn’t comfortable with being the center of attention and she didn’t want any thanks really. Alabama was just happy he was here and in one piece. She had a lot of things she had to do, the first of which was to contact the Wolfe’s and figure out what she was going to do about her job, but she also wanted to sit down and have a cup of coffee with this man. Alabama just wanted to feel normal for once.
    Abe straightened up and held out his hand. “We never really introduced ourselves did we? At least our full names. I’m Christopher Powers. I already told you my friends and teammates call me Abe.” He waited, hoping Alabama would follow his lead.
    Alabama looked down to the hand being held out to her. Christopher had well groomed nails and his hand looked strong. How could a hand look strong? She shook her head as if to clear it of her foggy thoughts. She opened the door a bit more and finally tentatively reached her hand to his. “Alabama Smith.”
    Abe caught her hand and shook it as she intended, but he then brought it up to his lips and gently kissed the back of it. “I’m honored to make your acquaintance.” Abe couldn’t believe how great her hand felt. Her hand for God’s sake. Her nails weren’t painted and he could feel the rough spots on it, obviously from the cleaning she did. But it was soft and felt so dainty enclosed in his. He never wanted to let her go. He wanted to pull her close to him and wrap his arms around her back. He resisted the urge, barely.
    Alabama chuckled out loud before she could stifle it. She wasn’t sure why she was laughing. She figured she was laughing at the situation—at the fact that there was a gorgeous man standing on her doorstep kissing her hand. That sort of thing just didn’t happen to her.
    “I’ll see you in the morning, Alabama Smith. Sleep well.”
    Alabama watched as Christopher backed away from her door. He kept eye contact with her for as long as he could. Finally he turned around and headed down the hallway. Right before he went out of sight he looked back and winked at her. Alabama closed the door in a daze. Oh crap. Did she just agree to a date with the best looking man she’d ever met? What the hell had she done?
                 
    Abe couldn’t sleep. He’d risked a lot tracking Alabama down. He usually wasn’t so aggressive. Hell, who was he kidding? He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had to chase a woman. It was pathetic that asking a woman out for coffee was aggressive for him. He’d gotten way too used to women throwing themselves at him. No wonder he was bored with women. He’d gotten complacent. He’d gotten lazy.
    Caroline had scolded him for just that earlier that week. She’d hated Adelaide and wasn’t afraid of letting him know.
    Alabama was different. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but somehow he knew it. It wasn’t just that she was a bit shy, or that he’d had to track her down. She certainly wasn’t a chatterbox, and he found he liked it. In fact he didn’t think she’d said more than her name the entire time he’d been at her door. But that lack of nervous talking was calming. He didn’t have to pretend to be interested in inane conversation.
    Growing up as the only male in a family full of women made solitude hard to come by. He’d never associate “calming” with women, at least he hadn’t before Alabama.
    He loved his sisters to death, but they sure could talk. Their family dinners were always full of stories and laughter. He’d had a great childhood. He loved his family. His sisters drove him crazy, but he wouldn’t change anything about them. Susie was the youngest at twenty five. Alicia was the middle child and was twenty eight. Abe was thirty four. Abe figured the six years of age difference between him and Alicia made him the way he was today. He felt it was his responsibility to protect her.