by Susan Stoker
Alabama breathed in through her nose and pressed her head back, breaking contact with his lips. Without missing a beat, Christopher leaned down and put his mouth against her neck, nipping and sucking lightly. Her breath came out in pants and she tried to get her brain to start working again.
“Now that was a kiss,” she’d said breathlessly. She heard him chuckle against her throat before he moved up and nipped her earlobe.
“You make me lose my mind, sweet.”
One part of Alabama wanted to do nothing more than stand up and lead him to her small bed in the corner, but the other part of her was terrified. She’d trusted before and been let down. She didn’t think Christopher would break her trust, but she wasn’t certain yet.
Alabama brought her hands down from his back where she’d been clutching at him and put them on his chest. He’d immediately reared up so he could see her face. Of course that pushed his erection harder into her thigh, making her blush. Christopher laughed and kissed her lightly on the nose. He sat them both up and brought her into his side.
“Thank you, Alabama. That was the best kiss I’ve ever had.”
They hadn’t said much more that night, they’d simply finished the movie. When it was over and time for Christopher to leave, she’d walked him to her door and he’d taken both of her hands in his and held them loosely in between them. Christopher leaned forward and touched his lips to hers. What started out as a short, sweet goodnight kiss turned into something hotter and longer.
He hadn’t let go of her hands while they were kissing and it was interesting to be touching him with nothing more than her lips and tongue. Just that contact made her squirm. She’d never felt anything like she did when she was with him…kissing him.
“Good night, sweet. Lock the door behind me,” was all he’d said. Then he’d kissed her once more on the tip of her nose, squeezed her hands, and walked out.
Alabama took a deep breath and opened her eyes. She’d zoned out in the middle of the hallway of the realty office. She’d been clenching the handles of the cleaning cart so hard, her fingernails had bit into her palms. She had it bad.
She laughed at herself and continued down the hall. Alabama had just entered one of the agent’s offices when she heard the front door open. It wasn’t too late, but late enough that there really shouldn’t be anyone working. Feeling her heart jump with fear, Alabama stood stock still, not knowing what she should do. She reached in her pocket for the phone Christopher had given her, feeling better knowing she had some sort of way to call for help. She pulled it out and flipped it open. She pushed a nine and a one and her thumb hovered over the last one. She’d wait to see what was going on before she actually dialed for emergency help.
She watched down the hall and soon she saw someone walking toward her. It was Adelaide. Alabama let out a breath of relief. She didn’t want to see the woman, but at least it wasn’t a crazed killer. She shut the phone and slipped it back into her pocket.
Adelaide looked up when she was a few doors down from Alabama and finally noticed her.
“What are you doing here?” She asked nastily.
Alabama thought it was a pretty dumb question considering she was the janitor and was standing in front of a cleaning cart. She gestured toward the cart and didn’t answer verbally.
“Yeah, I forgot you don’t talk much do you?” Adelaide sneered. “I came in to get some papers for a client that I left here by accident. Get out of my way.”
Alabama moved to the side and watched as Adelaide brushed past her into the office she’d been about to clean.
“By the way, I know all about you and Abe, bitch. He was mine and you stole him. But don’t worry; he’ll come back to me. After all, look at you, then look at me. There’s no way he’s serious about you. You’re short and plain. You can’t hold his attention for a millisecond.”
Alabama had enough. At no time had Christopher made her feel as if he was playing with her or just clocking time. He’d mentioned to her several times that he hadn’t been serious with Adelaide. She was just being mean and jealous and taking it out on her.
Alabama looked around, still not being able to break the habit, and responded quietly and firmly, “I didn’t steal anything. He came to me. I might not be as pretty as you, but it doesn’t seem to matter to him. He likes me, and I like him. So back off and leave us alone.”
As far as comebacks go, it was pretty lame, but Adelaide actually took a step back in surprise. She hadn’t expected the meek little janitor to fight back. Maybe no one had ever talked back to her, although that was unlikely. It seemed Adelaide was the kind of woman who’d make enemies, and surely someone had protested being talked down to.
Adelaide narrowed her eyes and glared at Alabama. Alabama glared right back.
“You’ll regret this, bitch,” Adelaide finally hissed. She turned toward the desk and grabbed a folder that was sitting on it. “And get out of my office. I don’t trust you to keep your hands off my stuff.”
That hurt Alabama more than Adelaide’s previous words had. She might not be the prettiest person in the world, but she wasn’t a thief. Even at her lowest, when she’d turned eighteen and had gotten free of the foster care system, she hadn’t resorted to shoplifting. There were times she would’ve killed to have something to eat other than cheap noodles, but she’d never taken something that wasn’t hers.
Without looking behind her, Alabama pushed her cart down the hall. Fine, if Adelaide didn’t want her office cleaned, she wouldn’t bother. Hopefully the spiders and dust took over the space and made Adelaide miserable.
Alabama entered the office next to Adelaide’s and heard the bitch stomp down the hall and exit the building. Once Adelaide left, Alabama sat down wearily on the chair next to the desk. Damn. She didn’t like confrontations, but she felt good for finally sticking up for herself for once. Adelaide was a bitch, but luckily she didn’t have to work with her. Hopefully she’d remember her papers from here on out and Alabama could avoid another nasty encounter with her.
Chapter Ten
The next couple of weeks were some of the best in Alabama’s life. She’d been spending a lot of time with Christopher and tonight they were going to go out with his SEAL teammates and their girlfriends.
Alabama was beyond nervous. She wasn’t good in crowds, especially out in public, but she wanted to do this for Christopher. He’d been so good to her. He hadn’t pushed her to have sex, even though it was obvious he was ready. They’d had a few serious make out sessions on her couch and she knew it’d been hard for him to stop. Hell, it’d been hard for her to stop.
The last one ended with both of them with their shirts off and he’d actually made her explode with just his lips on her breasts. She’d never experienced that kind of passion before and it had freaked her out. Christopher had immediately noticed, and instead of pressuring her to continue, he soothed her. He pulled her into his chest and just held her. He’d been so good to her. She knew she was in way over her head with him. Alabama was pretty sure she loved Christopher. She wasn’t sure she really knew what love was, but not a minute went by during the day that she didn’t want to talk to him, to see him, to spend time with him.
The first time she’d called him on her new mobile phone, Christopher had been so happy. He didn’t try to hide his excitement and joy that she’d actually called him. When he’d calmed down to find out what she needed, he was speechless for a moment when she’d told him she’d just wanted to say hi.
So tonight they were going to a local bar, called Aces Bar and Grill, that apparently catered to military members, especially SEALs. Alabama had heard a lot about Matthew, also known as Wolf, and his girlfriend, Caroline. But apparently there were four others on the team that were like brothers to Christopher. There was Sam, whose nickname was Mozart, Hunter, whose nickname was Cookie, Kason went by Benny, and finally Faulkner who they called Dude.
There was no way she’d remember everyone’s name, but she’d try to go with the flow
. Christopher had promised to help her. When Alabama asked about the team’s nicknames and their history, he’d only chuckled and told her that it was up to each man to explain it, if they so choose.
She shrugged. That was the least of her worries.
Alabama clutched Christopher’s hand, desperately, as they headed toward the entrance of Aces. Before they went inside, Christopher stopped and pulled her to the side of the door and backed her against the wall.
Christopher bought his hand up to her face and cupped her cheek. He did that a lot when he wanted her to look into his eyes while he spoke to her. It should irritate Alabama, but it didn’t. It made her feel warm inside. She loved his hands on her.
“It’s going to be fine, sweet. I’ll be right there with you. You’ll be safe. They’ll like you, I promise.”
At her nod, he held her eyes for a moment then leaned forward and brushed his lips over her eyebrows, then her nose, then finally her lips. He didn’t linger, but nipped her bottom lip gently once, and drew back. “You’re the bravest person I’ve ever met. Come on; let’s go in before you have a heart attack.”
Alabama could feel her heart beating double time in her chest. She was nervous, but having Christopher there helped. She wanted his friends to like her, but she didn’t really know how to make friends. She wasn’t good at it.
They walked toward a large table in the back of the room. There were a group of people already seated and laughing together.
There was a pretty waitress standing at the table taking drink orders. She was about normal height and was wearing a pair of sneakers, unlike the other waitresses who were all wearing high heels. She also stood out from the other servers in the bar because she was wearing a modest tank top and a pair of jeans, instead of a skimpy shirt and a mini-skirt. Her attire did nothing to distract from how pretty she was.
She had long black hair which was pulled back into a braid that ended midway down her back. She finished up taking everyone’s drink order as they arrived at the table.
“Hey! You got here just in time, what can I get you from the bar?”
The nametag on the waitress’ tag read, ‘Jess.’
Abe turned to Alabama and gestured for her to order.
“Coke please,” Alabama said softly.
Christopher squeezed her hand to reassure her and Alabama tried to relax. “Hey, Jess. I’ll take whatever you have on tap tonight.” It was obvious Christopher knew the waitress, probably because the group of friends came to the bar frequently.
“No problem. I’ll be back soon,” Jess said in a confident voice.
Alabama watched as the waitress limped away from the table. She had just a second to wonder what was wrong with the pretty waitress before Christopher put his hand on the small of her back and turned her to the table.
Alabama looked up to see that everyone was looking at them. She gripped Christopher’s hand as if it was the only thing keeping her above water.
“Hey guys,” Abe said easily. “This is Alabama. She’s nervous to meet all of you, so go easy all right?” He said it lightly, but there was steel running through his words.
He’d had a talk with his team that day and they all knew how shy Alabama was, just as they knew how important she was to Abe. Abe had also told them a little of her childhood and they’d all been taken aback. They all knew such abuses happened all the time, but they hated it’d happened to someone who was so obviously important to their teammate.
Finding a good woman was new to the team. They’d all been there when Caroline had almost died at the hands of terrorists and had seen how hard Wolf had struggled to finally get the nerve to claim her.
None of them would admit it, but they were all a bit jealous. Seeing the close relationship they shared had finally brought home to them all how meaningless their one night stands were. They were all itching to find someone for their own, and it looked like Abe just might be the next in line to find a woman for himself.
Tamping down the impulse to look around the room, Alabama gripped Christopher’s hand so hard she knew he’d have indentations from her fingernails, and simply said, “Hi.”
“Hey, Alabama, glad you could make it,” said a gorgeous man who’d stood as they’d arrived. The other men also added their greetings and Christopher led her to a seat at the end of the table against the wall. He waited until she was seated and then settled next to her. He put his arm on the back of her chair and leaned in.
“Okay, sweet?”
Alabama looked at Christopher and nodded. He really was a good guy. She vaguely noticed how all the men were seated in such a way that they could see the rest of the room. Obviously they all felt the same way Christopher did about putting their back to a room.
“I guess we should all introduce ourselves,” a beautiful woman sitting in the middle of the table said in Alabama’s direction. “Don’t worry, if you don’t remember everyone’s names. It took me forever to remember them myself!”
Everyone around the table laughed.
“And I’ll do it, ‘cos if the guys do it you’ll only hear their nicknames and you’ll never learn their real names. I’m trying to get them to use their given names, but they’re hopeless! I’m Caroline and I’m with this big lug, Matthew. Sitting at the end is Sam and his girlfriend Molly. Next to them is Faulkner and Brittany. Then there’s Kason and Emily, and finally, across from you, is Hunter and Michele.”
When she’d introduced them, everyone said hello at once and then started talking again. Alabama breathed a sigh of relief that no one seemed to want to draw her into conversation yet.
Alabama listened as the men joked with one another. It was tough to keep everyone straight, especially when the men called each other by their nicknames and the women used their real names. It was if there were double the number of people sitting at the table.
“Hey, Christopher, how did you guys meet?” Alabama thought it was Kason’s girlfriend that had asked, but she couldn’t remember her name.
“Remember that fire a month or so ago?” Christopher asked. When the women all nodded he continued. “Alabama saved my life. She was there and helped get me and a bunch of other people out of the building.”
“Whoa, that’s intense,” Michele said. “Didn’t you go to that party with Adelaide?”
Abe’s eyes squinted like they did when he was pissed. Alabama didn’t know what was up with Michele and her attitude, but it obviously pissed Christopher off.
“Yeah, I did, but it didn’t work out. I met Alabama that night and things went from there.”
Michele obviously didn’t know when to stop, because she continued, “What did Adelaide have to say about that?”
Cookie didn’t give Christopher time to respond because he jumped in. “What the hell Michele? Abe’s with Alabama now, give it a rest.”
Alabama was confused and freaked out. She’d never met Michele, but it seemed as if she didn’t like her…at all.
“We all know you and Adelaide are tight, but Jesus, woman, Abe dumped her because she was acting crazy. I told you to let it drop and here you are bringing it up in front of his new woman.” Cookie was obviously pissed. Strangely enough him being pissed seemed to calm Abe down.
“Let’s go,” Cookie told the woman at his side. “We’re done. Abe man, sorry. Alabama, it was nice meeting you. You’re way too good for an asshole like Abe here, but damn glad you’re overlooking that. Hope to see you again soon.” With that, Cookie forced Michele up with a hand on her elbow and without giving her a chance to say anything, led her away from the group.
Alabama didn’t know what to say, so she just sat there embarrassed.
“Jesus, sorry about that Abe, Alabama,” Benny said softly, leaning across the table toward his teammate and his date. “Alabama, he’s been seeing Michele for a while. She and Adelaide are friends. Obviously it was a mistake to bring her tonight.”
Abe nodded stiffly. Jesus, he’d wanted to make sure Alabama would meet his friends in as stress-free of
an environment as possible, and Cookie’s girl-of-the-month had to go and ruin it. He looked down at Alabama.
Feeling Christopher’s eyes on her, Alabama looked up. He looked tense and pissed on her behalf. She giggled a small quiet giggle and watched as his eyebrows rose questionably.
Alabama knew she had to grow a backbone. The whole thing was pretty funny if she thought about it. She wanted to reassure Christopher that she was all right. She didn’t want him to think she’d cry every time some woman brought her claws out. Hell, with the way he looked, she’d be crying all the time. She knew every woman in the place was jealous as hell of her, and it strangely cheered her up.
Not being able to stop her eyes from scanning the interior of the bar before reassuring Christopher she paused, then leaned up toward him and whispered in his ear teasingly, “Any other friends of your ex-girlfriend I have to worry about tonight?”
She pulled back and smiled at him, making sure he knew she was teasing him. She watched as his eyelids fell and his pupils dilated. “Shit, Alabama, I was worried you’d be freaked.”
Not breaking eye contact she told him quietly, “I am a little freaked, but you’re here with me, not her. Hunter didn’t let her stay, and I like your friends. I’m determined not to let it bother me.”
Abe let out the breath he’d been holding. He’d been ready to escort Michele out himself. Damn her. She’d brought up Adelaide purposely, just to be catty. He hoped Cookie wouldn’t be seeing her anymore. Anyone that deliberately set out to hurt someone else wasn’t someone anyone on the team wanted to be around.
Before Abe could pull Alabama into his arms and kiss the hell out of her, Emily piped up, “So, Abe huh? I’ve heard the stories about the others, but what’s the story of your nickname?”
