CHAPTER 1

As it turns out finding a handsome man on a Saturday night wasn't as hard as Abby had believed. All she had to do was wait until five minutes before closing the store, and there he was—passed out in the superhero aisle with a copy of Strange Adventures #8 in his hand and just a touch of drool at the corner of his mouth. The rest of the store was already empty of the gamers, geeks and manga kids, leaving empty the rows of comic books, shelves of action figures and other merchandise. Except this one. At thirty Abby had already owned Abby's Adventures for eight years, and she'd had to deal with plenty of incidents. Including people passed out in her store. Easier to deal with than some of the shoplifters and bullies she'd had to handle. Some people thought that just because she was petite and blond, they could push her around.

Ever faithful Cory hitched up the straps of his backpack. Only seventeen, he towered over her and was so thin that a strong wind from the ocean might blow him away. "See? Just like I told you, Ms. Kirkman. I just found him lying there. I thought he was dead at first, but then he was snoring."

As if to demonstrate the man on the floor started snoring again. It wasn't a buzz saw of a noise but a soft blowing sound. He didn't look homeless. He was clean-shaven with a friendly, good-looking face. Probably around her age. Nice light brown hair. Hands were clean with cut, not bitten nails. He wore nice leather shoes, clean tan cargo pants and a novelty t-shirt featuring the Portal symbol with a person falling through the hole.

Wasn't that always the case?

Abby looked at her watch even though she already knew the time. Five minutes past eight. Five minutes past closing already and she had a pizza calling her name.

"Should we wake him up?" Cory asked.

Abby lightly tapped the bottom of the guy's shoe with the toe of her pump. "Hey, come on, wake up."

He didn't react at all. Abby kicked his foot again with enough force to rock his foot. "Wake up!"

That came out louder than she'd intended. Cory looked at her with surprise all over his face, but the man on the floor didn't react. He kept breathing. He looked fine, good in fact, even though he was sleeping on her hardwood floor.

"Why's he on the floor anyway? It's not like we don't have comfortable chairs." Abby gestured at the circle of sumo bean bags at the end of the aisle. Right there, six big bean bags in a variety of primary colors, take your pick. She knew from experience that the bags were very comfortable. She had four sets of them around the store, and most days there were teens and twenty-somethings sprawled in them reading comics or playing games over at the console stations.

"I don't know." Cory shoved his hands into the pocket of his Warcraft sweatshirt. "What are you going to do?"

What was she going to do? Of course, it was up to her. She was the boss, but right at that moment, it pissed her off. She didn't want to do anything except get her pizza in the oven and read her Kindle. She'd been looking forward to it for the past hour as her belly had growled at her.

She waved a hand at Cory. "Go on. You need to get home. Your mom will kill me if I keep you any later."

He laughed but shook his head. "I can't leave you alone with this guy."

Abby looked up at him and narrowed her eyes. "You think I can't handle him? Is that what you're saying, Mr. King?"

He grinned. "No, of course not. I—"

She held up her hand. "Spare me. Go home. Get some sleep, you're growing too fast."

"Okay, Ms. Kirkman. If you insist."

"I do." She shooed him away. "Go. Get out of here."

Cory went with his stooped walk, bulging backpack hanging from his back. She watched until he went out the door. The electronic doorbell laughed manically as the door opened and closed. Abby turned her attention back to sleeping beauty on the floor.

She kicked his foot again, not too hard. "Hey! Are you ever going to wake up? Do I need to call 911?"

That was a thought. He looked fine, but it could be something serious. He might need medical help. Or maybe the guy was just tired. She understood that. Came in, started looking at a comic and decided to just sit down where he was at. From there he fell asleep, and her usual crowd just stepped past him without mentioning it until Cory did his sweep through the aisles before closing.

Abby walked around to his side and crouched as best she could in her black leather skirt. She reached out to put her hand on his chest and stopped, her hand just above his shirt. Should she touch him? He didn't look dangerous, but you never knew when the flying monkeys would attack. What if he woke up and was violent? He could be on something as far as she knew. She drew her hand back and studied his face. He was handsome, good-looking in a guy-next-door kind of way. A strong jawline and clean shaven despite the time of the day. He must have shaved before he went out. In that t-shirt, he most likely wasn't going to a job or on a date. He had come here, to a comic book store. On his right arm, the one that had been holding the copy of Strange Adventures #8, he wore a FitBit watch. The way it had shifted on his wrist she could see his tan line, so he probably spent time outside. Probably not a momma's basement comic geek, then. Given his build, he could be a runner.

"Who are you?" she asked him.

He didn't react.

Fine. She'd trust her gut. She didn't think the guy was dangerous. A bit odd, maybe. He'd probably have a story to tell when he woke up to explain why he fell asleep on a hardwood floor. She reached out and put her hand on his chest.

Even through the t-shirt, she could feel the muscles in his chest and the heat of his skin beneath the thin layer of cloth. His chest rose beneath her hand with the smooth intake of breath and then down when he exhaled. His mouth made that soft wind sound. Not exactly snoring, just breathing. It was a soothing sound. For a mad second, she thought how nice it would be to put her head on his chest and hear the sound of his heart beating while his chest rose and fell beneath her.

Abby stifled a laugh and shook her head. She couldn't do that! She gave him a gentle shake. "Hey, wake up! I don't want to have to call an ambulance if you're just sleeping."

Another shake but he still didn't wake up. Abby started to run her hand across his chest and then jerked her hand back. What was she doing? Fondling the guy while he was passed out on her floor? She felt her cheeks flush. Okay, so it'd been awhile since she'd seriously dated anyone and that was the last thing she wanted to explain.

"You're not going to wake up, are you? You're not giving me any choice. I'm going to have to call 911 and let them deal with you."

Abby started to stand when she noticed the yellow and black bracelet on his left wrist, down at his side. She reached back down and used one finger to push his arm over a bit so that she could see. It was some sort of rubber with a stainless steel tag. The top line said Jasper Lee, the second, Narcoleptic Let Me Sleep. There was more information on the front of the tag. It said for ID information to call a 1-800 number or go to a website, plus a notation that the serial number and pin number were on the back of the tag. Her eyes went back to the first two lines. Obviously, his name and the second made it look like he expected to fall asleep in inconvenient places. Did he really expect her to just let him sleep?

Abby stood up. "Well, Jasper, thanks so much for falling asleep in my store. Now, what do I do with you?"

Let me sleep, the tag said.

At first, it annoyed Abby. She wanted to fix her dinner and read in peace. But then it wasn't like he was terribly disruptive. He did look very peaceful. Why not just let him sleep?

She took one step away, her heels sounded loud in the quiet store. Jasper didn't move. Abby shrugged. "Fine. Sleep on the floor, if that's what you want. Try not to drool too much, okay?"

He still didn't stir. Abby walked around him and picked up the copy of Strange Adventures #8. Jim Starlin's last issue in the DC series about Adam Strange. Strange, Captain Comic and the rest of the heroes, in their face off against Synnar. She put it back in the rack and then walked away from Jasper. At the end of the aisle, she stopped and looked back at him lying on the floor. It just felt wrong to leave him like that. She felt guilty, but then she had an idea.

Jasper might want her to let him stay asleep, but she could try to make him a little more comfortable if he was going to be sleeping on her floor. Behind the counter, through the office, stairs led up to her loft above the store. When she had the place built, she had included the loft apartment upstairs. It made good financial sense because then she only had one building to maintain. Selling her parent's house had made it possible, even after splitting the money with her sister. It only took a minute to get upstairs and grab an extra pillow and an afghan, then she was back down in the superhero aisle half-convinced that Jasper would have moved or something while she was gone. He hadn't. He still lay on the floor just as she'd left him.

She spread the afghan out over his body, then crouched down by his head. She slid her hand through his hair, beneath his head and he still didn't wake. She lifted his head just enough to shove the pillow beneath his head and then she rose and stepped back. Through it all Jasper hadn't stirred at all.

"Fine," she said. "More pizza for me."

Abby left him sleeping again, stopping for a second at the end of the aisle to look back at him lying on the floor. She would have tried to get him into one of the bean bags, but there was no way she could lift him up like that. Better to just leave him. Her stomach growled. Just her luck, a handsome man came into her life on a Saturday night, and she was still going to be sleeping alone.