“I need you to apply for the accounting job. I mean the business assistant job. Ron listed it as that in the paper and online. Will you do that for me?”
His fingers stopped moving. “You want me to apply for an office position with Fantasy Emporium? What about the performer stuff?”
She wanted him to quit that, but would he see this as a handout or for what it really was? “You’re a smart, educated business person who can obviously handle accounts and investments. You’re someone I can trust. You wouldn’t be performing anymore if you took the job. You’d make more doing the business side of things. The salary I was paying Thomas was around $65,000 a year. I was going to add on some additional responsibilities to the position so I can offer the right applicant closer to $85,000. What do you think?”
The unreadable expression on his face made her insecurities flare. “We’ll talk about that later. Right now, it’s time for you to tell me what’s going on. You’re stalling, Abigail. Tell me how you got those scars.”
Oh God, I can’t. I can’t!
“I…I…” The tears didn’t fall. The sobs were silent. The emptiness she’d felt lying on the bathroom floor the night Justin had tried to kill her came seeping back into her psyche. The crimson river flowing over the tiles was the last thing she saw as her baby’s life force drained out of her body.
“Abigail, come back to me, baby.”
She turned to see Sean’s sorrowful eyes staring back at her. “He’s my ex-husband. His name is Justin. Four years ago, he broke into my house and sliced my stomach…after he raped me.”
Wait for it…he’s going to run
. When he stood up, she turned over onto her side, unable to watch his back walk out the door.
“And?”
When she peeked over her shoulder, he was leaning over the sink, his wide back hunched as he hid his face in his hands.
“He…he left me on the bathroom floor, and I crawled to the bedroom. A friend was coming over for a celebration dinner that evening and found me. I’d lost a lot of blood. She called 911, and I went to the hospital. I was there for several days. It was all kind of a blur.”
His shoulders started to bounce as his shaky voice whispered, “He tried to kill you?”
She turned back around to face the side of the tub. “In a lot of ways, he did. He threatened that if I didn’t die, he’d find me and make sure to finish the job. He promised to kill me if I was ever with another man. I…I wanted to be with you. I still do, but I don’t want to drag you into all of this mess. I lo—like you enough to want you to stay safe. If you stay with me, he’ll kill you.”
She heard him move, and she rolled over.
Sean skimmed his fingers along the water. “You think I can’t take care of myself and you too for that matter? Abigail, that’s my decision, and I made it the first night we spent together. That prick can’t hurt me and sure as fuck is never laying a hand on you again.”
If she had any more tears left, she would’ve shed them. “You don’t know what it’s like, Sean. He’s capable of killing a person. He’s a monster.”
Sean flinched. “Trust me, I understand. Tell me the rest of this. I want to know everything.”
Everything
—such an easy word to say. How in the hell could she tell him
everything?
“Tell me about this one.” He knelt next to the tub. She felt his fingertip run along the scar at her bikini line. “Tell me how you got this one.”
She tucked her knees up to her chest to hide the reminder. That was the worst scar—the unforgivable one. “H-Her name was Caroline. I was eight months pregnant when he took her from me.”
“That bastard took her from you.”
“He took her from me when I lost too much blood. S-Sometimes I can still feel her moving in there. Little feet pushing against my stomach. She used to hiccup around seven months. I’d be eating dinner on the couch, and there she’d go, little butterfly wings flapping in there. When I woke up in the hospital, they told me she looked perfect when she came out. A perfect little girl with no breath and no beating heart. I got her a white casket with pink satin lining. She was sleeping. At least that’s what I kept telling myself. She was just sleeping on that tiny pillow. I gave her the stuffed elephant that played ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.’ She was my little star. That scar was from the C-section. I was already in the operating room so they could fix other things in there. I’m still not sure what all happened, but I guess I died on the table, and they had to bring me back. So they delivered her in the operating room.”
Abigail kept her face buried against the edge of the porcelain. Sean said nothing. What was there to say? No one wanted to hear the horrible things that had happened to her and Caroline.
A whisper drifted over her from the edge of the tub. “I bet she was beautiful, just like her mother.”
She rolled over and wrapped her arms around Sean’s neck to pull him over the water. She needed his touch, his safety. She needed him to take all the bad away, to make everything all right again.
His lips nestled against her neck as he let her pull him into the water. “Baby, God, I’m here.” When his arms tucked behind her, she knew it was okay. The burden was not hers alone anymore. Sean was strong enough to share it with her. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” he said, easing the memory a bit with every word.
He tugged her against his chest. “It’s not your fault. Nothing is your fault. I’m sorry you lost your daughter. You would’ve been the greatest mom. Caroline was lucky to have been with you for as long as she was.”
Abigail found the tears that she’d thought had dried up. She sobbed against Sean’s shoulder. “She was so precious, my baby daughter.”
“Yes, she was. Come on. Let’s get you out of here. You need to eat something.” Sean helped her stand up. With each stroke of the towel, as he dried her off, he studied her skin. “You’re beautiful, Abigail. You survived, and that makes you so fucking beautiful.”
“Sean?” she asked as she wrapped her arms around his waist.
“Yes, baby? God, it feels good when you put your arms around me.”
She smiled, something she seemed to do only in his presence. “Thank you.”
He ran the towel over her wet hair. “No, thank you. You trusted me enough to tell me what happened. I need you to trust me again.”
She tightened her arms around his waist. “O-Okay.”
“Tell me why you didn’t go to the cops. Didn’t the hospital do anything with the police?”
How could she explain how weak she was, how terrified? “He said if I lived and told who did it, he’d get out of it. He’s a lawyer, and his dad’s a politician. The whole thing just went away. When they questioned him, he’d come up with some kind of alibi. I was so scared I told them I didn’t know who it was who’d attacked me. He’d have gotten out of it anyway. I was afraid.”
“That fucker is going to pay for what he did. Do you trust me?”
Abigail looked down as he dried the scar from where her daughter had been born. And died. “For Caroline, I’ll trust you.”
He tucked her head under his chin. “For Caroline.”
Chapter Twelve
Sean looked over at the alarm clock and shifted his hip. Trying not to dislodge a gently snoring Abigail, he tapped the Off button. The clock flashed 6:00 a.m., and the glow around the closed curtain told him it was time to get up. They were supposed to be at Carl’s by eight to set everything up for the campout. He slipped his arm from under Abigail’s neck and stuffed the pillow under her head. He could get the truck packed up, giving her another twenty minutes of sleep.
He scratched his head. The one pillow he owned was tucked against the prettiest face on the planet. His one blanket covered up the most luscious body he’d ever seen, and the tiny twin-size bed held all three of them. The small bed was okay for just him—hell it’d been given to him for free, and free was just what he could afford at the time—but with the addition of a beautiful, curvy woman and one sprawled-out mutt, the sleeping arrangements had become a little tight.
When he shifted to pull his leg out, Penelope stretched and yawned. Her mistress did the same, making Sean smile. Abigail rolled over and curled against his chest. The thin fabric of his T-shirt stretched over a pair of luscious tits. The morning wood in his boxer briefs had nothing to do with the morning. He wanted to let her sleep as long as possible, but damn if he didn’t want to suck on those hard nipples. It took everything in him not to reach out and slip his thumb over one tight nub. He was a man, for Christ’s sake, and she’d slithered those soft curves against him all night. She had no idea that he’d woken up every hour to smooth skin skimming along his legs or a little hand resting on his chest.
Sean gently tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “I’m so glad you’re here,” he whispered.
“Me too,” Abigail whispered back.
“I thought you were still asleep.” She slid her finger over his flat nipple, sending a zing straight to his dick. “Hey, that tickles.”
“Sorry,” she said and tried to pull away before he grabbed her hand and tucked it against his chest.
Yesterday seemed to last forever. Eleven thirty last night had crept up on them before he could convince her to lie down and rest. They’d spent the evening talking, in between rounds in the bathroom. He’d held her hair while she retched over the toilet, nothing coming up over and over as she had several panic attacks. God, he just wanted to take it all away, to erase her past and give her the life she deserved.
She’d told him about the three years of hell she endured while stuck in a volatile marriage. He knew how to keep secrets, and she’d been keeping this darkness locked inside for a long time. Every time she mentioned her ex’s name, they’d take another trip to the bathroom for her to throw up. Finally, around ten, he was able to get her to eat some toast, and by eleven thirty, he tucked her and Penelope in his small bed. When she pleaded for him to stay, he’d looked down at the bed and scooted on his side at the very edge to give her the mattress. They’d both had a restless night.
When he felt her drift her soft thigh over his hip, nudging his dick, he became very aware of his morning hard-on. “You better be careful. It’s ready to go off the way it is, and if you knock it around too much, it’s going to get that pretty leg of yours all wet,” he said, pulling on the underside of her knee so he could rub against her.
“Oh yeah? What if I’m already all wet?” she teased, rolling onto her back, tugging him with her.
A thud made Sean look over his shoulder. Penelope had leaped off the bed. Good thing, he thought. He planned on rocking this bed so hard she would’ve fallen off anyway. “Damn, I can’t wait to get inside you. Open up for me, baby. I have to get these panties off before my dick explodes.”
“Sean!” she squealed when he tugged on the hem of her underwear and stripped the soft material over her legs. He wanted to see everything, not allowing her to hide her body any longer. If she was going to be his, he needed it all.
“Take your shirt off,” he said. Within two seconds, he had her stripped naked and nestled under his body.
God, he wanted to go slow, make this okay for her. His dick had other plans. When he nudged her body into the mattress, she didn’t resist. Instead, her soft curves cradled his much bigger form. Sean knew this had to be right. Fuck, it felt like heaven, and this was going to be his only shot at it after what he’d done. Sinners didn’t get a key to the pearly gates.
He couldn’t wait to sink inside her warm heat. The thunder in his chest made his heart hurt, but he didn’t care. He twisted and turned to yank the underwear down his legs. His cock bobbed free, then slapped against his tight stomach.
Abigail laughed. “You’re like a kid in a candy store.”
Sean leaned down, holding the bulk of his weight on his elbows. “You’re just—damn. I can’t wait, Abigail. I just can’t wait to—” He dipped his head to swipe his lips across her mouth. The little mewl that leaked between her lips made his cock twitch. His brain wanted to crawl inside her heart as much as his cock wanted to slide in and out of her pussy. The pink tip of her tongue peeked out, and he took advantage of the unconscious invitation. He licked back, teasing, coaxing the temptress who was snuggled underneath him safe and warm. “Please, baby, let me in.”
The slight shiver let him know he was moving too fucking fast. “I’m trying,” she said and finally lifted her hands that had been hiding her abdomen. “They’re just…so ugly.”
Sean looked down at the vivid, white scars lacing her stomach. And the one…the one that finally took her daughter from her body was there too. He couldn’t breathe. Something had punched him square in the gut. Holding his breath, he moved down her torso. With his finger, he mapped the white lines. Each and every one of the fucking things, he traced with his shaking fingertip. “You’re beautiful, my pretty girl. Every one of these is yours, not his. You survived, and that makes you amazing. And this one”—he lightly kissed the C-section scar above her naked mons—“this one is Caroline’s.”
Abigail sobbed, and he hoped to hell it was because he’d done something right and not wrong. “You…you are… God, Sean. You’re the sweetest man.”
Sean crawled back up to where he was eye to eye with the tears streaking down her lovely cheeks. “And these, these sexy lips, these are mine.” Through the tears, the sobs, the hiccups, he kissed her. With more than words, he loved her pain away. Kissed the fear good-bye and hopefully replaced the despair with something new, something that he wanted to start with her. “You… are… my… angel.”
“Make love to me, Sean.”
“My pleasure, baby,” Sean said between sensual twists and turns, trying to get his tongue deeper into the heat between her lips. “God, you taste so fucking good.”
Again, she laughed between his assaults. That lovely sound was something he wanted, needed to hear every morning. “I taste like morning breath.”
“I don’t care. You don’t tell a starving man to skip the buffet. Now, open that pretty mouth and let me fuck it with my tongue.” That shut her laugh up real quick as he plundered the treasure that was his woman.
The moment she widened her thighs, he took advantage and sank his hips between to feel the slick lips of her pussy slide over the length of his dick.