The look he shot her made her insides turn to liquid. “You don’t think I can protect you?”
“I…I know you—”
“Abigail, I know what it takes to kill a man. I know the difference between your ex and myself. He did it for revenge. I…I did it to protect myself. But it’s taking a life all the same.”
Abigail felt her heart stop. It actually skipped a beat and sent a throbbing pain through her ribs. “What do you mean?”
He shifted on the swing, causing it to move again. “I mean that I ended up in prison because I was fighting.”
She knew that already but felt a sinking feeling there was more. “I know.”
“The fight went bad, real fast. His name was Josh Weeks. I was supposed to get five hundred dollars for the fight, but the cops had been tipped off about the venue. But by the time they’d come pulling up on the warehouse, it was too late. Josh had spiked his knuckle wraps and caught me across the chest. I swung and took him down. When it got to be a ground fight, he took the shot, cut my eye and chin. He went for the other eye, and I hit him in the face. The punch landed just right at his temple, and I didn’t realize he was going out because the blood from my cut was blinding me. He made contact again across my jaw. I got cut again, but this time, he kept his fist going, and I was afraid he’d land on my throat. I hit him again. The next thing I knew, the cops were pulling me off him.”
“Oh my God.” The defeated look on his face made her want to cry.
He got up, leaving her on the swing. “They took us to the hospital. I went to jail that night, and Josh went into a coma.” He leaned on the railing, looking out onto the lawn where Ron and Eric were stacking logs in the fire pit. “He died three days later. I’d killed him.”
“Sean…”
“His brain had swelled from the hits I’d landed. I…I didn’t mean to kill him, Abigail. I thought he was going to slice my throat. I really needed the money. I shouldn’t have kept hitting him. I…I shouldn’t have.”
Abigail got up and met him at the rail.
“The guy died, and here I am. I get a chance to have a life, to love,” he said as he turned his head to look at her. “To start a family with someone. A real family.”
Dammit, could he make her insides shake anymore? “You didn’t mean to kill him.”
“That doesn’t matter. I needed the money from that fight to finally get out of town and away from that asshole promoter. I kept hitting him.” He knelt to pet Penelope. “I guess now that you know, you probably don’t want us to keep seeing each other.”
Did she want to continue in a relationship, or whatever this was, with someone who’d taken another person’s life? She watched Sean as he scratched her dog behind the ear, just the way Penelope liked it. “I know you had to fight to make your way, Sean. Does it freak me out or scare me that you hit someone so hard it killed him? Yes. Do I think that you’ll hit me? No.” He looked up at her. “But, that doesn’t mean you can put yourself in harm’s way again to protect me from Justin. You were protecting yourself, and the other guy knew it was an illegal fight. Justin wants to hurt me because he’s crazy. You’re not crazy.” Abigail looked out on the lawn where Eric was setting up blankets next to the fire. “You did ask me not to throw this away. Do you remember?”
Finally, he stood up and leaned on the rail again. “I remember,” he said.
“So why would you?”
“I don’t want to. I just figured…now that you know the whole story, you’d want to bail.”
The muscle in his jaw twitched. He wouldn’t even look at her. She was going to make the leap. God, her hands were shaking, and her stomach might ungraciously give her back her dinner, but she was going to take a chance on this. “I don’t want to bail. I want to start over. Hi, I’m Abigail.” She reached out her hand to offer his a shake. “My ex-husband tried to kill me and took the most precious gift from me. Want to have lunch sometime?”
Sean turned to her, his eyes wide and lips parted. He wasn’t smiling. “Abigail…”
“What’s your name?” she asked.
He looked down at her hand and finally cradled it in his larger one. “I’m Sean. I lived on the street for over a year, fought in an illegal fighting circuit, killed a man, and did time in prison. Name the place.”
They both smiled as he tugged her against his chest and wrapped her in the safety of his arms. She burrowed her face against the soft fabric of his tank top. “Is there anything else I need to know?”