Worth the Chance (29 page)
“So you never used me for a story?” His voice is desperate, full of agony at even having to ask the question. He needs to know that it was real. Needs to understand I could never betray him like that.
“I wanted to protect you. I never meant to hurt you.”
“I. Protect. You. Liv. I don’t need you to protect me. That’s how it works,” he says, his voice rising, eyes stern and serious. He waits for me to accede.
“No.” My response spoken with conviction, it surprises him.
Squinting, he studies me for a moment, not saying a word. I suppose his look could be labeled menacing, yet it doesn’t make me waver in the slightest. Instead, I stand taller.
One eyebrow cocked, he questions. “No?” I can’t tell if he’s amused or annoyed.
“No.
We
protect each other.
That’s
how it works.”
Both eyebrows pop this time. Although I catch a hint of an upward tilt on the left side of his mouth before he’s able to hide it. He’s amused, but doesn’t want to let me in on the secret.
“Okay,” he finally responds.
“Okay?” I question. Feeling bold, I push further. “Why was that so easy?”
Vinny laughs, his face and whole body shedding the last of the anger, diving head first into happiness. He wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me flush against him. Eyes sparkling, it warms my heart knowing I had something to do with putting the smile back on his face. “You’re a pain in the ass.”
Pretending to be offended, I feign trying to escape from his death grip. But the truth of the matter is there’s no place I’d rather be.
A few minutes later, Vinny picks up my bags and reaches for my hand. “You ready to get out of here? I’m pretty sure you owe me a shitload of makeup sex.” He grins at me.
Although even the thought of this man naked sends a shiver down my spine, there’s more I need to say. “Wait.” Vinny stops after taking only one step forward and turns back to me. “There’s more I need to tell you.”
He nods once and waits, cautiousness in his stance. Closing the small distance between us, I reach up to the beautiful face that still takes my breath away, even after all these years. Draping my arms around his neck, I pull him closer so our bodies are touching, yet he can still see my face as I speak. My voice barely audible as my eyes finds his, I tell him what I feel in every ounce of my being, “I love you.”
He smiles, cupping my face in both his hands. “Love you too, Liv. Think a part of me always has.” Softly, Vinny’s lips cover mine as he seals a kiss on words I’ve waited almost a decade to hear.
Epilogue
Veterans Day – Months later
Liv
Walking into the steam filled bathroom, I marvel at the sight of the gloriously naked body stepping from the shower. It’s been months, yet it never gets old.
Vinny grabs a towel and wraps it around his waist. Lucky towel.
“Morning.” He leans down and kisses my lips, uncaring that water is dripping everywhere, a playful, devilish grin on his handsome face.
“Good morning.” I smile.
“It could be.” Taking the towel from his waist, he purposefully lifts it to his shoulders to dry off, leaving his very aroused bottom half delightfully naked, standing firmly at attention. The confident, knowing smile tells me it’s a calculated move and has nothing to do with needing to dry off. He wiggles his eyebrows suggestively when he catches me staring.
“You’re insatiable.” I laugh.
Wrapping his hand firmly around the back of my head, he tilts my head toward him. “You know I get turned on when you use SAT words.” Another hot, wet kiss planted chastely on my lips.
“Insatiable is definitely not on the SAT.”
“Whatever. Keep talking.” Allowing the towel to drop to the ground, he reaches down under my knees, scooping me up into his arms.
“Existential, exculpate, ebullient, evanescent, ephemeral.”
Reaching the bed, Vinny quirks one eyebrow. “Ephemeral?”
“Short lived. Fleeting.”
“Yeah, what I’m about to give you isn’t going to be ephemeral.”
***
Lying in bed sated, my ear pressed to his chest, I listen as Vinny’s heart beats steadily. The sound soothes me, leaving me feeling replete, a feeling I’ve come to cherish after so many months of chaos swirling around us. Thinking back, things could have gone so differently. The press had a field day with Vinny’s admission. Months of nonstop badgering from reporters could have taken its toll, but instead, somehow, it bound us even tighter. Me and Vinny against the world.
After giving the exclusive story to the
Daily Sun Times
in exchange for my job, we hung low for a while. Vinny needed to recover physically from his fight and mentally from the toll the last 25 years had taken on him. Preach, Nico’s old trainer, loaned us his lake house, a serene, picturesque hideaway where we could escape the hordes of reporters and photographers vying for a piece of Vinny.
Like Vinny, Senator Knight eventually gave the media his side of the story, falling far short of full disclosure, although finally admitting to a one night drunken affair. Mrs. Knight stood dutifully by his side the entire time, a plastered smile on her perfectly made up face. I noticed Jax was suspiciously missing from all of the family photos aimed at restoring the Senator’s public image, but I kept my thoughts to myself.
“I have to get up soon.” Vinny strokes my head as he speaks.
“I know. But I’m so comfy.” I snuggle closer to him, his warm body feeling incredible flush against mine. My body uncaring that it just spent the last hour greedily consuming his, the desire for more of him is just never quelled. Selfishly, I want to stay in bed all day, forget the ride they have planned, and keep him all to myself. I’m worried that today will be hard on him. Nico, on the other hand, thinks it will be good for Vinny. Help him get past the sour memory of his lost father by riding in the Veteran’s fundraising motorcycle run again this year. I’m not so sure. The loss to Vinny, of a father that never really was, came harder than anything else. He grieved the loss of a man he honored from the time he was a child. A veteran that he clung to for purpose in his darkest hours.
As Vinny gets dressed, I’m still undecided on giving him what I’ve planned. For five weeks, I’ve tossed the idea back and forth, one day thinking it was a great idea, the next wondering if I was crazy for even considering giving it to him.
Eventually, we both begin to get dressed. “You okay?” I sit on the bed next to Vinny. He’s been quiet since he got back out of bed.
He nods silently, seemingly lost in thought. “There’s lots of Veterans out there that should be honored. I keep telling myself it’s not about me. But it’s hard not to be reminded.” He pauses. “I don’t know, I feel like I lost someone, yet I never really had them to lose.”
My decision finally made for me, I walk to my purse and pull out an envelope. Removing a single page I’d written and balled up so many times, I offer it to the man I love as comfort. Vinny takes it and begins reading.
Staff Sargent Charles Fisher, Jr.
3/30/1960–1/19/1988.
Survived by his parents, Charles Fisher, Sr. and Laura Cantly Fisher, Staff Sargent Charles Fisher, Jr. was laid to rest on January nineteenth, nineteen hundred and eighty-
eight.
A dedicated, two tour military hero, Sgt. Fisher was killed in the line of duty in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Three days before the end of his second tour, Sgt. Fisher was passing through Helmand in route to the US Embassy, when he came upon a bus exploded by the detonation of a suicide bomber.
Acting quickly, and without regard for his own safety, Sgt. Fisher dragged seven children from the burning vehicle while under enemy fire. As he removed the final
child, insurgents moved in closer, finding a new target for their hostile fire, hitting Sgt. Fisher five times. All victims were rushed to a nearby military hospital. Miraculously, all seven children survived. Sgt. Fisher was pronounced dead on arrival.
A look of confusion on Vinny’s face, I remove the dog tags he’d ripped off his neck the day he found out the truth about his father.
“These dog tags belong to a hero. I researched the ID number. The man you’ve honored by wearing them may not be your father, but I thought you would be proud to wear them today anyway.”
Vinny closes his eyes for a minute and I watch as his throat works to swallow. Eyes opening to a window of emotion, pain that was only just recently in the forefront being overshadowed by caring and love, he leans down and lowers his head. Gently, I slip the worn tags around his neck, softly kissing his cheek.
Vinny pulls me against his chest for a hug, wrapping his arms around me tightly. “You rewrote the ending of my story with the truth.”
I smile against his chest. I hadn’t thought about it that way, but I guess I did. Releasing his grip on me, Vinny pulls his head back enough to look into my eyes. His baby blues shoot an arrow straight through my heart, “I’m rewriting the ending to our story, Liv. I’m giving you your happily ever after. I promise.”
Finally,
m
ore than seven years in the making, I have no doubt that he will.
*****
Dear Readers,
If you liked Vince & Liv, then please check out Jax & Lily this Spring
.
Growing up the privileged son of a wealthy Senator, Jax Knight
followed the path he was expected to follow. But after realizing everything he grew up
believing was a lie, he decides it’s time to forge his own way. And for the first time in his life, things don’t come easy. Especially love. The MMA Fighter series concludes in
Worth Forgiving
, the story of Jax & Lily.
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Other Books by Vi Keeland
Worth the Fight
http://www.amazon.com/Worth-Fight-Vi-Keeland-ebook/dp/B00FLG5B9S
Belong to You
http://www.amazon.com/Belong-You-Cole-Novel-ebook/dp/B00BUTCXLE
Made for You
http://www.amazon.com/Made-You-Cole-Novel-ebook/dp/B00DPWVKS6
First Thing I See
http://www.amazon.com/First-Thing-I-See-ebook/dp/B00AWXY3HG
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Acknowledgements
To Andrea, how did I make it through the day before you? I’m not even sure where to begin. Thank you for beta reading (the same book a
dozen times), midnight stalking, 5AM chats, and your constant support and guidance. I can’t believe it took us so long to find our frie
ndship when it was clearly meant to be.
To some very special women, Carmen, Jen, Dallison, & Nita, thank you, thank you, thank
you! For beta reading, editing, honesty, support and friendship.
Thank you so much
to all of the bloggers that generously give their time to read and support Indie Authors! Without your support, our stories would not be read by so many!
Finally, thank you so much to all the readers. It is so much fun to create stories when you have amazing readers to love your characters. Keep your notes coming, I truly love hearing from you!
All my best,
Vi
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