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  Vinny’s Vow

  I Want What I Get

  Book 1

  Jaden Sinclair

  Published by

  Melange Books, LLC

  White Bear Lake, MN 55110

  www.melange-books.com

  Vinny’s Vow ~ Copyright  2016 by Jaden Sinclair

  ISBN: 978-1-68046-376-7

  Names, characters, and incidents depicted in this book are products of the

  author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events,

  locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and

  beyond the intent of the author or the publisher. No part of this book may be

  reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or

  mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage

  and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Published in the United States of America.

  Cover Design by Caroline Andrus

  Prologue

  “I said no!”

  Charlene Rivers shoved her boyfriend away from her as hard as she

  could. He didn’t go easy, not with as many drinks as he’d had and how

  desperate he seemed to get into her pants. She should’ve known he’d do

  something stupid like shoving her into the men’s room, no doubt with

  the hope he might get lucky. The kissing and touching were okay, but

  not when he put his hand up her dress. Here she was, face to face with a

  man who clearly had too much alcohol in his system, thinking he had the

  right to feel her up.

  “You belong to me,” Levi Kendricks snarled before grabbing her

  breast and closing his fingers brutally over it. “It’s time you gave that

  cherry up.”

  Levi Kendricks was the golden boy in town. He always got

  everything he wanted and could always depend on his father to get him

  out of any kind of trouble he might find himself involved in. Girls hung

  on his arms, he had money, and at one time Charlene thought she was

  lucky to be with a guy like him. Not anymore. Now all she wanted to do

  was get away from him as fast as she could, only he was blocking the

  door.

  “I told you, no.” She pushed his hand away and slapped him across

  the face. “I’m done, Levi. It’s over. I don’t want to do this anymore with

  you.”

  “Oh, no you don’t. It’s over when I say it’s over.” His hand came up

  so fast she didn’t even see it coming. Charlene went down to the floor. “I

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  believe it’s time for me to show you what happens to cock teasers when

  they don’t deliver.”

  “What the hell is going on here?”

  Charlene released a soft, relieved sigh at hearing her best friend’s

  brother’s voice. Vinny couldn’t have shown up at a better time.

  “Stay out of this, Laron,” Levi warned.

  “Did you hit her?” Vinny demanded.

  Vinny was six feet three inches tall. Built like a warrior of old, he

  had wide shoulders, thick arms, narrow waist, tree trunk-like legs, and

  long black hair which used to be down to his shoulders before he went

  into the army to pay for college.

  He shoved Levi out of the way and helped Charlene back up to her

  feet, turning her head to look at the spot where Levi had just hit her.

  “You know, Kendricks, I’ve had just about enough of your shit.” Vinny

  turned around fast, his fist connecting with Levi’s face, knocking him

  right on his ass. “You want to beat on someone, why don’t you try me?”

  Levi stayed on the floor, holding his nose with both hands, blood

  slipping through his fingers. Before he could say or do anything, Vinny

  took hold of him by the back of his jacket, heaved him up, and shoved

  him out of the men’s room. The door closed behind Levi.

  “Let me take a look,” Vinny said.

  “I’m fine,” Charlene stated, trying to give him a smile, but failing.

  Instead, she ended up breaking down and crying. Vinny pulled her into

  his arms.

  The tears came, and she couldn’t make them stop. For months now

  she’d been doing nothing but fighting Levi off. Why in the world she

  ever dated a man she didn’t have any real feelings for, she couldn’t say.

  She should’ve ended it weeks ago, not waited until he’d had too many

  drinks. Now look at her. A fight started, she was attacked, and now was

  crying in another man’s arms.

  “I’m sor—” she started to say, only to be cut off by his lips coming

  down on her own.

  The kiss came unexpectedly. Hell, she never even realized Vinny

  thought of her as anything but another sister. His kiss was definitely not,

  however, of a sisterly nature.

  He pulled back, looked her in the eye, and came back down for

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  another, deeper, more intense kiss. His tongue came out, touched hers,

  and she could taste the bitterness of beer he’d been drinking. Charlene

  couldn’t suppress the moan that slipped free or even think about stopping

  him from picking her up and sitting her down on the basin where he

  could stand between her legs.

  She jumped at the first contact of his hand on her bare leg. The kiss

  kept going, his hands slipping under her dress, right up to her panties.

  Charlene almost panicked until those hands went around and under her

  rear, picking her up, bringing her closer to his body and the hardness of

  his erection pressing against her. The warm contact of his body against

  hers had her throbbing, waking up for something she’d felt before only

  from her own hand.

  Things sped up in an instant. His hands were moving, his fingers

  touching places, causing tingles to shoot up her spine. Her thin satin

  panties were pushed to the side, exposing her sex without even taking

  them off. Fingers teased her clit, rubbing up and down, and just as she

  started coming back to her senses, she felt him there. The hot male part

  of Vinny touched her, pressed, and pushed against her—entering her.

  His long, drugging kiss stopped, but that didn’t mean his mouth

  stopped. Vinny placed light, tender kisses along the spot where Levi had

  slapped her, down her chin, and lower to her throat. The entire time,

  more of his flesh eased into and gently parted her.

  Something about the way Vinny was touching her made all the bad

  things Levi had done melt away. Feelings for Vinny she’d thought were

  long gone came back in full force. She gave in to his touch, to his kiss.

  Nothing he did felt wrong. Everything felt so right and gave her hope,

  which deep down she knew she shouldn’t have. As much as she wanted

  to remind herself he’d only hurt her in the end, she couldn’t toss away

  how good he was making her feel with his touches. Then it all changed.

  He burned her from the inside out, stretching her to a point where

  she feared he might hurt her or do damage of some kind. Then the real

  pain h
it. Something deep inside of her popped, and she was certain he’d

  hurt her bad inside.

  Unable to handle anymore, Charlene pushed him from her as hard as

  she could. Vinny stumbled backward, slipping out of her body. She fixed

  her dress, not looking at him, and then rushed out of the bathroom as fast

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  as she could. She couldn’t look at him, not after that. Pushing her way

  through the group of people at the bar, she made her way to the front

  door. She knew he was trying to follow. She could almost feel him

  behind her, which helped to get her legs to move even faster. She didn’t

  want to face him, knew she couldn’t, and was thankful he’d be leaving

  for the army in the morning. With him gone, she could put this whole

  thing behind her and forget it ever happened.

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  Chapter One

  As soon as he turned eighteen, Vincent Laron, known as Vinny to

  his family and close friends, joined the army. Needless to say, that pissed

  his father off big time, a father who didn’t give a shit about him except

  when he felt a need to use his fists. Vinny got to be his punching bag.

  The fight which broke out ruined one lounge chair in the front room, the

  coffee table, and a few dishes. End result, Vinny still joined the army in

  spite of his father’s wishes, and his father went to jail for assault and the

  fights he kept starting at home.

  As to what had happened to his father, all anyone ever knew for sure

  was Ed Laron upped and left one night. A few years later, Vinny got a

  letter saying the police had found his father dead. That left just him and

  his sister, Amanda. She’d saved up the money he’d sent her to pay for

  beauty school, which made everything he’d been through worthwhile.

  He was happy to have helped her achieve her dream in starting her own

  shop. He wanted his sister to be able to do something with her life. Oh,

  he still sent her money each month, and he got a big laugh out of her

  letters always telling him to stop doing it, that she was fine.

  He drove into his home town with a slight grin on his lips,

  completely relaxed as he hadn’t been in a long while. Home. He was

  back home where he not only belonged but to a place he’d truly missed.

  Funny how, when looking back over the past years, he could say he’d

  been homesick for the town and a few of the people in it. Most of his

  young adult life he couldn’t think of anything other than getting away

  from all of it, except for his sister and Charlene River, her best friend.

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  Even after all this time, Vinny had a hard time accepting his feelings

  toward Charlie. For years he’d thought of her as another sister. Because

  she was younger, he’d tried to do the right thing by keeping his distance

  and succeeded until that night at the bar, when the flood gates opened.

  He couldn’t close them back up. When Levi Kendricks slapped her,

  Vinny saw red. At the same time, his raw need to claim her as his

  overcame him, which didn’t end the way it should’ve. He knew from the

  start she’d never been with a man, and when things started to heat up he

  went as slow as he could. What happened, and how she was able to push

  him off before he could make it enjoyable—oh yeah, that was the booze.

  He was half-drunk when he walked in on her and Levi. Having so much

  alcohol in his system clouded how he reacted to being with her. He saw

  her and after wanting her for such a long time, he couldn’t walk away

  when he was holding her right where he’d needed her to be. He had to

  have her. What did he go and do? He’d fucked it all up.

  For him, having sex with Charlie, who was a virgin at the time, was

  something that didn’t sit very well with him. The first thing on his list of

  things to do was to fix the mess he’d created with her. He just hoped like

  hell that during the four years since he’d last seen her, the door he’d

  finally opened up between them hadn’t been firmly closed. He was sure

  if she’d found someone else, his sister would’ve mentioned it in one of

  her letters. After all, Vinny had spilled the beans to Amanda. He’d

  shared everything that had happened between him and Charlie right

  before he left the last time. He needed her to keep an eye out and make

  sure Charlie was okay. They just didn’t tell Charlie Amanda knew.

  Taking a turn, he entered Main Street. Not really knowing where

  Amanda’s shop was located, he found a spot and parked his car. Walking

  a bit to stretch his legs would help the bad knee he had as a result of his

  time in the service of his country as well.

  Getting out, he stretched, and his body popped. He was only twenty-

  two. He should be in the prime of his life, but the army had taken so

  much out of him. A couple of tours on overseas duty, serving during war

  time, and it only took one stray bullet landing in just the right spot in his

  knee to take him out of action. Hell, it had taken him a full year in rehab

  before he was able to walk away from all the surgeries they had to do in

  order to repair the damn thing.

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  No matter how good it felt to be home, it felt strange knowing he

  was home for good and his injuries meant he wouldn’t be going back out

  there ever again.

  Locking the truck and pocketing the keys, he went in search of the

  shop. This was to be a big surprise for Amanda. She didn’t know he was

  coming home for good. He hadn’t told her. He wanted to see her face

  when he walked in, just like he couldn’t wait to see Charlie’s face when

  he saw her.

  Walking down the main street sidewalk, he was surprised by all the

  closed shops, but he had to grin at the onlookers. Being away for four

  years changed him. For one, even though he had to go through therapy,

  had to learn how to walk all over again, he still managed to keep himself

  in shape. His body wasn’t like it used to be. He’d filled out even more.

  His height hadn’t changed, he still stood at six-three, but his shoulders

  were wider and thicker, as were his legs. Hell, his jean size had gone up

  thanks to those legs, and finding shirts for him was no fun. They were

  either tight, showing off his muscles or baggy as hell. He went with tight

  and knew he looked like a giant walking down the sidewalk. It had him

  grinning behind his sunglasses.

  He passed the diner, not even bothering to look inside. The local

  sheriff’s car was parked out front, and from the shiny black jag next to it,

  he had a pretty good idea who might be there, since only one person in

  town was flash enough to drive something like that—Levi. Four

  buildings down from the diner he found the shop. Sunshine Valley, a

  name Amanda picked out years ago when they were kids, hiding from

  their father one of the times he tore up the house during a drunken fit.

  With a slight grin, Vinny opened the door, took off his glasses, and

  stepped inside. A tiny bell rang from overhead and every woman inside

  stopped what they were doing to look at him.

  “Take a seat and some
one will be with you in a second,” Amanda

  said as she worked on a woman.

  “Just need a bit off the top, I think,” he said, waiting for the sound of

  his voice to click.

  It didn’t take long.

  Amanda stopped curling, looked up, and just about dropped the

  curling iron on top of the head of the woman she was working on.

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  “Vinny!” She rushed to him, jumping into his arms. He laughed, picking

  her up in a tight hug, swinging her around like he did when she was

  little. “You shit! Why didn’t you call?”

  “And miss this? Are you kidding?” He smiled, putting her back

  down on her feet.

  “Oh my God, you’ve gotten bigger.” She took hold of his arms and

  held them out. “Damn if you don’t look good.” Another hug, this time

  with her arms around his waist. “How long do I have you for?”

  “How does permanently sound?”

  She pulled back to give him a wide-eyed stare. “Are you serious?”

  “Done. Honorable discharge for my knee. Got full benefits and a

  pension coming in. I’m home for good.”

  “You don’t know how much I love hearing that.”

  The woman Amanda was working on was impatient. “Umm, excuse

  me, but can you finish my hair, please? I do have a wedding to get to.”

  “Sure.” Amanda didn’t stop smiling as she returned to the woman.

  She went back to curling her hair. “So what are your plans then? Where

  are you staying?”

  “Got an extra room?” he asked with one eyebrow going up.

  “You know I do,” she said. “Hell, you don’t have to ask. In fact, I’d

  be pissed if you didn’t, and you know it.

  Yeah, he knew. She had a house now and had more than enough

  room, more sometimes than what she needed. Three years ago she

  bought the old house in the woods they used to hide in when Dad pulled

  his crap and had it restored, four bedrooms and all.