Chapter 7
SEVEN
Vince knew at a glance who Cora's brother was.
They didn't resemble each other at all, but they didn't need to.
As they walked into the baggage claim area for Alaska Air, he saw the mountain of a man hovering by the moving conveyor belt.
It wasn't more than a second before the man turned to look at the woman walking beside him, almost as if he sensed her presence.
Another second later his gaze fell on their joined hands and Vince swore he saw the man bristle.
Cora's quick in-drawn breath and beatific smile lit Vince up inside as well.
As soon as she moved forward, he let go of her hand and he brought his hands together in a self-soothing gesture. He'd never been one for holding hands when he was dating someone. He hardly liked to touch others in casual gestures, but he already knew that Cora was different.
He wanted to touch her hand.
Her hair.
And-
She jumped and the redheaded mountain of a man hugged her tight.
He even smiled and Vince had a feeling that it didn't happen all that often.
"OHMYGOD, I swear you've grown!"
"Me?" Her brother's laugh sounded like it was bouncing back off of all of the walls.
But Vince was smiling at Cora's exclamation.
If she was right, her brother had still been a giant when she saw him last, but what had him feeling like his face was full in the sun, was the look on her face as her brother turned her in a slow circle and set her down on the ground. She was so happy that she was practically incandescent with joy.
Out of the corner of his eyes, Vince kept an eye out for the bags that were coming in from the flight, so he wasn't invading their reunion. It wasn't like they had any hope of privacy in an airport, but he wanted her to have every moment she could get with her brother.
He knew how much she'd missed being near her brother. She'd told Vince all kinds of stories of their exploits growing up and he knew how nervous she was to see him after over a year of being apart.
It was good to see that a man that big could be gentle and protective of any woman, but Vince could see how much Cameron loved his sister. No matter how Cameron treated Vince, Vince was determined to get along with the Marine.
Inwardly he cringed.
He didn't have a problem with Marines, but Marines tended to have a problem with Navy sailors. It was something he'd gotten used to.
It didn't mean he liked it.
"Cam, come meet Vince."
Vince started in their direction and heard the question he knew was coming.
"Who is Vince?"
Vince reached out his hand to Cora's brother and gave him a smile that he hoped Cameron couldn't find fault with. "I'm Vince. Vince Lazar. It's nice to meet you."
He waited a moment to see if Cameron was going to shake his hand, but it seemed like he wasn't about to, and Vince had to consider how to back out of it without calling too much attention to the slight.
"Come on, Cam." Cora's laugh diffused the tightness in Vince's chest. "Don't be a dork. Come on, give me your hand."
Vince watched as she had to grunt a little as she forcibly lifted her brother's hand from his side.
"Oh, all right, Bug."
She yelped as her brother's hand reached out and she lost hold of it.
"I'll be a nice guy."
Vince relaxed and then he saw Cameron smile, but he should have known that wasn't the end of it.
Her brother took his hand in a punishing grip. "Nice to meet you, Vince."
Cameron punctuated his name with an added squeeze.
"Nice to meet you, Cameron."
Vince had to work not to wince at the added pressure, but he wasn't going to make it difficult for Cora who was beaming at her brother.
"Remember when you said I could bring a friend to Hawaii with me?"
Holy shit!
Vince was fairly sure that Cameron had just broken a bone in his hand.
"Well, this is Vince, my friend."
Friend.
That's when Cameron broke contact with Vince's hand.
Vince managed to lower it back to his side without shaking it to test if he still had feeling in all of his fingers.
"I haven't heard about Vince before."
Cora rolled her eyes."I don't tell you everything about my life, Cam."
The mountain of a marine turned to face his sister and put his hands on her shoulders. "You brought a guy to Hawaii with you?"
"Cam, stop it! He's a friend."
"He's a man, Bug!"
Vince smiled at the nickname and made a mental note to ask about it later.
"He's my guest, Cam."
Vince watched as her brother took in her words and made the conscious decision not to make this into a public confrontation in the baggage claim area.
With an almost smile, Cameron dropped his arm around his sister's shoulders. "Welcome to Hawaii, Vince."
"Thanks. I know you weren't expecting me, but when Cora asked, I couldn't say no."
The look in Cameron's eyes said he should have, but Cora couldn't see it.
"Well, any friend of my sister's..."
"Oh!" Cora jumped. "There's my suitcase!"
Vince turned to look at the belt as she pointed at the line of baggage moving slowly in an oval. "The pink one?"
"Yep! That's mine!"
Vince set his duffel down and grabbed the handle of the bag, smiling at the multicolored yarn pompom on the handle. When he turned around and set it at her feet, she put her hand on his shoulder.
"Thanks. I could have gotten it."
" Harrumph ."
Vince almost burst out laughing, but managed to hold it in. "Happy to get it for you. Did you check in anything else?"
She shook her head and craned her neck to look at the conveyor belt. "What does your bag look like?"
Vince gestured at the duffel he set down at his feet. "This is it."
"That's all that you brought with you?"
Cameron's laugh was just a snort of sound. "He's a guy. What does he need to bring to Hawaii?"
Cora smiled at Vince and looked up at her brother. "You're right. All he really needed was a skimpy Speedo and a t-shirt."
Cameron tensed beside his sister and Vince took a moment to remember where his medical card was.
And then Cora lifted her hand and gave Cameron's stomach a pat with her hand. "Calm down, Cam-bot. Vince is a nice guy. No need to turn into Terminator mode. He's not going to put me in any danger and you," she gave Cameron's stomach a couple of pats and her smile brightened, "aren't going to put him in any danger."
Cameron's phone pinged and he fished his phone out of his pocket, keeping an eye on Vince. His gaze dipped down to the phone screen before he answered it. "Yeah?" He slid a side-ways look at his sister and smiled, making Vince smile at him in turn.
"I've got her and her..." Cameron gave Vince a pointed look, "baggage. Meet me outside where you dropped me off."
Before Cameron could reach for Cora's bag, Vince wrapped his hand around the handle. "You two go ahead. I'll bring the bags."
Cameron nodded and gave him a grudging head nod that said Vince wasn't a complete asshole before heading for the exit.
Vince followed behind them, rolling Cora's suitcase beside him. He smiled at the whole scene. He couldn't believe that he was actually in Hawaii with a woman he'd met less than twelve hours before.
As the double doors slid open, a wave of heat rushed in to hit him like a wall.
Ahead of him, Cora turned around wide-eyed and mouthed 'WOW' at him.
He smiled and nodded.
The heat was incredible.
Certainly not what he'd packed for.
He hadn't packed a heavy-duty jacket, he had thermals under his clothes and knew that he could use one of the jackets he'd left behind in Maine when he got there. His grandmother had already told him that she wanted to take him to the store to get something new and heavier for him. "The wind in Chicago," she'd said to him half a dozen times, "isn't something to turn your nose up at, Vinnie. You should be warm. You can't get sick."
Now, as he stepped out into the heat, he had to suck in a breath.
He started sweating and not just from her brother's chilly greeting, but the crazy wall of heat he was currently slogging through.
Vince knew he should have taken off that layer while they were on the plane, but he didn't want to waste a single minute of the flight with Cora, so he'd kept to his seat and now, he was hoping that the car picking them up wasn't that far away.
And he let out a breath, relieved when Cameron lifted his hand in the air to wave down a car.
The bright red Chevy Silverado pulled into the curb with ease and a man hopped out of the driver's door, but Cameron waved him off. "I got this, Buck. Thanks."
The silver haired man shrugged and called out over the hood. "You want to drive?"
Cameron nodded. "You know it."
Vince kept himself from rolling his eyes at the other man's answer. Of course he wanted to drive. And if he could, Cameron would like to run that truck over him. Vince had no doubt about that.
"I'll put the bags in the back." Vince saw Cora turn around to reach for her bag and he smiled at her enjoying the joy on her face. He knew he'd do whatever he could to keep it there. "Go ahead and get in."
Vince tried to ignore the drip of sweat down his back. He knew that he had to get his thermal off, sooner rather than later.
As soon as he lifted his duffel bag over the tailgate and into the back of the truck he bent over where he thought he was out of sight and reached up and over his head to pull of his Henley shirt. Instead of just grabbing the over shirt, he pulled both of them off. The rush of air along his back was a sharp relief. He straightened his posture a little as he tried to pull the two shirts apart so he could just put one back on.
"Uh, you okay, man?"
Vince turned, standing upright in a heartbeat. It wasn't Cameron, thank god. It was the man who'd pulled up in the truck.
Caught, Vince used part of his thermal that wasn't wet and wiped at his chest with it.
"Yeah. Sorry. I dressed for the weather in Chicago this morning."
Buck narrowed his eyes a little at him and Vince had the distinct impression that Buck could see right through him.
It was a good thing that Vince didn't have anything to hide.
"I didn't think about how hot it was going to be in Hawaii." True.
"Well, you better get in before Cameron takes off without you."
Vince stood up and looked over the bed of the truck and sure enough, he could see Cameron looking at him in the rear-view mirror.
And one red eyebrow lifted up.
Vince dropped his chin down and looked at himself.
Cameron could definitely see that he wasn't wearing a shirt.
Buck clapped a hand down on his shoulder. "Tread carefully, man. Axl's a big brother in every sense of the word.”
“Axl?” Vince had to ask.
Buck grinned at him. “It’s what the team calls him. Seriously, he's been looking forward to having Cora here for the holiday. I know he wasn't expecting her to bring a guy."
Vince nodded as he pulled his Henley back on. "I'm not here to cause problems. I'm certainly not going to hurt Cora."
"Good to know. Cuz I'd hate to have to bury a body here in paradise." Buck rounded the truck toward the passenger side. "You're sitting behind the driver. Cora's up front in the passenger seat."
"Sure," Vince managed a smile. "That's fine."
Buck chuckled as he continued to walk. "Sorry, son. No one asked you."
Vince settled his shirt and quickly folded up his thermal so he could tuck it into his duffel.
What a crazy adventure he'd gotten himself into.
He moved around to the driver's side of the truck and opened the back door. As he settled into the seat and pulled the seat belt across his body to buckle it in, he saw movement over the middle console and looked up.
Cora was smiling back at him, her hand reaching out.
He took hold of her fingers and gave them a gentle squeeze, his heart swelling in his chest at the smiling look in her eyes.
"Buckled in?" Her voice moved over his skin like a physical touch.
"Yeah," he nodded.
"Good," she squeezed his fingers. "I'm really glad you came with me, Vince."
"Oh brother." Cameron put the truck into drive, and they were off, almost throwing Vince back against the seat.
"Cam!"
Cora sat back in her seat and glared at her brother. "Jerk."
Cameron turned to look at her with a grin. "Love you, too."