Chapter 11
ELEVEN
PALLAS
Pallas pulled into her driveway behind her Civic and turned so he could look at her when she gave his arm a gentle squeeze.
“Thanks,” she gave him a hesitant smile, “for listening and understanding.”
He grinned back at her. “Pretty good for a grunt, right?”
She rolled her eyes. “Is that a military thing? Grunt?”
Pallas laughed. “You haven’t heard that?”
“No.” She stroked her fingers along his arm. He didn’t think she was aware of it. “But I don’t know a lot of the lingo.”
“Well, I’ll tell you about it sometime.”
“Great,” she agreed. “It’ll be nice to listen to you talk instead of me.”
“You need to talk it out to get it out of your system.”
She rolled her eyes. “I know. That’s why Maile’s been trying to get me to get back up on the horse and ride. And she’s not talking about horses.”
Knowing her cousin, he didn’t think so.
“There are other ways,” he assured her. “Maybe I'll take you to that place at Ala Moana where they let you throw axes, and you can get out your frustrations that way.”
“And maybe you can impress me with your skills."
He turned his hand, grasping her hand in his, and brought it to his lips to give her a kiss across her knuckles. "I can go alpha male for you. Maybe I'll beat my chest and do some push-ups."
She laughed and he was happy to hear it. "We'd have to bring Maile. She'd go nuts if you did that. Maybe you can ask Axl to come as well."
He groaned but kept smiling. "Those two are either going to kill each other-"
"Or fall head over heels in love." She agreed. "Don't worry, Maile doesn't have any of my hangups."
"As much as I'm happy that she's your cousin, I'm not worried about your 'hangups' as you call them.
I'm worried about you being happy. If she does that for you, then that's all I need to know.
" He leaned across and gave her a gentle kiss on her cheek.
"I'm going to get out the cooler and bring the food inside. "
"Wait! Why don't you take that with you?"
"I live in a tiny apartment on base. I'd end up with most of it spoiling. It's better to put it in your kitchen and you can use it."
"Or you can stay for a while."
"Or I can stay for a while."
She reached for the handle and pushed the door open.
"Hey, I was coming to get that for you."
"If you don't hurry," she gave him a broad grin, "I'm going to get all of the food out before you get there."
She slipped out of the seat and closed the door.
He was left to hustle after her.
KAWEHI
It didn't take long to put things away, but inside the house, Kawehi had only turned on the light above the sink.
It was easier to leave the house mostly in darkness so she could try and hide her expression.
It wasn't that she didn't want him in her house, she was trying to get her own feelings together.
Did she want him?
Absolutely.
Did she feel for him? Emotionally?
Yes. More than she was willing to admit.
But she knew that she'd made a mess of their night at Bellows.
Even though she'd stopped him, she knew that she'd been ready.
She just wasn't sure that she wanted her first time with him in a cabin with a bunch of other people around.
Then why didn't you just say that?
Domenico had been right about the rest of it.
Nick.
He'd been gone for two years and no, she didn't love him anymore. She just wasn't sure that she was loveable.
Nick was what he called a steak and potatoes kind of guy. He was a man's man. He had a good appetite for sex. His words.
Her take on it? He wanted sex, but he didn't really care if she was on the same page.
That definitely wasn't Dom.
When he touched her- Every time he touched her, her body was right there with him. It felt like just a look or a touch from him and she was ready. There was just something about Dom that made her feel appreciated and cherished.
He listened to her.
He held her.
He protected her.
Everything he did made her feel like he was considering her feelings as well.
So was he like Nick? Absolutely not.
But was she the woman to make him happy? She didn't know.
She wanted to be that woman.
She just wasn't sure that she was ready to try and fail with him.
She felt like the only thing holding her to Nick was their marriage. That piece of paper in the computer banks at the Department of Health.
But as she stood there in her kitchen, just a few inches away from Dom, she knew with a terrible certainty that she was already in love with the man standing beside her.
Earlier she’d still been fighting her feelings for him, but she had already been falling at that time.
Now, she had to admit she was in a complete free fall.
She loved him, there was no denying that.
Before she could even begin to understand how that had happened, Dom stretched and yawned. "Sorry."
"No. Don't be sorry," she smiled at him, touching her fingers to his chest. "You're tired."
"I'm good." He leaned in and kissed her gently on the lips. "It was all that sun."
"Ha ha." She chuckled. "I don't think you should drive back to the base if you're tired."
"I know there's a Wendy's somewhere close and I can get coffee."
Kawehi stepped in closer and wrapped her arms around his middle so she could lay her head on his chest. "Do you have to get up early in the morning?"
He rubbed his hands along her back, and she enjoyed the way they seemed to melt into each other.
"No. I don't have to do anything until the afternoon tomorrow."
She leaned back and looked up into his face. "Why don't we lie down and get some rest, then I won't have to worry about you falling asleep on the drive back to the base."
"You don't have to worry about me-"
She touched her fingertip to his lips. "Now why does that sound so familiar?"
"Great minds think alike?"
They were both laughing then, just holding each other. Kawehi felt his heart pounding against her own and she loosened her hold on him. "So, are you going to sleep a little? You don't have to stay the night. I just want to make sure you're not sleepy on the way back to your apartment."
He sighed, but before she could ask him what it was about, he swept her up into his arms and over his shoulder. "Okay, where are we going?"
She was shaking with laughter. "How did you do that?"
He gave a soft pat on her backside. "Where are we going?"
"End of the hall."
They were there in a moment, and he set her back on her feet. "You want me to shower before I get in bed?"
She gave him a tempting smile. "I’ll shower and change and leave it to you. Don’t worry. I have a great hot water heater and I like it cool to the touch."
Kawehi moved to her dresser and pulled something out. "Do you need me to lend you something to wear?"
She was laughing when he took out his keys. “I’ve got a change of clothes in the car.”
She had a lightness to her step as she left the room.
PALLAS
Waking up in Kawehi's bed was amazing. Back at his apartment, it didn't matter what time he got up, his back always hurt. But waking up with his arms around her was a game changer.
He leaned his head forward, nestling his face into the crook of her neck.
Why did she always smell amazing?
He brushed his lips against her neck and then relaxed again.
He wasn't about to wake her up unless she needed to get up early. Pallas was more than happy to keep her wrapped up in his arms.
The windows above the bed had curtains on them but they hadn't pulled them closed before bed the night before, letting the moonlight come in through the glass.
A ceiling fan above their heads spun around in soothing rhythm, and he felt a breeze come through the lower part of the window through the screen.
Whoever had placed the house on the plot of land had likely spent some time there to make sure that the breeze came right through the windows cooling the room.
Kawehi moved slightly against him, and he held still just in case she was going to head back to sleep.
"Are you holding your breath?"
"Guilty as charged." He laughed. "I didn't want to wake you."
"It's kind of hard not to," she snuggled back against him, "it's like sleeping with a heater."
He chuckled and tried to move away.
"I don't mind that you're warm. It must be what it feels like to cuddle up with a bear."
"A bear, huh?" He reached up and tickled her sides.
"Hey!" She pushed his hands away and turned around to launch her counterattack.
Pallas wasn't all that ticklish, but she seemed to find just the right spots and he rolled on his back trying to give him a chance to grab her hands and stop her, but it took longer than he thought was possible.
And when he finally got his hands wrapped around her wrists, he was on his back and she was sitting on top of him, her legs straddling his thighs.
"Well..." She swallowed and her chest rose and fell as she breathed. "What if we call a truce on the tickling?"
He smiled at how soft and breathy her voice was. Kawehi was a strong woman even if she didn't believe that about herself. Hearing her trying to catch her breath was a sound he liked.
A lot.
It also didn't hurt that she was straddled over him.
He didn't wake up with morning wood, but he was quickly getting hard.
"Are you going to keep holding onto my wrists?"
"You want me to let you go?"
"I'm... not sure."
She swallowed and he saw the way that her throat worked and he licked at his lips.
He sat up and she drew in a quick gasp. "What?"
"You just sat up. That's some serious ab stuff." She smiled and he found the humor in her expression incredibly sexy.
"Is that another Maile-ism?"
She shrugged. "She forced me to watch several seasons of Bachelor in Paradise. There were a lot of abs and workout montages." She looked down at his stomach. "You put them all to shame."
"Yeah?"
Kawehi nodded and leaned forward.
He met her halfway in a kiss.
And then another.
Pallas murmured against her lips. "Waking up with you is amazing."
She blushed and turned away from him. "I was so afraid you'd run screaming from the house when you saw my hair."