Chapter 11
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."
He let go of one wrist and combed his fingers through her hair. "I like it. Wild curls." He watched her eyes to see how she was reacting and cupped his hand around the back of the nape of her neck. "I like seeing you like this."
She moved easily with his guiding hand and opened her lips against his.
Pallas smiled as he deepened their kiss.
He teased her tongue with his own and when she turned her head to give him better access, he swept his tongue against her, making love to her with his mouth.
A soft whimper reached his ears and his cock jumped behind the Velcro closure of his board shorts. He let go of her other wrist and her hands grasped onto his shoulders. He combed his fingers through her hair again so he could hold it back from her face.
He felt her fingers bite into his shoulders and her tongue passed the barrier of their lips and into his mouth.
The shift of her weight pushed against him, and he lowered himself back to the bed to give her access.
She moved up, her knees coming to rest beside his hips, bringing her heat to the base of his cock.
He moaned into her mouth, and she deepened the kiss.
He skimmed his hands over her back, finding buttons along the back of her loose nightgown.
Pallas wanted to undo the buttons, but he didn't want to do it without asking her first, so he fiddled with the buttons to keep his hands busy.
Kawehi broke off the kiss and looked down into his face. "Yeah."
He smiled. "Yeah?"
She smiled right back. "Please." Then she was kissing him again.
It felt like heaven, feeling her passion building with their kisses. He moved his hands back to her buttons and slid them free with ease.
Pallas felt her smile against his lips before he broke off the kiss again. "It's open."
Kawehi nodded. "Help me get it off?"
KAWEHI
The look on his face made her ache.
As his fingers parted the back of her nightgown, she braced her hands on his chest and splayed her fingers over his skin.
The look in his eyes darkened. "I love having your hands on me."
She bit into her bottom lip as he peeled her nightgown down her arms. Moments before the neckline of her gown dropped below her breasts, she was tempted to turn away, but she didn't.
When the neckline of the cotton gown caught on and pulled free of her nipples, falling to her waist, she kept her eyes on Dom. She wanted to see what he thought.
What he felt.
And he looked her over from head to hip with open amazement in his eyes.
He moved his hands, lifting them, fisting, and flexing his hands as if he wasn't sure what he should do.
So she showed him.
Yes, she'd never have done this if it wasn't Dom.
He gave her the courage and the strength to ask for what she wanted.
Just as he had done to her, she caught at his wrists and lifted his hands, bringing them to her breasts. She'd never been so forward with anyone, not that she'd had a lot of experience in her life, but the instant Dom's hands came in contact with her bare skin, she forgot that anyone else existed.
His hands cupped her breasts, gently weighing them against his palms. Then, his thumbs brushed across her nipples, and she felt shivers roll through her body. Her nipples hardened as his thumbs moved over them. The feelings that his gentle and teasing touches wrought in her body were incredible.
She'd never felt like that before.
She moved her hands over his chest and his shoulders, her skin growing hotter and hotter. "That feels... that feels..."
He smiled at her, a slow stretch of his lips. Lips that she'd felt on her own and dreamed of against her skin.
"Tell me,” He licked his lips, focusing his eyes on her face, "tell me how it feels."
"Amazing." Her breaths came faster, but deeper, pressing her breasts into his hands. "I've dreamed..."
She lost the ability to speak when his fingers pinched at her nipples, twisting them between his fingers.
Her thighs squeezed against his thighs, and she leaned into his touch, the ache between her legs increasing.
"I've dreamed of what this would be like."
His smile faded a little when she moved closer, and she hesitated.
"Dom?"
"You feel so good there."
She looked down and her breath caught.
The string that tied the front of his board shorts together had loosened and was gaping open. The Velcro didn't stand a chance against the pressure of his cock and had almost pulled it open.
She'd moved up his thighs and now she realized what she'd been pressing against.
She rolled her hips against him and felt his chest move under her hands, his lungs swelling with each breath.
"Kawehi?"
She wasn't sure she had the ability to speak, nodding instead.
"I want to taste you."
Taste?
She'd mouthed the word. Unsure of what he meant.
His fingers rolled her nipples, making her breasts even more sensitive, tender... aching.
She nodded when her voice still failed her, enjoying the thick ridge of his erection pushing up against her clit. She didn't know exactly what he was saying, but she wanted it. She wanted him.
He sat up and still, it was amazing to see him do it without a twinge of effort on his part. She lifted her hands to his head, playing with his short cut hair, letting it tickle against her fingertips.
Dom removed one hand from her breast and moved it around to her back, settling it against her lower back so he could help her rock her hips against him.
"Oh, god..."
Any other words were cut off when he closed his lips around the tip of her breast.
And when she felt his tongue sweep across her nipple, she saw stars at the edges of her vision.
Her hands gripped at the back of his head, holding him close.
The sensations she was feeling were incredible and almost overwhelming.
The hard press of her sex against his, his hand on her breast, and his mouth... Oh the things he was doing with his mouth. Her head was spinning.
"Dom... Dom, wait."
He leaned back, his lips glossed and parted. "You want me to stop?"
"No," she shook her head. "Yes." She moved her hands from his head to his neck, holding him gently. "I don't know. I feel like I'm about to lose my mind."
A curious expression settled across his features. "Have you... Have you had an orgasm before?"
She looked down at her hands, moving them down to his shoulders. "By myself. I thought I get good enough to make it happen during sex, but it never seemed to work."
"Sweetheart..."
"I know I can do it, I just... with you touching me in so many amazing places at once I feel like I'm going to faint before it happens."
He moved his hands to her back, gently smoothing them up and down almost to her waist and shoulders. "Does that feel okay?"
She nodded, her breaths easing a little. "Better."
"Where do you want me to touch you? How?"
Kawehi rocked her hips against him and bit into her lip when the ache between her legs intensified. "I liked it when you had her hand... on my back and-"
He placed one hand on her lower back and arched his hips under her. "Like that?"
She nodded, moving with him. "Yeah. Like that."
He lowered his other hand to the bed at his side and suddenly he was pressing against her, harder... higher.
"Oh, yes..."
He smiled, continuing the movements against her. "It feels great for me, too."
She smiled and a soft moan escaped her throat. "I'm glad, because I think I know what Maile meant..."
"Hmm?"
"Getting back on the horse."
The look he gave her was scorching. "I'd let you ride anytime."
"Yeah?" She was on the verge of being breathless. "But maybe not this first time?"
Dom looked over at the clock on the wall before he looked back at her. "Okay, gorgeous. Challenge accepted."
He wrapped an arm around her back and a moment later she was flat on her back with Dom leaning over her, smiling.
"Is this weird?" she asked him.
He smoothed her hair back from her face. "Weird, how?"
"I feel like we're still just us, together."
He tilted his head to the side and looked at her with a quizzical grin. "That's the thing when you're with someone you love. You can just be yourself and enjoy your time together."
Her eyes widened as he got up and stepped out of his board shorts.
Kawehi placed her hand over her heart, feeling it beat like it was racing. "You... you love me?"
"Yeah. I love you, Kawehi. I didn't think you were ready to hear it, but my mouth got ahead of my brain." He stopped at the bedside table with his wallet in his hands. "Are we okay?"
She nodded, her feelings rushing around in her heart. "Yeah, we're... we're more than okay." She looked at the wallet in his hands. "I hope you have a condom in there. I don't have one."
Smiling again, he opened his wallet and pulled out a couple of condoms, putting one down on the table with his open wallet. "I like to be prepared."
She laughed softly at that. "A Boy Scout?"
He ripped open the packet and lifted his brows with his smile. "Eagle Scout."
Kawehi couldn't believe how light she felt inside. Before, sex was always such a stressful thing. Something that was solemn at times and fraught with worry. She slipped off the side of the bed that he was on and hooking her thumbs into the nightgown that had caught at her waist and the panties she'd put on the night before, she worked them down to the floor at her feet before standing back up.
Dom was standing beside her, his gaze traveling over her from head to toe. "So beautiful."
She stepped closer, her hands on his chest, her breath almost catching in her throat. "I've never felt like this with anyone else. I never knew that I could feel this kind of attraction... passion. I want to feel like this over and over."
"I like to have goals in life," he touched her face with one hand and put the condom into one of her palms with the other. "Help me with his, sweetheart? Put your hands on me."
She didn't want to tell him that she didn't know how. Her... her partners had always done it, wasting no time getting on top of her and in her.
She wanted to give him some of the attention that he'd given her.
Kawehi took his hand and turned her back to the bed to sit down on the edge.
He stood there before her, looking like a marble god come to life. A mythological lover made of proportions that she'd never seen in classical art.
"Is it that funny?" Dom's voice held more than a hint of humor in it.
"I was just thinking that I've seen the David statue and Michelangelo had it all wrong. David wasn't the perfect man."
"Yeah?" Dom sucked in a breath when she trailed her fingertips across his belly. "So I make it on the list?"
Kawehi almost laughed at how surreal this felt. "You are the list."
Placing the condom at the tip of his cock, she used her hand to slowly roll it on. "I can't believe that you're here with me."
"I wouldn't be anywhere else."
When her hand reached the root of his cock she drew in a breath and felt a little lightheaded.
"Lie down, sweetheart. Let me love you."
She nodded and managed to get somewhere near the middle of the bed as she watched him get up on his hands and knees. "I'm trying to remember this moment so I can play it over again tonight before I sleep."
Dom moved closer and used his hands to spread her legs as he moved over her. "I'll never forget this."
When he was looking down at her, his eyes bright with what she thought was love, he moved his hands over her hips, leaned down to place kisses on her lips and her breasts.
Dom reached up near her head and pulled a pillow away from the headboard and swiftly tucked it under her hips.
He smiled at her. "You look surprised."
"The pillow," she gestured down at her hip, "I've never-"
"I think we have a lot of things to explore." He looked down and she felt his fingers sweep through her folds.
Her hips bucked a little at the sensations she felt.
He did it again, this time, slowly as if he was memorizing how she felt around his fingers.
"You're so slick. Ready for me."
In her head she wanted to beg him to start. She felt like she was standing on a cliff, ready to dive into the water, but she had no idea how.
That's when she felt it.
Felt him.
Poised against her, pressing into her.
She gasped in a breath when the tip of his cock slid inside of her.
It felt-
"Perfect."
She smiled up at him. "I was just thinking that."
"I was talking about how you feel."
She reached up and wrapped her hands around his upper arms as he sank deeper inside her. "Me, too."
He gripped the headboard with one hand and held her hip with the other, sinking deeper and deeper into her body until she felt like she might come from just feeling him stretching her body around him.
"I need... I need more," she bit into her lip again. "I'm sorry, I don't know why I said that."
"You said it," he leaned in for a kiss and she moaned from the slight friction of him moving inside of her, "because you want it. I'm glad you feel like you can tell me what you want. And what you need. It's going to make this so much better."
She opened her mouth to ask him what this was, but he showed her.
From the beginning, even just the slow glide of his erection inside of her, she felt herself struggling to catch her breath. When his movement sped up, sinking back into her faster than he retreated, she felt her skin heat up with a growing arousal that she'd never felt before.
And when he was thrusting into her like a man on a toe-curling mission, she felt her nails digging into his skin and her legs wrapping tightly around his waist. "Yes," she moaned as he sank into her again. "Yes. That."
He shifted then, lowering his hand from the headboard so that he held her hips in just the right place and that's when she felt it. The unmistakable feeling of an orgasm creeping up along her spine and the most delicious tingles between her legs.
She didn't want to say anything, she didn't want to distract him from what had to be the most amazing thing she'd ever felt in her life.
"I can feel it, baby." He looked up and caught her gaze in his. "Let it happen. I want to feel you pull me deeper. I want to feel your pleasure, I need it."
Her hands moved away from his arms, touching her own breasts, chasing a sensation she'd never been able to reach like this.
"That's it, love. Touch yourself like that." His voice was deeper, and rougher just like he was thrusting between her legs.
She felt like they were both chasing that sensation together. "Yes," her back arched as her fingers teased her nipples and suddenly, she felt like she was falling off that cliff, but she wasn't alone.
She had Dom there with her and when she felt like she could breathe again, she held him in her embrace, and she was in his.
"That was..."
She felt his voice against her skin, her heart pounding against his. "Amazing."
His soft puffs of laughter against her shoulder made her hold him even tighter.
"That's why I love you, Kawehi."