Epilogue
PALLAS
It wasn't until the second half of their third day on Kauai that there was a hiccup between Pallas and Kawehi.
While Kawehi had been on the Big Island of Hawaii for a school trip and Maui for a family vacation, she'd never been to Kauai, so that's where they decided to go for their first trip together.
So far, they'd visited Waimea Canyon where Dom confirmed that it did indeed match its nickname of the Grand Canyon of the pacific. He couldn't believe how green and lush it was and she added a trip to Arizona to her list of places she was determined to visit in the future.
After a morning of visiting the Princeville Botanical Gardens and tasting locally made chocolates, Kawehi had been ready for the hike that he'd picked.
The hike across the lava fields was more fun than either of them had anticipated. The broken rocks and tumbled boulders made for a little awkward hopping and sliding from time to time.
Pallas didn't mind offering her a hand to hold onto, or the few times he physically lifted her down from awkward rock ledges. Those moments ended up with fun embraces and a kiss or two. He'd never realized how romantic a lava field could be until he'd found Kawehi.
The problem came when she saw the sign at the edge of the Queen's Bath.
Kawehi's feet were suddenly glued to the rocks and her body tensed up. "Nope."
He let out a breath. "I did mention doing a little swimming today so you can be more comfortable in the water."
"I thought you meant the pool at the hotel."
"You're wearing your suit right now under your clothes so we can take a dip here."
She pointed down the rocky path. "That's where the ocean is. I don't do oceans, Dom. If I'm getting in a body of water bigger than my tub, I want someplace I know is safe."
Pallas pulled her into his embrace and rubbed his hands over her back to soothe her nerves. He murmured close to her ear. "This place is safe. I promise." He touched a slow, gentle kiss to her cheek. "I'm not going to take my hands off of you the whole time we're in the water."
She leaned back and he met her worried gaze. "You promise it's safe?"
He lifted his hands and gently cupped her cheeks so that she could see right into his eyes. "I promise. I wouldn't take you in the water there if it was dangerous."
"And you'll have your hands on me the whole time?"
He heard the lift in her voice a moment before she smiled at him with her eyes sparkling at the idea.
"I won't let you go."
Kawehi nodded. "Then, let's go."
The Queen's Bath was a wide rock-lined oval with a space at the end letting water in and out with the waves. Pallas held her hand and talked to her as they reached the edge of the pool. "I've checked the tide charts and right now it's at the lowest it will be all day for several hours. The water in the pool might rise a little if waves carry it over the ledge, but we're in no danger of floating out of the pool."
She didn't speak, but she didn't take off running back to their rented Jeep.
As he stripped out of his T-shirt and shorts, she mirrored his movements leaving her body clothed only in her new two-piece suit and the absolute center of his focus.
"It's gorgeous, isn't it?" She was smiling at the deep blue of the water.
"You are, 'Wehi. So incredibly gorgeous."
She rolled her eyes at his comment, but her face was lit by her smile. "Smooth talker."
"Only the truth." He held out his hand and she took it as the two of them walked down to the water.
He kept talking as they stepped into the water. He felt her hand grip his tighter when they were almost up to their knees in the cool waters of the Pacific Ocean. "I was thinking that tonight we could order in to the cabin and... maybe go to bed early."
She laughed softly and looked at him for a second. "Are you... tired?"
"I'm desperate to touch you."
Kawehi lifted their joined hands. "We're holding hands. And in the water, you said you'd keep touching me."
He could hear the lightness in her voice, and it only made him love her more. "That's true, but the kind of touching I'm talking about," he felt a shiver pass from her body to his as the water lapped up at the tops of his thighs knowing that it was a little higher on her body, "involves you spread out on our bed and my-"
"Oh!" A little surge of water washed over the ledge and the water in the pool rose up to the middle of their chests and relaxed back into the 'tub.' Kawehi looked at him and burst out laughing. "Oh my god! That was great!"
Pallas laughed along with her and swept her up in his arms as he walked deeper into the pool.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and held on as he cuddled her close. "Okay," she sighed, "now we have a problem."
"A problem?" He gave her a quizzical look. "How so?"
"I think I might just like this," she looked toward the water beyond her shoulder and then back at him, "cuddling in the water thing."
He narrowed his eyes at her. "That's not really a problem."
"Oh?" She wiggled a little and turned so that she could wrap her legs around his body. "But if I like staying here, then we might not get back to the cabin for an early bedtime."
He lifted a brow at her warning and then moved his hands down her back to cup her ass in his hands.
With her legs already wrapped around him, it was so easy to pull her against him to feel his rock-hard dick against her pussy.
"I don't see a problem."
"Really?" Her chin dipped a little, hiding her face from him for a moment, but when she looked up, he saw her playful smile. "Cause I can't see down there right now."
He grinned at her. "If this wasn't a public spot, I’d reach down there and-"
"Do it." Her voice was breathy, but he heard an eager tone in her voice. "No one's here but us. And since we're so close to each other, how could anyone see?"
He tipped his head to the side and bit into his lip. "Where's this coming from?"
She shrugged. "Maybe I'm feeling just a little... adventurous," she licked at her lips tasting salty spray on her skin, "or maybe I understand why you wanted to stay in tonight and I can't wait to feel you inside me."
If Pallas hadn't already been rock hard, he was definitely that and more at that moment.
Keeping his grip on her with one hand, he lifted his other hand between them and touched his fingertips to her lips.
With inches between them he could see the minute changes in her eyes as she realized what he meant to do with his fingers.
Kawehi's lips parted on an exhale, and he felt the warmth of her breath against his skin and got even harder pressed against her sex.
He was just about to lift his fingers away from her mouth when he felt the most delicious sensation.
The very tip of her tongue swept across his fingertip.
Her eyes closed as her tongue retreated into her mouth.
He was mesmerized by her face and the whisper of her voice when she opened her eyes again.
"I want to... when we get back... I want to taste you." Her eyes fixed on his, but he knew that she didn't speak up like this easily.
During sex, she remained mostly quiet about what she wanted. She used her hands to urge him on, but words hadn't played much of a part in their physical love for each other.
So hearing her speak so openly to him was a gift.
He nodded and used his eyes to look down to where their bodies were pressed up against each other.
She nodded and he lowered his hand, tracing the edge of her bikini top.
Pallas turned his hand and brushed his knuckles against her nipple, earning himself a pleasurable gasp from her lips.
"I want..." She kept her eyes fixed on him as his knuckles traced a meandering line further down. "I want to feel what's it like against my tongue."
His fingertip skirted around her bellybutton and her eyes blinked, slowly opening again as he neared the high waist of her bottoms.
"How long have you been thinking of that, 'Wehi?"
She didn't answer him right away. Her eyes looked a little... hazy.
He found himself eager to hear her voice mixed in with the rush of the waves against the rocks. "Relax your legs a little, baby. Let me in."
Her hands moved and her fingers folded together behind his neck. As she licked at her luscious lips, the grip of her legs around his hips eased.
It didn't take much to ease the fabric away from her sex. Pallas would have found a way no matter what. They were both breathing a little heavier and as the water lifted them up and lowered them back down, he saw the tight tips of her breasts rising and falling out of the water.
He saw it the moment she felt his fingertips along her folds.
Her eyes widened and her lips parted on a gentle moan.
The pool swirled around his fingers adding to the sensations he was stirring in her body.
He could read it all in her face and the way her body clenched and eased around his fingers. She was so incredibly beautiful and passionate.
And she was his.
There wasn't a doubt in his mind that this was the woman he was meant to spend the rest of his life with, but he didn't think she was ready for the ring he had in the bottom of his suitcase.
He'd taken to carrying it around everywhere they went together, thinking that he'd know when the moment was right.
Her hands dropped to his shoulders and her close-cut nails dug into his skin as another gentle wave lifted them up in the water. When it lowered her back down, his fingers were inside of her.
"Oh," she gasped, and her eyes darkened with passion, "Dom."
He smiled but his jaw was clenched together at the back of his mouth. He was so damn hard it hurt. He wished he could get inside of her at that moment, but he didn't have a condom and he wasn't going to chance a pregnancy until she was good and ready for it. Still, he could take her over the edge and feel her release against his hand.
He loved watching her come apart knowing that he was the one giving her that pleasure.
Kawehi moved restlessly against him, her hips rising and falling in the gently swelling water. She was chasing her release as much as he was dying to give it to her.
"I never knew..." She swallowed and he leaned in to kiss her throat, "how much I was missing."
He smiled against her skin. "I love making love to you."
Pallas curled his fingers inside of her and a soft keening cry burst from her throat when his fingertips felt the rougher texture of her skin along the front wall of her sex.
"Do you feel this?"
Her lips opened and an unintelligible sound reached his ears.
"Yeah, I know you feel that."
She turned her head to the side as his fingers teased her, building up the sensations inside of her. "So sweet and tender," he murmured the words against her ear and nipped at her earlobe with his teeth, "I don't think it will take much more to make you come."
"I want to," she gasped, and he felt her heels dig into the backs of his thighs, "but I almost don't want this to end."
He lifted his head to look at her. "There's plenty more were this comes from."
Pallas shifted his hand and rubbed his thumb against her clit as his fingers found just the right spot.
Her head tipped back and he heard her shout echo off of the rocks surrounding them, but even if the world had gone silent and his ears had stopped working, he would have known that she'd found her release because her body was pulling at his fingers, drawing on him with each fevered contraction of her inner muscles.
He felt her fingers clawing at his shoulders and he couldn't help but smile.
She gave him so much by how she opened herself to him. Not just her emotions, but her body as well.
It made him feel like more of a god than a man when he could bring her that kind of release and satisfaction.
"How could anyone love you as much as I love you?"
His gaze fixed on her face as she lifted her head to look at him. He couldn't believe that she'd said the words to him.
Pallas had been willing to wait as long as it took for her to be ready, but here it was, and he was even more amazed than he'd thought he would be. His whole heart was wrapped up in this woman. "I'm not sure," he smiled at her, "but I think I can understand because every day I love you even more. More than I ever thought could be possible."
Her hands smoothed over his hair as her gaze searched his face. "I feel like I'm finally... living. Like I'm finally figuring out why people write poems and songs about love. I've always been a more practical person than fanciful, but that was okay. At least it was. Now, having you love me and realizing that what I feel for you vastly surpasses what I've felt for others, I'm so thankful that you walked into the alley that night."
Pallas flattened his hand against her back and drew her closer for a kiss.
They were breathless when they finally broke away.
"You were meant to be loved by me," Pallas leaned in for another kiss, this one quicker but hungrier than the last, "and I'm not going to let you forget it."
KAWEHI
That night, as the moonlight streamed through the window and the loose curtains around the four-poster bed moved gracefully in the breeze, Kawehi turned a little at a time trying not to wake Dom as he slept.
She was almost on her back when he softly groaned and turned her around to face him.
"I'm awake, gorgeous."
She smiled and was happy to see that there was enough light for her to see his face. "Sorry. I've been thinking."
"No need to apologize for that, my love. I like that brain of yours. It's one of my favorite parts of you."
Her eyes widened a little. "You have favorite parts?"
He lifted a hand free of the light sheet that was covering their bare bodies and trailed his fingertips over her unbound hair. "I love your hair. And I love your nose," he touched the tip of a finger to the end of her nose, "and I love your-"
She gave his hand a little swat. "Let me guess, you love all of my parts."
He grinned back at her. "See? That's an awesome brain you have."
She rolled her eyes and tangled their feet together under the sheet. "Well, you'll be thrilled to know that I've been using that brain."
"Always," he gently brushed her hair back over her shoulder, "but what specifically have you been thinking about tonight?"
"A few things, actually." She licked at her lip and watched as his eyes darted down to watch. "The judge has agreed to fast track my divorce given the whole attempted murder thing."
He nodded but she quickly moved on because she didn't want to talk about Nick in more than the vaguest terms possible.
"So, I'll be legally free soon to match my heart."
"That's great," he swept his thumb across her cheek as his gaze roamed over her face.
"So I was wondering," she swallowed at the tightness in her throat, "if when we get back- Or any time after that, if you're interested." She paused. "I want you to let me get out my thoughts before anything else happens." With that she nodded to herself and drew in a steadying breath before she spoke.
"You spend a lot of time with me at the house and I love it when you're there so I'm thinking you could move in with me."
He opened his mouth, and she shook her head.
"Let me get this out, please."
He nodded, his lips pressed lightly together.
She kept talking before she lost her nerve. "And I know I don't seem to have the best record with marriage, but I think I want to try it again. Someday. If you're... at all interested."
His smile led her to hope.
"And..."
Dom's hand settled on her hip and his thumb stroked her skin. She wanted to make love to him again.
"And?" He looked back at her. "Do you have something else you want to ask me or do you want me to answer."
Another breeze moved through the room and her skin heated at its touch. "I didn't really ask you a question. And remember I want to get it all out first."
He nodded. "True. Sorry."
She nodded. "I've been waiting for so long for someone to show me why falling in love was so important, but Nick only knew how to use love to get what he wanted. With you," she lifted her hand and mimicked his gentle touch against his cheek with her fingertips, "I know what it feels like. And I'm getting to understand myself more."
Pallas mouthed 'I love you,' and a tear fell from her eye and moved toward the bridge of her nose.
He leaned in and kissed it away.
"So, if you're at all interested in babies-"
The energy in the room changed and his whole body tensed just the littlest bit.
"I want you to know that I am, but I know this is a two-way street and if you want to wait, I'll wait, but I know that you've been so careful- We've been so careful, but I don't think we really need to be if-"
Dom wrapped his arm around her and pulled her under his body as his mouth found hers. He kissed her like she'd never been kissed before, and it kept going and going until he stopped and sat up on his knees between her thighs.
He was holding a little black box.
She stared as he opened the box, plucked something free of the cushion inside and then tossed the box over his shoulder.
He grinned down at her. "You've been reading my mind." He found her hand and lifted it. Dom leaned forward and kissed the back of her hand before looking down past the ring he was holding to her face. "Yes. I want to move in with you. And I want to marry you. Together I can help with the bills, including the business."
She opened her mouth to speak and tell him that she wasn't expecting that from him, but he shook his head this time.
"My turn to talk."
She nodded, smiling too.
"And as far as babies, Kawehi, I'm all in. I want you. I want a family. I want to be everything to you. You're already everything to me.
"So I guess it's time for me to ask you a question now. Kawehi Phillips, will you marry me and let me make our lives as amazing as a life can be?"
Her eyes filled with tears, and she blinked to clear them. "As long as you'll let me help you just as much."
Dom slipped the ring on her finger and smiled when she saw the diamond sparkling in the moonlight. "Do you want to help me tonight?"
She saw his grin and knew something was up. She reached for his body and managed to set her hand on his thigh. "Do I get to taste you now?"
He shook his hand. "I was hoping you could help me start on that family."
Kawehi looked over at the bedside table with the handful of condoms on its surface. "So we won't need those, huh?"
He shook his head and then stretched himself out between her legs, adjusting his embrace around her to fit their bodies together. "Unless you want to use them for old time's sake?"
She shook her head and picked up a pillow from the bed. She tossed it over to the nightstand and the small pile of condoms went flying off into the darkness. "Nope."
"I love you like crazy, Kawehi."
"You'd have to be crazy to love me, Dom, but I guess that's why I love you, too." She hooked her leg around his back, opening her body for him. "Now, where were we?"
"Right about..."
He flexed his muscles and sank deep into her body.
"There."