Page 81 of Pallas & Kawehi

"I want to be with you, too."

He smiled, his heart swelling in his chest.

"If you want..." Her voice was like a warm breeze across his skin. "You can watch the video they sent me."

Pallas moved his hand over her back, barely making contact. "I don't need to see it."

"Oh."

He stilled his movements. Listening to the silence around them, he had to ask. "Do you want me to watch it?"

"I don't know." Her hand moved along his side and over his hip to his thigh where it settled. "But you don't want to?"

His fingertips stroked over the same spot a few times. "I'll watch it if you want me to, but right now I'm trying to keep my anger in check where it comes to him. If I see it and know exactly what you heard and saw, I'm going to have to get on a plane to Florida and kill him."

She shifted in his arms and leaned back so she was looking into his face. "I don't want you to do that, Dom. I don't want you to get in trouble for me."

"I'd do anything for you, honey. But get in trouble? No." She didn't have to know that he knew enough and was trained to do that and more without leaving a trace. There were ways to end this man without leaving behind any signs of who did it, but if she didn't want to him to do it, he wouldn't.

"Then, I'll have to keep holding you, 'Wehi."

She snuggled back into his embrace as the sound of the ocean surf and a breeze swept through the open window. He held her until she fell asleep, her breath warm against his skin.

And then he kept holding her until sleep claimed him, too.

This, his thoughts echoed through his head and heart, this is where he was meant to be. with her. Together.

Forever.

THIRTEEN

KAWEHI

Two weeks later while she was waiting for a call from her lawyer about a date for their next court hearing, Kawehi was standing at the doorway of Lanikai Lanes when a large caravan of cars entered the parking lot and filled it near to bursting. Every car had a sticker on the front bumper that said it belonged to someone stationed at KBAY.

Already smiling, she found herself grinning ear-to-ear when the driver's door of the forest green Ford Bronco opened up and Dom stepped out into the twilight.

He lifted his hand in a wave and smiled back at her, filling her heart. Another man walked up to him and clapped a hand down over his shoulder, leaning in to say something.

Dom nodded and together they walked toward the door.

"Breathe," she reminded herself. "Breathe."

Dom held back a half a step when the other man stepped up first, but he spoke to make the introductions. "Kawehi, this is Wolf, our team leader. Wolf, this is Kawehi Phillips."

He took her offered hand and gave it a hearty shake. "Nice to meet the woman who puts a smile on Pallas' grumpy face."

She felt herself blushing at his words and the frank interest in his eyes. This was a man who didn't miss much. "He makes me smile all the time and doesn't mind the tears. There's nothing more I could ask for."

Wolf nodded and leaned in to give her a kiss on her cheek. "You make him happy. Mahalo."

He continued on past her and into the building.

She knew that the bowling counter was fully manned by their high school hires and the food counter as well by Maile and one of their friends, so she could stand at the door and greet people.

Dom stepped up next and leaned in for a kiss that they broke off almost too quickly, but she could hear the hoots and hollers from the men coming up behind him.

Instead of moving past her into the building, Dom turned and stood at her shoulder, leaving more than enough space for the door to stay open. As the men walked by, he made introductions. She knew some of his men, the ones who had come to the beach and shown up to the bowling alley over the last few weeks and the others who had come with them to Bellows beach.