Page 57 of Pallas & Kawehi

Her shoulders shook with laughter. "I do know it's hot here in Hawaii, but I wouldn't mind some help with sunscreen if you've got the time."

He had to hold back from pulling her into his embrace. It was only too easy to give into that instinct. "For you, 'Wehi, I've always got the time."

NINE

KAWEHI

She'd had no idea what to expect from the day at the beach when she'd gotten into Dom's Bronco that morning, but by the time the afternoon rolled around, she was having the best time she'd had in years.

Even with the building drama between Axl and Maile. They seemed like magnets that were constantly being attracted to each other only to repel each other moments later. Any worries that she'd had about their drama coming between herself and Dom, had fallen away when Dom and the other guys from his team or unit, whatever it was called, laughed it off and encouraged Maile to go after Axl even more.

And while her cousin denied how much fun she was having, Kawehi saw the smiles that Maile and Axl took turns hiding from each other.

While her anxiety drifted away, she found herself making friends with the men that Dom worked with. They were from all over the country and in Riptide's case, he was in the Navy. She had no idea how that worked, but in just a few hours she learned more about the men that Dom worked with than she'd ever heard from Nick.

She couldn't even remember any time when she'd met someone who knew Nick in the Marines. Even their wedding had been mostly her family and even those folks had shown up grudgingly to support her. Nick had told her that none of his platoon was interested in coming to the wedding because it wasn't something they cared about.

In just these few hours, she'd seen what a real team was like and now she had serious questions about what kind of a person Nick had been at work where no one had wanted to come to the wedding.

"Hey."

She looked up and smiled as Riptide sat down beside her on the sand. "There's room on my towel if you want to sit on it."

He waved away her offer with a big grin. "I'm good. I'm used to having sand everywhere. I just wanted to come over and see how you're doing."

"Me?" She shrugged. "I'm good. I'm glad that Dom opened this trip up. I like that I'm getting to meet the people he works with. It's so different from where I work."

Riptide tipped his straw cowboy hat back on his head and beamed at her. "Pallas said that your family owns Lanikai Lanes."

She sat up and nodded. "He did?"

"Yeah, he was bragging about the lanes and your uncle's cooking. He doesn't know yet, but we've all been talking about going to the lanes one night to bowl and eat. I think he'd worry that we'd show our asses," he lifted his chin toward the beach, "especially Axl."

She waved off his concern. "Axl's fine."

Riptide shrugged. "Yeah, we like to give him hell, but he's a good guy."

Kawehi drew her knees up to her chest and laughed. "I'm feeling bad that he and Maile are pushing each other's buttons."

Riptide's head tipped back, and he laughed out loud. "That's one way of saying it, but I agree that they're going after each other. I'm just thinking it's not so much hate as... uh-"

"Badly behaved children annoying each other because they like each other?"

Riptide held out his fist. "You're a smart cookie, Kawehi."

She bumped her knuckles against his. "You're a good guy, Riptide. I'm happy I got to meet you."

"Even though I'm Navy?"

"You make it sound like it's a bad thing."

He gestured at the guys on the sand playing a version of volleyball sans net. "There was a bit of an adjustment period. Not just for Pallas and the guys, but for me, too. It's strange. I still have to report back to the Navy but I'm part of a Marine team. It's okay as long as I don't offer anyone crayons."

Kawehi frowned at him in confusion. "Crayons?"

Riptide winced. "I probably shouldn't have said anything, but you can ask Pallas about it later."

"Maybe I shouldn't?" She saw his shrug and decided it wasn't worth asking Dom. If she was curious, she could always look it up online.

---