Page 16 of Two Tickets to Paradise

He lifted his hand away and lowered it back down to his side. "Did something happen?"

Cora lifted her hand and held it out to him. "It's crazy. I know, but since you're not going to get a holiday with your family. I was wondering if you'd like to have a holiday with mine."

In her outstretched hand was a boarding pass like the one he had in his back pocket.

"Is that..."

Her cheeks were flushed with color making her almost entirely irresistible. "There was a seat available on my flight, if you don't mind a change in destination, you can come with me to Hawaii and celebrate the holiday with my brother and his team."

"Team?"

She beamed at him, obviously proud of her brother. "He's a Marine, stationed at K-Bay on the Windward side of Oahu. If they don't get sent out on a mission, they'll be around for the holiday and we're going to have a bunch of fun. I think you'd get along with the guys. I'm guessing they're all a lot like Cameron and he's the best brother I could have ever asked for."

He wasn't sure if she was saying all of that to sell him on the trip, but she didn't need to. Just the thought of spending a few days with her in Hawaii was enough to make him say yes!

He just wasn't sure about her brother. "What do you think your brother is going to say about you bringing me along with you?"

She shrugged. "He told me I could bring a friend with me if I wanted. They have an extra room in the condo he shares with a few of the guys. He says it's mine while I'm there."

Vince nodded. "I'm sure he meant a girl friend. Bringing home a guy is likely going to cause a problem."

She turned her head slightly and gave him a kind of sideways look. "Are you going to do anything I don't want?"

"No." His answer was immediate. And the truth.

"If I were to tell you to 'stop' something, would you?"

He put his hand over his heart and nodded. "Absolutely."

She grinned at him. "Then I'm okay with it. And Cameron always said I had a good instinct about people. He'll be fine with it."

Vince didn't want to rain on her parade like he'd done to his mother on the phone, but he wasn't all that sure that Cora's rosy outlook was going to play out the way she thought it would.

"If it is a problem, I'm sure I can find a place to stay nearby. I don't want to cause any trouble for you or your brother."

"No trouble." She presented her hand again, the boarding pass waving a little with the motion. "You want to go?"

"Absolutely." Grinning he took the boarding pass and stared down at it. His name was printed across the spot naming the passenger and in the spot for destination it said HNL - Daniel K Inouye International Airport. "Wow." He looked back up at her, both of them smiling ear to ear. "We're going to Hawaii!"

"Yes!" She reached out and he stepped into her embrace.

Vince lifted her up and spun her around in a circle as her arms wrapped around his neck.

Laughing, she slid down a little and one of her hands grasped the back of his head where he kept his hair tight and close cut.The feeling of her skin rubbing against his short-cut hair felt electric, as if she was building up a kind of charge between them.

A charge he didn't want to fight.

When he lowered her back to the ground, she turned to look around them and leaned in to softly whisper. "I think we just gave everyone a little show."

"Hey, I've just been asked to spend my holiday in Hawaii with a beautiful woman! I think anyone would understand how awesome an offer that was! I'm a lucky man." He shrugged and draped his arm over her shoulders.

Cora didn't pull back or away at all. He would have instantly moved his arm away if she had shown the slightest hesitation.

Instead, she looked up at him with a smile of her own. "This is kind of crazy, isn't it?"

He nodded at her. "The best kind of crazy."

"Absolutely." She gestured down the long hall with all of the shops and gates along the way. "Our gate is over here."

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