Page 31 of Two Tickets to Paradise

They stood there in silence until the birds disappeared into the sky above Kailua.

Cora leaned in and touched her temple against his shoulder, enjoying the warmth and reassurance of his presence. "It's so beautiful here," she murmured softly into the silence around them.

"I'm okay with it."

She frowned for a moment, trying to understand what he was saying.

"What you said about your brother being like me?"

Oh... "Yeah?"

"I'm okay with it."

He turned and pulled her into a hug as they looked out over the lake.

She felt his cheek high against her own, his breath lifting a few strands of hair.

"I know what you mean," she smiled and let him rock her in his reassuring embrace, "but I could never mistake you for Cameron."

She heard and felt Vince's laughter.

"Thank goodness for that."

She laughed with him and sighed. "There's no way I can confuse the two of you."

"He is a veritable giant."

Cora turned slightly in his arms and lifted her chin and touched it to his chest. "Is that a concern?"

She felt the vibrations of his laughter through every inch that they were connected to each other. She had to try and hide just what that connection was doing to her.

They had that short kiss at the airport and she was already wanting more.

Vince shook his head and smiled gently at her. "Not a problem for me. I might be smaller than your brother, but the last thing I want to do is get into a fight or cause problems."

She nodded, happy to hear it.

"So, I have a thought about sleeping arrangements."

Vince went still beside her, and she forged on ahead to get it out before she thought better of it. The last thing she wanted to do was wait until they got back to the condo and try to have this conversation in front of her brother.

"I don't think you should sleep on the couch in the game room outside of the guest bedroom."

Vince remained silent and she didn't blame him. This wasn't exactly a common situation. For anyone.

"The bed in the bedroom is a queen size bed-"

She felt Vince's sudden in-drawn breath and put her hand on his belly.

"I'm just thinking that we're a few hours ahead of Hawaii without internal clocks and with Cam and his team heading onto base for PT and some training sessions, they'll be up early. I don't think you'll be able to sleep through them moving through the house and I'm not eager to see what happens if you and Cam come face to face before a couple cups of coffee."

She felt Vince chuckle.

"Good point."

She smiled as his arms tightened around her. "So, I know this might sound a little forward, but we can share the bed." She swallowed hard and couldn't budge the knot that was stuck in her throat. "I barely move once I fall asleep and Cam still jokes that I need a railing on my bed because I would always sleep hanging half off the bed even with the railing on."

Cora felt him breathe in and then a few seconds later, let it out.

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