Page 38 of Two Tickets to Paradise

"Living Aloha is a bumper sticker. I just don't see why I have to take it easy on him because he's dating my sister."

Folding her arms across her chest, Maile glared at him. "It's not just a bumper sticker, you ass! Some of us live that way."

"You?" He gave Maile a look that was more of a smirk. "You're always telling me all the ways you could dispose of my body. That's not exactlyAloha, is it?"

Vince bit the inside of his cheek at the way Cameron said 'Aloha' as if he was putting air quotes around it.

"Well," Maile was petite and a little shorter than Cora, but the way she drew herself up, she was like a giant, "King Kamehameha drove his enemies off a cliff while he was uniting the islands, so I think it might just be my civic duty to chuck you off a cliff."

"You?" Cameron reached over and put his hand over the top of her head.

It was almost comical how big his hand was on top of her head.

"Even with a running start, I don't think you could knock me down." He laughed, but no one else was actually joining in.

Maile leveled a blow at him in the odd silence around the fire pit. "Your big, over-sized, bobble head might make it easier for me. All I need to do is knock you off balance and you'd plunge to your death."

Kawehi choked on a laugh and Hoss whistled low and loud. "Damn it, Axl. You better quit while you're ahead. Remember size doesn't have much to do with it. We've all seen men and women half your size toss you on your ass from time to time."

Cameron grumbled as he got up. "I'm gonna go piss. Y'all can stay out here moaning." He headed off toward the house, the sliding door opening and closing with heavy swishes of sound.

It took a moment before anyone spoke and when it happened, Vince wasn't surprised that it was Pallas. The man had the right temperament to lead the group.

Sitting forward in his chair, Pallas looked over at Cora and then at him. "I'm sorry about this. I don't know why he's being like this." Pallas shook his head. "l'll have a talk with him when he comes back out. Neither of you deserve this."

"Don't do that on my account." Cora leaned closer to Vince as she spoke to Pallas. "I'm fine. I think this is all a little hard on Cam. He's used to me being the little sister he can direct. He's been my older brother and protector. I'm guessing he thought we'd slip into our old roles."

Vince saw her look over at him, a gentle smile on her face.

"He certainly wasn't expecting Vince to come with me." She turned and looked at the assembled group. "I know I wasn't expecting to meet him either. Things change in life and when he joined the military, I wasn't expecting for him to move over a thousand miles away!"

"We're all from all over." Riptide chuckled. "Me more than others."

Pallas looked thoughtfully at the group. "If we were on the continental U.S., maybe, but Australia isn't all that far from Hawaii."

"Oh great," Maile laughed, "now they're going to whip out a map and measure who came the furthest to Hawaii."

She gestured at Cora. "If they ask you to look up distances or even just make a guess, don't. The last thing you want to get between are men and a measuring contest.

Kawehi started to laugh, too, earning herself a disbelieving look from her husband.

He didn't argue with his wife, instead, he picked her up out of her chair and settled her, laughing and squirming on his lap.

"Hey!" Kawehi settled back against him, cuddling into his embrace.

It was good to see it.

Especially after Cameron had made everyone feel more than a little uncomfortable.

Again, Vince could see why Pallas was the leader of the group. It was good to see the rest of them relax at the sight of their leader happy with his wife. It was where Vince saw himself down the road, but if you'd asked him a few days ago, he would have said that such a fate was years away. Many years away.

He didn't want to ruin things by 'jinxing' them, but he had a feeling that something could develop between himself and Cora.

Something good.

Something strong.

Something lasting.

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