Page 64 of Two Tickets to Paradise

Cora leaned in and he did, too. Their lips had just touched, brushing against each other when a cheer rose up around them.

"Oh, come on!"

Cam was suddenly there beside them, clapping his hand down on Vince's shoulder. "Vince, it's your turn to bowl against me. Come on, man. It's time to give me a chance to beat your ass without my sister kicking mine."

Cora rolled her eyes and leaned away from Vince so he could get up.

Just before he moved to the ball return machine to grab his ball, he turned back and leaned in. "A kiss for luck?"

"Absolutely!"

She reached for the collar of his shirt and tugged him toward her, laughing as Cameron groaned as if his stomach was twisting up inside his belly.

"Do you have to kiss my sister in front of me, man?"

Vince looked at Cam making sure that he was joking.

Cora didn't have any such qualms and poked her brother in his chest. "I'm kissing him, Cam! Deal with it."

Cam turned his back and stepped up onto the approach with his ball clutched easily in his hand. "Sisters!"

Cora looked up at Vince. "You're going to beat his butt on this frame, right?"

Vince shrugged and looked over at the sparkling swirls of the blue bowling ball he'd been using. "I'll give it a try, but I haven't bowled a lot in my life."

Smiling at him, Cora shrugged. "Just do your best and maybe when we get back to Chicago, if you want, we can go bowling."

He nodded, enjoying the beauty of her smile and the suggestion that they'd be seeing a lot more of each other after they returned home. "I could get used to that."

Cora grinned at him. "There's so much we can do."

"So much we're going to do."

"Come on you two!"

Vince turned and saw Riptide waving them over.

"Let's go, man!" Riptide lifted his hands up in the air. "Romance the lady later and take these pins down!"

Vince put his hand over his heart. "You're cramping my style!"

Arctic and Pallas both sent looks in his direction, but it was Hoss who chimed in. "You'd have to have style for it to be cramped, Navy man! Get over here and bowl!"

Vince shook his head, smiling at Cora. "The things I do for good relations for the military branches."

"Go and bowl and I'll reward you for your efforts with another kiss."

Vince tipped his head a little to the side. "That makes it all worth it." With a wink he walked over and picked up his bowling ball from the return and gave Cameron a chin lift. "Let's do this, big guy."

Cameron glared at him. "Oh brother."

Vince stepped up on the approach beside Cameron and lifted his bowling ball in the same manner that Cameron did. Sure, he'd done this before a few times, but he did want to put in a good showing for Cora's benefit.

She'd already proved herself to be much better at this than Vince was, but that didn't bother him at all. He was looking forward to improving his skills so they could make this really interesting.

He gave Cameron a look and then a nod. "Let's go."

SIXTEEN

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