His unit was one of the two most important things in his life.
The other, his sister Cora.
The laugh that reached his ears a moment later made him clench his teeth together.
He felt Maile push on his back as her laughter grew in volume.
"I don't think I've ever heard that particular curse," she laughed more. "That's one I'm going to have to remember."
He bit the inside of his cheek and shook his head slightly to clear it. "What's so special about it?"
He hadn't meant to snarl the words, but whenever he was around Maile, growling was something as easy as breathing.
"Do you have to growl at me like a guard dog all the time?"
She sounded exasperated.
And that was a good thing.
The more she didn't like him, the better.
If she gave him any indication at all that she could tolerate him, or even like him, he might do something drastic.
Like kiss the shit out of her.
He bit down on the inside of his cheek, and his hands gripped the handles of her suitcases so hard that he thought he heard the hard plastic cracking in his hands.
Yeah, they might not like each other, but that's why he wanted to stay the fuck away from her physically.
They way he felt about her and the way she felt about him, they'd be fucking dynamite together.
If they both came out of it alive.
But know how much Pallas worshiped the ground that Kawehi walked on, if he managed to get his dick inside of her cousin, Pallas would likely cut his dick off.
Or worse, let Kawehi do it.
That would be fucking embarrassing.
"Here," Maile huffed, "if you're going to just stand there, I'll get your keys."
He felt her step up behind him, heard the soft echo of movement off of the concrete.
He started to let go of the suitcases and reach for the keys himself, but he stopped moving a moment later.
He stopped breathing, too.
Maile's hands were on him, against his abs. Flattened against him.
"Oops," she laughed, "too high."
Too high?
His brain wasn't functioning.
Thoughts weren't coming together.
He needed to get some air in his lungs and remind himself to let go of the bags so he could push her hands away.
