He held her as close as he could without cutting off her air and rocked her slightly back and forth.
As he held her, and touched her, she shifted against him, wrapping one arm around him, and then the other.
Somehow, they ended up cuddled around each other, barely awake.
And it seemed like moments or hours later when she whispered against his neck. "Thank you."
His own words were murmured against her temple. "You don't have to thank me, baby. Whenever I can be here to hold you... comfort you... love you... that's where I want to be."
"I want to be with you, too."
He smiled, his heart swelling in his chest.
"If you want..." Her voice was like a warm breeze across his skin. "You can watch the video they sent me."
Pallas moved his hand over her back, barely making contact. "I don't need to see it."
"Oh."
He stilled his movements. Listening to the silence around them, he had to ask. "Do you want me to watch it?"
"I don't know." Her hand moved along his side and over his hip to his thigh where it settled. "But you don't want to?"
His fingertips stroked over the same spot a few times. "I'll watch it if you want me to, but right now I'm trying to keep my anger in check where it comes to him. If I see it and know exactly what you heard and saw, I'm going to have to get on a plane to Florida and kill him."
She shifted in his arms and leaned back so she was looking into his face. "I don't want you to do that, Dom. I don't want you to get in trouble for me."
"I'd do anything for you, honey. But get in trouble? No." She didn't have to know that he knew enough and was trained to do that and more without leaving a trace. There were ways to end this man without leaving behind any signs of who did it, but if she didn't want to him to do it, he wouldn't.
"Then, I'll have to keep holding you, 'Wehi."
She snuggled back into his embrace as the sound of the ocean surf and a breeze swept through the open window. He held her until she fell asleep, her breath warm against his skin.
And then he kept holding her until sleep claimed him, too.
This, his thoughts echoed through his head and heart, this is where he was meant to be. with her. Together.
Forever.
THIRTEEN
KAWEHI
Two weekslater while she was waiting for a call from her lawyer about a date for their next court hearing, Kawehi was standing at the doorway of Lanikai Lanes when a large caravan of cars entered the parking lot and filled it near to bursting. Every car had a sticker on the front bumper that said it belonged to someone stationed at KBAY.
Already smiling, she found herself grinning ear-to-ear when the driver's door of the forest green Ford Bronco opened up and Dom stepped out into the twilight.
He lifted his hand in a wave and smiled back at her, filling her heart. Another man walked up to him and clapped a hand down over his shoulder, leaning in to say something.
Dom nodded and together they walked toward the door.
"Breathe," she reminded herself. "Breathe."
Dom held back a half a step when the other man stepped up first, but he spoke to make the introductions. "Kawehi, this is Wolf, our team leader. Wolf, this is Kawehi Phillips."
He took her offered hand and gave it a hearty shake. "Nice to meet the woman who puts a smile on Pallas' grumpy face."
She felt herself blushing at his words and the frank interest in his eyes. This was a man who didn't miss much. "He makes me smile all the time and doesn't mind the tears. There's nothing more I could ask for."
