He shrugged one shoulder, smiling faintly. "I haven't been down here, not at night, but it is kind of..." Dominic searched for the right word, in order to not cast the wrong light upon their conversation, or to stir up thoughts of the trouble she appeared to have nearly avoided, whatever it had been. "Lonely," he finished lamely, regretting that he'd even spoken on the matter. Dominic liked to think he wasn't extremely awkward around women, in fact, he knew he wasn't, though he also knew he was no casanova; but it wasn't that, though she was easily a pretty enough woman. It was the sense of unease Karin still had about her, as if she couldn't quite shrug off the shadows she had emerged from just recently. It was vexing to a certain degree, though he was trying (and partially failing) to not think much of it.
"I'd appreciate the company," Dominic replied, a more welcoming smile brightening his countenance. He stopped himself before the suggestion rose to his lips: that they should continue along the path he had been taking, the one she'd previously left. No doubt she wouldn't want to trace her steps back towards the darkness that surrounded the lower parts of the beach, the deep shadows the large apartment complex cast around it from this angle, despite the various windows that were yet lit. "Why don't we backtrack and get a closer look at the bonfire? I don't think they'd mind."
And maybe it'd put her more at ease for there to be other people around, even if they were strangers. He was still a stranger, he reminded himself. But the light from the fire, surely that'd help soothe her mind. She'd appeared out of the darkness, and the only reasonable way out of it was to embrace the light.
He turned, keeping nearer to the ocean so she'd not have the small waves creeping upon her, starting slowly back the way he'd came. The figures around the bonfire were mostly indistinguishable from this distance. "I moved here a couple months ago," Dominic said, not wanting their entire walk to consist of silence. Small crests of saltwater repetitively folded back in on themselves as he spoke. "Have you lived here long?"