Meet Me in Hawaii by Georgia Toffolo (novels for beginners txt) 📕

in to get the engine running. He needed to stop looking at her, but it was proving impossible.

She’d left him briefly to chuck on some clothes and grab her bag. But those clothes were barely covering more than her bikini had. Her green vest top hung loose above her midriff, the teasing straps of the multi-coloured bikini she still wore were tied in a bow at the base of her neck, which he could now make out as she’d scraped her hair up into a mass of curls high on her head. As for the shorts… the washed-out denim ended so high the cheeks of her bum peeked through and her legs appeared even longer in all their bronzed glory.

‘Are you saying you had this planned all along?’ She walked around the front of the car, her eyes finding his through the windscreen, her teasing smile making his heart pound harder.

OK, just get the roof down and drive. Concentrate. Road, not her.

Anything to ease the heated rush that seemed to be a constant companion in her presence.

‘I wouldn’t say planned,’ he said once the roof was down, ‘hoped, more like.’

She tossed her canvas bag onto the back seat and climbed in – he had to pull his eyes away from her legs and shook his head with a laugh.

‘What?’ He could hear the mix of curiosity and confusion in her voice; did she have no idea the effect she was having over him?

He gave her a quick glance, his grin lopsided as he worked out how to phrase it without freaking her out. She wanted them to go about as what? Friends, acquaintances, nothing more. And he did too.

But she wasn’t making it easy for him and admitting it wouldn’t help, he didn’t want to risk ruining whatever this was. A day out. Some fun.

‘Absolutely nothing.’

She eyed him, her lips pursed.

‘It’s nothing.’ He shook his head, his grin widening. ‘Now, are we going to do something with pineapples or are we going to sit here and give each other the eye?’

Now she laughed. ‘Pineapples, definitely.’

‘Which way?’

‘Back the way you came. Did you see the signs for the Dole Plantation?’

Did he? He couldn’t recall. He’d been too preoccupied with seeing her. Something else he was struggling to accept, let alone admit. ‘Not that I can remember.’

He felt rather than saw her roll her eyes. ‘Pay attention, much?’

To you, hell, yeah.

He swung the car around and caught sight of her friends loading up their pick-up trucks. ‘You sure you want to bail on your mates?’

‘As much as I love them, it can get a bit much being the only female at times. There’s only so much eyeing up the babes on the beach that I can handle.’

He laughed. ‘I’d noticed they were all male.’

‘Did you now?’ she said it suspiciously, like she was trying to assess whether he was jealous. It may have crossed his mind once or twice whether they were all purely platonic friends. How could it not when they looked like they did, and she looked like she did, and they shared the same talent?

He avoided giving her an answer. ‘They seem like a nice group.’

‘They’re great, always up for a laugh and they love to shred the gnar just as much as me.’

‘Shred the gnar?’

‘You know, tear it up, Go Big or Go Home, that’s what we live by.’ Her face flushed with excitement as she added, ‘We actually had some triple overheads last week, it was epic! The bigger the waves, the fewer surfers in the line-up and that means more fun for us.’

‘Greater the risk, the bigger the adrenalin hit?’

She gave him a daredevil grin. ‘Too right.’

He almost mentioned her parents, they were the reason she’d invited him along today after all. To show him that risk first-hand and let him decide if having seen it for himself he still disagreed with their stance. But he couldn’t do it. He was too afraid of tainting the moment and spoiling her happiness. He took a less contentious angle instead. ‘Not many women out there, I guess.’

She shrugged. ‘It’s just a fact, but I don’t see why I should hold myself back based on my gender. If a guy can do it, I sure as hell can.’

He admired her determination and could read the defiance in her tone, knew it had to stem from battling sexism in the sport over the years.

‘Sorry, I don’t mean to sound bitter; you’d think in the twenty-first century we wouldn’t have to face off against sexist jerks who can’t stand to have a woman do as well, or heaven forbid, better than they can.’

‘Speaking of being better, I’m kind of surprised that you’re not taking part in the Queen of the Pipe tournament coming up.’

‘How did you…?’

‘EJ mentioned it, said you’d be a dead cert to claim the title.’

The mood in the car shifted as though the sun had gone behind a cloud. He glanced across at her but she was looking away, her hands twisting in her lap, making him worry.

‘Malie?’

Her lashes fluttered and she looked back at him, her smile not quite reaching the green of her eyes. ‘EJ should keep his mouth shut.’

‘I think it was meant as a compliment.’

She looked away again. ‘Yeah, well, they know I’m not going to do it so they should just drop it.’

He wanted to ask why, wanted to press, but there was something so sad in her demeanour that not even her smile could reassure him enough to go there.

‘At least they’re not sexist about your skills.’

‘No, that’s true.’

‘I have to say, though, I think you’re all slightly insane.’ He grinned as he said it, relieved to see her smile turning real.

‘Insane?’

‘Yes, you guys can keep your triple overheads, in fact, you can keep any kind of overheads, I’m quite happy on the baby waves.’

She laughed. ‘I think you’d nail daddy size with a bit of practice, you were pretty awesome yesterday… in fact so awesome, I’m actually beginning to think you