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

She wanted to cross the kitchen, wrap her arms around him, it didn’t matter that he wasn’t that boy anymore. He was still inside him somewhere, his haunted blue gaze told her as much…

She gave him a small smile instead, and loaded it up with the emotion she could feel swirling inside of her. She wondered what he’d been like back then, had he worn his hair long or short, had his eyes been as blue, his brow as arched, as defined? She’d bet he’d had the same soul-winning grin, the same flash of confidence that would win over the old as much as the young. And as for how he’d spent his days… her heart ached for him as she appreciated how it had made him the man he was today.

‘You were a pretty amazing kid.’

He gave a soft laugh. ‘Not sure the authorities would have agreed with you. I had my moments.’

‘Understandably.’

He moved the bowls across to the cooker and slowly started adding things to the pan.

‘My father was a great cook,’ she said, wanting to share too. ‘And my brother…’

She surprised herself by adding the last, the gruffness to her voice betraying the depth of feeling the memory evoked. She rarely talked about Koa, the pain was always too much to bear, but it felt different with Todd. She felt like she needed to share, just as he had done with her.

‘They used to spend Sundays in the kitchen together while Mum and I surfed.’

‘Your mum didn’t cook?’ he asked, looking to her over his shoulder.

She laughed. ‘Not unless you count beans on toast as cooking.’

She could feel his grin, even though she couldn’t see his face now. His shoulders had eased, his movements smooth and skilled once more.

‘And I’m ashamed to say I don’t fare much better in the kitchen. There’s something about pans and me that don’t mix. I mean, have you ever tasted, let alone cleaned, burned scrambled eggs from the base of a saucepan?’ She shuddered over the memory that was as recent as last week. ‘It’s vile and virtually impossible to get off.’

He laughed. ‘I can imagine.’

They fell into an easy silence and she lost herself in watching him again, the muscles of his back rippling beneath his shirt as he tossed ingredients into the pan. The oil sizzled and popped and her mouth turned dry, her legs crossing tight over one another. Definitely not hungry for food… no matter how delicious the scent.

She tugged her dress lower. She’d opted for a simple vest style, brightly coloured and comfortable. Not overtly sexy. Yet every time he looked at her, she felt like she was in her finest lingerie, the blaze of his eyes marrying with the pulsing heat in her core. His power over her was like nothing she’d ever experienced before.

Perhaps it was just the whole forbidden thing, the fact she’d told herself she couldn’t have him…

But then hadn’t she agreed to forget about that for today, for tonight even?

She didn’t know whether to be more scared or relieved. Could she really see herself going there with him and coming away with no regrets? Did she really think she’d be able to walk away from him and let everything return to normal, like it never even happened?

No. That was the truth of it. She couldn’t. And where did that leave them now? This evening?

Stop overthinking everything, Malie.

She threw back the rest of her wine and wished away her sensibilities, her rising panic.

‘Can I help at all?’ She slid off the stool and walked around the island towards him; she couldn’t think when he was near and she wanted her thoughts gone.

He sent her a brief look, his grin teasing. ‘After what you just confessed to?’

She laughed, ‘OK, but there must be something I can’t burn?’

The kettle clicked off and he gestured to it. ‘You can pour the boiled water over the noodles.’

She swept around him, her fingers brushing his lower back as she reached for the kettle and poured. ‘Enough?’

‘Perfect.’

She slotted the kettle back on its base, her fingers still resting on his back and didn’t move away, his nearness having the desired effect of emptying out her mind.

She looked into the pan, smelled the aroma tangled up in the scent of him. ‘Mmm, smells great.’

He turned his head towards her and their eyes locked, she parted her lips, looked at the proximity of his and knew what she wanted. ‘Todd?’

He spun, pulling her up tight against him, his lips claiming hers in a kiss as demanding, as desperate as she felt inside. It was everything she’d craved from the second she’d spied him on the beach that day and there was no putting the brakes on now. No audience to interrupt or be wary of, he’d already told her everyone had been dismissed.

He walked her back into the island, the air filled with the smell of food, the sizzle of it cooking, but they were in their own world. He forked his hands through her hair, encouraged her head back as he sought to explore deeper, and she couldn’t breathe. She pulled away to try and drag in air and he dipped to her neck, to the sensitive pulse point behind her ear. It was getting out of control and fast and there would be no turning back, there couldn’t be…

‘Malie…’ it was a groan, ‘what are you doing to me?’

He pinned his forehead to hers, his hands cupping her jaw as he stared down into her eyes. There was so much passion, so much emotion in his darkened gaze.

‘I could ask you the same.’ And this is why you can’t go there; you’d never be able to come back from it… you wouldn’t…

She caught the smell of burning in the air, the rational thought her sudden saviour. ‘But I think you’re about to experience my scrambled egg problem.’

He tensed, cursing under his breath as he flew to the hob and lifted the smoking