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

pan off the heat. She was grateful for the diversion, grateful for the sudden slap of clarity. She couldn’t sleep with him. Kissing him was one thing, taking the next step… no, just no.

She pressed her fingers to her buzzing lips and wrapped her other arm around her middle, fighting back the ache. She’d never turned down a guy she wanted before. Never had she needed to.

But Todd wasn’t just a guy she wanted. He was a guy she wanted so much more from and could never have. They were practically on different stratospheres, not to mention the other reasons she never went down the relationship route. Never settled. Never got comfortable. Because that’s when life would bite you on the backside. Cripple you when you least expected it… no, just no.

So much for a day’s bravado, of being able to let go.

‘All saved.’ He tossed the pan and sent her a relieved grin. ‘Do you want to grab the prawns from the fridge?’

‘Sure.’ She practically leaped at the fridge, opening the door and contemplating whether she could fit herself in there, just to chill down. She opted for taking a prolonged look through the shelves instead, moving away when she decided her nipples were suffering from the cold and not the prolonged effects of their kiss.

‘I thought you were about to climb in there for a second.’

She closed the door and gave a nervous laugh. ‘As if…’

As if indeed…

She gave him the prawns and turned to get the wine bottle. ‘Can I top you up?’

He gestured to his glass, ‘Please…’ and threw the prawns into the wok, tossing the contents with the skill of a trained chef.

She poured wine into both glasses. ‘Can I lay the table?’

She needed to keep busy, anything to prevent a repeat of seconds ago, or worse, a panicked escape that would make her look like she was crazy.

‘It’s all ready. I thought we’d eat outside if that’s OK?’

‘Of course.’

Fresh air would do her good. She took up her wine and savoured the chill of it running down her throat, acknowledging even as she did that maybe more wine wasn’t such a great idea. Distance would be better.

She walked across the room, her gold leather sandals slapping against the marble floor and ringing too loud for her strung-out nerves. She slid open the large glass doors that led out onto the elevated stone veranda and stepped out, taking in the beauty of the view and using it to soothe her.

‘It’s incredible up here,’ she called back.

‘The view sold it to Grace, my PA.’

His PA, of course. He wouldn’t have the time to hunt down places to stay for his business travels. And she already knew he never took a holiday.

She walked to the edge to take in its full glory. In the distance, either side, lofty green mountains punctuated the water, creating the stunning cove within which the house rested. Ahead the moon rippled through the water, illuminating the white sand of the beach that you could catch glimpses of through the swaying palms and the flora.

Down to her left was the pergola under which the cocktail party had been held, to her right was a long wooden table which he’d laid out for two, arranging it so that they could sit beside one another. He’d even adorned it with several lanterns that looked similar to those from the cocktail party, their flickering glow augmenting the accented lighting cleverly recessed in the ground and on the walls of the house.

Beyond the table there were sweeping stone steps that led down to a sprawling manicured garden with luxury cabanas and a curved infinity pool which glowed turquoise, the lava-rock waterfall feeding it filling the air with the sound of water and making her wish she could dive straight in.

It was a house that oozed luxury and an insight into another world, a world that the likes of Zoe would be accustomed to, but not Malie, a surfer chick on the wrong side of the tracks – or cove, as the case may be for her.

It emphasized the gulf between her and Todd, making it bigger, ever more insurmountable.

‘I hope you’re hungry.’

She practically jumped as she turned at the sound of his voice to see him placing two steaming plates down on the table.

‘I’ll just go get the bottle, take a seat.’

She took a breath, tried to calm her nerves that seemed to be fraying at the edges.

She didn’t want to hurt him by putting distance between them. Not today.

But how did she tell him she couldn’t keep up the pretence she’d promised?

That even a day, it turned out, was too much.

Chapter Eleven

‘MMM, THIS IS DELICIOUS.’ She covered her mouth with her hand as she said it and her eyes sparkled with appreciation as she looked to him.

‘I’m glad you like it. It’s good to know I haven’t lost the knack.’

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d cooked a proper meal, let alone cooked a meal for someone else, and not just anyone…

He wanted to impress her, show her he was more than just the business owner, the charity owner, and her client effectively. Not that he understood why it was important to him. It just was.

It didn’t change the fact that tomorrow they would go back to how things were, the line firmly drawn in the sand. Unless… could they extend it? Mid-kiss he’d thought about it. Been convinced even that they could do just that – the next few weeks flashed through his mind, such blissful imagery with a sprinkling of work and charity commitments that he wouldn’t dare drop.

But now… he didn’t know. Something was wrong.

She hadn’t said as much, but he could sense a definite shift in the atmosphere and couldn’t work out why.

Gone was the Malie who had readily stroked his back as she’d helped out in the kitchen, the Malie who had talked about her family and joked about her lack of culinary skill, and the Malie who