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

just give me twenty mins and I can get myself home, we can talk properly… speak soon.’

Slowly, he turned to face her and folded his arms across his chest, leaning back on the counter. ‘Friend emergency?’

Did he imagine it or did her cheeks just get redder as she nodded?

She nibbled over her lip, her eyes not quite meeting his. ‘Look, I’m sorry to bail, after… after…’ She fluttered a hand around her. ‘I had a lovely time tonight, I had a lovely day even…’

‘But?’ He didn’t like the tightness in his own voice, but he couldn’t relax it.

‘Well… our pact…’

‘Is over.’ He finished for her and her eyes struck with his.

‘Yes…’ She dragged in a breath and swept a hand over her hair. ‘I have to go.’

‘I know.’

She leaned from one foot to the other just as she had on the beach that first night. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘You have nothing to be sorry for, Malie, we agreed a day and now you have a friend emergency to tend to. I’m not going to stand in your way.’ He forced a smile this time. If Zoe needed her then she had to go, that wasn’t her fault, but it was the disappointment that came with the understanding that this – whatever this was – was over before it had ever really begun. ‘Do you need me to get you a car?’

‘No,’ she gave an awkward laugh, ‘I can manage the short walk.’

‘OK.’ He pushed away from the counter and started for the door, hearing her sandals against the tiles as she followed behind him.

He pulled open the door and stood back, far enough away that she didn’t need to come too close.

‘Thanks, Todd.’ She paused before him, raked her teeth over her lip again and before he could second-guess her, she planted a kiss on his cheek. ‘It’s been fun.’

And then she was gone, leaving him in a cloud of tantalizing coconut and his head a mess of what-ifs.

‘What the hell was all that about?’

Malie winced at her friend’s outburst, watching as Zoe peered into the screen like she was about to climb through it and call her out on her shameful behaviour in person.

‘Sorry, Zo.’

‘I’m totally here for you… lay it on me… that’s awful…’ Zoe mimicked the deceitful flurry of words that Malie had come out with in order to escape Todd’s place and she felt her cheeks burn up with guilt. ‘I hadn’t said anything of the sort.’

‘I know, love, I just needed an out.’

Zoe frowned as she smoothed her hair behind her ear. ‘Why? What’s happened? Where were you?’

She shook her head, struggling to even put words to the mess that was her head, her heart, her entire life, right now.

Zoe leaned ever closer to the screen. ‘Are you OK?’

‘Yes… no… not really…’ She dropped her head into her hands, mumbling, ‘I don’t know.’

‘You’re really starting to freak me out, Malie, so either you put words to it that I can understand, or I’m bringing an end to my Caribbean jaunt early and—’

‘No!’ Her head shot up, her hand palm out. ‘There’s no need, I’m just being silly, and you can’t sack off an article just because your mate’s in a tizz over a guy.’

‘Oh!’ A small smile teased at Zoe’s lips and she leaned back, giving Malie a glimpse of the luxurious bed in which she lay, the plush-looking headboard making her friend’s petite body look all the more so. ‘A guy…?’

‘It’s not funny,’ Malie said.

‘I didn’t say it was.’

‘You’re smiling.’

‘I’m just curious, that’s all.’ Her friend cocked her head to the side, her perfectly smooth hair falling over her shoulder and glowing white in the light of her laptop screen, ‘I’ve never seen you in a tizz over a guy, we were starting to think you were impervious to the male of the species.’

‘We?’

Zoe shrugged, her smile definite now. ‘Lils, V, me.’

‘I’m not heartless, Zo. I do care, you know.’

‘I know you do, I just mean, you never showed an inclination to get serious about one.’

‘And I’m not getting serious now,’ she rushed out.

‘OK-OK,’ Zoe raised her hands in defence, ‘get all het up by one, then! They’re either your mates or a bit of fun. So, where does he fit?’

She raked a hand over her face. ‘I wish I knew.’

‘Then come on, spill?’ Zoe stifled a yawn and reached across her bed, coming back into view with a glass of water and settling in to listen.

Malie felt a pang of guilt and checked the time. Her friend really ought to be sleeping, not playing therapist to her momentary madness.

‘Look, I’m sorry, Zo, you should get some sleep. What is it, one, two in the morning where you are?’

‘Three, but who’s counting, I’m still on UK time. I swear jet lag gets harder to shift the older you get.’

Malie laughed gently, ‘You’re twenty-eight, hardly old.’

‘The same still applies, and anyway, you’re stalling, who’s the lucky guy that’s managed to turn you?’

‘Zoe.’

There was no avoiding it, they were talking this through. And who knew, maybe it would help her make sense of it all, because she sure as heck couldn’t.

‘It’s funny you mention being turned,’ she said eventually, ‘he is kind of vamp-like…’

She remembered that first night on the beach, his pale skin in the moonlight, his intense, dark gaze… the fluttering was instant, her insides coming alive like a whipped-up smoothie.

‘Earth to Malie…’ She focused on the screen as Zoe waved a hand in front of it. ‘So this vamp, does he have a name?’

‘Todd… Todd Masters.’

Zoe frowned. ‘Wasn’t that the name of the guy coming out to…’ her eyes widened with realization, ‘ooh, I see, so it’s slightly more complicated than some random guy you hooked up with on the beach?’

‘I don’t hook up with—’

Zoe’s grin shut her up. ‘It’s a moot point. What matters is this guy has come to Hawaii with his charity venture, bringing you kids you wish to help, aiding you in your quest to give people a better