Meet Me in Hawaii by Georgia Toffolo (best affordable ebook reader TXT) 📗

‘That’s it…’

He felt his board lift, felt the wave take him and went with it, the urge to pop burning through him. He had this… he drew his hands below his chest and pushed up, only this time he did what felt natural, launching his right foot forward. He adopted the stance he’d used as a kid with his skateboard and the adrenalin rush was instant.

For a second the world fell away; he was a child again, weaving through the streets on errand after errand, forgetting his troubles at home… and he was forgetting everything now, save for the rush in his bloodstream, the power of the ride as he weaved his board this way and that, testing, adapting, controlling…

The wave was running out of steam, the shore fast approaching, and he jumped off into the water, already buzzing with the need to go bigger, faster, longer.

He emerged from the water, flicked his hair out of his eyes and scoured the waves for Malie. She was sitting on her board out where he’d left her, mouth agape, her eyes pinned on him.

‘How was that, Boss?!’ He waded towards her, the board under his palm as he pushed it with him.

She shook her head, her grin building. ‘You could have told me you were goofy!’

Goofy?

There were so many compliments she could have given and instead she was giving him goofy. As the water level rose, he hopped up onto the board to paddle the remaining distance.

‘Goofy, that’s the best you got?’

Her eyes danced at him. ‘It means you lead with your right foot.’

‘And that makes me goofy?’

She shrugged. ‘Afraid so… what I want to know is why you were popping with your left foot forward back on the beach?’

‘Isn’t it obvious?’

She looked at him for so long he thought she wasn’t going to answer, not verbally at any rate, but her eyes were ablaze with what he wanted to see, appreciation, respect, want – or was it because he wanted to see all that, he thought it was there?

‘You were putting on a performance for the kids?’

‘And they loved it, didn’t they?’ Was it his imagination or had her voice softened, was it laced with interest? The kind of interest that had led to their kiss. ‘It had to be worth hurting my pride a little for…’

She turned her smile to the sun rather than him. ‘You’re an intriguing guy, Todd.’

‘I’ll take intriguing over goofy any day. Now, how about a bigger wave?’

She came back to him, her smile lifting to one side. ‘You sure you’re ready for one?’

‘I was born ready.’

‘Oh yeah, that was incredible!’

Todd shook the hair out of his face with his exclamation and Malie made herself look away. Every time he did it, his fringe would flick back, his eyes would land on her, so alive and blue against the white of his skin, and she would feel her entire body pulse, the heat swamping her and taking out any rational thought she might try and cling to.

The problem was Todd Masters wasn’t just some deliciously hot and charismatic millionaire, he was a total philanthropist, his heart as big as his wallet. And seeing him interact with his kids, hearing him talk about his Foundation, the things that mattered to him, it was getting harder and harder to ignore the way he made her feel, to forget the heat of his kiss, the power of it.

No matter how many times she tried to tell herself that her type was definitely the hunky Adonis kind, her body was all for the hot-vamp do-gooder.

‘Having fun?’ she asked.

He pulled himself up to sitting on the board. ‘Hell, yeah!’

She smiled. ‘I can tell, but we should head back, the sun’s getting low.’

He looked towards the horizon, his face glowing now as the sun’s rays stretched warm and orange across the sky. ‘It’s beautiful out here.’

She followed his gaze, shared in his appreciation. ‘It’s my favourite place to be.’

‘I can see why.’

‘When you’re out here, you can forget everything,’ she said softly, feeling the view work its unique magic. ‘Leave your troubles on the shore, so to speak.’

He hummed his agreement. The low sound strummed through the heart of her and she took a deep breath then swivelled her board around. ‘We should get back.’

He’d had his lesson and she needed to put some distance between them again. If they got back now, she could have the boards away and give Zoe a call, get planning her visit – No, scratch that, Zoe was visiting the Caribbean, not at home in Sydney, quick mental arithmetic told her it would be far too late to call her.

She could call Victoria and Lily though. What and wake them up at the crack of dawn? No, she couldn’t do that. It wasn’t their fault she was desperately in need of distraction. She started to paddle even though he hadn’t moved.

‘Hey, Malie…’

She closed her eyes and knew she wasn’t being fair to him, it wasn’t his fault either.

She looked to him over her shoulder, all relaxed and happy and far too appealing. ‘Yeah?’

‘Can we stay a bit, just enjoy the sun going down?’

She hesitated.

‘If you haven’t got to rush off, that is?’

No, she didn’t have to rush off. She needed to.

But she had no plans. Other than gaining the distance she needed. And it just felt foolish, selfish even. He was enjoying himself and when she imagined how busy his life must be with work as well as his charity efforts, to bring an end to his day just because she couldn’t keep a lid on how she felt was just… well, it sucked.

‘Sure.’ She brought the board back around and lined it up alongside his, pushing her body back up to sitting. ‘I guess you don’t get to do this much.’

He gave a gentle scoff. ‘I can’t remember the last time I sat and did nothing.’

‘You should find the time for it,’ she said, trying to avoid looking at him and failing miserably.

He