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

His eyes narrowed, his heart raced. She was a good distance away but even so, he knew it was her. Nalu too, trying to catch the sand that kicked up on her heels. Her hair was scraped up high on her head, flying out behind her in a mass of curls as she stuck to a pace that was punishing even by his standards and yet she made it look easy, the line of her body lithe, athletic, captivating.

He pushed away from the tree and started to walk towards her, the movement impulsive, but then his stride faltered. This was her time. Not his. She wasn’t here for his lesson – that was at least thirty minutes away – she was here to train and to interrupt her, even without last night hanging over them, would be wrong.

He hung back, gluing himself to the palm tree and hoping it would make him less obtrusive. He wondered if she was interval training and waited for her to slow down, walk, even, before picking up again, but no, she ran and ran, going past the surf school and continuing on. He couldn’t tear his eyes away, even when she was no more than a dot he watched, amazed, impressed, and ever more hooked.

He smiled, the image of himself running beside her, of passing up his treadmill for a run outdoors, along a beach, beside a lake, anywhere with her by his side – he shook his head. Why was he even thinking it? The closest he got to a running partner was a personal trainer and he hadn’t even used one of those in years, preferring to work out alone, and that made his whimsical imaginings just plain odd. Unsettling, even.

She turned back, her face to the sea as it had been when she’d run past him and still she didn’t pause, not until she hit a set of bars positioned at varying heights between the road and the beach. Without pausing for breath, she launched herself in the air, grabbing hold of the high bar and bending her legs, crossing them at the ankles. She lifted herself up. One chin-up, two, three… no way… He’d known she was fit, she had to be to master what she could on the waves, but seeing her training was something else.

He watched her, for how long he wasn’t sure, but when an insect took advantage of landing in his gaping mouth, he woke up to his voyeuristic behaviour and snapped his jaw shut. He either made her aware that he was here, or he found himself somewhere else to wait out the sunrise. Question was, which?

Now he’d seen her, now he knew she was only several metres away at most, did he really want to walk away? No.

He looked back to the horizon, to the sun just starting to peek over the deep blue of the sea and decided: that was the sun, it was close enough to dawn in his mind.

He started to walk towards her, watched as she dropped down from the bars and wiped her sweat-banded wrists across her brow. Sweat trickled down her chest, into the valley of her vest top, the Lycra clinging to her body, her shorts just as tight. Every glorious curve was accentuated by the fabric as she stared out at the orange glow starting to build over the sea. Her skin shone gold, even her eyes took on a similar hue, their green absorbing the amber from the steadily rising sun.

She fisted her hands on her hips, dragged in one deep breath followed by another and another, her eyes lost in the view – just as he was lost in her. What was she thinking? Was it about him? Had she suffered all night just as he had done? Was he the reason she was up before the crack of dawn?

It was Nalu who spotted him first, the dog’s excited bark breaking the quiet, his tail wagging so fiercely it slapped against her legs.

She turned to look down at him, ‘What is—?’ and then she saw him, her eyes lifting, her lips parting in a surprised ‘O’.

‘Morning.’ He smiled and Nalu ran towards him, eager for his attention, which worked in Todd’s favour since it meant tearing his eyes away from her appeal and keeping his hands busy as he dropped to his haunches and stroked the dog’s head, then his tummy as he rolled onto his back.

‘I wasn’t expecting you quite so early.’ She walked towards him, her trainer-clad feet and bare, toned calves inching closer and closer.

‘I couldn’t sleep.’ That was a bit honest. A bit too honest. He blamed it on her legs getting too close, her bare thighs, her curvaceous hips and slender waist, her ample… he swallowed and his eyes leaped to hers. His easy grin, forced. ‘How about you?’

Her eyes narrowed, her arms crossing over her front. So defensive and the day had only just begun. ‘How about I – what?’

‘Couldn’t sleep?’ he said, getting to his feet so that she had to look up at him to maintain eye contact.

‘I slept just fine, thank you.’

He didn’t believe her, he almost said as much but stopped himself. He’d already scared her off enough, he didn’t want to risk losing her completely.

She looked away to the sea. ‘For your information, I always work out at this time of day, before the world wakes.’

He followed her gaze. ‘I can see why.’

And he really could. The rays of the dawning sun stretched along the horizon, gradients of pink, orange, blue. He felt himself inhale and let go, a sense of calm befalling him until he noticed the watchful, curious look upon her face.

‘What?’ he said, not knowing whether to smile or not.

‘Nothing.’

He smiled now. ‘Nothing?’ He raised his brow. ‘That glint in your eye means nothing.’

‘I don’t have a glint—’ She shook her head, her curls bobbing with the move and sending coconut his way as she laughed it