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

Nalu?’ He ruffled the dog’s head, but his concerned gaze was on her. Kalani mentioned in passing that Zoe was staying for a week, and that week would be up today. ‘Is she OK, do you think?’

The dog made a low whining sound that married with his own inner turmoil.

Could it really all be over in a week? And why did it bother him so much? He’d never sought more from a woman, why did he want it so much from her?

It was a stupid question, he knew why, he just couldn’t quite believe it. Despite all his better judgement, his own messed-up childhood and family dynamics, he had fallen for her. He was head over heels in love with Malie.

Nalu started to trot back to the shoreline and Todd followed. If Zoe had left today, maybe she’d be grateful of the company, even if it was him offering it.

He watched her bobbing out at sea. She looked so sad, lost even, and he knew with certainty that he couldn’t just leave her. Not until he knew she was OK. He sat down instead and waited, his arms resting on his bent knees, his eyes on her. Nalu gave him a sniff and then sat down beside him, mimicking his gaze.

‘You like her a lot too, hey?’

And now he was talking to a dog. But at least Nalu didn’t object to his company. Not like the woman who was now turning her board for shore, although she didn’t surf the waves like he expected, she seemed to let them plough over her, through her, like she was… like she was broken.

Something caught in his throat, a swell of emotion so forceful he couldn’t breathe past it. The urge to call out her name, to startle her into being her: fierce, vibrant, full of energy, even if that energy smacked of go away, it would be preferable to this. But he was scared she’d run, paddle as fast as she could away.

Instead he sat stock-still and waited.

She spied him the second she slipped off the board and stood.

‘Todd?’ His name escaped her lips in a startled gasp that had him shooting to his feet.

‘I’m sorry, Malie, I didn’t mean to scare you, I just… I came for a walk, I hadn’t expected anyone to be here.’

She waded out of the water and brushed her wet hair out of her face, her eyes glistening in the moonlight and he knew it wasn’t just the sea beading on her lashes.

‘You don’t have to apologize…’ she took a breath that seemed to shudder through her, ‘you have as much right to be here as me.’

He frowned, pain working its way through him as he witnessed her suffering up close. ‘Have you been crying?’

She blinked rapidly and looked away, swallowing hard. ‘I’ve… I’m…’

He closed the distance between them, unable to bear it any longer, and he rested his hands on her arms, bowing his head to try and get her to look at him. ‘What’s wrong, Malie?’

She wiped a shaky hand over her face, her other still clutching her board. ‘It’s nothing, I’m just being silly.’

‘Crying isn’t silly.’

Her eyes looked to him but her face was still averted. ‘Zoe left today.’

Her lashes fluttered, her voice cracked, and she looked back to the darkened horizon. ‘It was harder to say goodbye than I expected.’

‘Oh, Malie, that’s not silly, that just shows you care.’

She lifted her chin, visibly drawing strength from somewhere to speak. ‘Having Zoe here, it just reminded me of how much I miss home, how much I miss my friends, even my family.’

He took the board from her and laid it down on the sand, reaching for her next, his instincts now driving him and overriding any worry that she would reject him. She needed him this second and he could be there for her, he could at least do that.

He pulled her into his arms and hugged her head to his chest, her hair damp in the palm of his hand.

‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered, her body trembling against his.

He pressed his lips to her hair, breathed in her scent, all sea and coconut. ‘You don’t need to apologize for crying, not to me, not ever.’

She sniffed. ‘I don’t mean for crying, I mean… I mean…’

She tensed against him and pressed up off his chest, her eyes finding his. ‘I’m sorry for how I’ve treated you.’

He lifted his hands to her face, stroked her cheeks as he stared down into her eyes which today looked as black as the sky above and twinkling with both the moon and fresh tears. ‘I just wish I could understand why you’re still running from me at every opportunity, why you won’t give us a chance to see where this will take us?’

‘We talked about this, we said we couldn’t, we agreed.’

She was shaking her head at him.

‘I know, but that was before… before this… before I started to understand how I feel… I don’t know, I just know I don’t want to say goodbye, that it’s too much to ignore… I want to take a chance, I believe we’re worth a chance, don’t you?’

But her head was still shaking, her eyes staring up into his awash with fresh tears.

‘What is it? Tell me?’

He sounded as desperate as he felt inside. Desperate, frustrated, almost out of hope.

‘I’m scared.’

He frowned, his fingers pulsing around the delicate skin of her neck as he caressed her. ‘What are you scared of?’

‘I’m scared of falling in love…’ She wet her lips, her choice of words making his heart flutter painfully in his chest. ‘I’m scared of the happiness I might find…’ she dragged in a breath, the next few words a mere whisper, ‘only to have it ripped away.’

‘I know, I know, but we can’t know what the future holds, I just know that I can’t turn my back on this.’

‘But your father, my brother.’

A tear ran over one lid, its trail killing him as he smoothed it away with the pad