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

‘That’s not true, I want to help you because I care about you.’

‘No, no, you don’t! You’re like some bloody white knight so eager to save me!’ She shook her head furiously – don’t listen to him, it won’t end well, it can’t. ‘And I don’t deserve it, I don’t deserve your pity, your help or whatever this is between us.’

‘Malie…’ He stepped towards her and she backed away. ‘Don’t presume to tell me how I feel, I know how I feel and I’m telling you now, this is something special and worth fighting for.’

‘Like you fought to fix your relationship with your father.’

He stilled, his expression turning stone cold. ‘Why would you say that?’

‘Doesn’t feel so good when the shoe’s on the other foot, does it?’ She gave a harsh laugh, but it was nervous, driven by guilt at her lash-out. It had worked, though, it had made him stop.

‘I know I’ve made some mistakes with my father, that I’ve hardly been the model son and vice versa.’

‘And yet you think you can stand there and tell me how I should deal with my loss of Koa; I bet you’re going to tell me to give my parents another chance to make it right too, aren’t you?’

He stared at her, both anger and shock written in every taut line of his face, his only movement the pulse ticking his jaw as he clamped his mouth shut. She floundered in the face of it, her heart fluttering wildly, guilt swelling painfully in her chest. Guilt and a far more powerful emotion that pushed to be acknowledged. The depths of her feelings for him. Oh, God.

‘Why don’t you just do us both a favour, Todd? Go and fix your own family issues before daring to tackle mine, hey?’

His eyes flickered with the direct hit and she felt her palms itch to reach for him, to stroke away the pain of her words, to take them back. She raised her chin to challenge him, to challenge the rising tide of emotion inside that insisted she cave.

‘I don’t need your help,’ she bit out, using her surfboard as a shield now. ‘And I don’t need you!’

‘No… you’ve made that perfectly clear.’ His voice was so low she barely recognized it as his. She wanted to walk around him, to disappear into the undergrowth and not look back but her legs had gone to jelly. She couldn’t trust them to take her weight if she so much as moved.

‘I’m sorry, I don’t want to hurt you.’

He gave a harsh laugh, the sound sending an ice-like trickle running down her spine.

‘Lucky for you, I grew up on rejection, Malie,’ he rasped, any trace of affection he’d held for her gone. Obliterated by the pain she’d inflicted. ‘You’re just another to add to a very long list so don’t lose sleep over it. I won’t.’

Her entire body shivered, her mind screaming at her to say something that would make it all better, that would bring the Todd she knew back. But she’d gone too far. She’d ruined everything.

‘I—’

‘Save it, Malie, you can have your waves and your board; they seem to do a far better job than me.’

And then he turned, and he was gone. He didn’t even look back when she dropped to her knees, her board falling to the sand. He didn’t seem to hear her racked sob, or Nalu’s whimper.

She’d done it now. It was over. Really over.

‘Oh, God, Nalu.’ She hugged her little friend to her chest. ‘What have I done?’

Chapter Nineteen

TODD STRAIGHTENED HIS BOW tie and wanted to rip the damn thing away.

It was the last day of the programme, the last day for him in Hawaii, and it was meant to be a celebration. A gala ball to celebrate the work of the charity and the surf school, and more specifically, Malie. Pain caught at his chest, took away his ability to breathe, his ability to move. The echo of the words she’d thrown at him that night a week ago punished him even now. She’d been running scared. He knew that, but it in no way softened their blow. Or her rejection.

But tonight, he would have to see her again.

He’d avoided the surf school, the beach too, doing all he could to stay out of her way and not have to suffer it all over again. But he couldn’t avoid tonight. He was the host and she a guest of honour.

He yanked at the bow tie ends and turned sharply away from his reflection that judged him such a fool. She hadn’t asked for him to care for her, to fall for her, he’d done that all off his own bat.

His heels clipped against the polished surface of his floor as he made his way into the hallway and saw his PA standing there.

‘Are we all set, Grace?’

‘Against all the odds, yes.’ They’d intended to hold the gala in the grounds of the house, just as they had the cocktail party, but it had rained most of the day and was set to continue into the evening. The weather very much like his mood. ‘With the doors open between the living and dining area, the room is impressive enough and the dance space ample, it’s ideal.’

‘Good.’

The doorbell sounded and she stood to attention, hooking the tablet she carried safely into the crook of her arm. ‘I will greet the guests while you get yourself a drink.’ She frowned and did a quick scan of his overall appearance before patting his bow tie in place and stepping back. ‘You look like you could use it. Is everything OK?’

‘Of course.’

She hesitated a second longer but, ever the professional, let it go, her smile that of the perfect hostess. ‘Let’s get this party started.’

She twirled away in a cloud of green silk, her black hair smooth down her back. This was her thing, throwing