Page 37 of Below Deck Billionaire
‘Do you think this is the goddamn Middle Ages?’ she demanded. ‘Where men used women as bargaining chips? Did you have a stroke? Should I call the paramedics? Oh my God?—’
She stopped pacing abruptly and felt for the pulse in her neck.
‘Have I had a stroke? And this is some white-light-hovering-above-the-earth-while-my-life-hangs-in-the-balance kind of thing? Do you have aspirin? I think you’re supposed to take aspirin if you’re having a stroke.’
Okay, maybe she wasn’t having a stroke, but she was definitely winding herself up into a panic attack. Her heart was racing and it was hard to catch her breath, unlike him who was watching her calmly like he was patiently waiting for her to run out of steam, which really lit her fuse.
Not to mention he looked… hot and calm in his goddamn shorts and T-shirt that outlined every muscle in his chest, quads and ass. His hair was the only thing not perfectly put together, looking somewhat dishevelled, like he’d finger-combed it into submission.
But hot dishevelled, standing there with his hand resting casually on the wheel all Orlando Bloom again. While she was over here having a panic attack.
‘You should breathe now,’ he suggested mildly.
And her fuse went kaboom.
‘Do not,’ she hissed, taking up the pacing once more, ‘tell me to breathe.’
If Tiffany had found it hard to believe Theo had never been in a relationship before, she didn’t any longer. No man who’d spent more than one night with the female of the species would tell any woman, in the middle of an argument/yelling jag, to take a breath.
Sure, she was starting to feel a little lightheaded, but rookie move, dude.
Wisely, Theo held up his hands in a surrender motion and let her pace it out of her system. When she was done, she pulled up in front of him, folded her arms and reiterated her initial response. ‘No. Absolutely not.’
‘Okay, that is of course your prerogative, but?—’
And she was off again with the pacing, gesticulating with her hands to emphasise her points. ‘You’re asking me to lie to a person I don’t even know. And his wife. And act as some moony, lovesick girl while playing hostess.’
‘Moony and/or lovesick not required.’
Ignoring him, Tiffany whipped around. ‘I suppose I’m to grace your bed, too?’
He shrugged. ‘It would be tough to explain if you didn’t accompany me to my suite.’
Well, gosh darn it, she’d hate to put him in a tough spot.
Tiffany folded her arms again. Mostly because she was cranky, a little to hide the sudden interest of her nipples in them sleeping together. ‘Didn’t you just stand there and tell me in justifying this ridiculous proposal that Dimitri Kouris is an old-fashioned man? It sounds like he’d probably admire your restraint.’
‘I’m sure he would but… there’s no way he’d believe it. Unfortunately, my reputation precedes me and you sleeping elsewhere would make him suspicious as to the validity of our relationship, and this needs to be convincing.’
‘How convenient,’ she said with an acid-sweet smile.
‘It’s a big suite,’ he said with a twist of his lips, ‘and I have every intention of winning the dare with Ari. I’ll sleep on the couch.’
Tiffany had been in Theo’s suite often. She cleaned it most mornings and slotted freshly laundered clothes into his cupboard on the regular. And it was big. But the couch was made for lounging, not sleeping.
Good. She hoped it wrecked his back.
‘Why a fiancée?’ she demanded as more and more of her brain recovered from the shock and was able to process things more clearly. ‘Why not a girlfriend?’ She was, after all, a girl who he’d been very friendly with – for approximately sixteen hours.
She could pull that off.
‘A girlfriend wouldn’t be enough for him. A girlfriend says,this one for now. A fiancée says,I chose you forever. There’s no commitment in a girlfriend.’
This one for now? Bloody hell, the man really had no clue about the nature of long-term relationships. ‘You really think that?’ Tiffany might have only been in a couple of semi-serious situationships before, which made her no expert, but she knew plenty of people committed themselves to one person without a ring.
‘He thinks that.’ Theo huffed out a breath. ‘Look…’
His brow pulled down as he shoved his hands in his pockets and, no matter how tempted she was, Tiffany did not check out how the action tightened the fabric of those shorts across the bulge behind his zipper.
