Chapter 13
‘No. Absolutely not. Are you nuts?’ Tiffany glared at Theo, not quite believing that he could so calmly lay out this unhinged plan. ‘What on earth makes you think I would agree to something like this? Something so… illogical and… ludicrous and… harebrained?’
Not giving him time to answer any of her rapid-fire incredulous questions, she started to pace. Had he chosen the wheelhouse deliberately so the rest of the crew wouldn’t hear her wailing at him?
‘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.
‘I get it, you have your objections and you’re allowed.’
‘Why thank you,’ she muttered sarcastically.
‘But can we just cut to the chase here? As I’ve already said, Ari and I are just trying to save the man’s company from ruin, even if he does act like he’s holding all the damn cards.
This deal was on the hook and my last appearance in the tabloids ruined it.
So I’m trying to fix it and I can’t think of a more definitive way of demonstrating I’m a reformed man than by producing a fiancée. ’
Tiffany supposed there was some warped kind of sense to it on paper, but that didn’t explain why Dimitri Kouris gave a rat’s ass about Theo’s well-publicised sex life.
‘I don’t get it? Why does he care about you being reformed?’
Watching the sudden guardedness of Theo’s expression put an itch up Tiffany’s spine.
These two men definitely had history. And, for a moment, as the angle of his jaw blanched white, she thought Theo wasn’t going to answer.
Then he sighed and turned around to face the windows, giving her his back as he looked out over the bow of the boat.
‘There was this girl. Back in the day.’
Uh oh. That didn’t sound good. ‘Okay.’
‘Angelika Konstantinides.’
‘Okay.’
Her anger tempering a little, Tiffany crossed to stand beside him but kept some distance.
He obviously didn’t talk about whatever had happened very much, and she wanted to see his eyes as he did.
Turning around, she leaned her ass against the console, making it easier to see Theo’s face without getting a crick in her neck.
Glancing at her briefly, he returned his gaze to the windows.
‘Growing up, our families were close,’ he began.
‘We lived in the same neighbourhood, we socialised with them, we went on ski holidays and joint family road trips with them. We even all went to Australia once, when we were eleven. For New Year’s Eve on Sydney Harbour. ’
Tiffany suppressed the urge to roll her eyes at the utter decadence of that. It wasn’t Theo’s fault he’d been born into the lap of luxury.
‘Our fathers did business occasionally.’
‘He’s in shipping as well?’
‘No.’ Theo shook his head. ‘The family owns the Eros hotel chain.’
‘Ah.’ Tiffany blinked at the name drop. Very posh.
‘Angelika and I are the same age. We went to the same schools, we hung out with the same people, went to the same parties. We were good friends. The first time I ever got drunk on ouzo was with Angelika.’
A smile softened the serious lines of his face. It was clearly a fond memory, and Tiffany was shocked by a sudden visceral surge of jealousy rising like hot bile.
What the hell?
Jealousy? She had no claim on Theo and even if she had, this girl was from his past. His distant past.
‘She was great. She is great,’ he corrected, frowning at his slip.
‘Our parents always used to joke that we’d end up married and we laughed about it together because they weren’t that subtle at times.
We’d roll our eyes at their matchmaking and ponder how old we’d be before they gave up on the whole idea.
Sometimes, when we knew they were watching, we’d hold hands and whisper to each other just to yank their chains because it was so ridiculous. ’
Tiffany had a bad feeling she knew where this was going. ‘Was it though?’
‘Yes.’ For the first time since he’d started talking about it, he met her gaze.
‘It was Angelika. She was like my sister. We even used each other for cover. Going out together somewhere because we knew our parents would let us, but splitting up to be with friends or even dates with other people we knew our parents wouldn’t approve of. And then…’
Theo’s gaze shifted back to the glass, the bright sunshine highlighting the sudden storm clouds dimming the blue of his eyes. Tiffany waited for him to continue.
‘We went out to this club with a bunch of friends. We’d both just finished school and it was the end of a great summer which we’d pretty much spent together.
I was going off to London. She was going to the US.
There was drinking and dancing and she and her friends were chatting to some guys, and there was this woman who kept giving me the eye across the room.
She was probably twenty years older than me but she didn’t seem to mind, and when she slid up and asked me if I wanted to have some fun, I sure as hell didn’t mind. ’
‘But…’ Tiffany quirked an eyebrow. ‘Angelika minded?’
‘I don’t know, it never occurred to me to check.’ The exasperation in his voice backed up his statement. ‘I just took her hand and we slipped out into the alley at the back and we’ – he side-eyed her briefly – ‘did our thing.’
‘And Angelika followed?’
‘God, no.’ He grimaced. ‘But there were some paps at the club because it was popular with celebrities and they’d photographed Angelika and me going in holding hands, and when this woman and I became aware of our surroundings again, there were two paps at the end of the alley with cameras, snapping away. ’
Tiffany gaped. ‘What? That’s terrible.’