Chapter Six
Chapter
Six
Dani
“I told you, that’s never going to work,” Dani whisper-growled once they were back in the bedroom, frustrated by Theo’s absurd insistence on what she was now referring to as “the bathroom bit.”
Why didn’t he want her help getting out of this mess? When had he become a solo strategist? They’d always hatched plans together.
“It will work,” he said, whispering into her ear from behind, still irrationally worried about recording devices despite his already having turned over the entire room unsuccessfully searching for one.
“All you have to do is say you’re going to the restroom while they’re docking the boat back in Heraklion, and then slip out the back of the terminal building and run to the consulate. ”
“You don’t think they will have wised up? What if they follow me into the bathroom?”
“They’re not going to follow you into the bathroom. Besides, everyone has to use the bathroom. They’re not going to be too suspicious. Now maybe the next time I have to use the bathroom…” he joked.
She turned her head and glared at him. “This isn’t funny, Theo,” she said at full volume.
“Keep it down!” he commanded as forcefully as one could do at whisper-volume.
And Dani’s body instantly succumbed to his tone, like her insides suddenly turned to Jell-O.
Theo stood behind her as he spoke into her ear, sending a delightful titillating sensation down her neck to her chest, buzzing through her nipples, tingling her stomach, and ending straight in her core. He was so close.
Too close, to be honest.
Could he feel her body clench or see her fists tighten around the hem of her shirt? Did he notice the hitch in her breath at the tickle of his beard brushing against her ear?
His hands gripped her waist, reminding her of how his hands felt when he caught her in the pool. They’d been so much larger than she remembered, wrapping from her back around her side, with his fingers grazing dangerously close to her breasts.
Now that she knew what his hands felt like on her bare skin, well, fuck. How was she supposed to sleep in the same room with him all night?
“I’m only saying,” she whispered, trying to steady her breath and fighting to keep from pressing her backside into him, “there has to be a better way. I can stay here and help.”
“Stick with the plan, okay?” he said.
Dani closed her eyes, imagining her arms floating above her head and reaching around his neck, pulling him toward her own.
She could almost feel his soft lips planting delicate kisses along her neck.
For the slightest moment, she felt his fingers press into her hip bone and the pads of his thumbs graze the sliver of bare skin where her shirt rolled up at her midriff.
How easy it would be for his palm to flatten against her stomach and dip below her waistline.
Or for one hand to skirt between her skin and her panties, and the other glide up her shirt and cup her breast.
“Theo,” she whispered, breathlessly, “what if I—”
“Please stop. You’re leaving tomorrow, end of discussion,” he said, and instantly released his hold on her, like a rip cord had been pulled, yanking him from her.
Breathe.
She filled her lungs and let out a long exhale, centering herself as he backed away.
A technique she’d utilized for years whenever she felt herself wanting to take things a step too far, threatening to cross that invisible, unspoken line between the two of them.
Because as much as she wanted Theo, his commitment to only dating Triple Gs made it patently clear he didn’t want the same.
Once she’d gathered herself, she spun around, finding Theo arranging blankets and a pillow on the sofa at the foot of the bed.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“I’m going to sleep,” he said, fluffing up the pillow while looking in the opposite direction.
Dani turned toward the bed—the king-size bed—and then back at Theo again. “There’s plenty of room,” she said.
“I’ll be fine,” he grumbled.
“Quit being silly. You should sleep up here,” she said.
Theo’s gaze shifted from Dani to the bed and to Dani again.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he said. His words felt like a kick in the stomach.
“Why not? We’re both adults. I think we know how to behave.”
Theo’s eyebrow raised. Something about the way she said behave, as if he maybe disputed that fact.
That one look sent images of Theo cuddled up behind her through her mind.
His big, wide hands splayed over her stomach, pulling her closer to his body.
Her ass pressed against his firm abdomen, sensing his cock starting to stiffen as his lips pressed against her earlobe.
Sure, they knew how to behave, but did she really want to?
She allowed her eyes to travel to his groin for a moment, then quickly flicked her gaze back up.
“Look,” she said, not waiting for him to respond and trying to wipe away the images in her head. “We’re…engaged. That means, from here on out, we’re only getting one room. One bed.”
“I think I can handle the couch for a week.”
“And if there is no couch?”
“Then I’ll sleep on the floor.”
“Why are you being so weird? It’s a fucking bed. A huge one, at that. And it’s not like we haven’t slept beside each other before.”
“Yeah, well, that probably shouldn’t have happened, either.”
She frowned and furrowed her brow. “What is with you? I haven’t seen you in over a year and you’re acting like I’m the last person you want to see right now. Like being next to me is the worst thing that could be happening to you.”
He jerked his head in her direction and stood straight. “Because it is the worst thing that could be happening to me right now. I don’t want you here!”
Dani blinked several times.
“I had things under control before you got arrived,” he continued, returning to making up the couch, only now more aggressively.
“Please!” she snapped back. “You’ve been held hostage for a year, Theo. Nothing about that says ‘control.’ ” She brought her hands up to form air quotes.
“Yeah, well, now I’ve got a deadline and you to worry about.”
“You don’t need to worry about me. I know how to handle myself.”
“Oh really? This isn’t like one of those silly stunts we pulled back in high school. This is real life. I mean, seriously, your first time out of the country and this happens? It’s the kind of shit that would only happen to you.”
His words smacked her in the face. Theo, the one person who she’d thought believed in her, was thinking the same thing as everyone else: she was a joke. All the times he’d visited. All the adventures they’d gone on. He was only humoring her.
Poor, pathetic Dani. Stuck living with her mom and dad in her thirties because she was too big a loser to try.
Theo wasn’t coming back to spend time with her in Grand Rapids because he had feelings for her.
He felt sorry for her. His trips were nothing different from a big brother checking on his sister, trying to help her through her litany of tough times and silly bad breakups.
She pictured the two of them on the couch together that last night in her apartment, spooning with his arms around her waist, and she cringed. That’s why he was gone the next morning. Things had gotten weird.
How had she not realized it before? How could she have been so foolish to carry on this childish little crush for all these years? He pitied her like everyone else.
“Wow, Theo. I didn’t realize I was such a burden on you.”
“Well, sorry, but I didn’t exactly have taking care of you on my kidnapping bingo card.”
“And I told you that I can handle myself. You don’t need to take care of me.”
“As if our parents would be okay with me leaving you on your own,” he said, rolling his eyes. “I can’t just wash my hands of any responsibility, here. You’re practically my sister.”
You’re practically my sister.
The image of him pressed against her body evaporated like the wave of a wand.
Over the years, she thought she’d sensed a shift between them, but apparently she’d been wrong.
“Fine,” she said, tearing the covers from the bed and getting in. “Be the hero. Have it your way.”
She turned off the lamp beside her while Theo was still standing in the middle of the room.
“Can you turn that back on? I wasn’t done,” he said.
“Turn it on yourself. You don’t need my help, remember?”
At least this trip wasn’t a complete bust. She’d finally gotten what she’d been looking for.
Closure.
* * *
It was a chilly boat ride to Crete—and it had nothing to do with the air temperature.
Theo and Dani hadn’t spoken a word to each other since she’d turned off the light the night before. But she didn’t need to open her mouth to speak to him. Her icy glare and cold shoulder did plenty of talking for her.
Not that Theo tried smoothing things over, either. He carried with him an air of righteousness. Like he thought he knew better than she did and so his plan was the right plan.
It didn’t matter that it was the only plan.
Dani tried to pay attention while they traveled back to Crete so hopefully she’d remember how to get to Pierre’s island, taking note of unusual landmarks and the shapes and sizes of other islands, but Maurice and Louis might as well have blindfolded them.
The ride back took detours and roundabout directions, obviously in an effort to confuse Dani and Theo.
After an hour in, she couldn’t make heads or tails of where they were.
Any hopes of being able to find the island again were lost.
So what was she supposed to tell the authorities?
Pierre Vautour has a secret island lair somewhere in the Aegean Sea!
Yes, one island in a sea of over six thousand. They’d find it in no time.
For the briefest of moments, Dani wished she hadn’t been such a stubborn brat all night so they could have at least firmed up the details of Theo’s dumbass plan. But it was too late now. Finally, Heraklion appeared in the distance.