Page 34 of Below Deck Billionaire
And for damn sure he took that judgement with him into business dealings.
A man who could screw around on his wife/partner/significant other wouldn’t think twice about screwing around on a deal. If he couldn’t be trusted to honour the most sacred vow a person could take, then why would Theo ever trust that person in business?
That didn’t mean he hadn’t done deals with people who’d failed the honour test. It just meant that contracts were airtight and there was zero wriggle room.
Theo’s gaze zoomed over the urban sprawl of the city to the sea, a deep dazzling blue stretching all the way to the horizon, wishing he was there already instead of waiting on this one last meeting. But it freed him up for the next couple of weeks and tomorrow they were setting off to Crete, and he was already impatient to be on board.
It had been too long since theNeridahad been out, and using her as a glorified crash pad was an insult to her true purpose in life. And then there was Tiffany. He’d be lying to himself if he didn’t admit the thought of seeing her every day for more than a few minutes here and there wasn’t just as alluring as time on the water.
Even if putting temptation right in his path was like playing sexual chicken with that ridiculous dare.
‘I thought you were gone?’
Theo glanced over his shoulder to find his brother – the instigator of the ridiculousness – crossing the office. ‘Just one more meeting,’ Theo murmured as he turned back to the windows, Ari joining him in several long strides to also stare at the view.
‘I have news,’ Ari said, eventually rousing himself from the hypnotic pull of the Athens skyline.
Theo side-eyed his brother. That sounded ominous. ‘Oh?’
‘Dimitri Kouris is back on the hook.’
‘Really?’
Theo hadn’t been convinced that keeping his face and other parts of his body out of the tabloids would have any effect on the stubborn old coot, but maybe Ari had been right.
It happened, occasionally.
‘Yep.’ Ari nodded. ‘He’s ready to sell.’
‘That’s…’ Theo grinned at his brother. ‘Incredible.’ He pulled his brother in for a backslapping hug. Neither of them had wanted to let their grandfather down, and Ari had been beavering away determinedly to get things back on track for a couple of months now.
‘Uh huh,’ Ari agreed. ‘There’s just something he needs first.’
Oh, for the love of… Theo unhanded his brother. ‘You’re shitting me?’ They were going to put more money in the man’s pocket and save his damn company from going under. What else could he possibly need? ‘A mariachi band? A kidney? A fucking unicorn?’
‘He wants to spend some time with you.’
‘Okay.’ Theo’s brow furrowed. That would be excruciating but he’d be willing to do it for the sake of the deal. ‘Like, dinner? I could squeeze that in tonight.’ It would delay him getting on the boat but it’d be worth it if it helped allay Dimitri’s concerns about Theo’s moral character. ‘Or we can arrange something for when I get back from Crete?’
Ari shook his head. ‘No. He wants to spend a couple of days with you.’
Theo blinked. ‘What?’
‘What can I say?’ Ari shrugged. ‘The man wants what he wants.’
Theo knew exactly what Dimitri wanted. He wanted to look Theo in the eye and get his measure. Because Dimitri Kouris, like Yannis Callisthenes, was an honourable man who believed that a man’s word was his pledge.
But Theo didn’t want to spend days pretending he was a changed man when he had every intention of getting back on the one-night-stand circuit when the four months was up.
An image of Tiffany flicked through his brain like a cloud skittering across the sky.
Yeah – she’d be his first call.
‘Did you say yes?’ he demanded.
Ari snorted. ‘Of course I did.’
‘Ari.’ Theo almost choked. ‘You know he’s going to ask me to keep my pants zipped.’ Something he probably wouldn’t have said at a restaurant.
