Page 64 of Below Deck Billionaire
The offer was out before Theo had fully thought it through, but it made perfect sense. The villa wasn’t used a lot of the year and would be even less so as summer wound down, and she wouldn’t be gone from his life. They’d have time to figure things out.
‘Theo… no.’ She shook her head. ‘Thank you though.’
‘Gratis,’ he hastily assured her in case she thought he was after rent.
She laughed again. ‘It’s not that. It’s just…’
Just what? She clearly adored it here. ‘Why not?’ he pressed. ‘You said yourself it’s inspirational.’
‘And, quite coincidentally, very convenient to you.’
Yes. That was very much the point as far as he was concerned. A smiled curved his mouth. ‘Would that be so bad?’
‘Theo.’ She sighed. ‘Yes.’
‘Why?’
‘Because you and I can’t do that.’
‘Or maybe,’ he suggested tentatively, ‘we can?’ Okay, yes, it appeared that he was contemplating having his first evernotone-and-done thing but, it turned out, when Tiffany was the woman, it didn’t feel so scary.
Not that she appeared to agree as she looked at him aghast before she pushed away from the railing muttering, ‘No, no, no. This can’t be happening.’ Which obviously was not a good sign…
With a cold lump of dread in his stomach, Theo turned to watch her pace a few steps before turning back to face him, her arms folded across her waist like armour.
‘You only think you want this because it’s a novelty to you. But it’s not just us and our hearts?—’
She stopped abruptly, like she hadn’t meant to say the wordheartbut it was too late – Theo had heard it. Did that mean she was feeling more, too?
‘We have others to think of,’ she continued, clearly deciding that barrelling right on would negate what she’d said. ‘Because when whatever you think this is ends, which it will because you’ll get tired of being with one woman all the time and I have trust issues with men who can’t keep it in their pants, your brother and my friend will be forced to take sides, which might very well cause them some difficulties. They’ll have to pick and choose who they invite to what places and which events, like their baby’s christening and birthday parties, and they’ll probably argue about which one of us is going to be the godparent. Your family would probably feel the need to take sides as well and I’m betting it won’t be Kelsey’s. And we’ll be responsible for an entire family feud.’
Theo blinked at the mishmash of worst-case scenarios and diabolical conclusions delivered in an increasingly strident tone. She was breathing a little hard after her word vomit, which made him wonder how long she’d been stewing on this crap.
‘Okay.’ He nodded calmly because she was quite worked up, as though even the thought of something happening between them had her running scared. ‘But what if none of those things happens and we just don’t put any pressure on ourselves and just roll the dice? See how it evolves?’
That was how people did this couple thing, right?
She shook her head vehemently. ‘I can’t see how things evolve with you. Look at you.’ She flapped a hand up and down in his direction. ‘You’re gorgeous and filthy rich and we have amazing sex and you live in this place that just blows my mind. And it would be way too easy to get in over my head.’
Theo hadn’t ever thought being wealthy would be a negative with a woman, but his gut was telling him it wasn’t his money, it was the getting in over her head that was making her skittish.
‘But you’re thirty-five,’ she continued, ‘and never been in a relationship your entire life. And I’ve had my fair share of one-night stands too, Theo, so I have no issue with them, but when I’m rolling the dice with a guy, I need to know he knows how to do that. My father couldn’t keep it in his pants but at least my mother hadn’t known that before she committed to him. What kind of fool would I be knowing about it and walking into it anyway?’
Well… fuck. There it was. Thanks to her father, Tiffany’s trust in men was permanently dented and she was protecting herself from the kind of emotional turmoil she’d endured as a teenager. Risking her heart must be a huge leap of faith, especially on a guy who’d never committed to any woman.
He couldn’t blame her for having doubts about him, but to be judged on her father’s past behaviours seemed particularly unfair. But then when was life fair?
Her phone rang. ‘Don’t answer it,’ he pleaded. If they could just hash this out, he was sure he’d be able to talk her off the ledge.
‘It’s Mikey’s ring tone,’ she said, stalking to the table and snatching it up. ‘Hey, Mikey,’ she said with forced brightness as she headed for the railing.
‘Mikey? Mikey!’ She frowned as she came to a halt. ‘Slow down, I can’t understand what you’re saying.’
Alarmed, Theo took a couple of steps towards her as she said, ‘What? What about Dad? Is he hurt? Did he get bucked?’
A hot prickle slid down Theo’s spine as he watched a cloud of confusion on Tiffany’s face change into something else as the colour drained from her cheeks.
‘What do you mean, he’s dead?’ Fingers covered her mouth as she glanced at Theo, her eyes wide. ‘But… how?’ She listened then and didn’t say much, just nodded a couple of times before saying, ‘I’ll get there as soon as I can,’ and hung up.
