Page 68 of Below Deck Billionaire
Trust lost was always the hardest to regain.
So maybe what she most needed now – particularly now – was time and space to work through those things and rid herself of that inner wariness that kept her from being able to let her heart out of its cage and have faith that it wouldn’t be betrayed.
And maybe he needed time to figure out exactly what he meant by not wanting anyone else. And if he was really sure.
‘You know what, Theo. I think my mother’s right. Staying here for a while is probably just what I need right now. I think I need some space to work through a bunch of stuff I’ve never really worked through. And maybe you need some space to be sure, too.’
‘Tiffany, I am?—’
‘Please, Theo,’ she interrupted, not wanting to hear him say ‘sure’, especially if he was mistaking missing her for something else. ‘Can we just take some time?’
A long silence followed, and she could picture him gripping his phone and glaring into space. Theo Callisthenes was not a man who liked to wait. But he had already – for her. So maybe he could wait a little longer?
‘Of course,’ he murmured eventually, his voice soft. ‘Take all the time you need.’
‘Thank you, Theo.’ She pronounced it with its full Greek inflection and ended the call.
23
FOUR WEEKS LATER…
Theo stood on the terrace squinting against the vicious sparkle of morning sun on the Aegean. Even though it was November and the days were cooler, the sea was still a blinding blue. As blindingly blue as the building behind was blindingly white and the bougainvillea creeping over the facade was blindingly purple.
It was stunningly, blindingly perfect. Except he hated it. Because he was here and Tiffany was in fucking Australia.
He’d gone into work this morning and lasted for two hours before his brain had churned with thoughts of Tiffany, rendering him utterly useless, so he’d jumped in the company helicopter and been standing on the terrace of his villa forty minutes later, his tie and jacket discarded. Because this was where he felt closest to her.
Please, Theo, can we just take some time?
But how long was that? Was it weeks? Because it had been four already. Or was it months? Theo had never been a particularly patient man and, as she had pointed out, relationships weren’t his forte, but he knew enough about her to know that she was going through a lot and he was going to have to wait till she figured it out.
He smashed his hand on the railing. Fuck. Fuck.Fuuuuck!
‘Here you are.’
Theo turned to find Ari striding towards him in his business suit. He must have caught the helicopter straight back once it had landed on the pad on top of their building.
‘Go away, Ari.’
His brother grinned, unconcerned by Theo’s scowl. ‘And miss out on seeing you brought to your knees by a woman?’
Ari had told him once, on this very terrace, that one day a woman was going to bring him to his knees and that he hoped he was around to see it.
And here they were.
‘Don’t worry. I brought the reports with me to read.’
‘I don’t give a fuck about the reports.’ Ari glared at him as he drew level at the railing. ‘I want to know what the hell’s going on with you.’
‘I’m giving her space,’ he growled. There was no point pretending it was anything else other than Tiffany making him lose his mind.
‘Why?’ he demanded.
Theo ground his back molars. ‘Because she asked me to.’
‘I mean,’ Ari said with a sigh, ‘why are you indulging her like this? Anything else you wanted, you’d go at it like a bull at a gate.’
‘Because she’s not some business deal.’
