Page 7 of Below Deck Billionaire
So, no, that look of steely determination didn’t intimidate her. In fact, quite the opposite. It was strangely thrilling as their gazes clashed and sparks arced between them. How wouldthisversion of Theo Callisthenes bed her? She’d sampled the prowess of the charming playboy and been thoroughly sated, but she suspected the experience with the tight-lipped tycoon would be one hundredfold more intense.
Not that she had any intention of being bedded by the billionaire again. She was perfectly fine with their one-night thing staying a one-night thing, especially given her best friend had married his brother.
Of course, she’d known at the time because of Ari and Kelsey that her and Theo’s path might occasionally cross in the future, but Tiffany had figured she could probably avoid most of those situations ahead of time. Would she have had sex with Theo had she known he was going to be her boss one day?
No.
Although technically, she supposed, he had been her boss already. But she couldn’t undo that now and she’d never been one to cry over spilt milk.
It was Theo’s turn to cross his arms, but Tiffany refused to be cowed by his grim-faced resolve, meeting his gaze unflinchingly. ‘So… do you want to tell Ari that you fired his wife’s best friend on her first day or shall I?’
She hadn’t planned on exploiting that connection but it clearly worked, the dark swathe of stubble across his jaw not hiding the shift of muscles as he clenched his teeth then muttered something in Greek Tiffany was pretty sure was not suitable for work.
‘Did you know?’
Tiffany frowned. ‘Did I know what?’
‘That this is my boat.’
What the? Did he think she was… stalking him? Man, his ego was bigger than this whole damn superyacht. ‘You think Iorchestratedthis?’
‘Did you?’
‘Because I, what…? Needed to get some more giant Greek dick in me?’
Behind a blackjack table, Tiffany took great pains to exude a quiet, dignified persona. She always wore her hair pulled back into a sleek bun, her uniform fitting her curves like a glove, oozing sexy competency. But away from the tables she was just a sheila from a cattle station who’d grown up around language that had never been suitable for little ears.
And she didn’t have a problem pulling it out for maximum effect or shock value.
Unfortunately, Theo didn’t seem shocked. He just smiled sardonically. ‘You wouldn’t be the first woman.’
Noting that he hadn’t disagreed with her summation of what he was packing behind the zipper of his snug-fitting navy shorts, Tiffany quirked an eyebrow. ‘Am I supposed to feel sorry for you? Poor little rich boy with women fawning all over you?’
Well before her best friend had an illicit cruise ship romance with Ari Callisthenes, Tiffany had known all about Theo and his playboy reputation. As a long-time consumer of trashy European tabloid magazines, she’d glommed up images over the years of the dashing Greek billionaire and a string of different women.
He’d certainly never looked like he’d needed anyone’s pity.
She had, though, felt a certain amount of affront on his behalf at those pictures that had appeared on the internet a couple of months back. A naked Theo with two equally naked women, taken through a half open doorway. Maybe because she knew him now, the invasion of his privacy had felt more personal.
What if that had been her in those pictures with Theo?
The thought of that twisted through her gut along with something else. A pang of something darker. Envy? Jealousy? Something she definitely had no right feeling. And couldn’t afford to entertain.
‘Did. You. Know?’ he repeated, his smile thinner this time.
‘Two things,’ she said, returning his tight smile with one of her own. ‘This might come as a shock to you but all I was interested in when the agency contacted me was the job description and location. The identity of the owner didn’t cross my mind.’
Tiffany wished she could tell him point blank he hadn’t crossed her mind for a single solitary second, but she wasn’t that good a liar.
‘Secondly, you might like to think I’ve spent the intervening months since our… very pleasant liaison’ – it was satisfying to see her deliberate insult cause a flare of irritation in his eyes – ‘penning deep and meaningful love letters and obsessively googling you, but… I haven’t. Consequently, I didn’t know you owned a boat.’
Two dark brows raised in blatant disbelief. ‘I run a shipping company, I own dozens of boats.’
Tiffany shot him a derisive look. ‘I think you know what I meant.’
‘So that’s a no, then?’ he asked, returning to his original question.
‘It’s a no. Although I suppose the bigger question is, why didn’tyouknow I was coming?’
