Page 8 of Below Deck Billionaire
He lifted one shoulder in a shrug. ‘Kelly’s responsible for the hiring and firing of the steward crew. I don’t micromanage.’
Well, that was a lie. He’d micromanaged his ass off that night. His hands and mouth – lips, teeth, tongue – everywhere all at once, making sure no part of her was left wanting.
Regarding each other for long moments, neither of them said anything. His unwavering gaze held hers as surely as the frisson crackling the air pinned her to the spot.
‘Did Ari send you?’ he asked into the stony silence.
Tiffany was back to frowning. What the hell? And then realisation dawned. ‘You’re worried about your no-sex dare with Ari?’
Theo blinked. ‘You know about that?’
‘Of course. Ari told Kelsey. And because we’re best friends’ – also because Kelsey had a ridiculous fantasy about the four of them being all married up and having babies together ever since Tiffany had stupidly let slip they’d bonked at her wedding – ‘she told me. That’s what we do.’
Although, there were some things Tiffany hadn’t shared about her life. Sure, she’d told her bestie about the night she’d spent with Theo – in very sketchy detail – and there was no way she was keepingthisdevelopment to herself, but some stuff was too hard to tell.
‘Kelsey tells me they’re impressed by how invisible you’ve been since the dare.’
Knowing what she knew about Theo, and not just his well-documented tabloid sexploits over the years but first-hand knowledge of his appetites, she was also impressed.
He had been hiding away on a boat, though, so how hard had it really been?
‘I guess it’s an easy dare to take up,’ she goaded. ‘I mean, how exactly is it being policed? How is Ari to know if you break it?’
‘It’s an honour thing,’ he ground out, his blue eyes unwavering on hers.
‘So if you break it, you, what? Confess?’
His brows pulled down. ‘I won’t break it. But… yes. I gave my word. We shook hands. That’s how honour works.’
There was derision in his voice, like he was pissed at having to explain integrity, and now it was Tiffany’s turn to be impressed. Her gaze sought out any disingenuity in his implacable expression but there was none to be found.
Tiffany had known honourable men in her life. Some of the old stock men she’d worked with were ethical to their core. But she’d also known men who pretended to be honourable who acted differently when no one was watching. Her father being the prime example.
So, she knew the difference. And Theo, she believed.
Still, it had been a while for him. He must be feeling it? Emboldened and a little bit turned on by how tightly strung he must be right now, Tiffany ambled closer, trying not to think about how quickly she could get him off or wonder how much resistance he’d put up if she dropped to her knees and reached for his zipper.
Because he wanted her. She could see that. And she wanted him. With the same kind of desperation and inevitability she’d felt the first time they’d laid eyes on each other.
Would he beg her to put her mouth around him? Would he wrap her hair around his fist and guide her? Would he groan her name as he came down her throat the way he’d done in that hotel room?
Theo didn’t back up but as she neared, she could see his jaw working. ‘What exactly does this no-sex dare involve?’
Sex was a fairly broad activity, after all. Did it disallow fellatio? Or self-love? Drawing to a halt, a foot between them, she tipped her head back slightly to look him in the eye. ‘Are there some guidelines?’
‘No kissing. No nudity. No penetration.’
‘No kissing?’ Tiffany’s gaze drifted to his full mouth momentarily before drifting back to meet his gaze. ‘But that can be so harmless.’
‘Not with me, it’s not.’
It was a breathtakingly arrogant statement that she could back 100 per cent. The way he’d looked at her with such singularity and flirted with her so outrageously at the wedding had been exceptionally hot, but the second his mouth had taken hers against the back door of that hotel room, she was a goner.
Just the thought of it now made her hotter than she should be if she wanted to keep control of this conversation. Time to get back on track. ‘So… it’s been a couple of months, right? Is that why you want me off the boat? Afraid you’ll crack, Theo?’
The knowledge was as dizzying as his cologne – aniseed and sea spray – the pulse in her neck fluttering wildly at the prospect that this rich, capable, commanding guy, who could probably have any woman in the world he set his sights on, saw her as a threat.
Meeting her eye, he smiled. Not with humour but with derision, his gaze cool now, the smoulder that had flared like a pilot light as she’d walked towards him firmly doused. ‘I have full confidence in my self-control, Tiffany.’
