Bad Case of Loving You

by Deborah Cooke

  Bad Case of Loving You

  A Contemporary Romance

  Deborah Cooke

  Deborah A. Cooke

  Contents

  Bad Case of Loving You

  Flatiron Five

  Dear Reader

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Epilogue

  Some Like It Hot

  About the Author

  More Books by Deborah Cooke

  Bad Case of Loving You

  Flatiron Five #6

  Theo knows what's possible...

  Because he's learned the hard way what's not. The internationally successful supermodel known as Angel stole his heart forever when she was just Lyssa Monroe. There's never been another woman who could compete—he even loved Lyssa enough to let her walk away when she said it was over. When he sees her again, he's resolved to make one glimpse of her sustain him for another ten years. When she offers him one night together, Theo can't say no—even though he knows a taste will only tempt him to hope for more all over again.

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  Lyssa has tasted forbidden fruit...

  And she can't forget it, no matter how hard she tries. Theo's love is a touchstone for all that is pure and good in the chaos her life has become. When she sees him again, everything is simple for once and only one choice is possible. The secret she keeps from Theo could destroy any chance of a future together, but surely she can keep it hidden for just one more night. Or maybe two. How much will she sacrifice to defend her son—and how far will Theo go to give them a second chance?

  Bad Case of Loving You

  By Deborah Cooke

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  Cover by Kim Killion

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  Copyright 2019 Deborah A. Cooke

  All rights reserved.

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  Without limiting the rights under copyright preserved above, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright holder and the publisher of this book.

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  Created with Vellum

  Flatiron Five

  Contemporary Romance Series

  Once upon a recession, five friends banded together to find success. Ten years later, their exclusive fitness club, Flatiron Five, is the hottest destination in Manhattan. People flock to F5 to get fit, to get lucky, and even, to fall in love. The founding partners have been immune to F5’s spell—at least, so far...

  1. Simply Irresistible

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  2. Addicted to Love

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  3. In the Midnight Hour

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  4. Some Guys Have All the Luck

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  5. Going to the Chapel

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  6. Bad Case of Loving You

  Dear Reader

  Dear Reader;

  Bad Case of Loving You is a second chance romance, a reunion story and a secret baby story. Finally, Theo, partner number five at Flatiron Five, gets his happily-ever-after! Theo and Lyssa knew each other in college, eleven years before, and parted badly, although Theo still doesn’t know what went wrong. His book opens with his decision to change things up in his life and stop thinking about Lyssa—and that’s precisely when Lyssa turns up again. She’s come to make a long-overdue confession to him, but discovers that desire still burns hot. Will a one-night stand hurt anything? What about a second night? We can all guess the progression from there. I loved how these two discovered that they weren’t as different as Lyssa had been convinced they were—part of that is the elapse of time, but the bigger part is that they challenge each other, inspire each other and provoke each other to change. Their happy ending is one they have to work toward, but that also means it’s very well-deserved. I hope you enjoy reading their story as much as I loved writing it.

  Next up in the Flatiron Five world will be Some Like it Hot, coming in 2020. This is the first book in the series to feature a couple who aren’t members—or owners—of the club: Aidan is an actor determined to win the contest to be on Flatiron Five’s next billboard. He needs visibility and decides that a role in a summer amateur production of Romeo & Juliet will help. It should be an easy task to own the production. He’s not anticipating that his director, McKenna, intends to show prove herself to her theater family by making a mockery of the play she despises. Aidan finds himself desperate to convince McKenna to believe in love and romance to save the production—even if it costs him his heart.

  In between Theo’s and Aidan’s book will be Chynna’s story, which is book four in the Secret Heart Ink series. The timeline for Under the Mistletoe, which is a Christmas story, overlaps that of Theo’s book. Is there a better time of year to rediscover the power of love than Christmas or a better place to do it than at a wedding? Even better, Chynna put the bride and groom (Lexi and Gabe from One Hot Summer Night) on the path to their happy ending. I love that attending their exchange of vows helps the tattoo artist at F5 to fall in love again.

  You can find more information about all of these books on my website, under the Heroes tab (which is for my contemporary romances). I also continue to write medieval romances as Claire Delacroix (look under the Knights tab) and paranormal romances as Deborah Cooke (they’re under the Dragons tab).

  To learn about my new releases and get additional content available only to subscribers, please sign up for my contemporary romance newsletter, Heroes & Bad Boys.

  Until next time, I hope you have plenty of good books to read!

  All my best,

  Deborah

  http://DeborahCooke.com

  One

  Saturday, December 22—New York City

  It wasn’t really stalking for Lyssa to set her alerts for any online mention of Theo Tremblay because a) she knew him and b) her intentions were good.

  At least that’s what she told herself.

  She still felt a bit like a stalker.

  Or she would have, if there ever had been any alerts about Theo. She’d set the alert just after Thanksgiving but by the time she arrived in New York for Christmas, it hadn’t been triggered even once. She’d double-checked and triple-checked that she’d done it right, and it was right.

  Theo just didn’t have an online presence.

  That was both strange and perfectly consistent with the man she remembered. He’d always been private, and he’d never been one to do what everyone else did unless he had a good reason for it. Theo’d had the confidence to go his own way.

  Lyssa was both struck and impressed by the differences in their lives. Since becoming a model and finding success—huge success, she had to admit—her face was eve
rywhere and her privacy had to be fiercely defended, often by negotiation. Being the supermodel Angel exhausted her in every possible way, which was a contributing factor to the change she was planning.

  The other much bigger factor was that Logan had asked for a bedroom of his own.

  She’d do anything for her son.

  She worried whether she could defend her privacy if they lived in one place, but she had to try, for Logan.

  In contrast, Theo managed to be pretty much anonymous and Lyssa doubted he had to negotiate for it. He had no social media accounts himself, at least none she could find—and it was hard to believe that he’d set them up with cute aliases. That wasn’t Theo’s style. He was such a straight arrow. No, he just didn’t have them. He probably preferred to deal with people in real life, instead of online, and Lyssa could respect that.

  He probably phoned his friends and family, nurturing those connections and the sounds of their voices. That seemed like a perspective from a different time, but she wanted some of that anonymity that he seemed to have cultivated so easily. Could she just disappear into the crowd in Manhattan? She hoped so and she was going to try.

  Lyssa had learned that Theo was one of the five founding partners of the successful gym, Flatiron Five, but even in the very active social media accounts for that endeavor, there weren’t a lot of mentions or glimpses of Theo. It was easy to imagine him as a backroom guy, one who quietly kept things on the rails and stayed out of the limelight. There was one partner who seemed to be more public: Kyle Stuyvesant. Lyssa remembered his name from college, because he had been Theo’s friend then, and was sure she’d met him once. They had been planning some venture, even then, and she wondered if the mega-success of Flatiron Five was it.

  Maybe she should contact Kyle. Lyssa didn’t like that option much. She’d prefer to talk directly to Theo. She knew their discussion wasn’t likely to go well, but her confession to him was long overdue and it was time to make it right.

  It was part of the plan.

  All she needed was an opening, thus the alerts.

  Since her strategy was a complete fail, Lyssa needed another plan. Maybe she should go to F5 and ask for Theo. She was leaving the Park Plaza Hotel where she’d been staying for the past week, on her way to pick up Logan on the other side of Central Park, and considering the merit of that plan. Logan was getting a ride from school with his best friend Simon to the city and would be at the Berensteins’ apartment soon. It was a beautiful winter day and she was trying to figure out just how to waste a little bit of time.

  Then her phone provided an answer.

  To her surprise, it was an alert for Theo that linked to a newly posted video.

  The man with no online presence was starring in a YouTube video. Lyssa was astonished, but she had to watch.

  Theo looked older, of course, and a lot more buff. He was wearing a tight black T-shirt with the F5 logo over his heart and it left very little to the imagination.

  “I’m Theo Tremblay of Flatiron Five and we’ve got a challenge for you.” He pointed at the viewer with a smile and Lyssa’s toes curled.

  No wonder she’d fallen for him like a ton of bricks. Eleven years later, his effect on her was exactly the same. No, it was stronger because she wasn’t even in his presence. Two seconds in and she was hot for Theo all over again. His voice alone, so deep and with that British accent, was nearly enough to finish her. She’d told him once that he could read the phone book to her and still seduce her, and he’d laughed—then he’d done it and it had worked. Of course.

  The screen split, Theo on the left side and another guy, a blond guy, on the other side. Was that Kyle? He was much more bulked up than she remembered. Behind Theo was the Brooklyn Bridge. Behind the other guy was the Golden Gate Bridge. He wore the same T-shirt and was just as ripped as Theo.

  “I’m Kyle Stuyvesant of Flatiron Five and F5 West. This holiday season, we want you to be at your best.” Like Theo, he pointed at the viewer, but then he grinned. Killer smile. That Lyssa remembered, also that it had zero effect on her.

  “And so we’re giving you a chance to win a membership to the best fitness club in the world,” Theo contributed.

  “You’re just saying that because we started F5,” Kyle said to Theo.

  “I’m saying it because it’s true. Or have you been letting things slide out there in San Francisco?”

  “Not me!” Kyle widened his eyes in apparent horror and Theo laughed. He’d always had the best laugh. Rich and deep. It still made his eyes twinkle. He was having fun and the sight made Lyssa smile.

  “This year, we’ll be doing twelve pop-up lip-sync workouts in Manhattan and twelve more in San Francisco,” Theo said. “One on each coast every day.”

  “It’s our version of the Twelve Days of Christmas,” Kyle interjected.

  Theo wagged a finger. “No hints as to when or where, but once they’ve happened, they’ll be posted on the F5 official YouTube site.”

  “We’ll be featuring locations we love in our respective cities in these pop-ups, as well as some of our coolest peeps from the clubs, both members and staff.”

  “We’ll have some giveaways to share afterward and will answer questions about the clubs, too.” Theo leaned closer. “This is also a friendly competition between left coast and right. Who can orchestrate better pop-ups? Me or Kyle?” He nodded and pointed to himself with confidence.

  He had Lyssa’s vote.

  Kyle laughed. “Like there’s really a doubt of who will win!” He winked at the viewer.

  Theo turned to face him. “No doubt at all,” he said with confidence and they grinned at each other. They acted as if they fist-bumped, and whoever had done the video had done a great job. It looked as if they touched, even though they must have been filmed separately.

  Theo turned to the viewer again. “But we leave that up to you. You get to vote on each day’s results.” He pointed downward and the url for their website flashed on the bottom of the video. “We’ll pick two winners from the voters every day for a full-year membership at F5. One east and one west.”

  “Plus, if you film one of our pop-ups and upload it, share the link on social media and tag us for a chance to win memberships and F5 merchandise.” Their hash tag appeared below the url as Kyle dropped his voice to a confidential whisper. “We have the best merch. Trust me. You know you want it.”

  “Come to F5 and be your best self in 2019,” Theo said.

  “If you’re going to join a gym,” Kyle said. “Join the best. Join F5.”

  “And keep your eyes open for an F5 pop-up near you this holiday season,” Theo said.

  This time, they both pointed at the viewer in unison. “We want you to win!”

  There was music and the F5 logo, then the video ended. Lyssa watched it again, just to see Theo one more time. It was really too bad that telling him the truth was going to turn him against her forever. She couldn’t blame him for that, but on the other hand, wow. She could still go for Theo Tremblay in a big way.

  They probably still had really different views about love and sex. He’d been such a romantic, while she’d been the pragmatist. Just because the sex was great didn’t mean they were in love, much less that it would last forever. Theo had believed, though, and that had been more persuasive than she’d ever let him realize.

  Lyssa knew better than to believe in that dream.

  Oh, Theo.

  The one she’d left behind.

  Well, there was no point in mourning past choices. What was done was done. She would go past Wollman Rink on her way to pick up Logan, though, just to remember that last perfect day.

  Maybe she and Logan would see one of these pop-ups over the holidays.

  Stranger things could happen. If so, Lyssa would have to take it as a sign to get this obligation behind her.

  That last day. She’d never forget it. They’d splurged on a night in New York before heading to their respective homes for Christmas, exactly eleven years before. She’d
taught Theo to skate at Wollman Rink in Central Park before catching her train. It had been the day she’d been within a hair of agreeing with him. That everything had gone to shit immediately afterward just made the contrast more extreme.

  But it was over. She’d only talked to Theo once since then and after she told him the truth about Logan, she’d probably never have the chance to talk to him again.

  Lyssa sighed. It would never have worked and she knew it, but she’d loved sex with Theo. More than that, she’d felt that she was at her best with him, and had been buoyed by his faith in her and her abilities. But romantics like Theo didn’t have sport sex—at least not repeatedly—and Lyssa was too honest to say she believed in forever just to get lucky. She tucked her long fair braid inside her coat and tugged the fur trapper hat down low, shoved her hands into her pockets and tried to blend into the crowd.

  And disappear.

  It was a test to see if the plan to make a home in Manhattan with Logan had a chance of success.

  Theo was nervous.