Another came in just then.
They were all from Kyle.
Theo plugged in the phone and scrolled through the messages. Theo couldn’t figure out what Kyle was on about, so he opened one of the images and made it larger.
It was a photo of him and Lyssa, kissing in the bar.
And it was a screen shot from a website that featured celebrity news.
The bottom dropped out of Theo’s stomach, even before he saw the headline.
Angel’s Hot New Lover!
Is the F5 sensation why she’s in New York?
Theo ran a hand over his head. A message came in from Naomi and he winced at the subject line.
All becomes clear.
He needed breakfast and a shower before he could deal with this. Unfortunately, he wasn’t destined to get either soon. His phone rang and he saw that it was Kyle.
“You dog,” Kyle said when Theo answered, sounding a lot more cheerful than Theo felt. “Or maybe you’re a sly fox.”
“Do I have to be of the genus canine?”
Kyle snorted. “You can be a bad ass.”
“Better.”
“I want the whole story. What’s up with you and Angel now?”
“Don’t you have something more important to do?” Theo asked, even though he suspected it would be impossible to change the subject so long as Kyle was feeling inquisitive. “Maybe sleep? What time is in California? How can you be up already?”
“Up still, not already,” Kyle corrected. “I just got in an hour ago, and that was because I made it an early night. I thought I’d check on the success of Angel’s appearance last night and instead I find you all over the internet.” He made a wolf whistle so loud that Theo winced. “With the hottest model on the planet, no less.”
“No,” Theo said. “Not everywhere.”
“Oh yes. Your privacy is gone forever, dude.” Theo’s blood ran cold at Kyle’s casual comment. “Unless, of course, you never see her again. Maybe even then. They might be waiting for you downstairs. The paparazzi have come for Theo Tremblay.”
Theo went to the window, not sure whether to be relieved that the street was empty. “That’s not what I wanted to happen.”
“Please,” Kyle protested. “You’re an active protagonist, as shown in photographs five through eleven. I’m glad you didn’t get more active, given that the F5 club isn’t that kind of place.”
Theo rubbed his forehead. This public persona thing had gone way too far. How was it that Lyssa always made him forget himself?
“It’s so weird, though,” Kyle continued. “You’re always Mr. Cool and here you are, nearly getting it on at the end of the bar.”
“I guess you’ve taught me something after all,” Theo said, his tone rueful.
Kyle laughed. “Oh come on, it’s not the end of the world to be caught out as a heterosexual with a healthy libido. I mean, she is gorgeous. And obviously the interest was mutual. Please tell me that excellent naked things happened next.”
“I’m not telling you anything.”
“Oh, so the conundrum. Did nothing happen despite all indications to the contrary? Or is M. Tremblay being a gentleman? Hmm. I’ll take door number two, Bob, for $50.”
“Kyle!”
Kyle laughed, unrepentant.
“It’s not funny,” Theo said sternly. “My sister already sent a message. I’ll have to explain to my mum later, and I don’t even know if I’ll be able to talk to my dad about it. He won’t be amused.”
There was an understatement. Theo’s dad was all about proper decorum and as a retired police officer, he took as dim a view of physical intimacy in public as he did fisticuffs.
It would be a great call.
Not.
Happy New Year to Theo.
“Well, count yourself lucky,” Kyle said. “My dad would have been on the phone wanting her number.”
Theo couldn’t laugh, even though Kyle was trying to make him at least smile. His friend’s dad was a complete jerk with women.
“How’s Lauren?” he asked, just to change the subject.
“Not having fun with this pregnancy.” Kyle sighed. “It’s killing me to see her like this. There’s so little I can do.”
“Since you did what you did.”
“I know! It seems unfair that something so fun can result in something so...not.”
“And she hasn’t even gone into labor yet.”
“I do not want to think about that. Don’t go there. I still have time to work up to it.”
“Do something nice for her,” Theo suggested.
“I am. You’d be proud of me. Cooking 101. I’m making dinner, breakfast, lunch, nutritious snacks. Sadly, she doesn’t want any spice so my fave recipes of yours are out of the question. I run out for whatever she wants whenever she wants. I’m a slave to her every whim.”
“Uh huh.”
“Seriously. I want to throw a party every time she keeps a meal down.”
“Isn’t morning sickness supposed to pass?” Theo found it reassuring to talk about someone else’s business while he tried to consider what he was going to do about his own. Kyle’s familiar chatter settled his nerves and convinced him that it couldn’t be that bad.
Could it?
“It should have stopped already. She’s due in April. But the doctor said some women just have a harder time.” Kyle took a deep breath. “Maybe there won’t be brothers and sisters for this one. I’m not sure I can do this again.”
“Lauren’s doing the hard part,” Theo had to point out. “What does she think?”
“She wants millions of kids, of course. It’s like some kind of disease with those McKays. They aspire to be rabbits. I’m sure Ty and Amy are at it again already.”
Theo smiled. “Well, Lauren grew up with a bigger family.”
“I think one kid is good. I’ll spoil him or her rotten and, really, the world doesn’t need two more spoiled brats. It certainly doesn’t need three.”
“Or six.”
Kyle moaned.
There was a beat of silence, then Theo asked what he really wanted to know. “Do you think I can make this go away? It’s a bit much.” He didn’t really expect Kyle to have an answer, so he was surprised when Kyle did.
“Oh, I think any of this stuff can be fixed. Where there’s a will, there’s a way and all that.”
“Really?”
“Ask Lyssa. After all, it must have been deliberate.”
Theo hadn’t thought of that. “No.”
“Sure. You’re not used to being the focus of attention, so you were caught off-guard. She knew that all eyes would be on her—she brought all the media people, and her fans with their cameras, after all—so I have to think she did it on purpose. In your place, I’d want to know why.”
“Maybe she didn’t think about it,” Theo said. “She was always impulsive.” Then he remembered the way Lyssa had stalked him across the dance floor and the intent in her expression. She’d had a target and a plan, and had to have known this would be the result. But why? “Never mind. I take that back.”
“Good. You’re thinking more clearly. You two didn’t part well back in the day, did you?”
“No.” Theo saw no reason to elaborate.
“Is she getting even?”
“Kind of late for that, and I think I’d be the one getting even. She dumped me.”
“So, what does she want?”
“She traded me an hour of private conversation for her appearance at F5 last night.”
“That sounds like she needed to make a confession. What was it?”
“Not too nosy, are you?”
Kyle laughed. “Uninhibited curiosity. That’s me. If you ever run short, give me a call.”
“We, uh, didn’t talk, although I suspect it was more than an hour.”
Kyle didn’t laugh. In fact, he was silent for a long minute, long enough for Theo to think he’d gone. “Shit,” he said finally. “It’s just like the last time. She has alway
s had your number.”
“Just the way Lauren has always had yours.”
“Well, there is that. What does she gain by linking her public image to yours? You are one of the flavors of the month, thanks to the wildly successful promotion envisioned by yours truly.”
Theo really didn’t like the suggestion that Lyssa had deliberately used him for publicity. “But she’s at the height of her career.”
“She wants something. That has to be it. Maybe she’s going to open a gym in competition to us and wants to piggyback off our promo.”
That was an annoying possibility. “But the damage is done. There’s nothing to negotiate now.”
“Don’t kid yourself. Celebrities make deals all the time. Maybe she wants something from you in exchange for making this go away. Call her.”
“I don’t want to talk about this on the phone.”
“Okay. Go to her. She has to be staying somewhere in town. Does she have a cousin or a friend here? Maybe someone from college...?” Kyle continued to speculate, even as Theo turned to look out the window toward Central Park.
The Park Plaza.
“I know where she’s staying,” he said, interrupting Kyle’s speculation.
“It is terrifying to be in the presence of brilliance. Let me know what happens.”
“Maybe. Thanks.”
“Hey and awesome, awesome, awesome job on the party last night. F5 is everywhere this morning. You might even catch up to me on the views.”
But they wouldn’t be views of the pop-ups, they’d be of Theo kissing Lyssa at midnight.
Theo growled under his breath, wondering if he could make one incident disappear without losing the momentum of the other. He sent his best wishes to Lauren and ended the call, then turned off his phone while it recharged. He deserved half an hour’s peace while he had a long hot shower and gathered his thoughts.
He needed a plan. Lyssa would have just charged forth, but Theo had to think it through and strategize.
His tattoo was even more itchy than before, despite Chynna’s assurances. It had healed but it pulsed and hummed in a really irritating way. She’d smiled when he told her that.
While his coffee was brewing, he rolled up his suit to take it to the dry cleaners. His movements were efficient and impatient. He hung up his tie and put the trees in his shoes, organizing his home as he’d failed to organize his life.
It was the beginning of a new year.
A fresh start.
And an excellent opportunity to finally leave Lyssa and the past behind, right where they both belonged.
After he talked to her.
Lyssa was up early, restless, sitting by the window with the hotel notebook and a coffee. Her mind was filled with memories and uncertainties, and doodling helped to focus her thoughts.
She wasn’t surprised how often she drew Theo.
And a little heart tattoo.
She told herself it was because of the potential implications for Logan.
It was a good thing she wasn’t really sketching. Her lines didn’t have the surety they’d possessed once, and she knew that she wasn’t quite capturing Theo’s image. All her old doubts about her talent gained new strength as she criticized her own work. She couldn’t leave it be, though, her thoughts spinning as she reconsidered their time together.
Now and then.
* * *
The first time.
Lyssa would never forget it. The sunlight, the rainbow prisms cast by the window, the distant sound of traffic, and the heat of Theo right beside her. She’d taken him back to her apartment in the attic of the old house, to show him her paintings. She’d known on some level that they’d make love first, and that they’d do it on the patchwork quilt that she loved so much.
It was every bit as wonderful as she’d hoped, a perfect first time.
They laid on the bed after she’d cleaned up, their legs tangled together, caressing each other, talking as they would so many times after that. It seemed as if time stopped or stretched out to eternity, that they could talk and debate and be sealed off from all the world.
She hadn’t known as much then, but that day was just the first of many similar days. Her apartment became a sanctuary over that term. When they were there, naked and together on the quilt, whether there was sunshine or not, nothing else in the world mattered.
That first day, Theo had looked through all of her paintings afterward. Lyssa had stayed on the bed, watching him, unable to get enough of the sight of his strength and beauty. She remembered the softness of the quilt beneath her fingertips as she traced the shape of the pieces and the bits of embroidery. She remembered being a little bit nervous that he was looking at her work, although she had nothing to hide from him.
It was so very intimate.
She liked how respectful he was, as if he understood her feelings about her art. He didn’t skim and he didn’t rush. He handled the paintings with care, as if they were treasures, even though she knew she still had a lot to learn. He considered each one in turn, backing away from it, asking about her inspiration, giving it a serious perusal. It took him over an hour and Lyssa loved how thorough he was.
“I like this one best,” he announced finally, and she could see from the size of the canvas that it was the one that was her current favorite.
“You should. I painted it after we met that first day.”
“Really?” He was surprised and flattered, his reaction clear in his expression. “Isn’t it the angel in the chapel? You painted it before.” He returned to the paintings, putting his hand immediately on the previous painting of the same subject.
Lyssa rolled to her stomach and braced her chin on her hands, watching him. “Well, you got me thinking.”
He flicked a glance her way and Lyssa smiled.
“About looking beyond the superficial. And I thought about Monet.”
Theo’s expression revealed that he wasn’t sure of the reference.
“He was one of the Impressionists. He painted Rouen Cathedral over and over again.”
“Why?”
“I think maybe to get to the truth of it.” She bit her lip. “Like getting to know a person. You don’t really know anyone until you’ve seen them in every possible mood, or watched them react to every possible thing.” Lyssa realized that she’d only ever have to paint Theo once to capture his truth, if she got it right. She’d drawn him a dozen times already, but there was something missing in each work, a failure on her part to capture what was in front of her.
Because Theo was constant and consistent. He had integrity. He said what he meant and he did what he said. He was the most honorable and honest person she’d ever known.
She felt tainted in comparison, someone who might compromise in the right situation or otherwise fall short of Theo’s measure.
He shrugged. “By that logic, you’d never really know anyone.”
“I don’t know if you can.”
He was surprised by that, she could see as much, so she tried to explain herself.
If he thought everyone was like him, he was due for some unpleasant surprises. She felt like it was a kind of duty to warn him otherwise.
“There comes a point when you can anticipate someone’s reaction because you know him or her well, but you can still be wrong,” she continued. “There can still be something that surprises you.”
“So, how can you ever know anyone well enough?”
“Well enough for what?”
“To fall in love. To trust.” He turned to look at her again, his expression so open that she wanted to appoint herself his defender against the opportunists of the world.
Lyssa knew they were out there.
She wasn’t sure Theo did.
“Maybe that’s the point,” she said on impulse. “Maybe you have to take a chance. You have to guess and trust and hope for the best.”
“Maybe you just have to understand someone’s essence.”
Lyssa smiled. “Which you’d find by
looking past the surface?”
“Exactly.” He left the paintings then and came back to her, sinking down onto the mattress beside her and sliding his hand into her hair. She wanted to purr like a cat at his caress, but she smiled up at him instead, savoring his attention. “You can trust me,” he said so solemnly that her heart squeezed tightly. “I won’t ever let you down.”
“I know,” she admitted. “That’s not what worries me.”
Theo’s brows pulled together into the little frown that she found so endearing. It was the expression he had whenever she said something that didn’t cohere with his expectations.
She reached up and eased his frown away with her fingertip. “I’m afraid that I’ll let you down,” she confessed, her voice husky with the truth.
“You wouldn’t,” he insisted with a loyalty that touched her deeply.
Then as if he thought she might argue the point, Theo bent and kissed her—but even that couldn’t drive away Lyssa’s doubt.
When he straightened, he looked back at her paintings. “What if you painted your subject a different way?”
“What do you mean?”
“You could show more than one perspective in the painting.”
Lyssa leaned on his chest, thinking. “Like the surrealists did. I could try that. They didn’t usually combine more than two or three, though.”
“Which leaves a lot more, by your counting.”
Lyssa smiled. “Thousands.”
“That many? What about using another medium, something transparent that showed all the other layers?”
“Watercolors instead of oils,” she mused, considering the possibilities. “That just might work.” She reached up and kissed him again. “You’re brilliant.” Theo might have argued with her but Lyssa kissed him again more slowly.
“Now come back to bed,” she murmured. “Let’s celebrate.” She didn’t have to invite him twice.
* * *
Lyssa couldn’t avoid the fact that she had let Theo down, both by bolting eleven years before and by doing it again just hours ago.
She didn’t know how to fix it—other than the obvious choice of calling him and telling him everything, a prospect that terrified her—so she went down to the gym to skip.
Bad Case of Loving You Page 15