How did people live like this? How had Lyssa survived ten years of being Angel?
“Angel!” Hunter clarified and claimed Theo’s attention completely. “She’s coming.”
“Oh, my God, she is!” Sonja said with excitement.
“Really?” Theo glanced at Hunter’s phone, which displayed—predictably—Angel’s Instagram. There was a picture of her toasting the viewer with champagne, inviting her fans to join her at F5 to ring in the new year. He looked closely to find the resemblance to Lyssa and found it.
“Didn’t you know?” Hunter demanded.
“I wasn’t sure. The publicist declined, but then I had a call-back last week,” Theo said, bending the truth a little. “I wasn’t sure whether to believe it or not. It seemed kind of late to change plans.”
“So, you kept it as a surprise,” Sonja said. “It’s a really good one.”
“We’re going to wipe out Kyle’s lead,” Hunter said, revealing that he was taking the challenge personally. “This is awesome.” They all went into the conference room together, their conversation clearly overheard all the way.
“Great job!” Damon said, shaking Theo’s hand. “This plus the pop-ups will really add to our new memberships for 2019.” He smiled at Theo as he took a seat. “You don’t mess around when you take on a challenge.”
“Thanks!” Theo said, only just allowing relief to flood through him. She was going to show up! “The video team is brilliant. We’re lucky that Nate knew them.”
Nate arrived in time to hear that and grinned. “Blaine says we won’t be able to afford them after this.” They all laughed together.
Ty arrived, looking tired, with a huge take-out coffee. He was dressed more casually than usual and looked a bit grim.
“Are you okay?” Sonja asked.
Ty yawned as he sank into a chair. “I’m fine. Michael has colic, which means neither of us get to sleep either. Can we keep it short today? I’m ready for an afternoon nap myself.”
“Absolutely,” Theo said and Chloe put their stats on the big screen. She’d been compiling results since the first day and making enough pie charts and bar graphs to keep even Ty happy. Hunter got Kyle on the speakerphone, and Cassie called in to Chloe’s phone, as arranged.
“Are we not killing it?” Kyle demanded in a shout.
“Best holiday promo ever,” Hunter said and there were fist bumps all around the table.
“How are you going to top it next year?” Cassie asked and Theo groaned at just the thought.
“Let’s get through this year first,” he said, but no one was paying much attention.
There was a lot of enthusiastic discussion until Ty whistled for silence. “Let’s bring this meeting to order,” he said. “No agenda today, because I didn’t get to it. Chloe, can you just walk us through the results so far, please?”
“Registrations for the new year are at an all-time high, on both coasts,” she said, putting up an array of slides. “But Kyle really kicked it into overdrive yesterday at Alcatraz.”
“People love that video,” Cassie said, reading off the number of views.
Ty gave a low whistle.
“All hail the champ,” Kyle said with typical modesty.
“Our social media sites are at their highest levels of popularity ever,” Sonja said, backing up her points with Chloe’s graphs. “And our new memberships are triple what they were on this date a year ago.”
“How’s the math?” Ty asked. “You’re giving a lot of discount codes. And there’s the budget on the pop-ups, themselves.”
“It’s pretty sweet,” Chloe said, moving to another slide. “There are our expenses, gross sales...”
“And the net is very nice.” Ty nodded approval.
“Ha!” Kyle said.
“Don’t give me that,” Ty chided. “You blew the budget, and just because you got lucky, don’t go thinking you can do it every time.”
“I can do it every time if I get lucky every time,” Kyle countered and Theo just shook his head.
“The incredible thing is that not everyone is using a code,” Sonja said, moving to Chloe’s next slide. “They just seem to want to be here.”
“So, they’re remembering the name of the club, but losing the code,” Cassie said. “Works for me.”
“And the contest between east and west?” Damon asked.
“It’s really close,” Sonja said.
“Until New Year’s,” Hunter contributed. He addressed Kyle. “We’re going to blow F5W out of the water with our party, so get ready.”
“Angel!” Kyle shouted. “Nooooooooooo!”
“Yessssssssssss!” Hunter shouted back at him. “Your butt is in the process of being kicked.”
“So cruel,” Kyle said. “I didn’t even have twenty-four hours to gloat. So cruel.” He pretended to weep, but no one believed him.
“Theo is totally rocking this,” Cassie said. “I’m going to retire.”
They protested in unison but Theo had heard her disappointment. He’d have to make sure she was involved when she returned to New York.
“Why didn’t you step out into the limelight sooner?” Hunter asked, giving Theo a nudge.
“You seem to be doing all right without me.”
“But this is epic,” Kyle began to enthuse.
“Do we have the resources to handle this volume?” Ty asked, as ever the voice of practicality. “Both as members and in the club on New Year’s Eve?”
“We can only keep the buzz going if no one’s disappointed,” Cassie added.
“We planned for an uptick,” Theo said, knowing the promotion was proving to be a lot more successful than they’d dared to hope.
“We’ll all have to work that night at the club,” Damon said. “To keep an eye on every detail.”
There was consensus around the table.
“We should hire some more security for the door,” Hunter said. “People in line might get pushy, especially when Angel arrives.”
“And let’s add more beginner classes to the schedule for January,” Ty suggested.
“We can put that smaller gym into rotation,” Cassie said.
“We can use the pool for more hours of the day,” Damon said.
“We can even do an orientation and warm-up in the lobbies,” Kyle said, and suggestions flew as to how to better use their space.
“What a great problem to have,” Ty said. “It’s fantastic.” He raised his coffee cup. “To Theo and Kyle, our own dynamic duo. Here’s to 2019 being F5’s best year yet.” The others lifted their cups of coffee and bottles of water, giving a resounding cheer.
“We’re going to own this market on both coasts,” Hunter said with satisfaction, and Theo liked the sound of that.
He also liked that he was a big part of taking the club to the next level.
On the other hand, it would have been wonderful to have a partner in his life to share this triumph.
He thought of Lyssa and knew he shouldn’t.
But that wasn’t enough to push her from his thoughts.
Theo was starting to wonder if anything ever would.
It had been so good...
Within three weeks of that first class, Theo and Lyssa were sleeping together. It couldn’t have been any other way. The attraction between them was electric. Theo felt like he’d found something larger than both of them, an irresistible force of attraction. Their bond seemed inevitable. Destined to be. Whenever he called her, she answered right away. When he was awake at night, invariably she guessed and called him. They talked endlessly, confiding secrets. They finished each other’s sentences. They laughed and they kissed, and the days flew by. There was so much heat between them, so much fire and passion, that they both needed more than kisses.
It had to be the romance he’d always hoped he’d find. Lyssa was the one, and they’d be together forever. He abandoned his usual reserve and threw everything into their relationship. It felt right.
He shouldn’t have
been surprised that it was Lyssa who insisted it was time to move beyond kissing. She shouldn’t have been surprised that he wanted complete privacy.
Theo shared a dorm room with a guy who wasn’t nearly neat enough in Theo’s view. Lyssa had her own room in an old house near the campus: she’d taken the money from her dad for the dorm and rented the cheaper space, keeping the difference for food.
“He’ll go through the roof if he ever finds out,” she said casually when she took Theo home the first time. The excuse was that she was going to show him her paintings, but they both knew there was more on the agenda than that.
“Why? You’re supposed to take a step toward independence at college,” Theo said.
“Not in my father’s universe.”
She rented the third floor in a Victorian house, right under the roof. He supposed it had been an attic and the ceilings were slanted beneath the various gables. He had to be careful to keep from hitting his head. No dorm room for Lyssa—she always had to do things differently. It was part of what he found fascinating about her.
The space was shaped like a three-armed cross, with large windows at the end of each arm. The stairs came up the fourth arm and she could lock her door at the summit. Her futon was tucked into one arm, nearly filling it, and sunlight spilled through that window onto the patchwork quilt. She had a couple of chairs and a table in the second arm, and he saw that beside the stairs, there was a small kitchen with a hotplate and bar fridge. There was a bathroom beyond the staircase and the final arm was apparently her studio. He guessed it was the one with the northern light. The windows were old glass and wavy, the one in the sunshine casting rainbows on the bed. The floor was hardwood and the decor eclectic and vintage. Thrift store finds from the look of it, or maybe it had come with the space.
He realized she was waiting for his reaction. “You’re kind of starving in a garret. Isn’t that what artists are supposed to do?”
Lyssa laughed, then hauled her bulky sweater over her head and tossed it on a chair. “You want something to drink or eat?”
“I didn’t think that was why we came.”
Her smile was quick. “I’m trying to be less impulsive and direct,” she said, coming to loop her arms around his neck.
“I don’t think you should. I like that you’re impulsive and direct.”
“Why?”
“It’s honest.”
“Part of the deal, then,” she said and he smiled agreement. Her whisper was wicked. “Then let me tell you honestly what I’d like to do...”
Instead of telling him, she kissed him. One of those sweet slow kisses that they’d only shared a few times, the ones that made Theo simmer and kept him awake late at night. They undressed each other as they made their way to her bed, almost dancing as they kissed. Her hands were beneath his sweater, running up his back, then she pushed it over his head.
She touched a fingertip to the silver medallion he wore. “What does it mean?” she said, meeting his gaze.
Theo smiled and touched it with his fingertips. “It’s a St. Christopher medallion. It belonged to a friend. My best friend, in fact.” She waited, her gaze clinging to his, and Theo swallowed. “He was killed the summer before college. A hit and run driver. He used to wear this and his mom gave it to me at the funeral.”
Lyssa’s eyes filled with sympathetic tears. “Is that why you came here?” she asked, understanding him so well.
“I had to start fresh.”
She leaned forward and touched her lips to his in a gentle kiss. “Are you glad you did?” she whispered.
Theo nodded. “I think Aidan would have liked you.”
Lyssa smiled at that. “I know I would have liked him, because he was your friend.” She kissed him sweetly then, and their embrace heated, Aidan forgotten for the moment.
Theo unfastened Lyssa’s overalls and pushed them down, discovering that she was as slender as he’d expected. She kissed his throat, her hands making quick work of unfastening his shirt as she kissed his neck and beneath his ear, then ran her hands over him. Theo couldn’t wait to feel her skin against his own and he tugged off her T-shirt, then caught his breath at the sight of her lacy bra. It was bright pink.
“White is boring,” she said.
“We can’t have boring,” he replied, aware that his briefs were plain white. Lyssa didn’t seem to mind.
“Just for you.”
“I’m more interested in what’s inside.”
“Mr. Look Beyond the Surface,” she teased and quickly unfastened the bra, casting it across the apartment. Her nipples were rosy and they beaded instantly at the chill of the room. Theo cupped her breast in his hand and bent to take that peak in his mouth. She clutched at his head, rocking against him in pleasure as he teased her and Theo couldn’t stand it any longer. He swung her up in his arms and headed for the bed, smoothing her panties off with one hand. She pulled the band out of her hair and shook it out so that it fell over her bare shoulders and his heart leapt at the sight of her beauty, her eyes shining in invitation. He took off his shoes and jeans in a hurry, then she beckoned to him, that smile demanding to be kissed away.
She was amazing, so lacking in inhibitions that Theo felt his own reserve melting. It was so pure to be with her, to do what they wanted, to find pleasure together. He loved how hot and wet she was, that she didn’t hide it or pretend to be coy. She wanted him, just as he was, and that was the best aphrodisiac in the world. When his fingers slid into her slick heat, he knew he had to make sure she had every pleasure he could give her. He slid down the length of her, kissing her soft skin all the way, then closed his mouth over her sweetness.
Lyssa gasped, then moaned, leaning back in the sunlight as Theo teased her with his tongue. He guessed that she hadn’t done this before, or that she hadn’t enjoyed it, and that made him even more determined to drive her wild. He coaxed her to the edge of her release, then retreated, smiling at her shout of protest. He felt her fingernails dig into his shoulders. He heard her breath catch and felt her skin heat. He tormented her with his tongue and his teeth. He would have retreated again but she found her pleasure suddenly, crying out as she locked her legs around him and shuddered with her release.
He wiped his mouth and crawled up beside her, noting how her long fair hair spread across the brightly colored quilt, how the sunlight made her skin glow, how her eyes sparkled in satisfaction. “You’ve done that before,” she said, no accusation in her voice.
“Once or twice,” he admitted, stealing a long slow kiss. “But not to such success.”
“Practice makes perfect?” she teased.
“Maybe.”
“We can practice as often as you like,” she said and they laughed together. She reached for him but Theo rolled away, taking a moment to pull on a condom.
“If you touch me like you did last time, I won’t last,” he said and she laughed again.
“You liked that.”
“I like you.” He kissed her and she wrapped her arms around him, rolling to her back and spreading her legs wide. Theo eased inside her and was startled by how tight she was.
Then he saw that she was watching him.
“Is it...?” It couldn’t be her first time, could it?
Lyssa moved quickly, rolling him to his back and sitting astride him. “Maybe this way is better,” she said, then took him inside her. She inhaled sharply, held his gaze, then deliberately moved lower so that he was trapped within her. Theo was almost overwhelmed by sensation, but still he protested.
“But...”
Lyssa bent over him, her hair spilling over her shoulders, and placed a fingertip on his lips. “Don’t stop now,” she whispered. “I’ve been waiting for you all this time and I couldn’t bear if you stopped now.” Then she replaced her fingertip with her lips and neither of them said anything for a long time.
Seven
All day long on the thirty-first, Theo felt like a kid waiting for a surprise.
He was impatient and rest
less, convinced one minute that Lyssa wouldn’t show then sure that she’d sweep through the door at any second and wow everyone. He wanted to call her to verify her appearance, but felt that he couldn’t because she hadn’t called him after getting the book. He did check that the front desk of the hotel had delivered the book to her room. He was on the run, doing interviews and getting to pop-ups, solving issues at F5 and watching movies with Tristan.
He wanted to trust her.
He feared that the past would repeat itself.
Far from a relaxing holiday break, his week had been manic. It was the complete opposite of his usual Christmas, but it was a lot of fun. On December 27, Theo and his team did their lip-sync to Express Yourself again, but on the steps to the Metropolitan Museum. It was snowing lightly and the stairs were crowded with tourists waiting for the museum to open. A vendor with a cart selling roast chestnuts almost stole the show with his impromptu participation. Theo had three media interviews that day, and did an extra video spot for the YouTube channel, too.
On December 28, they did I Want to Dance With Somebody in Washington Square, and an array of passersby joined in, including two women pushing strollers. His sister called him that afternoon, accusing him of having too much fun, and shared that the F5 promotion was getting exposure in the UK, as well. Chynna came home that day, smiling with happiness and kissed Theo for insisting she attend the wedding. She checked his itchy tattoo, told him it wasn’t infected and picked up Tristan. Cassie and Reid also returned from vacation, and Cassie went straight into one of the gyms with Sonja to practice.
Theo had to go down to the tattoo shop later to retrieve one of his cufflinks, which had mysteriously disappeared along with the raven.
December 29 was a Saturday and both cold and clear. Cassie took the lead as they danced to Born This Way on the stage with the Rockettes, at the end of their afternoon performance. The theater was filled with tourists, ready with their cameras and phones, and that pop-up had the most fan uploads to date. Theo and Kyle did a live interview with a major network that afternoon, which was pretty exciting, and it ran in the evening news broadcasts, as well as on their website and social media. His parents emailed that they were watching and excited. There were also some local interviews for Cassie, who had once danced with the Rockettes.
Bad Case of Loving You Page 12
