Just Home for the Holidays: A Christmas Romance (Flatiron Five Fitness Book 7) Read online

  Just Home for the Holidays

  A Christmas Romance

  Deborah Cooke

  Deborah A. Cooke

  Contents

  Just Home for the Holidays

  Flatiron Five Fitness

  Dear Reader

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chloe Richardson’s Rules for Hunter Tate

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

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  Just One Silver Fox

  About the Author

  More Contemporary Romance by Deborah Cooke

  Just Home for the Holidays

  By Deborah Cooke

  Copyright ©2020 Deborah A. Cooke

  Cover by Elizabeth Mackey

  All rights reserved.

  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.

  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.

  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.

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  Just Home for the Holidays

  Flatiron 5 Fitness #7

  Chloe has plans...

  Running the finances at Flatiron Five Fitness West is steadily making her goal of financial independence come true. Returning to New York for Christmas should be routine, but her mom starts matchmaking—and Chloe needs a plus-one fast. When Hunter volunteers, Chloe decides he’s the perfect choice—she’ll never get emotionally involved with a guy who doesn’t worry about tomorrow. It doesn’t hurt that he’s hot, or that he kisses like he invented it—but when Chloe discovers that Hunter hates Christmas, she needs to know why. How much will she surrender to unlock his secrets? And how will she keep herself from falling in love once she does?

  Hunter lives in the moment...

  He’s learned the hard way that tomorrow might never come and is determined to make every day count. The problem is Christmas—he needs a major distraction to keep his memories at bay. A fake date to a fancy charity event with his gorgeous co-worker, Chloe, is definitely out of the ordinary for him, but Hunter loves a challenge. What could be a better one than breaking every one of Chloe’s rules? It’s all fun until Chloe decides to help Hunter put the past behind him—when she demands more than a fling, can Hunter learn to believe in the future again?

  Flatiron Five Fitness

  Straight out of college, five friends with a dream joined forces to build success. Ten years later, their exclusive fitness club, Flatiron Five Fitness, is the hottest destination in Manhattan. People flock to F5F to get fit, to get lucky, and even, to fall in love. The founding partners have been immune to F5F’s romantic spell—at least, so far...

  Flatiron Five Fitness

  1. Just One Fake Date

  Tyler and Shannyn

  2. Just One More Time

  Kyle and Lauren

  3. Just One Night Together

  Damon and Haley

  4. Just One Hometown Hero

  Cassie and Reid

  5. Two Weddings & a Baby

  A Novella

  6. Just One Second Chance

  Theo and Lyssa

  7. Just Home for the Holidays

  Hunter and Chloe

  8. Just One Silver Fox

  Jax and Pierce

  Don’t miss the spin-off series, Flatiron Five Tattoo. Each month, on the full moon, Chynna gives away a special tattoo that brings true love to the recipient. These are their stories.

  1. Just One Snowbound Night

  (Olivia and Spencer)

  2. Just One Vacation Night

  (Reyna and Kade)

  3. Just One Unforgettable Night

  (Lexi and Gabe)

  4. Just One Christmas Night

  (Chynna and Trevor)

  Dear Reader

  Home for the Holidays is a story I didn’t plan to write but I’m glad I did. It takes place the Christmas after Just One Second Chance and before Just One Silver Fox. It was supposed to be a novella, but it’s a short novel instead. (You’ll soon see that Hunter isn’t inclined to follow anyone’s rules, even mine.) It’s a holiday romance, featuring a fake date with a bad boy hero whose secrets are safely hidden away, and the bookish heroine who’s sure he’s the last guy who will tempt her to want more. The problem is that Hunter and Chloe have underestimated each other: Hunter takes it as a challenge to break Chloe’s neat and tidy list of rules, and finds it surprisingly addictive to shake her assumptions. When Chloe learns that Hunter hates Christmas, she needs to find out why. They both find more than expected in their date-of-convenience and end up falling hard and fast for each other. Does that mean they can take their fling to forever? I think you can guess the answer, but you’ll soon find out.

  This story is a first for me in that it has a bonus free epilogue. Usually, I include the whole story in the book—that’s the same here as Chloe and Hunter have their HEA by the end of the book. Their wedding, though, takes place a year later. You can read A Country Christmas Wedding for free if you sign up for my newsletter. Sign up for Heroes & Happy Endings today!

  If you’re already a subscriber to Heroes & Happy Endings, get your bonus read here.

  A Country Christmas Wedding is also included in the print edition of Just Home for the Holidays.

  Next up in the Flatiron Five Fitness world will be Just One Silver Fox, coming in 2021. Jacquline, known as Jax, is the Human Resources manager at the club and jumped into the series with the revision of Tyler’s book. I’m curious to see how a kickboxing queen and organizational goddess lets loose once she finally has an empty nest. She’s already intrigued by the strong silent new member, Pierce, but what are the secrets he keeps?

  The Flatiron Five Fitness series takes place in real time. You can find a timeline for the series on my website, along with a list of characters. They’re all under the Flatiron Five Fitness tab. There's also a Pinterest board for the series where you can see my inspiration: it has subsidiary boards for each book in the series. You can find out more about all my books on my website, and follow my blog there for updates and news, too. To follow me on your favorite sites, check this page of my website for links.

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

  All my best,

  Deborah

  http://DeborahCooke.com

  One

  New York City—December 2019

  It’s the most horrible time of the year.

  Every year, Hunter replaced the words in Christmas songs with choices that seemed more appropriate to him. He hated the holiday season, but this year, it was shaping up to be worse than ever. Jax had put her foot down at Flatiron Five Fitness and wouldn’t let him work more than forty hours in either of the next
two weeks. She’d also insisted that he couldn’t work every Friday and Saturday night at the dance club. He still had his full week of work, but no matter how he looked at it, Hunter saw way too many waking hours blank on his schedule.

  Worst of all, he had only a four-hour shift on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. In the afternoon both times. It wasn’t nearly enough.

  Hunter needed something to do.

  He needed a project, a mission, a quest that was so all-consuming that he completely forgot that it was Christmas. In Manhattan, with bells on every corner and reindeer in every window and carols blasting from speakers everywhere, that seemed like a serious long shot.

  But he had to try. It was exactly a week to Christmas Day but he still didn’t have a plan. He was heading into work for the weekly meeting, feeling uncharacteristically grumpy, when his phone rang.

  His big sister.

  “Hey Char. Ho, ho, ho and all that.” Hunter didn’t have to hide the truth from her.

  “I thought so,” she said. “You really aren’t coming home, are you?”

  Hunter never went to his sister’s place in San Diego for the holidays. He wasn’t going to remind her of that, or point out again that her place wasn’t his home. “Nope,” he said simply instead. “I’ve got work to do.”

  “Just tell me there’s a girl,” Char said. “Just tell me that you’re madly, deeply in love and can’t bear to be parted from her for a single moment.”

  “There are lots of girls,” Hunter said. “And women. A whole island full of them.” He didn’t tell his sister that he was having his annual dry spell. That would have been too much information.

  And Char, being Char, might use it against him. The last thing she needed was emotional ammunition.

  Char sighed. “I just don’t want you to be alone.”

  “But you know that all wishes don’t come true.”

  “You’re determined to be miserable, aren’t you?”

  “I’m determined to keep from inflicting myself on you. Go ahead. Have yourself a merry little Christmas. Make the Yuletide bite.”

  The baby cried then in the background and Char made a sound of frustration. He heard her footsteps then she consoled Evie, officially the most adorable child in the world.

  She liked Hunter. At two years old, she already showed good taste.

  “Say hi to my favorite angel for me,” Hunter said. “I’ll see you in the spring, like always.”

  “Well, you know you’re always welcome. Any time.”

  “I know. Hey, got to go.”

  “Wait.” Char’s voice dropped and he knew she would say something that would stab him in the heart. “It wasn’t your fault, you know.”

  Hunter winced but forced himself to keep his reply light. “That’s what they say.”

  “Oh, Hunter, I just want to give you a hug.”

  “After the holidays, we’ll lock in the dates for the spring,” he said.

  “Uh huh,” she said and he was relieved to hear a smile creep into her voice again. “Am I the only female on the planet who doesn’t believe every promise you make?”

  Hunter grinned. “Maybe. Don’t spread it around.”

  “Have some fun. Please.”

  “Hey, I’m in the Big Apple. There’s a lot to do. Don’t worry about me.”

  “I do.”

  “You’re the only one who does that.”

  “Well, maybe you should think about changing that,” Char chided.

  Hunter rolled his eyes. He was the last guy in the world who would make a commitment to anyone or anything. He’d learned the hard way that there was no point in counting on tomorrow. “Don’t hold your breath,” he said with quiet heat.

  Char laughed. “I’m not, but you could go ahead and surprise me one day.” Evie giggled close to the phone. “Tell Uncle Hunter that you love him and miss him.” Evie uttered a string of those incomprehensible sounds that only Char seemed to understand perfectly.

  “Love you, too, babe,” Hunter said and took the chance to escape. “Later, Char. I’m heading into the subway.”

  That was a lie, but it worked. He shoved the phone into his pocket, balling his hands into fists as he strode the last few steps to the club. The last thing he wanted was to be alone with his memories and his regrets, but he was becoming desperate for a distraction.

  Hunter swept open the door of the club for one of the fabulous fifties who came for yoga in the evenings and she flashed him a smile. He did his best Elvis impression and sang Blue Christmas as he crossed the lobby behind her. She laughed and spun around to sing the chorus with him.

  Fortunately it was one song that didn’t need the words changed.

  Two whole weeks until he was in the clear. No doubt about it, Hunter needed a plan.

  Home!

  Chloe felt like a kid on Christmas morning. Home for the holidays! She practically had her nose pressed to the glass of the back window of the cab as the driver headed down Broadway. It was all so wonderfully familiar. It had been just over a year since she’d left for San Francisco and as much as she loved her job on the left coast, it was good to finally be back.

  She wasn’t going to think of it as returning to the scene of the crime. Josh had probably married someone else by now. She could just enjoy Manhattan, all decked out for the holidays. She’d made a schedule, just to make sure she didn’t miss a thing. Her calendar was full yet perfectly organized, just the way she liked it. Chloe Richardson didn’t like surprises.

  She just had one job to do first.

  The cab stopped outside Flatiron Five Fitness and she wheeled her suitcase into the building, staring around herself with pleasure. She loved this place, almost as much as she loved Flatiron Five Fitness West. Since it was Wednesday night, the dance club was closed and instead, holiday music was playing softly in the lobby. The sound made her smile. Members were coming and going with purpose and, not for the first time, she thought that F5F had something in common with Grand Central Terminal. She’d missed the New York bustle.

  The shop with branded merchandise was decorated with glittering silver snowflakes, many of them hung from the ceiling so they spun and sparkled. She waved to Germaine who threw up his hands in delighted surprise at the sight of her. The take-out place in the lobby had fresh samosas, by the tantalizing aroma, and Chloe’s stomach grumbled. Maybe she’d grab some take-out before heading uptown to her mom’s. She was going to miss dinner there, for sure.

  And that wasn’t an accident. It also meant she ducked an inquisition. Scheduling was the key to success in Chloe’s world. With luck, she’d get to the apartment in time to change and go to the carol service at St. James, with no pesky interval for maternal inquisition.

  There was a big Christmas tree beside the reception desk, sparkling with ornaments. Sonia was talking to the receptionist, a guy Chloe didn’t recognize, and they were both wearing Santa hats. Videos of the pop-ups from the previous holiday promotion run by Kyle and Theo were playing on the big screen. The rock climbing wall at the opposite end of the lobby was busier than usual. There was even a line of members waiting their turn. She saw Thom instructing two younger boys and waved to him but didn’t interrupt.

  F5F would have been her second home, if not for her relocation to Flatiron Five Fitness West in San Francisco. She’d met Tyler McKay during her internship at Fleming Financial, when he’d been a financial advisor there as his day job. By the time she knew that investment advising wasn’t for her, Ty had left Fleming to be the full-time CFO of Flatiron Five Fitness, the club he’d founded years before with four partners. Ty had given Chloe a job and a chance. He was a terrific mentor and she’d taken the opportunity to run the finance team at the new club on the west coast with his encouragement.

  Chloe knew she couldn’t have worked anywhere better. She was on track to establish the financial independence she wanted more than anything in the world, and she’d have it by the time she was thirty. She would have done anything for Ty, but he didn’t ask for
much: running this meeting was a rare request. Ty had gone to Harte’s Harbor for the holidays with Shannyn, his wife, and their son, Michael. He’d asked Chloe to manage the last weekly meeting before the holiday break at the New York club in case he had troubles calling in. Once that duty was done, her vacation could begin.

  Chloe’s phone rang and she answered without looking, assuming that it was Ty, checking for the tenth time that she had the agenda.

  But it was her mom.

  “The dress was delivered,” Chloe’s mom said, her pleasure evident. “And I just had to hang it up for you.”

  “Of course, you did.” Alicia Brett’s curiosity should be a matter of public record. Chloe had no doubt that any package arriving at her mom’s apartment would be opened and examined, regardless whose name was on the address.

  “You’re going to look gorgeous!” Her mom’s excitement was so obvious that Chloe smiled. “I sent down to the bank for your grandmother’s rubies. They’ll be perfect with that dress and I’ve always thought the red would suit you well.”

  Chloe almost dropped the phone. “The rubies? You’re kidding.”

  “I am not kidding, Chloe.” Her mom was stern. “It’s the biggest fundraiser of the season and you can’t turn up without some stellar jewelry. The dress is wonderful, but the rubies will take it to the next level.” Her mom paused for a moment. “I don’t suppose you’ve found a suitable date yet?”