FIT: #1 in the Fit Trilogy (3 page)

“Violet, I am really sorry. I read this chemistry between us all wrong.” So he had been flirting. Great. Too bad he completely blew it. Still, Violet tried to relax. He’d made a mistake, but at least he was trying to own it.

“It’s okay. It’s fine. You were saying?”

“Forget what I said. It’s off the table. It was never on the table. I promise, none of that will be a part of this.”

“So you’re saying you can train me without trying to whip me or fuck me?” She let the sarcasm drip. “You’re willing to make that sacrifice?”

“Really. I thought I read something in you—never mind. We do a simple on-ramp program. I gauge your current fitness level and we go from there. We’ll cover nutrition and then, when you get where you want to be, we’ll focus on maintenance.”

“And no flogging or chains required?” Violet asked, doing nothing to hide the look of disgust on her face.

“Fuck, I’m such an idiot. No, none of that. I promise.” Grant reached into his pocket and pulled out a black business card, then handed it to Violet. She looked at the cream and red lettering.

Grant Gibson Owner/Trainer Melrose Fitness

It should have read:
Dom/Smooth Operator/Professional Buffoon/Can’t Read Women For Shit

“Why don’t you think it over? About training with me. If I don’t hear from you, I’ll completely understand. If you decide you want to, we can get started this week.”

Violet glanced between him and the card. She didn’t know what was left to consider. He was gorgeous, she couldn’t ignore that obvious detail. And it wasn’t that she thought consenting adults didn’t have the right to get their jollies off in all sorts of different ways, but this wasn’t about Grant Gibson’s perfect body or his flawless face. Violet had a huge change she wanted to make, and she couldn’t do it with someone who was looking to “get kinky”. She took his card and slid it into a small pocket inside her bag. She’d toss it in the trash when he wasn’t around to see.

“Why did we meet here instead of at your gym?”

“I find that the gym itself is intimidating for people who are just getting started. There’s an advanced kick-boxing class going on right now, and I didn’t think that would give you the idea that I was trying to ease you into your workouts.”

A brutal comeback about trying to ease her into BDSM was on the tip of her tongue, but she let it go.

“Okay, well. I have to meet a friend for lunch.” Violet snatched up the rest of her berry-kale drink and stood to leave. “It was... interesting to meet you.”

Grant stood as well. A more sincere smile touched his lips this time. He knew he’d fucked up. “It was.”

Violet nodded then walked toward her car. She could feel Grant Gibson’s eyes on her back the whole way.

✶

Hours later Grant found himself where he wound up on most Sunday nights. Alone on his couch, Lakers on his TV, beer in his hand, black cat at his shoulder and snoring Rottweiler at his side.

He thought about calling Master Philip and seeing if he could drop into the club, maybe haul some sweet new thing over his knee and teach her a thing or two about patience and obedience. But the idea was immediately chased away by the memory of the grimace of horror that had popped up on Violet Ryan’s face the second he’d opened his big fucking mouth.

He’d fucked up. Huge. Was Violet his type? Hell yeah—she was pretty, smart, funny—but he had interpreted her all wrong. She wanted a trainer, they both got that part. But the flirting, the way she nearly stripped him bare with her eyes the moment he sat down at the table? He’d gotten that all wrong. There had been attraction, a mutual one at that, but just because he was looking for more didn’t mean she was.

Grant thought Violet would be an amazing submissive, but she wasn’t his to test that theory and he’d completely driven her away by suggesting their professional relationship should become even the slightest bit sexual.

He could just picture her now, telling her friends about this pervert trainer who tries to seduce his clients before their first Visa payment even went through. She’d probably give Margaret an earful too, for suggesting this guy who made it seem like he couldn’t keep it in pants. Margaret knew all about him so she wouldn’t hold that part against him, but she’d rib him royally for making such an ass out of himself. Either way, it was time for him to suck it up and go back to the club or at least take it to the Internet. He had needs that had to be met.

Just as the third quarter ended, his phone jumped and sang on the coffee table. His cat, Bill, dug his claws into his jeans at the sound. It was probably Armando asking if he wanted to grab some food or a drink before they started their week. But when he picked up the phone he didn’t see his buddy’s name and he didn’t recognize the number.

“Grant Gibson,” he said.

Violet Ryan’s sweet voice answered back. “Are you a chubby chaser? Like do you just screw fat women as some sort of fetish? Does banging big girls stroke your ego?”

“No.” Grant laughed. “It’s nothing like that.”

“Do you have yellow fever? Do you only date Asian women? Should I tell you now that I’m Chinese, not Korean or Japanese, lest it fuck up some weird nationalist streak you have going?”

Grant’s laugh was pretty manic this time. “Whoa. No. And what kind of guys have you been dating?”

“I haven’t been dating those guys. I just know those guys are out there. Anyway, you gotta tell me what gives. That was… Yeah, I don’t know what the hell that was. I want you to train me, but you have to help me out here. Explain.”

Grant couldn’t believe she’d called. Pleased that she was even willing to speak with him, he dropped the Don Juan act and told her the truth. “I find you very attractive and I thought we clicked on another level. I can handle being wrong but, no, I don’t chubby chase. I’m not an Asian fetishist. My last girlfriend was Greek. This, what I proposed, is all about you and the fact that I genuinely like what I know about you so far.”

“Have you done this with your clients before?”

“Yes. Three times. Twice it was mutually causal, just bondage and submission, and once it got serious and turned into a long term, exclusive relationship.”

“Why did it end?”

“You’re digging right in there, aren’t you?”

“Uh, yeah. Three seconds after I meet you, you basically suggest we should fuck while I’m trying to lose weight. I think I’m allowed to ask some questions, so spill it, buster. Why did it end?”

“She was a thief.”

“What?” Violet had every right to snicker. It had been Grant’s same reaction when he first found out the truth about Ariana.

“She liked to steal. Money, clothing. She maxed out two of my credit cards and then, when I broke up with her, she tried to take my dog as a parting gift.” Max whimpered beside him, as if he were recalling the trauma of that fateful autumn night.

“She tried to steal your dog?”

“Yeah. Tried to take his doggy bowl and his toys too.”

“What kind of dog is it?”

“Rottweiler. His name is Max. He’s still a big puppy.”

“Cute. I like dogs. My landlord won’t allow them and I work too much to really take care of one, but I like them.” This is good, Grant thought. Let’s talk more about dogs and less about me being a complete dickhead.

“So, did you just approach the others all forward? Or did you at least wait until the second session?” Grant didn’t really know where she was going with this. At first she sounded angry and offended, but now she sounded interested. A little intrigued.

“It just happened. Well, one woman knew about me. She’d heard about my extracurricular interests through a friend, so she brought it up herself. But the other two, it just happened.”

“So what about me? Why didn’t I get that chance to ease into it? Test where the chemistry could go between us. Do I look that desperate?”

“No. It’s me. I’m the desperate one.”

“Oh, that sounds great.”

“No! No! That’s not what I meant. I think you’re beautiful, Violet. You’re funny as hell. I should have just told you that, but I’ve never had an adult relationship that didn’t involve my kinks in some way. I just got a little ahead of myself. I’m sorry.”

Violet was quiet for a long time, a really long time when you’re on the phone. He almost asked if she was still there, but he could hear her quietly mumbling to herself. Was she actually reconsidering?

“I’ve never done anything like that before. I’ve read about it and I’ve seen porn, but my sex life has been relatively tame.”

Grant tried his most soothing tone. “It’s not all about whips and chains.”

Violet responded in kind, her voice softening almost to a bashful level. “I know.”

“Do you have a boyfriend?” Grant asked. He didn’t see a hint of one online, but he should have asked before.

“Polite of you to ask.
Now
. No, I’m not with anyone. My last boyfriend and I broke up two years ago. He wanted to get married and have kids right away, but I wasn’t ready.” She paused again, her voice taking on that hesitant, almost innocent tone. Grant nearly groaned. She would make an excellent submissive. “Are you seeing anyone else?” she asked. “Are you fucking anyone else, I mean? I know this is Hollywood or whatever, but I believe in monogamy, even if it’s casual. If you’re screwing all of your clients, we’ll have to keep this thing between us to strictly sit ups.”

“I’m not seeing anyone, Violet. Sexually or otherwise.”

“Okay.”

Another pause.

“I need to work out early in the morning, like six, so I can knock it out before I go to work. Does that work for you? I don’t know what your schedule is like.”

“Six a.m. works just fine.”

“Can we start tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow would be great. We can meet at the gym.”

“Great. Sounds great. Do I need to wear leather panties under my sweats?”

“No. No leather anything. You just need to show up and I’ll handle the rest.”

“I’m sure you will.” Violet sounded annoyed, but resigned. Grant didn’t know how to take her mood. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Goodnight.”

“Night. Oh, and Grant?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m not a big fan of being tied up, but I could be persuaded to try some spanking. Maybe a little light paddling.”

Before Grant could respond, Violet hung up.

Day 3

Violet couldn’t believe she was going through with this. She stood outside Melrose Fitness, ten minutes before six a.m.. On a Monday. During a hiatus. No matter how much weight she wanted to lose, she could easily sleep in until noon and then work out. She could also find another trainer. But no. She needed a new routine and some foolish voice in the back of her head told her Grant Gibson, Captain None-Too-Smooth, was the one to help her get her new life on track.

She should have slapped him. She definitely shouldn’t have called him, but she did, and now here she was, completely unprepared to live up to her ballsy parting words.

Did she want Grant to spank her after she completed her workouts? Of course she did. The thought of him putting his hands on her body like that, slapping her bare ass until it was pink and swollen had her soaking wet. She shuffled in her new Nikes just thinking about it. Did that make getting involved with him this way a good idea? Sure didn’t, but it was too late now. He was walking down the street, straight toward her, with a big dog on a red leash lumbering by his side. She could run, but he’d already seen her. Grant waved. Violet waved back. Oh God. What the hell was she doing?

She did her best not to stare outright as he approached. First thing in the morning he looked just as hot as she remembered. He had on shorts instead of jeans, showing off the tattoos on his left leg.

She glanced at the dog, not sure what to make of the beast.

“This is Max,” Grant said.

“Can I pet him?”

“He’d be insulted if you didn’t.”

Violet reached out her hand a mere inch before the dog shoved his large head the rest of the way under her palm. She gave him a light scratch, as Grant opened the doors to the gym and cut off the alarm. She and the dog followed him inside. Max, with his leash dragging across the floor, took off for the back, while Violet stayed a step behind Grant as he flipped on the lights.

The space was large, deceptively so considering how small it looked from the outside. The main floor was split into two areas. One side, an open space where she imagined they taught stuff like yoga or whatever new aerobics trend was on the rise. Step risers and sit up pads were stacked against the wall. The other half was dominated by weight machines and racks of free weights. The window that faced the street was lined with treadmills and ellipticals.

Violet could see the rear of the space actually had two more doors that led to men’s and women’s lockers rooms. She’d read on the Melrose Fitness website that both were equipped with saunas.

“Let’s head to my office. We’re going to go over a few things and then we can get started.”

Violet stayed silent, trailing him the rest of the way down a short hallway just to the left of the men’s room door. The office was small. Long and narrow. A big table ran along one wall and two rolling chairs, which looked too small for Grant and another to work comfortably, were shoved just a foot or two away, against the opposite wall. A filing cabinet, a tiny printer, another dog bed, and some boxes ate up the rest of the space. Grant shuffled by the first chair and pushed it in Violet’s direction.

“Sorry. I don’t usually bring clients back here, but I make exceptions for special clients like you.”

“Funny.”

Once they were seated, Grant pulled a piece of paper, a questionnaire, out of the short file cabinet by his knee.

“First fill this out, we’ll weigh you, and then you’ll get your first Melrose Fitness workout.”

Violet nodded and slipped the pen between her teeth.

“Not a morning person?” Grant asked. She realized she’d barely said a word to him.

“I am, I—just…” She was anxious. When did the whole domination thing start? Had it already started? The gym was completely empty. Were they going to work out naked? “Nothing. Let me fill this out.” The questionnaire looked pretty standard. Questions about her physical and mental health, usual activity level, sleep patterns. She filled in her date of birth. Only a few more months until her twenty-ninth birthday.