Free Axel: A Bad Boy Romance by Laura Day

fit.
     
    “Good job,” he said as she put the weights down. “Roll your arms and give them a little stretch,” he said. She reached up above her head and Axel forced himself to not look at the way her t-shirt stretched over her breasts. He set her up with another set of dumbbells and watched as she worked. He kept pushing her, expecting her to quit or ask him for a break, but she just grit her teeth and kept going.
     
    Thirty minutes later he brought her over to the squat bar. They faced their own reflection. She was sweaty and her face was bright read. Her hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail. She looked at him, ready to hear what would come next.
     
    “You know how to do a squat? Let me see.”
     
    She went down into a squat and stood back up.
     
    He indicated for her to go again and he gently pushed back on her chest to keep from leaning too far forward. “Watch me,” he said. “Don’t let your knees go past your toes,” he said. He lowered himself into a squat and she followed, her form almost perfect. “Good,” he said with a nod.
     
    She stood up and faced him. She was out of breath and her chest rose right underneath her eyes. “So when’s the next training?” She asked him.
     
     

 
    Chapter Twelve
     
    She woke up in an immense amount of pain. Axel had instructed her to take an ibuprofen before going to sleep. But she had felt great the night before. She had felt energetic and invincible, like she could do anything. She wanted to run a marathon and paint a masterpiece all at the same time. Now she could barely get out of bed. Her abs and arms and legs were all crying out in pain every time she moved.
     
    She managed to struggle to the bathroom where she swallowed two Advil and then she walked to the kitchen and drank a big glass of water before making coffee. It was her first day off since she had moved here. Her first Saturday. She didn’t need to do anything at the museum. They had a local girl from the high school working the door and giving tours.
     
    But the museum wasn’t open yet. It was still too early. Marie walked over to the security panel and turned the alarms off. She walked down the stairs that led to her apartment and went down into the mansion proper. It was quiet and dark, but Marie never felt afraid down here. The house was just too interesting to keep her away.
     
    Barefoot she walked over the hardwood floor and ducked into the nursery. There were antique dolls and trucks and little trundle beds. In one corner was a small table and chairs all set out for a fancy tea party. Edith had raised eight children, all of them successes. It seemed everything Edith Hawks did was touched with gold.
     
    She could be my saint , Marie thought as she walked through the house in her pajamas. Saint Edith of the museum, patron saint of women in hiding. She imagined Edith would have been proud of her for sticking up for herself the other day. Sure, it was no building a new town, but it was something. Edith would understand that.
     
    She walked down to the parlor and looked out the windows. When the mansion was empty like this, she liked to pretend this was her house. The whole thing, not just the attic upstairs. She would move from room to room like a great lady of an old house in an Austen movie. She would be wearing an old-fashioned dress and sighing about the servants. She would have a gallant and handsome husband with perfect genteel manners.
     
    At eleven o’clock she and Cate walked down to the park. The air was starting to get warmer. It was spring and soon enough summer would be here. They left their heavy coats at home and wore their lighter jackets. It was a bright day and the people of Harksburg were out in full force. They passed a group of ballerinas practicing in their open-air studio and a book club meeting with wine and cheese on a blanket in the park.
     
    They walked past the gym, but Marie didn’t see Axel through the window, so they kept walking. Her terribly