Free Axel: A Bad Boy Romance by Laura Day Page A

hot trainer. He was so strong and almost graceful. She never saw him drop anything. The weights she struggled with were nothing to him. He had walked around the gym with such confidence. She wondered how he had come to own it.
     
    She brought Cate to the park where to other kids from her daycare were already running through the plastic tubing of the equipment. Marie sat down on a bench and pulled out her burner phone. It was a smartphone with a data cap, but, fortunately, the park had WiFi and she was able to Google the name: Axel Connelly.
     
    She wasn’t expecting anything. When you search Marie De Santa all the results were for a biochemist in San Paolo. But Axel Connelly was another story. The first thing that came up was his face; it was a stern-looking picture with the title 3rd in the Northeastern League . He had an actual Wikipedia page. He was an MMA fighter and a good one at that. She scanned through pictures of his bruised and battered smiling face holding trophies and belts.
     
    She looked around the playground shocked. She had no idea her trainer from the other day was a professional cage match fighter. She couldn’t deny that the thought turned her on a little. She watched the last few minutes of his most recent fight. She watched as Axel and his opponent danced around each other. His opponent threw a punch and Axel dodged and returned with a sidekick and a punch right to the side of the other man’s face. He went down in heap as the crowd went wild.
     
    Why had he been training her? He was famous and well known and he owned the gym. Had her threat of a bad review really made him nervous enough to take her on himself? It seemed crazy. Marie stood up and stretched out her sore muscles using the bench to help her. The muscles in the back of her legs were tight and she felt a sweet sort of relief as she stretched them. She had worked harder than she thought the other day.
     
    He had pushed her, really pushed her. But not like Austin. Axel had only offered her criticisms in order to help her. He hadn't been mean or short tempered; he had been patient. She had wanted to impress him – that was what kept her going. It wasn’t fear or intimidation that pushed her. It was something else. It was a desire that came from inside. She wanted to impress him and even more she wanted to prove to herself that she could do this.
     
    He had seen something in her. He had decided that she was worth training and he was an expert. That had to count for something. She stretched her arms high above her and smiled into the sunlight. Maybe she would become a kick-ass fighter. Then she would never need to fear anyone. If she saw Austin she could take him down herself. She wondered how long it took to get that good.
     
    On her way back to the house Marie passed a clothing shop and, with an agreeable Cate in tow, she stepped inside. She had left almost all of her and Cate’s clothes with Austin. She had taken only what she could fit in the trunk and left the rest behind. She was pretty confident Axel had destroyed all of it by now; her grandmother’s quilt and her photo albums were probably nothing more than ash and smoke. But she could make new memories.
     
    She walked around the store looking at the summer dresses and little black numbers, but stopped herself before she bought anything. She didn’t have any plans to go out and the training sessions at Axel’s gym were not cheap. She considered it a good investment, though. Being able to defend herself was worth any price. So she wouldn’t be able to buy anything fun for a few weeks, but she noticed some items she might come back for.
     
    She did grab a few workout clothes on sale. They were black and fitting and little bit more professional than her yoga pants and t-shirt outfit from the other day. She wanted to prove to Axel that she was serious about this. She was ready to work and learn. He could push her as hard as he wanted; she was ready.
     
    Later that night,