Page 3 of Fit for Love

Soon, I’m running and generating those endorphins, but sadly, mopey thoughts intrude, so I bump up the speed, once.Twice.Thrice.

Crap.I never attached the red safety thingy to my leggings.

Well, better late than never.Panting, I grab the bar and reach for it—but just then, my right foot steps on the left.

Fuck me.

Instinctively, I let go of the bar as I fight to regain my balance, and that’s a mistake because the belt carries me back in an eyeblink… and I find myself airborne.

Chapter2

Ashton

A few minutes earlier

“One more,”I order.“Good.Again.”

Megan does three more crunches, and then, despite my strongest urging, she falls back on her mat.

“Get up,” I say.“You have more in you.”

“No, I don’t.”She pants until she catches her breath.“You know, I think you’re more of a drill sergeant over video than in person.I thought that maybe?—”

“Don’t you want that six pack for your superheroine role?”

She nods sheepishly.

“Then do as I tell you.I’m here to help you accomplish what youwant.”I leave the obvious unsaid: If you don’t like my training style, get a trainer who will pussyfoot around… and then suffer the consequences, of which the lack of a six pack would just be the start.

“No.I like your style.”Her eyes gleam with mischief.“I guess I’m still not used to instructions like that… outside the bedroom.”

I pretend I didn’t hear the last bit.I don’t date clients, not even if they’re Hollywood sex symbols like Megan.

“Have you been following the meal plan?”I ask, mostly to change the topic.

She shakes her head.“My stomach has been cramping, and before you ask, it’s not that time of the month.”

I frown.“I might’ve given you too much fiber.Let me update the plan and shoot it over to you after you finish abs.”

“Actually, I’m afraid we have to wrap up now,” she says.“I have to get back to set.”

I narrow my eyes at my phone screen.“Are you trying to get out of doing your reps?”

“No,” she says with a slight eyeroll.“Do you want me to get a note from the producer?”

“No.But if this keeps up, I might just make you.”

“Yes, sir.”She gives me a mock military salute.

Strangely, I get that a lot from my clients.Maybe I should’ve joined the army.I toyed with the idea in high school, but my parents were strongly against it and I still listened to them at that point, so I went to college and then to business school—much to my regret.

I must be frowning because Megan says worriedly, “Hey, Ashton, I was just kidding.Please don’t drop me as a client.I need that six pack, and you’re the best person to get me there.”

“Then follow the meal plan,” I say gruffly.“And make sure we have an uninterrupted hour tomorrow.”

“I will do that, I swear.”

With that, she ends our video call.

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