In the Alpha’s Arms

Negotiations

“Oh, are we negotiating now?” He played it cool, but Lita could tell he perked up. The gym could obviously use the money to work on the exterior, she assumed. This was the pressure point she’d already planned for. Her parents were expecting her to pick an upscale gym anyway, they wouldn’t even bat an eyelash at the price, whatever it was.

“I want to join the gym—the fight club—and I’m willing to pay for it. Money’s not an issue.”

Lita really hated to play the money card. It wasn’t like she was one of those socialites that only cared about shopping and Instagram. And she wasn’t a snob like her parents. But money had its uses. It inevitably opened a lot of doors that would have otherwise remained closed for her. Especially when men wouldn’t take her seriously and that had happened more times than she could count. She often had to find ways outside of her temper to get things done.

“I don’t negotiate with terrorists, lady,” he smiled like he’d caught a fish on a hook. He didn’t see that he was the fish.

“I have done nothing. All I did was step foot in the gym and already I’m a terrorist?”

“You step foot in here and disrupted half the workouts—” he nodded his head to the larger gym and Lita saw that most of the men were watching. Some laughed, some nudged each other. But no matter what they were doing, it was clear they had all stopped working.

“The attention span of a man is not my problem,” Lita said plainly, “I’ll pay double the yearly membership fee upfront if you let me train here. C’mon, every gym has beginner classes. Or at least personal training?”

“Not us,” he shrugged, “This ain’t the place for beginners and this ain’t the place for a clueless girl with as much muscle as a chihuahua.”

That stung, and Lita didn’t suppress the flinch. He saw the reaction and softened a fraction, “Look, I can recommend another gym if you let me write it down.” He turned toward the desk outside the office area and Lita followed.

have

are you willing to pay so much? Why do you really want

at it. As soon as he’d applied a little pressure to her reasoning, she’d gone and said the last fucking name she wanted anyone to know about.

the address? You’re one

what?” her stomach clenched. Did he somehow know the truth? Was her

fighter?” he spat the words as if it disgusted him. That

could ask about that. She was sure from his expression she wouldn’t be

than anything else, and I don’t like crazy. Even if you are rich,” his face went hard, his disdainful tone shocking Lita. Apparently, he didn’t approve of whatever he thought of her. But the suspicion melted from his eyes once he labeled her, “Triple the yearly fee. Man, I thought your kind moved on

had been nearly a year already since she’d last seen him. She lightly fingered the tattoo

Lita shrugged, “So what’s it to be, do we have a

Their laughing banter died as soon as one of them saw Lita. That man turned to face her and immediately it felt like he overshadowed everything. She forgot about the gym, about her reason for being there. Lita even forgot about the annoying conversation she’d just had with Gymhead as

the life of her, Lita couldn’t say why. She stole a brief glance down at herself and came

of his body—every bit built

face tighten as he glared at her, rubbing the side of his jaw

would have liked. She turned to Gymhead and waited. Lita started getting more anxious. She couldn’t lose focus. Not for a second. Gymhead turned around

a fighter. And we don’t do beginners. So, you’ve gotta go.” Gymhead grumbled as he turned his attention back to her, trying to backtrack his way to the original point: Lita wasn’t one of them and she

Lita was determined to see this through. She hadn’t been sure about the absurd idea when she sat in the parking lot and there was a tiny petty part of her that wanted to just give up. But now that she was inside, she knew coming here was

he was one man. It wouldn’t be hard to avoid him. However, being surrounded by these other muscular men helped her emotions. She felt safer than she had in a long time. Like that familiar presence of James