What Belongs to Her (Harlequin Superromance) (26 page)

“She would if she dropped ten pounds. The women’s 145-pound weight class has got some serious contenders and lots of up-and-comers.”

“You’re watching girl fights now?” The UFF president had once infamously said that women’s MMA was an insult to the sport and that no woman would ever enter a UFF cage unless she was in a bikini and holding round numbers.

“MMA’s my business. I watch everything that has to do with my world.” Hadrian said it so sharply that Kyle’s humor shriveled. “And speaking of business, what’s going on with my gym?”

Kyle had been anticipating this conversation. He took a deep breath. “Economic downturn. People just aren’t signing up for memberships.”

“According to the numbers, people are
leaving
Payette’s. None of the other gyms are losing business. What gives?”

Kyle’s throat felt tight. “We’re working on a new campaign strategy. I’ll be forwarding details to you soon.”

“I don’t give a crap about ads and handing out free passes. The reputation and quality of the trainers speaks for itself. You’ve got what should be the crown jewel with all your heavy hitters. So what’s the problem?”

Kyle dug his thumb into the knot of stress between his clenched jaw and his ear. “I can’t say, sir.”

“Can’t say? Don’t know? Don’t care?” He let out a frustrated huff. “Shit, Kyle, I expected to hear a better excuse than that. Does it have anything to do with that thing that happened with what’s-her-face?”

“No, sir.” He clutched the edge of his desk. “She has nothing to do with it.”

“And you’re behaving yourself?”

“Yes, sir.” Kyle’s cheeks burned. He took a deep breath to still the quivering in his gut, then exhaled, trying to purge the impotent anger gathering inside him.

“Anyhow, that’s in the past. Let’s look forward, all right? You have a Fiore in your gym now—you know they don’t teach a lot outside of their tight little circle of friends. So don’t screw this up.”

“Yes, sir.” Kyle hung up and sat back, attempting to regain his calm as he stared at the screen. YouTube had queued up another video about Bella, this one a cheaply produced feature with shots of her training at the Fiore Brazilian Jujitsu Studio in São Paulo, Brazil. He unmuted it. The video stuttered, the music was cheesy and the transitions rough. He watched it while fuming over Hadrian’s humiliating dressing-down. As much as he respected him, the UFF president was the least sensitive man he knew. Next to his father, of course.

He pushed away from his desk and yanked his damp T-shirt over his head. He’d never gotten used to the humidity in NOLA. He applied another layer of antiperspirant under his arms and hung his street clothes in his private office locker to air, then pulled on a black T-shirt with the Payette’s UFF logo printed on the breast. The heavy cotton grew damp at his touch and chafed his skin. He knew he should have gone with the more expensive moisture-wicking uniform tees, but he’d already had a thousand of them printed. It felt like a waste not wearing them.

Liz knocked and stuck her head past the door. “You decent?”

“What’s the point of asking if you’re going to come in anyhow?”

The receptionist bustled in, a cup of coffee and a clipboard in hand. She put them both on his desk and went around the room, drawing the blinds open so he could see out and everyone could see in. “Wayne’s at a dentist appointment this morning. Root canal. We shouldn’t expect him back at all today.”

Kyle rolled his eyes. “He’s such a baby.”

She didn’t comment. “I shuffled his clients between Tito and Orville. I’ve also got five potential members scheduled for tours.”

“Maybe I should do those.”

Liz regarded him archly. “Um, aren’t you forgetting something?”

“No.” He sipped his coffee, letting the caffeinated miracle nectar flow through his veins. His headache eased.

“Uh, yeah. Bella Fiore? It’s her first day here.” She planted her fists on her hips. “You were kind of rude to her.”

Probably, but she was off-putting—and he didn’t like off-putting. “She’s crazy, you know. She was riding her bike
against
rush-hour traffic. I don’t even know where she was headed—she was going in the complete opposite direction of the gym.”

“She told me she likes to ride around the city before a workout to warm up. It gets her blood pumping.”

It probably got her in the right frame of mind for punching things, too. The way she biked, it was as if she was aiming to piss off people so they’d yell at her to get her good and mad. Not exactly the Zen-like discipline the Fiores were known for.

“What did Hadrian say?” Liz asked after a beat.

He stalled by spinning his chair around and staring at his wall calendar, noting the dates of all the different MMA events the gym’s clients were involved in. “Kyle?” Liz prompted.

“Nothing important. He was just calling in to check on us.”
And tell me to behave myself. And sell more memberships. And be nice to Bella Fiore. Or else.

Liz looked like she wanted to say something, but whatever it was, she held back. “Bella’s warming up now. You need to go and greet her properly before she gets the wrong idea about you.” With that, she departed.

Of course, Liz was right. He had to play nice with Bella Fiore. Her family name had been the only reason he’d agreed to train her in the first place, and he hated to admit it, but he needed her reputation more than she needed his.

He wasn’t about to tell
her
that, though.

Copyright © 2014 by Vicki So

ISBN-13: 9781460327906

WHAT BELONGS TO HER

Copyright © 2014 by Rachel Brimble

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