The Arrangement (unenhanced Edition) by AnnaRCase (books to read now .txt) 📖

Grayson gave Amberleigh a side eye as she got on the adjoining treadmill. She couldn’t help but glance at his numbers and the man could fucking run and do it well. He was clocking in at ten miles an hour and had covered three miles in twenty minutes. Barely broken much of a sweat either. The boy had stamina and could probably go like the energizer bunny in the sack. If he actually wanted to fuck the girl with her legs spread before him anyway.

He’d also burned over four hundred calories. Leo wouldn’t be pleased at all. The Godwin was supposed to be resting, hydrating, and getting proper nutrition. This certainly wouldn’t do. She and Leo were in this pact to torture Grayson together after all.

The gym had a nice size flat screen mounted on the wall, designed that way intentionally, as it was a break in nothing but glass. It offered a fantastic view of the city, even more so at this hour with all the glowing embers as far as the eye could see. It made an otherwise mostly, ugly city, into something beautiful, warm, perhaps even a bit magical. In the darkness, it was easier to hide the sins of a broken world full of broken people clinging to what they could in a dying world.

Even better than the view, and the huge ass TV, was the fact you could cast your watch to control the TV. But it wasn’t music or a video that Amberleigh commandeered the smart TV for, but rather the note she’d typed on her device. Does Leo know you’re here?

Grayson noticed the note rather quickly, as he removed the earbud from his left ear. He didn’t slow his pace or even full on look at her. But his message was loud and clear.

“Need I remind you this is my home Miss Dubois.”

Amberleigh was fiddling with the controls on her treadmill. She quickly realized she’d increased the speed a bit too much too fast, as her words came out breathy. And it had only been legit three minutes time on the machine. She also found it as good excuse as any to slow her pace down towards a slow walk.

“We’ll you won’t mind if I go and wake him then. I’m sure he’d love to join in. I’ll be back in a jiffy.”

Only three pathetic minutes and sweat was already forming and her calves were burning. Seriously? Leo was to blame for this. And Grayson, because she was eating her feelings and not getting enough exercise in. Back at the club, preforming five nights a week had also helped keep her fit and in shape. If she got on a scale now, bad things would happen, involving screaming, and breaking shit.

“Do not wake Leo up,” said Grayson through clenched teeth.

She smirked at him, “Okay. But it’s going to cost you.”

He was finally looking at her, and much to her satisfaction, had finally slowed the pace on his treadmill. She had to admit he looked hella sexy as he used a towel to wipe the sweat off his brow quickly. Sweat did nice things to his skin. Focus bitch, she scolded herself.

“Are you attempting to blackmail me?” he asked.

“Oh no Mr. Godwin. I’m not attempting to blackmail you at all. I am blackmailing you sir,” she smiled sweetly.

“And what are your terms then? What will it cost me to keep this between ourselves?”

She left him hanging a bit as she pretended to be interested in her physical fitness. She programmed the machine into some random routine that found it inclining ungodly high and picking up the tempo. Of course, she acted as though it was her intention. She gripped onto the hand grips like her life depended on it. Tumbling off this treadmill in front of him was something she’d never recover from.

“Just a civilized conversation Mr. Godwin,” she managed out.

He was now at a nice jog and made it look easy as fuck. While she glanced down, her heart about to beat straight up out her chest, she was panting and it had been a thirty whole seconds on the incline.

“Fine. But I will only answer the questions which I feel do not violate the terms of our contract.”

                She considered casting her question to the screen. But she had a bit of pride and dignity left, and she didn’t want him to know how close she was to crying or dying at the moment.

                “Did you..always..wantto..follow…inthe..family.. business…”

                The question seemed to throw him for a bit as it took him longer than she expected for him to answer what seemed like such a simple question. He slowed his speed even further now at a brisk walk. She eyed his reusable water bottle with envy and lust.

                “No. I wanted to be an actor.”

She snorted, “Yeah right,” before it took her ten seconds to realize by his glare, he hadn’t been joking, “Well.. you certainly… have the looks… for it,” she finished lamely.

               He sighed, “I attended a couple semesters at a school for performing arts actually.”

               “What…happened?”

               “My brother died. Adam was being groomed to be the CEO following my father. And then well, my focus and priorities shifted after his passing.”

               She tried to discretely turn down the speed on her treadmill, as she was getting closer and closer to the end of the belt. She couldn’t really breathe enough at the moment to continue the conversation though. Or even dwell on the words Grayson had just spoken.

 She had a stich in her side and she no doubt sounded like an asthmatic who smoked two packs a day. She started hitting buttons and praying to God the machine would slow, and hoped she wouldn’t have to resort to slamming the emergency stop.

               When all hope seemed lost, and she knew she was going down, Grayson reached over and hit some buttons to bring it to a more controlled stop. She felt his hands on her back balancing her as the machine came to a stop. But it came at a cost. Because, while balancing her, he fucked himself, as his treadmill still running at a good clip. His feet got tripped up as he lost his focus and balance. Down the billionaire went barreling off the end of the belt.