Adjusting Addie Read online

  "What are your goals for this program?" Kimberly asked.

  "I want to lose weight to get healthier, increase my endurance and build some muscle mass to help my metabolism work better," the woman replied. Brad grinned. She was not only pretty but intelligent, too.

  "Those are great goals. Now, I have to be honest with you. I am a stickler on form and doing things the correct way. This means that you aren't going to drop a ton of weight right off the bat. If we do it right, you will keep it off, instead of yo-yoing and gaining it all back the second you can't fit going into the gym daily into your schedule. How much weight are you wanting to lose? Let's set a long term and a short-term goal." Brad had always appreciated Kimberly being consistent on form and safety. He had seen too many of his Marines get injured from making mistakes in the gym.

  "Long term, I'd like to lose one hundred pounds, at least," the new girl said. Brad bit his tongue from interrupting their conversation. What? Where was she going to lose a hundred pounds from? He chided himself again. She was not his; why did he care?

  "That is a lot, Addisyn," Kimberly said. "I think we will need to revisit that in the future. Let's talk about short term goals." Brad took note that her name was Addisyn. A unique name for a unique woman, he thought. Unique? He corrected himself, you don't know a thing about this girl, nut job!

  "Please call me Addie. No one ever calls me Addisyn unless I am in trouble!" Brad heard her say. Feeling guilty about listening in, although he wasn't done with his sets, Brad rose and headed to another section of the weight room.

  After Addisyn left the room, Brad went back to finish the sets he had started. He grunted as he lifted a heavier than normal weight off of the ground, determined to beat his personal record.

  "She's going to be a handful," Brad heard Kimberly say to someone. "Addie has the motivation and drive to succeed, which is fantastic. She is also stubborn, and I don't think she agrees with taking it slow. She wants to lose a hundred pounds."

  "Did you do a full body assessment?" Brad heard the male voice respond and knew she was talking to the athletic director.

  "Of course," Kimberly replied, and Brad could hear the offense in her tone. "I calculated about fifty-five pounds to being at the top of her healthy BMI and ideally about sixty to sixty-three pounds from being right in the mid-range healthy."

  "Where is she getting a hundred pounds from?" the male voice countered.

  "No idea. According to her body mass, lean muscle, water weight and dry body weight, her ideal weight is around one hundred fifty pounds. She is at right around two hundred ten."

  "Well, keep an eye on her. Make sure she doesn't end up obsessed or with an eating disorder. If you start to see anything concerning, please send her to me, and I'll get her help."

  "Will do, boss."

  Brad agreed with Kimberly. Silly girl didn't need to lose a hundred pounds. He felt slightly guilty for eavesdropping again, but in his defense, the free weights were right outside the personal training office and the door was open. He would never have guessed Addisyn weighed over two hundred pounds! Her weight was distributed evenly and she carried it very well. He thought she was beautiful. If she wanted to lose some weight to be healthy, that was one thing, but to want to lose that much weight, well, that was ridiculous. He didn't know why it bothered him; she was just a stranger at the gym. Once again, he found himself asking, Why do I care how much weight she wants to lose? Why am I letting her get to me like this? She hasn't said two words to me! What is it about her that is drawing my attention? He racked his weights and headed to the cardio room. Why was this girl getting under his skin and into his mind so much?

  Brad was surprised to see the very woman he was trying to shake from his thoughts in front of him, in the cardio room. Kimberly had just told her not to overdo it! Damn girl was going to injure herself. He had seen her finish her entire workout, including the cardio portion, over twenty minutes ago. Part of him wasn't shocked to see her, he had a feeling that she was stubborn just by the way she spoke and carried herself. When he walked behind her elliptical to get to the treadmill, he noticed her time. She had been on it for twenty-two minutes and counting.

  "Hey!" Brad said, coming up beside her, deciding to introduce himself. "Didn't I see you with Kimberly a bit ago? I'm Brad."

  She didn't even turn her head to acknowledge him. She appeared to be fixated on the TV screen ahead of her.

  "Hi," Brad heard her respond breathlessly. "Kinda busy." Brad's medical training picked up on how hard she was breathing. Brad looked down at her machine and saw the damning evidence before him. He confirmed what his intuition was telling him; she was working too hard. Her heart rate was up in the high one hundred eighty range. That was unacceptable. He stepped in, reached over and took charge of the situation by lowering the speed.

  "Hey, so, Addie, your heart rate is in the upper end of one hundred eighty. You need to slow down there some, killer." He didn't understand why she was on the machine to begin with. Kimberly told her to take it slow and this was anything but slow. She had already worked out for over an hour with her trainer, which included twenty minutes of intense cardio. Surely, she shouldn't be working out any more that day. Brad found himself getting protective over her, and he didn't like it. She is a stranger. She is a stranger, he repeated in his head, knowing damn well his Dom side was about to rear its head. He had a sixth sense about these things, and something about her was pulling him that direction.

  "Hey!" Addie said, irritation clear in her tone. "Who do you think you are?" She aggressively punched the speed dial back up to where she had it. Brad narrowed his eyes and raised his eyebrows simultaneously before he realized that she was still staring straight ahead.

  "This isn't a healthy heart rate!" Brad lowered his voice an octave, his face starting to flush from frustration, before reaching over and pushing both the speed and the incline buttons down. He hit them so hard, he could hear the click with each button push. He didn't know what had gotten into him. He wasn't one to normally top strange women at the gym. It must be the doctor in him, sure, he thought to himself, let's go with that. He knew that being a doctor had nothing to do with his desire to keep her safe.

  "I don't know who the hell you think you are, but I didn't ask for your advice," she said angrily, finally looking at him with her beautiful blue speckled eyes. "Stop touching my damn machine!" Addie bumped the speed up once more. "Get away from me, asshole!"

  "I am a doctor, and I know that this heart rate is really dangerous." Brad said, aware of the tingling in his palm as the urge to spank her butt overcame him. He wanted to warn her about her language and to let her know what talking to him like that would accomplish. He briefly envisioned pulling her off the machine, planting his leg on the edge of the elliptical and pulling her right over his thigh before administering a much-needed wake up call to her curvy behind. The next time he spoke, his voice dropped in volume and deepened in tone even more. It was a very practiced maneuver; he had used it on many of his young Marines when they stepped out of line. It got them right back on the straight and narrow, for they feared what would happen next. Brad watched Addie look at the screen, blink hard and then hit the button to slow it down.

  "Fine. Are you happy?" She glared meanly at him. "Now, if you don't mind," she growled, stepping down and trying to push around him.

  "Happy isn't the word I would use, but thank you for having some common sense and stopping. I hope you will follow Kimberly's advice. She's a fantastic trainer and knows what is good for you."

  "I know what is good for me!" Addie spat back, reminding Brad of a lioness. "Now, please get out of my way!" She pushed by him and stomped to the women's locker room.

  The desire to spank her grew with each passing second. Brad had a feeling it wouldn't be his last run in with Addie. Oddly, he found himself looking forward to the next one.

  Chapter 2

  Addisyn Gabriel found herself staring blankly at the computer screen in front of her, thinking about th
e stranger at the gym. What did he say his name was? John? Jacob? Brad! That was it, Brad. She had noticed him before. If she was to be honest, she had noticed Brad every single time she had gone to the gym. How could you not notice a god of a man lifting weights in front of you?

  Her behavior at the gym during their exchange shocked her. She didn't curse, and she sure as heck didn't call names, but there she was, with boob sweat puddling under her sports bra, her greasy, not yet washed hair bouncing behind her in a ponytail and her mismatched ankle socks because she couldn't find their mates anywhere, cursing at a stranger. Not any stranger, mind you, but the hottest man she had ever seen in real life.

  She thought about him standing next to her. He was a large man. He looked like one of the warriors who graced the cover of the romance novels she read. He was taller than the average man, standing at least six-foot-six. His shoulders were incredibly broad and his waist didn't taper down, like she was used to seeing. He was broad and hard all over. Although he had a shirt on, she could see his defined abdominal muscles. His arms were Herculean in size and even his neck was thick! His face contrasted his body, as it was not steel in nature but rather friendly looking. He had a well-trimmed beard, thick like the rest of him, surrounding his full red lips and straight white teeth. Looking upwards, she saw a perfectly centered, average looking nose. He had the beginning of laugh lines around his green eyes, the very eyes that appeared to be frowning disapprovingly at her. His chestnut colored hair was cut short, clipped on the sides, longer and parted on top. Clean cut but masculine.

  Addie thought back to their exchange. It wasn't that she was into whatever was playing on the TV screen in front of her as much as the show was keeping her from falling off the damn machine. She hated the elliptical more than any other piece of cardio equipment in the gym. She had barely been able to knock five minutes out when she had started, and now, she was making herself, even if it killed her to do so, complete thirty minutes on it. When he pushed the button on the machine, it was like he was pushing all of her buttons at the same time. It irritated her to no end. Who did he think he was, bossing her around? Addie knew it went much deeper than that. She was being overly defensive because she knew she was in the wrong. She had felt her heart beating in her ears, dizziness had started to overcome her, and she was afraid if he hadn't interrupted her the way he did, she might have passed out. Sometimes, her stubbornness was her own worst enemy.

  Addie thought about his deep baritone voice, and as much as she wanted to be offended, part of her was excited by his dominance. He had asserted himself in such a way that she hadn't felt threatened but, instead, scolded. She had been very aware of the way he shifted his feet further apart, lowered the tone of his voice and dropped the volume. She felt the tension between them, not from the conflict but the sexual tension. She tried to convince herself that she had imagined it, even though she hadn't imagined the wetness in her panties when she changed before getting in the shower at the gym. You are crazy! She laughed at herself. That beautiful man is not interested in you! She remembered how he had said he was a doctor. That must be it. Doctors care about everyone's health. There's no way anything else was going on. You are imagining things. Her mental struggle over her weight started up again in earnest.

  "Hey, Addie, busy?" Addie looked up to see her boss and friend, Evelyn Smith, standing in the doorway of her office, looking at her with a wrinkled brow. "Is everything okay, Addie? You seem very distracted; I said your name three times."

  "Yeah," Addie responded, shaking the stranger from the gym out of her mind and focusing back on work. She was an accomplished social worker who cared very much for each child on her caseload. "I'm just reading through the case notes from Lindsey's CASA." Addie turned when she heard the drawn-out sigh come from Evelyn. She smiled widely, accepting the iced coffee being handed to her.

  "Dutch Brothers! My favorite. You are the best!" Addie took several gulps from her drink, moaning happily as the ice-cold combination of white chocolate, coconut and vanilla from the White Angel danced on her taste buds. "How much do I owe you?"

  "Nothing, you bought last time." Evelyn took a long drink from her own peach iced tea. "What is going on with Lindsey? Do I need to reassign her to another caseworker?" She looked at Addie sideways.

  "Don't you dare!" Addie's eyes grew wide in fear. Lindsey was important to her.

  "You know you aren't supposed to get attached to the kids, Add. You have to stay impartial and abide by state policies. I know you love the kids on your caseload and you are a dang good caseworker, but I think you are getting mighty close to stepping over the boundaries with Lindsey."

  "I know, Evelyn. I've got this, though," Addie said firmly, meeting Evelyn's eyes.

  "Okay, then. What is going on?"

  "I don't know exactly. Something is wrong, but I can't put my finger on it. He's done everything he is supposed to do. But, Evelyn, something isn't right here. My gut is telling me." Addie was grateful that Evelyn never dismissed her gut instincts and, in fact, encouraged all of the caseworkers to follow them. She never made them feel bad for going down a rabbit trail or chasing leads that came from instinct instead of evidence. This was one of the many characteristics that Addie appreciated about her leadership. There had been too many times when children were returned to their biological parents and abused further. Neither Evelyn nor Addie would allow that to occur on their watch, not if they had anything to do with it. They explored every venue before returning children home to previously abusive parents.

  "What is your gut telling you?" Evelyn encouraged her to keep going.

  "His visits seem to be going well, but the bonds of attachment aren't forming. Foster parents aren't reporting any behavioral changes that are concerning, but her CASA is saying that she is much more withdrawn after visits. I know that isn't out of the norm, but Lindsey is so vibrant and energetic. After visits, she is a shell of herself. She seems terrified. Again, I know this is normal, all things considered. She shouldn't still be terrified, not this late in the game. If visits are going the way they are supposed to be going, she should be developing a healthy attachment and be less fearful of him. There's just something about him. He says and does all the right things, but it isn't reaching his eyes. It's fake…hollow…scary, even. I get chills when I am around him, Evelyn. That never happens."

  "You are one of the best caseworkers I have ever worked with, Addie. In my twenty years, I have rarely had an employee who tackled each case with the bravery and commitment that you do. I've seen you bulldoze through horrific child sexual abuse and human trafficking cases and never mention having chills from any of the perpetrators. I can count on one hand how many times in the last six years that you have been unsettled by a case. Do me a favor and double down on security protocols around him. Trust your instincts. If it feels like something is wrong, it probably is."

  "I wish we knew what happened to Lindsey's mother," Addie continued. "What if he killed her?" It was the first time Addie had vocalized that out loud. She hated how it sounded.

  "I think we have all thought that, from time to time," Evelyn said. "Unfortunately, there's been no evidence to point him towards her disappearance. Even the fancy lawyers and private detectives that her parents have hired haven't turned anything up."

  "That is another thing. Lindsey should have been placed with them and not into foster care!"

  "I don't disagree, but that wasn't our call to make. They were on a cruise in the middle of the ocean and Lindsey needed a home asap. By the time they had been reached, it had been days. The judge felt that, for the time being, she should stay where she is. She gets to see them often."

  "Yeah, but is that enough? It's a moot point; there isn't anything I can do about it now. Anyway, I have a supervised visit in half an hour. Thanks for listening to me vent. I know I don't have anything to go off of to delay reunification in court. I'm just—" Addie said, steering the conversation to a close.

  "Worried," Evelyn completed Addie's sentence
for her. "I know, Add. I love you for that. Just remember, Lindsey isn't you. The system failed you, but you won't let it fail her. You are doing everything right."

  "Thanks," Addie said, really meaning it. She had a hard time knowing what to say when she was complimented. She turned back to her computer to pull up her notes on the family she was headed off to supervise. Soon, she was sitting at the park with one her favorite clients.

  Addie watched from the park bench as Mr. Longhorn pushed little Kevin on the swings. Her notebook was out and she listened intently to the conversation between the two. She constantly checked Kevin's body language for any signs of discomfort and, as she always did, had reminded him of his safety phrase before his biological father had showed up. She knew they wouldn't need it, but it was protocol and she went by the motto 'better safe than sorry'. Addie was aware of the curious and sometimes hostile looks from the other parents at the park. With his tattooed face, his long hair and his overly baggy jeans showing off his underwear, Mr. Longhorn appeared threatening. Addie knew he wasn't. She knew his story, and he had always been polite with her. He hadn't known he was a father until a few months back, and now, he was doing reintegration visits with five-year-old Kevin. Kevin's mother had been sentenced to fifteen year in prison after her meth addiction had led her to a life of crime. She had held up the local Walgreen's pharmacy at gunpoint and shot one of the pharmacists in the process before accidentally shooting herself in the leg on the way out. During interrogation, she had let slip who Kevin's dad was.