Muscles & Monsters (Leviathan Fitness)

Muscles & Monsters (Leviathan Fitness)

REVISED AND EXPANDED PAPERBACK EDITION A gym-owning wolven and a headstrong baker discover howl real their connection is in the first book of the beloved Leviathan Fitness series. After a wedding cake catastrophe on the street, local baker Tegan lands in the most unexpected place—a solid wall of fur and fangs named Atlas. She’s never met anyone like him and finds herself enamored by his wolfish charm. After their sweet encounter, Atlas invites her to his gym anytime she needs his cake-lifting services. However, Tegan is through with being a damsel in distress. She signs up for a membership with Leviathan Fitness, determined to build her strength…and if she sees the handsome wolven again, it’s a win-win scenario. Atlas can’t believe his eyes when Tegan walks through the doors of his gym, and nearly goes snout-over-paw to offer her personal training. Shared glances over the barbell and accidental touches at the water fountain set Atlas’s heart racing in a way he swore it couldn’t again. Primal desires emerge as Atlas and Tegan test just how much their new love can lift. Could Tegan be the unexpected mate of Atlas’s dreams? “Quite simply the cozy monster romance of my dreams. Fun, fresh, and deliciously sexy, I never miss an Ashley Bennett book.”— B.K. Borison, #1 New York Times bestselling author of First-Time Caller “Ashley Bennett is a queen of sweet and spicy monster romance. I’ll read anything she writes.”— Lana Ferguson, USA Today bestselling author of The Mating Game Ashley Bennett is a small-town paranormal and monster romance author from Baltimore, Maryland. She writes stories that are equal parts spice and swoon. When she's not writing, you can find her reading webtoons, playing cozy video games, and taking care of her houseful of rescue animals. "Always the baker and never the bride." I sighed to myself, stepping back from the three circular cake tiers lining the counter. They gradually increased in size, the biggest about the size of a tire. Per the bride's request, it was going to be a massive three-tiered red velvet cake slathered in textured cream cheese icing, large enough to feed the entire town of Briar Glenn. Because of the size, I'd assemble it on-site at the wedding venue tomorrow morning. This particular wedding cake was for the mayor's daughter, Jessica, who just so happened to have graduated high school with me. She was marrying a satyr who worked in finance, and in the spirit of supporting local businesses, they'd hired me to bake the wedding cake. It was an honor, really-but I couldn't help the stinging jealousy I felt every time I thought about their upcoming nuptials. Here she was getting married while I spent every waking moment of my life working at the bakery. So much, in fact, that my last relationship ended because of it. My girlfriend of two years just couldn't handle my dedication to the family business. She gave me an ultimatum-her or the bakery. Of course I chose the bakery. At this point, I had pretty much resigned myself to being a childless cat lady. Not that there was anything wrong with that-it just wasn't the white picket fence, two-point-five kids, and ridiculously attractive partner that I had dreamed of since I was a little girl. Selene, my bakery assistant and one of my closest friends, joined me in admiring my work. "They came out perfect, Tegs. Just like they do every time. I don't know how you do it." And they were perfect. Nice and even with no cracks, the icing smooth and level. "Pastry school and years of practice under the most hard-ass baker I know," I said, wiping my sugar-coated hands on my apron. She laughed, warm and raspy. "Don't talk about Mama Rollins like that." "It's true! In the kitchen, she's not the sweet lady you know her to be, I can tell you from experience." After my father's death a year ago, my mother retired, and I inherited the Briar Glenn Bakery. Before that, my grandmother ran the bakery. A legacy of women business owners here in the tiny town of Briar Glenn, one I was happy to continue. Even if it meant I had no work-life balance. "I am beat," Selene said, leaning against the counter and wiping her forehead. She'd been quieter today, none of her playful teasing or upbeat singing. Just silently working on the backup sheet cake for the wedding on the off chance there was a catastrophe. In all the years I'd worked at the bakery, that had yet to happen, but my mother always drilled it into my head that we needed to have some sort of backup plan-just in case. For the mayor's daughter's wedding, the biggest social event of the year, I wasn't taking any chances. "Are you okay?" I asked, taking in Selene's flushed cheeks and dewy skin. I kept the bakery cold to keep the icing from melting, and it had been hours since I ran the oven . . . "I'm just not feeling great." "Why didn't you say something earlier? I could have finished this on my own." "Well, I need the hours and you have enough on your plate as it is