The Trainer

“Antoniou’s skill is in showing that dominance, service, and identity are never as simple as they look. This is her richest, most layered Marketplace novel yet.” — Leather Archives Journal

In the third book of the groundbreaking Marketplace series, the glossy world of easy training collides with the deep craft of true mastery.

Michael LaGuardia is a West Coast trainer who has made a name teaching a flashy, hedonistic style to young, pretty slaves destined for short contracts and variety over substance. But he knows there’s more to the art of service—and he wants to learn it. Applying for a mentorship under Anderson, the reclusive genius known as the “Trainer of Trainers,” Michael arrives in Brooklyn expecting to sharpen his skills. Instead he finds himself out of his depth.

Chris Parker, Anderson’s star protégé, is living at the majestic brownstone training house when Michael arrives. Compared to Chris, Michael is lazy, sloppy, and blind to the deeper currents of desire and belonging that fuel true service. Chris can’t understand why Anderson would waste her time on a California dilettante. Yet even Chris is struggling—with his own identity crisis: is he a trainer or a slave, and where does he fit in the larger world of the Marketplace?

With signature wit, honesty, and erotic charge, Laura Antoniou peels back the façade of dominance to reveal the grit, empathy, and soul-searching required to teach and to serve.

“A tour de force of character-driven erotica. Antoniou shows us that the Marketplace isn’t just fantasy—it’s a crucible.” — Lambda Literary

Welcome back to The Marketplace—where training is an art, and everyone, even the teachers, must learn.