Page 27 of Offside Devil

“That’ll teach you to listen to me.” Then he shakes his head. “Actually, it probably won’t. But as soon as you left, two CPS agents dropped in.”

I stumble back. “As in Child Protective Services? Why?”

What kind of person locks a kid in a closet? I’m not crazy. Zane looked horrified when I accused him of abusing Aiden. He wouldn’t lock his son in a closet.

So, why the fuck is the government after his kid?

“Because Aiden’s mom died,” Zane explains. Though that doesn’t begin to scratch the surface of the questions stacking up in my mind. “She died and she never told me about Aiden, so I became a father forty-eight hours ago.”

I shuffle around him and drop down on the edge of the deep, plushy couch. Suddenly, being close to an exit isn’t as important as making sure I don’t pass out and concuss myself.

“And I thought I was having a rough week.”

“Yeah, well, the fun doesn’t end there.” He claims the chair next to me, his elbows resting on his knees. He’s hunched forward over the coffee table, but he still takes up so much space. It’s distracting how much of my attention he commands. “Now, I have some CPS kid-snatcher on a power trip who thinks I live in the fucking Playboy Mansion.”

I glance around. The condo is nice. Floor-to-ceiling windows look out over downtown. There’s a balcony that wraps around the living room and a set of stairs that lead to a mezzanine level with even more rooms.

“Your place is nice, but I don’t think Hugh Hefner would live here.”

Zane scowls. “The bastard thinks I date around too much. He thinks I’m not providing a stable home environment for Aiden.”

Oh, yeah, I definitely should have done a rigorous Google search on Zane. Who has he dated? How many skeletons are in his closet? Just how many notches on his bedpost? I made some cheap cracks about women throwing themselves at him, but I was just making assumptions. With a face and a body like that, some things are inevitable.

“That’s not any of his business, is it?” I know for sure it’s none of mine. “He can’t judge you for having a social life.”

“No, but he can judge me for being an addict with a criminal record.”

My jaw falls all the way open before I can snap it shut. “You know I haven’t signed the NDA yet, right?”

He cocks his head in my direction. “Are you planning to sell my secrets to the highest bidder, Mira?”

I don’t even need to think about it. “No. I wouldn’t do that.”

“Good. Not that it would matter if you did. All of my shit has already been laid bare.” He sighs. “I made my mistakes and I’m clean now. But that doesn’t erase what people may already know about me.”

“I don’t know anything about you,” I admit.

He chuckles to himself. “There you go with that painful honesty again. You’re lucky my ego isn’t fragile.”

Is Zane Whitaker suggesting I could hurt his feelings? Yet another thing I bury in the shallow graveyard of thoughts I should not have about my new boss.

“I just mean… Well, I mean I don’t know anything about you,” I repeat. “So you need to explain all of this to me.”

He turns his bright blue eyes on me and I see something I missed. Something hidden behind a sculpted jawline and floppy blonde hair.

Zane Whitaker is sad.

Somewhere under his broad, pretty boy exterior, he’s hiding a soft heart.

As soon as I get that little glimpse into his soul, he stands up and paces away from me, like he knew I was seeing more than he wanted me to see. “There isn’t time to explain everything. All I need to know is if you’re willing to be my fake girlfriend until I can get this douche bag CPS guy off my back.”

I search his face for more of what I saw a second ago, but it’s gone. I huff out a weak laugh. “This is insane.”

“I’ll compensate you,” he adds. “Obviously.”

“In addition to my nannying fees?”

He nods. “I’ll double it.”

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