Page 67 of Offside Devil

“I would like to shower.” He reaches over his shoulder to massage his neck and there is no chance in the world he doesn’t know exactly what he’s doing to me. “Give me ten minutes.”

“Take your time,” I tell the chiseled marble of his back.

I’m going to need at least that long to get my breathing back to normal.

28

MIRA

“Zane’s assistant can’t be a bitch to you and get away with it,” Taylor announces loudly enough that her voice echoes off the glass windows of the building across from us.

The people walking on the street three storeys below can probably hear her.

“Shh!” I wave my arms around wildly. “Do you mind? I came out here to have a private conversation. Screaming at the top of your lungs defeats the purpose.”

“It’s not like she’s here. Which is the point. You live here; she doesn’t. If anyone gets to be all crazy and possessive, it’s you.”

I swirl my Moscato. “I don’t want anyone to be crazy and possessive. I don’t actually live here; I just work here.”

I should have known I’d regret telling Taylor about what happened with Hanna this morning. If she doesn’t tell Zane directly, she’s definitely going to blab to Daniel.

Or, worse yet, she’ll call up Hanna herself. Taylor is all about confrontation.

I, on the other hand, couldn’t even confront Zane’s abs without my ability to be a functioning human flying straight out of my head.

“Exactly. You work here,” Taylor echoes. “It’s your job to take care of Aiden, and that lady was being a bitch to him. Zane should know about it. He’s paying her salary. She shouldn’t be disrespecting his son or his hot new piece of ass.”

“Way to be dismissive of my career,” I grumble. “Every dad being ‘hot for nanny’ is a reductive stereotype. You just insulted Zane and me.”

“It’s only a stereotype if it’s not true.” She wags her brows at me. “The man paid for two nail technicians to come here and give us in-house manicures. I don’t think that’s a normal perk of the job.”

Okay, she might have me there. But it was a thank you. For taking Aiden to the game. And maybe for the advice I gave him last night.

“Am I right or am I right?” Taylor presses, eyebrows raised.

“I want a third option.”

“You know I’m right!” She lunges toward me and I have to fight for my life not to spill my wine as she clanks our glasses together in a nonconsensual cheers.

“Seriously, Mimi, you should tell him about this assistant of his,” she muses. “It could be a nice little litmus test. Like, if he fires her on the spot, then you know he’s into you.”

“All I’d know is that he doesn’t want toxic assholes around his son.”

Taylor groans. “Fine. Then the test would be whether he believes you or not. If he takes her side, then you’d know that he might not be that into you.”

I’m the one arguing that Zane and I aren’t into each other, but the possibility that he doesn’t feel any of the tension I’m picking up on stings a little worse than I expected it to.

“Or,” I suggest, “alternate option: I don’t tell him about Hanna because Zane has more than enough on his plate right now. I don’t want him to worry about finding a new assistant on top of everything else.”

Taylor is quiet for a suspiciously long time. When I turn to her, she’s staring at me with wide eyes.

“What?” I snap. “What is that face?”

She shakes her head. “Sorry. I’m just shocked. I’ve never seen you, Mira McNeil, smitten by someone before.”

“‘Smitten’? What does that even mean? I’m not smitten.”

“You care about Zane.”

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