Page 99 of Offside Devil

“He’s fine. Aiden is okay. But?—”

“I’m decent,” I tell her. Her hand is still clamped over her eyes. It’s putting a distracting amount of emphasis on her lips.

She peeks through her fingers, and the flush spreading down her neck says she would disagree with me. She locks her eyes on the corner of the bathroom ceiling. “CPS is here.”

God, can this morning get any worse?

“Who is it? Is it Jodie?”

She shakes her head. “It’s a man. He called himself Agent Morris.”

“You’re kidding.” I dry my hair with another towel, grumbling under my breath. “Like he’s in The fucking Matrix. What an asshole.”

“I made him some coffee, but I want you out there with me. He’s scary.”

I peek at her from under the towel and catch her staring at my chest. Her eyes dart away as soon as she sees me looking. “You were pretty scary when I first met you. It’s why I chose you for this gig. You can handle him.”

“I know I can, but…” She tugs her lower lip into her mouth. “This is about Aiden. I don’t want to fuck it up.”

If she can recreate the expression on her face right now for Peter Morris, he won’t have a choice but to buy our story. Mira obviously cares about Aiden.

Another kind of heat I’ve never felt before simmers inside of me, but I squash it down. We don’t have time for this.

“You won’t fuck it up,” I tell her. “Keep him busy and I’ll be out in two minutes.”

Peter Morris hasn’t touched his coffee. He’s too busy fishing for reasons to snatch my son away from me.

From the moment I walked out of my bedroom, it’s been a rapid-fire interview about what our plans are for the next fourteen years.

“Is Aiden enrolled in preschool?” he asks, pen poised over his notepad. He glances at Mira with obvious skepticism. “Or are you homeschooling?”

“Me? No.” Mira laughs and then blanches. “But I could. If I needed to! I would if that was?—”

“He starts in a few days,” I interrupt, answering for her. “I just paid the enrollment fee.”

Agent Morris ticks something off on his paper. “What about your work schedule?”

“What about it?”

“You travel for your away games. What are you going to do with Aiden while you’re gone?”

“He can come with me,” I say. Mira adjusts on the couch next to me, her knee brushing mine. “They both can.”

This is the closest we’ve been in days and my body is more aware of her than it should be. I feel like this guy can see the tension vibrating between us. He’s probably jotting it down in his notebook. Sex-obsessed pervert. Unsuited for parenting.

He snorts. “A young boy can’t just take weeks off of school to jet around the country while you hit a puck into a net.”

My hand tightens to a fist. I’m going to do it. I’m going to beat this asshole into the carpet.

Before I launch myself across the coffee table and end up with a body to bury, Mira lays her hand on top of mine. Her fingers are smooth and warm. She squeezes my hand and manages to smile at Peter.

“Our family has a lot of options. When Aiden is out of school, we can go with Zane and explore different parts of the country. When he isn’t, I’ll stay here with him and we can cheer on Zane from the living room.” She works her fingers into my fist, loosening my clenched joints until I’m holding her hand, instead. “We’ll look at all of it and decide what’s best for Aiden.”

Our family.

I’ve thought about being Aiden’s father. About the two of us figuring out how to live together. But a family? I’ve never even considered it.

Now, I am. Whether I want to or not.

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