Page 10 of Offside Angel

“I want to agree with you,” I whisper. “But I can’t. Not if it’s going to put you and Aiden at risk.”

“We’re already at risk. Aiden is crying himself to sleep at night thinking about you. He wakes up from dreams of you singing the lullabies you taught him. He asks about you every single day, and I have to—” Zane drags a hand over his beard. It’s longer than I’ve ever seen it. It makes him look older. More tired. He meets my eyes. “I can’t watch my son miss you another day. I won’t do it. You need to come home.”

Home.

The word radiates through me, settling like water in all of my deepest, most broken places.

I realize all at once that I’ve never had a home before I met this man. Zane and Aiden gave me a home for the first time in my life, and I want to go back there more than anything.

Tears burn in my eyes. I try to blink them back, but they won’t stop. They pour down my face until I can’t see. Until I can’t breathe.

“Let me touch you,” Zane growls. His finger shakes against my chin. “Let me hold you.”

The last little bit of restraint I had is gone. I collapse against Zane, and he lowers us both gently to the floor. He curls me against his chest and soothes a warm hand down my spine.

He kisses the side of my head. “You’re not leaving again. I’m not letting you leave.”

I saw Zane the night he thought he’d found me. He ran towards that woman with everything he had. The same way he’s holding me right now—with everything he has.

He told me before that being an addict means he doesn’t do things halfway. And I know he’ll sacrifice absolutely everything to protect me.

Which is why I have to leave.

For good this time.

No more shitty motels twenty minutes from his condo. No more sitting by and watching him try to chase me down.

I’m going to disappear for good: new name, new start. I’m going to give Zane and Aiden the clean break they deserve.

But first…

I lift my face and stroke a trembling hand down Zane’s cheek. “Okay.”

His eyes go wide. I feel his hand tighten on my back, pulling me closer. “Okay?”

“I’ll stay. I’ll come home.”

The relief that breaks across his face would bring me to my knees if I wasn’t already there. He’s happy, and I hate that I’m going to take it all away in just a little while.

Then Zane’s mouth is on mine, and I can’t think about anything.

5

MIRA

He curls his hand around the back of my neck and parts my lips with his tongue. He tastes me slowly and deeply.

I’m not sure how anyone survives without this. I’ve been drowning and touching him is like taking my first real breath in way too long.

Will we be able to walk away from this?

“We can’t,” Zane pants against my mouth.

Did I say that out loud?

“What?”

He hitches me around his waist and stands up. We stumble forward and I’m sandwiched between the wall and the hard press of his erection against my stomach. I instinctively shift closer, and Zane’s teeth scrape over my neck in a growl.

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