Page 24 of Offside Angel

Only then do I slide out of her, gently lower her to her knees, and spill myself across her chest. She smooths her hands over her chest, spreading me across her skin.

This woman is perfect.

She’s mine and I wasn’t kidding before. My job now, more than playing hockey or becoming captain, is protecting her and Aiden.

My job is to keep them safe.

I fucking dare Carson or Dante or Peter Morris or anyone else to try taking them from me.

10

MIRA

“I know you’re hired to watch me,” I grunt, working through a few one-two combos on the punching bag, “but I don’t think you have to just watch me. Read a book. Give the Stairmaster a spin.”

Evan doesn’t even act like he can hear me. His head swivels from where I’m dripping sweat in the corner, across the empty gym, and to the glass double doors that lead into the lobby. Just like the thousand other times he’s done the same scan in the last half hour, there’s no one else here.

Probably because Zane slid what I’m sure was an obscene amount of money to building management to keep the gym clear while I’m in here. Right now there’s an “Excuse our dust! Work in Progress” sign hanging on the door. I’d bet dollars to donuts that that’s Zane’s doing.

“My glutes are fine,” Evan drawls. “And I won’t tell your boyfriend you were worried about that part of my anatomy. He’d probably fire me.”

I roll my eyes. Evan and I both know that’s a lie. The two of them can’t be in a room together for more than ten minutes without someone asking for a workout regimen and bulking tips. They are in a muscle-ogling bromance.

“Firing you would mean leaving me exposed and vulnerable,” I say in my best impression of Scarlett O’Hara. “Zane would never do that because I can’t possibly be expected to take care of myself.”

I sound bitter, but it’s only because I am. I agreed to this arrangement under duress. Zane walked into my shower, set me on fire, and threatened to leave me like that. I felt like I was going to die if I didn’t come.

Now, the only time I’m alone is when I go to the bathroom—even then, there’s usually someone within a few feet of the door—and I’m feeling claustrophobic.

Is this what it’s going to be like forever?

“It’s only until the situation with your brother is settled,” Evan says as if he’s reading my mind. “Zane is right to be on high alert right now. Dante is a loose cannon.”

I snort. “It’s so weird to hear someone else talk about my brother. Most people don’t even know I have a brother. Most people don’t even know my real name.”

“I won’t tell anyone else, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

I give him a tight smile. “I know you won’t.”

Zane explained why Evan needed to know the whole story, and for the first time in my life, the thought of someone knowing about my past didn’t send a spike of panic through my chest. I didn’t instinctively lunge for my suitcase and start planning my route out of the city.

Something like peace has taken root inside of me. The closest I can get to peace, anyway, while Dante is still lurking around the city like the Grim Reaper.

I just wish Zane could find the same kind of Zen.

“I think Zane should have full-time protection, too,” I blurt. “Dante will go after him if he can’t find me.”

“Zane can take care of himself.”

I strip off my gloves and turn to Evan. “How much did he pay you to say that? Because Zane may say he isn’t worried about Dante, but I think he’s lying.”

I’ve woken up to an empty bed the last three mornings. Zane starts the night with me in bed, cuddling turning to kissing and kissing to fucking until my eyes roll back in my head and then flutter closed, in that order.

But when I wake up, he’s gone.

It doesn’t matter if it’s sunrise or the middle of the night, Zane is gone. I have no idea when he’s sleeping. Or if he even is.

Evan takes a quick scan of the gym again and then pushes off the wall, dropping his voice as he moves closer. “You need to give Zane some time. When you were gone, he was on edge. The man was killing himself trying to find you. All he wanted was to bring you home.”

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