Page 58 of Offside Angel

We still do, I think. But I don’t want to bring Dante into this moment. Not yet.

Zane goes still, and I’m worried it’s too late.

“I didn’t think I wanted this, Mira.” He indicates the air between us. “I never wanted kids with Paige. I was messed up when we were together, but I knew enough to know that we couldn’t take care of a child. And I thought I just didn’t want them. But then there was Aiden. And now…” He hooks his hands around my lower back, bending me against them. “I just didn’t want to raise them with her.”

My heart is in my throat. I can barely talk around it. “Are we having the kid talk right now?”

I just managed to tell Zane I love him for the first time. I meant it, but I don’t know if I’m ready to plan out our entire future. Especially when a not-insignificant part of me is waiting for the other Dante-sized shoe to drop.

“No. I’m having the kid talk,” he says, clarifying absolutely nothing. He brushes a thumb over the confused crease between my brows. “I didn’t want to freak you out before—but if you’re really in this, I want you to know exactly where I’m at.”

I swallow down the joke that’s sitting on the tip of my tongue, waiting to diffuse the tension and gets us back to fucking as soon as possible, and nod instead.

“I want absolutely everything with you, Mira.” He exhales. “Everything. I want your body and your heart and a lifetime together. I want you to be there for Aiden and to carry my babies. I want kids that are half you and half me and all wild. I want a forever family that no one can take away from me.”

I’m hanging on his every word, with him… right up until the end.

I drop my eyes, watching as I run my fingers along the hem of his shirt, back and forth. “I can’t promise that. I want to, but… With Dante out there and everything with my dad, I don’t know if I can?—”

“I’ve been talking with Hollis about everything.” Zane grabs my chin and brings my eyes to his. “He thinks there’s a way you can get out from under the accusations.”

Hollis? His agent? I remember Zane saying something about him once being an attorney, but there’s no way Hollis has handled a case like mine before.

“They aren’t accusations. I killed my dad.” My voice hitches. “I did it. I’m guilty.”

Zane holds my face, brushing tears away from my cheeks that I didn’t even know were there. “We don’t need to figure everything out tonight, but I want you to know that you have options. I want you to know that, when you’re ready, I’ll be here to help you every step of the way.”

I want that. God, do I want that.

But what if Hollis can’t help me? What if I go to the police and they slap cuffs on me and lock me away?

I could lose Zane and Aiden and the beautiful future he’s painting for us.

I bite my lip. “I just think?—”

“Take your time.” Zane kisses me slowly like he’s trying to prove we have all the time in the world. “Think it over. When you finally tell me what you want, I want you to be sure. Because I am, Mira.” He drops his forehead to mine. “I’m so sure. I know exactly what I want.”

My head is swirling with a thousand different things I want to say, but I hold it all in. “Okay. I’ll think it over.”

“Good. Now, I ask again—” He tugs me against him, his eyes dark, and his voice a devastating rumble. “—table, couch, or bed?”

I don’t even need to think about it. “Bed. Pronto.”

Zane picks me up and throws me over his shoulder. He carries me, laughing, all the way to his room where he dumps me on the bed. I’m giggling until he takes off his pants, and then my mouth goes dry.

And for a few hours, I forget about the future. I forget about my past and the ways it’s tied around my ankle like a cement block. I forget about the world beyond the edges of this bed. Beyond the places Zane touches and tastes and fucks me.

When it’s late—so late I’m starting to get hungry again, but there’s no way in the world I’d ever leave this bed—Zane folds our hands together over my head and presses into me.

I’m wet and ready. He slides home like he belongs there, like we should always be like this.

“Fuck, I still want you,” Zane groans, driving deep. “I’m inside you and I still fucking want you.”

“Zane…” I can barely breathe. I’m exhausted and full and it still isn’t enough.

When is it going to be enough?

The steady drive of his body into mine pushes us both into what has to be the last orgasm of the night, because I don’t think the human body can take much more than this.

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