
Offside Love
abimbola.hassanugs · Ongoing · 210.6k Words
Introduction
Matteo Reyes — Real Valencia's notoriously cold-blooded striker, the man the press calls "The Ghost" — has one problem: a tabloid feeding frenzy threatening to unravel a contract worth fifty million euros. His solution? A fake girlfriend. Presentable, controllable, disposable.
Zara is not interested. Zara also desperately needs the money.
But Matteo Reyes does not date. He does not feel. And he does not get attached — a fact Zara reminds herself of daily, even as the lines between performance and reality begin to blur in the most dangerous ways.
Because someone else is watching. Someone who was there before Zara. Someone who has decided that if he cannot have Matteo, nobody will.
And nobody, it turns out, includes her.
Set between Valencia, Madrid, and the rain-soaked streets of London, OFFSIDE is a forbidden, fast-burning romance about the cost of pretending — and what happens when the one thing you agreed was fake turns out to be the only real thing in your life.
Chapter 1
I have a theory about rock bottom.
Everyone talks about it like it is a specific place — a moment you can point to, a floor you hit and bounce off. Like there is dignity in knowing you have arrived. What nobody tells you is that rock bottom is not a floor. It is a series of floors, each one a little lower than the one before, and you do not know you have hit the final one until you are sitting in a Valencia immigration office at seven in the morning with forty euros in your account and a suitcase with a broken wheel, waiting for a man whose name you just signed a nondisclosure agreement to protect.
I am twenty-six years old. Eighteen months ago, I was six weeks from qualifying as a barrister.
Life, as Suki likes to say, is comedic in the way of things that want you dead.
"Zara Cole?" The woman at the desk has that particular brand of Spanish formality — polished and impenetrable, like good leather.
"That's me." I stand, drag the suitcase upright. One of the wheels catches and the whole thing lists sideways with a groan. Very dignified.
"Mr. Reyes's driver is waiting outside. Platform 2." She hands me a laminated ID badge with my name and the Real Valencia crest and the word STAFF in bold letters, because apparently even in professional crisis, European football clubs have excellent branding. I clip it to my jacket and tell myself this is temporary.
This is temporary. This is a paycheck. This is the thing I am doing until I can afford to take the bar exam again and rebuild the version of my life that collapsed so spectacularly that I do not like to think about it in the mornings because mornings are hard enough.
The driver does not speak on the way to the training complex. I appreciate this more than I can say. Valencia in September is the color of overripe fruit — orange and gold and a particular shade of terracotta that would be beautiful if I were a tourist. I am not a tourist. I am the personal assistant to Real Valencia's most notoriously difficult player, hired because the agency I work for has a contract with the club and their last three PAs have each lasted less than a month.
They did not explain why. I did not ask.
The training facility is everything you would expect — all glass and precision and the specific quiet of money that does not need to announce itself. I am met at reception by a man named Dani, late thirties, head of player relations, who has the slightly haunted look of someone managing a situation he cannot control.
"Miss Cole. Welcome to Real Valencia." He shakes my hand. His grip is firm in the way of people who practice this. "Before you meet Mr. Reyes, there are some things you should understand."
"I read the brief," I say.
"The brief does not cover—" He stops. Appears to recalibrate. "He has preferences. Specific ones. He does not like questions that are not relevant to the task at hand. He does not discuss his schedule beyond forty-eight-hour windows. He eats at specific times and the kitchen has a list. If he goes quiet, do not fill the silence." A pause. "Do not try to fill the silence."
"I am an assistant," I say. "Not a therapist."
Dani looks at me with something that might be relief. "Good. That is — that is genuinely good to hear." He starts walking. "The others tried to be friendly."
I follow him down a corridor lined with framed jerseys. "How long did they last?"
"The record is nineteen days."
I do the math. Three weeks, give or take. I need six months minimum to clear my mother's bills and have enough left for the exam fees. I smile pleasantly and say nothing.
The office is on the third floor, overlooking the training pitch. It is spare and clean — a desk, a laptop, two chairs, a wall of windows. There are no personal objects. No photographs, no trophies, no evidence that this space belongs to a man who has scored one hundred and forty-seven La Liga goals. This tells me more about Matteo Reyes than the brief did.
He is standing at the window with his back to the door when we enter, and he does not turn around.
Dani clears his throat. "Mr. Reyes. Your new assistant is here."
Silence.
Then, without turning: "Leave us, Dani."
His voice is lower than I expected. Accented in a way that is not quite Spanish — something else underneath, something South American that surfaces and retreats. Dani all but evaporates from the room.
I stand still. I do not fill the silence.
After what I estimate is forty-five seconds — long enough to be intentional, short enough to be deniable — Matteo Reyes turns around.
He is absurdly good-looking in the way of men who are completely uninterested in what you think about it. Dark eyes that assess without warmth. A jaw that belongs in an editorial. He is in training kit — dark shorts, white shirt — and he has been out on the pitch already because there is still sweat drying on his temple. He looks at me the way you look at a document you have not decided to sign yet.
"You do not look nervous," he says.
"Should I be?"
Something passes through his expression — too quick to catch. "The last one cried. In this room. Before I said anything."
"I do not cry at work," I say. This is technically true. I do all my crying at approximately 2 a.m. in the shower where it is nobody's business. "I am here to do a job. Tell me what it involves and I will tell you if I can do it."
He studies me for another moment. Then he moves to his desk and sits down with the economy of someone for whom every movement is deliberate.
"Sit," he says.
I sit.
"The NDA you signed covers the standard scope — personal matters, schedule, anything discussed in this facility. There is a supplementary clause." He slides a document across the desk. "This one is new."
I pick it up and read it. I read the whole thing because I am a former law student and I do not sign things I have not read, even in my current state of catastrophic life reorganization.
It takes me four minutes. When I look up, he is watching me with an expression I cannot fully read — but there is something in it that might be surprise.
"You read it," he says.
"You expected me not to?"
"None of the others did."
I set the document down. "The supplementary clause covers a personal relationship. Public-facing. It outlines terms for a structured arrangement between your PA and yourself for the purposes of press management." I keep my voice very even. "You want a fake girlfriend."
Not a flicker. "I want a controlled narrative. There is a difference."
"There is really not." I look at the document again. The number at the bottom of the page — the monthly rate for this particular clause — is enough to clear my mother's bills in three months instead of six. I am aware of this. I am also aware that I have not eaten since Heathrow and I am running on something that is not quite desperation but is standing very close to it. "I will need a full brief on what triggered this. The press situation, the timeline, the expected duration of the arrangement. If I am going to perform something, I need to know the script."
Matteo Reyes looks at me across the desk.
"You are not what I expected," he says.
"You hired me through an agency," I say. "You did not expect anything. You expected a function." I put my hand on the supplementary clause. "I am going to be very good at this job, Mr. Reyes. I am going to be efficient and professional and I will not fill your silences or ask you personal questions or cry in this room. But I need you to be equally professional. If this arrangement has conditions, I need them stated. Clearly. In writing."
He picks up a pen. Turns it once between his fingers.
"Dinner tonight," he says. "I will brief you then. The restaurant will be photographed. Dress appropriately."
"What is appropriate?"
He looks at me — not in the way men usually look, cataloguing and assessing. In the way of someone looking for information, like he is reading something. "Something you would wear to impress someone you do not care about impressing."
I think about this.
"Understood," I say.
I do not know yet, standing up and lifting my broken-wheeled suitcase and following the ghost of Dani's directions out of the office, that dinner tonight is the last moment of this I will have any control over. I do not know that the man at the window — the one with the quiet eyes and the voice like something decided — is going to take six months of careful structure and dismantle it with nothing more than the way he occasionally forgets to look away.
I do not know any of that yet.
I just know the number on the document, and I know my mother's name on a hospital invoice, and I know I am very good at performing things I do not feel.
It turns out that last part is about to become a problem.
Last Chapters
#152 Chapter 152 THE NAME
Last Updated: 8/28/2026#151 Chapter 151 THE CONSULTANCY
Last Updated: 8/27/2026#150 Chapter 150 THE LAST DAY AT BEATRIZ'S
Last Updated: 8/24/2026#149 Chapter 149 THREE WEEKS
Last Updated: 8/23/2026#148 Chapter 148 BRUSSELS
Last Updated: 8/22/2026#147 Chapter 147 TELLING MATTEO
Last Updated: 8/21/2026#146 Chapter 146 THE EMAIL
Last Updated: 8/19/2026#145 Chapter 145 WHAT THE FOURTH YEAR IS
Last Updated: 8/16/2026#144 Chapter 144 SEPTEMBER AGAIN
Last Updated: 8/16/2026#143 Chapter 143 SENDING THE SET
Last Updated: 8/16/2026
You Might Like 😍
Omega Bound
Thane Knight is the alpha of the Midnight Pack of the La Plata Mountain Range, the largest wolf shifter pack in the world. He is an alpha by day and hunts the shifter trafficking ring with his group of mercenaries by night. His hunt for vengeance leads to one raid that changes his life.
Tropes:
Touch her and die/Slow burn romance/Fated Mates/Found family twist/Close circle betrayal/Cinnamon roll for only her/Traumatized heroine/Rare wolf/Hidden powers/Knotting/Nesting/Heats/Luna/Attempted assassination
Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother
"What is wrong with me?
Why does being near him make my skin feel too tight, like I’m wearing a sweater two sizes too small?
It’s just newness, I tell myself firmly.
He’s my boyfirend’s brother.
This is Tyler’s family.
I’m not going to let one cold stare undo that.
**
As a ballet dancer, My life looks perfect—scholarship, starring role, sweet boyfriend Tyler. Until Tyler shows his true colors and his older brother, Asher, comes home.
Asher is a Navy veteran with battle scars and zero patience. He calls me "princess" like it's an insult. I can't stand him.
When My ankle injury forces her to recover at the family lake house, I‘m stuck with both brothers. What starts as mutual hatred slowly turns into something forbidden.
I'm falling for my boyfriend's brother.
**
I hate girls like her.
Entitled.
Delicate.
And still—
Still.
The image of her standing in the doorway, clutching her cardigan tighter around her narrow shoulders, trying to smile through the awkwardness, won’t leave me.
Neither does the memory of Tyler. Leaving her here without a second thought.
I shouldn’t care.
I don’t care.
It’s not my problem if Tyler’s an idiot.
It’s not my business if some spoiled little princess has to walk home in the dark.
I’m not here to rescue anyone.
Especially not her.
Especially not someone like her.
She’s not my problem.
And I’ll make damn sure she never becomes one.
But when my eyes fell on her lips, I wanted her to be mine.
Mated to Her Alpha Instructor
Weeks later, our new Alpha combat instructor walks in. Regis. The guy from the woods. His eyes lock on mine, and I know he recognizes me. Then the secret I've been hiding hits me like a punch: I'm pregnant.
He has an offer that binds us tighter than ever. Protection… or a cage? Whispers turn ugly, darkness closes in. Why am I the one without a wolf? Is he my salvation… or will he drag me to ruin?
Cursed Fates
The Princess's Revenge
Alpha Logan is an illegitimate son whose mother disappeared when he was 10 years old. He grew up suffering from humiliation and lacking maternal love.
Alpha Logan saves Valencia at Marcus's funeral, which seems to be destined by fate—part of the Moon Goddess's grand plan.
As Valencia accidentally discovers prophecies in Logan's mother's diary that seem to be related to her, the truth gradually surfaces. Valencia appears to be merely a tool in a princess's revenge plot. How will Logan and Valencia navigate their path amid the national war and pack politics?
Reborn 14 Years later: Fix My Broken Family
At least, that's what everyone believed.
One moment, she was trapped inside a sinking car beneath the icy waters of the Hudson River. The next, she woke up in her own bathtub and somehow fourteen years in the future.
Her husband is no longer the warm, easygoing man she remembers.
Her five-year-old son is now a nineteen-year-old stranger who looks at her with suspicion.
Her twins barely remember the mother they lost—one forever chasing affection, the other keeping the entire world at arm's length.
And the family she left behind has become something broken, distant, and unrecognizable.
Now Isabella faces an impossible challenge: rebuilding a family that never truly recovered from losing her.
Fourteen years have left scars on everyone.
Unfortunately for those causing the damage, Isabella Winston has returned to set things right.
Diaries Of A Hybrid And Her Mate
Beautiful Aubrianne Ivanov, raised by her single mom, had a tough childhood. With low self-esteem, she became an outcast and was alone one too many times for her liking. Time spent at her part time job, she eventually grew into a brave, confident, and determined young woman who walked right into an opportunity that would change her life forever.
Will Aubrianne truly feel whole? Will she find what has been missing in her life? Will she allow herself happiness and joy? Will she find love, and most importantly, will she survive what's to come?
Join Aubrianne on her journey as she discovers who/what she is and navigates all the heartbreak, betrayal, drama, and exciting and thrilling events that come her way...
Excerpt:
She lay before him in all her magnificent beauty draped across his king-size bed in the most compelling and provocative way known to man or beast. And for Alpha Zayne, it was the most captivating view he had ever had the pleasure of seeing with his own eyes.
She stared at his every movement, lips slightly parted, her stunning brown eyes scanning every inch of his gorgeously toned and glorious body while heat radiated off of hers. He was HERS.
Her body trembled in delight and anticipation; she was ready and wanted to be with him in every way.
As innocent as she was, she wanted him to...no need him to take her in the worse ways, bringing her to heights of pleasures she had never experienced before.
Fuck she is beautiful, one fine specimen, and she is all MINE, MY MATE. A wave of pure unbridled possessiveness vibrated through Alpha Zayne. He thanked the Divine Moon Goddess, for she has truly blessed him.
He drank her in, eyes trailing up her toned sexy legs spread wide for him, and she gave him that come-and-get-it look.
King of the Underworld
However, one fateful day, the King of the Underworld appeared before me and rescued me from the clutches of the most powerful Mafia boss's son. With his deep blue eyes fixed on mine, he spoke softly: "Sephie... short for Persephone... Queen of the Underworld. At last, I have found you." Confused by his words, I stammered out a question, “P..pardon? What does that mean?”
But he simply smiled at me and brushed my hair away from my face with gentle fingers: "You are safe now.”
Sephie, named for the Queen of the Underworld, Persephone, she's quickly finding out how she's destined to fulfill her namesake's role. Adrik is the King of the Underworld, the boss of all bosses in the city he runs.
She was a seemingly normal girl, with a normal job until it all changed one night when he walked through the front door and her life changed abruptly. Now, she finds herself on the wrong side of powerful men, but under the protection of the most powerful among them.
Bella and Her Beast
.
Locked in her frozen tower, Bella dreamed of warmth, of touch, of freedom and of love. Cursed with the power of ice and snow, she’s spent her life alone. A secret they tried to protect the world from. Her only escape comes in the form of the books she reads. Stories of heat, desire, and the kind of love that could melt even her frostbitten heart.
Damien is the Beast. A dragon King with a temper forged in flame and a soul hollowed by duty. The world fears him. The people call him a monster. But beneath the scales and the rage lies a man who has never been touched by love.
When frost meets fire, the world shatters. She was never meant to leave her tower. He was never meant to find her. But destiny doesn’t bow to kings or care for cages and now the question burns through them both: Can Bella have her Beast? Or will the girl of snow melt in the heat of his desire?
.
"I’m keeping her."
"What?"
Before I can react, he scoops her up. Her small body fits easily in the cradle of his talons. For a split second, she looks startled, but not afraid. Her hand rests against one scaled finger, and she stares up at him with that same curious wonder, as though she’s already forgotten she was ever meant to fear me.
"Put her down," I try to command, panic threading through my thoughts. "You’ll hurt her."
"She’s ours," the beast insists, possessive and fierce. "Our snowflake."
My Benchwarmer Boyfriend's Secret
As the team's benchwarmer, Marco practices harder than anyone, though few seems to notice. There's something about his quiet determination that draws me in, and I find myself falling for the underdog.
But when Marco's true story starts unraveling—about that first night, about who he really is, about the future he's destined for—I realize I might have gotten in way over my head.
And there's another problem: this was always meant to be temporary. His training program has an end date, and we're both fighting against a reality that seems determined to pull us apart.
When everything is on the line, how far are we willing to go for love?
The Pack: Rule Number 1 - No Mates
"Let me go," I whimper, my body trembling with need. "I don't want you touching me."
I fall forward onto the bed then turn around to stare at him. The dark tattoos of Domonic's chiseled shoulders, quiver and and expand with the heave of his chest. His deep dimpled smile is full of arrogance as he reaches behind himself to lock the door.
Biting his lip, he stalks toward me, his hand going to the seam of his pants and the thickening bulge there.
"Are you sure you don't want me to touch you?" He whispers, untying the knot and slipping a hand inside. "Because I swear to God, that is all I have been wanting to do. Every single day from the moment you stepped in our bar and I smelled your perfect flavor from across the room."
New to the world of shifters, Draven is human on the run. A beautiful girl who no one could protect. Domonic is the cold Alpha of the Red Wolf Pack. A brotherhood of twelve wolves that live by twelve rules. Rules which they vowed could NEVER be broken.
Especially - Rule Number One - No Mates
When Draven meets Domonic, he knows that she is his mate, but Draven has no idea what a mate is, only that she has fallen in love with a shifter. An Alpha that will break her heart to make her leave. Promising herself, she will never forgive him, she disappears.
But she doesn’t know about the child she’s carrying or that the moment she left, Domonic decided rules were made to be broken - and now will he ever find her again? Will she forgive him?
Let Them Kneel
Cast out by her pack. Forgotten by the Lycans.
She lived among humans—quiet, invisible, tucked away in a town no one looked at twice.
But when her first heat comes without warning, everything changes.
Her body ignites. Her instincts scream. And something primal stirs beneath her skin—
summoning a big, bad Alpha who knows exactly how to quench her fire.
When he claims her, it’s ecstasy and ruin.
For the first time, she believes she’s been accepted.
Seen.
Chosen.
Until he leaves her the next morning—
like a secret never to be spoken.
But Kaelani is not what they thought.
Not wolfless. Not weak.
There is something ancient inside her. Something powerful. And it’s waking.
And when it does—
they’ll all remember the girl they tried to erase.
Especially him.
She’ll be the dream he keeps chasing… the one thing that ever made him feel alive.
Because secrets never stay buried.
And neither do dreams.












