Offside Trap

Diaye Zambo is one of the best defenders in the English Premier league. But now, it’s not a striker dogging his heels, it’s one scandal after the other. Forced on the sidelines both professionally and personally while no team wants to touch him with a ten-foot pole, his life can’t get any lower. A stint in Nigeria, back home to see his grandmother, seems like the only thing he can do as the fates decide his future.

Oseki ‘Seki’ Asemote is a compassionate nurse, juggling two jobs to stay afloat and keep her family together. The last thing she has time for is a hot-headed football player from the UK who thinks the sun shines out of his arse. But Diaye is her employer’s grandson, and she’ll keep the peace for her, even if the too-hot man makes her want to pull her hair out in the same breath as her knickers.

Then providence shines—Viva City FC wants Diaye on their team … but this offer comes with strings. He has to prove his days of scandal are behind him, for example, by taking a wife.

There’s no way Diaye will turn his back on playing football, and if it comes with the noose of marriage, he will bite down. According to his grandma, Seki’s the perfect candidate. If she marries him, she gets an all-expenses-paid opportunity to study for her master’s degree in England, which will set her and her family up for a better life.

A marriage of convenience, on paper, shouldn’t be hard. But real-life is another matter, when your spouse gets under your skin and in your blood. Suddenly, the opposition is neither on the pitch nor on the sidelines. It’s in their hearts as passion and feelings get involved.

This is supposed to be play-acting for a few years, and the first rule is not to succumb. What happens when off-side is now on-side, and pretend starts to look too real?

Step into the thrilling world of professional footballers in the Viva City FC Books series!