Breakaway

Chapter Five

Jason made a call from his cell phone once he got to the car, then headed home to his downtown apartment. He knew he’d been having a hard time paying attention with the kids, but he couldn’t exactly tell her it was because he was distracted by her. By her pretty face, sexy mouth, shiny blonde hair and her breasts so soft and full beneath the silk blouse she wore. He’d had those breasts in his hands, had tasted those sweet, little pink nipples…

Damn, he was getting a hard-on again. He hadn’t been so nuts over a girl since high school, for Chrissakes. But he kept thinking about her, fantasizing about all the things they hadn’t had a chance to do in that one night. And the worst thing was, the more time he spent with her, the more he actually…liked her. She was gentle but firm with the kids, knew when she could act silly and make them laugh, knew when she had to rope them all in and get serious. They all spoke to her respectfully but with a warmth that told him they liked her. And hey, respect was important too. He knew how important it was to respect your leader. He’d had coaches that had been the guys’ best buddy, but couldn’t get shit out of them when it came to performance. He’d had coaches who’d been assholes on a power trip that had the same result. It was the coaches who earned his respect that he’d go the distance for, the distance and beyond.

And to have a teacher like that…those kids were damn lucky.

He’d acted like a jerk and he hated it, but when she’d asked for “a word with him” he’d been sent back through time to his own middle school years and one of the eighty gazillion times he’d been in trouble with one of his teachers. All those old feelings of incompetence, inferiority and anger had surged inside him and he’d taken them out on Remi.

Even though he could see she was a really great teacher.

His fingers tightened on the wheel of his Jeep as he drove home, the sun low in the sky now. But she was still a teacher. Christ. Maybe he should find someone to take his place. Or switch classes with one of the other guys. He’d been confident that working with Remi wouldn’t be a problem after their one night, but clearly he’d been wrong. Maybe that was what was causing that tension snapping between them like a rubber band. Maybe she was pissed because of that. But that was giving himself way too much credit and she’d said herself one night of fun was all she wanted.

Agh. He knew enough about women to know that what they said wasn’t always what they meant. Why the fuck couldn’t they just say what they meant? It would make the world a lot simpler.

He drove into the underground parking garage beneath the high-rise building in which he lived, navigating the concrete pillars and parked vehicles until he arrived at his spot.

He couldn’t give up. He was determined to get past this and deal with the old crap that kept surfacing. He was going back to that classroom next week, even if it killed him.

His cell phone rang as he rode the elevator up to his apartment and he thunked his head back against the wall, recognizing the ring tone. It was Brianne. He still had his phone programmed with that Sexy Chick ring tone for her.

He looked at the phone, closed his eyes and let it go to voice mail.

Why did she keep calling him? This was the fourth time since they’d broken up. He hated to hurt someone’s feelings, but how much clearer could he make it? They were done. The phone beeped to indicate a voice mail. Gritting his teeth, his listened to it as he let himself into his apartment. “It’s me,” her breathy voice began. “Please, Jase. Please call me back. I miss you so much. I need to talk to you.”

Hell.

“Are you sure you want to work on this committee?”

A week later, Remi was in the principal’s office, talking to her boss about a joint parent-teacher fundraising project to support the school’s music program. “Of course,” she said to Jennifer.

“You’ve taken on a lot of extra projects lately. Stars for Reading, the anti-bullying task force and now this…”

Remi gave her boss a bright smile. “I like to be busy.” She’d been spending even more time after school with some of the kids who liked to hang around too, trying to keep herself from missing her sister and brother and harassing her friends.

Jennifer nodded slowly. “Okay.” Then Jennifer’s gaze went past Remi’s shoulder and a smile broke across her face. “Ling! Hi!”

Remi turned to see Ling, the school’s administrative assistant, standing there holding her new baby. She’d been off on maternity leave since having her son two months earlier.

“Did you bring that sweet baby in to visit us?” Jennifer said, moving from behind her desk and hurrying over to Ling.

Ling smiled. Her cheeks glowed from the cold outside and her silky, dark hair swung forward as she set the baby carrier on the floor. “We sure did come for a visit. Josh fell asleep in the car on the way here, though.” She quickly unbuckled him and dug him out of layers of padding and blankets.

Remi smiled at the baby, snuggled into the seat, with his little thatch of dark hair like his mom’s and chubby rosy cheeks. Then his eyes flickered and he blinked at them, and gave a mighty yawn.

“Oh, you’re awake,” Ling said. “Let’s get you out of there so you can say hello to everyone.” She lifted him out and stood up.

“He’s beautiful,” Remi said softly, unable to take her eyes off the sweet, little face. She touched his hair, then his cheek, so smooth and soft.

“Here, you want to hold him?”

“Oh yes!” Remi eagerly accepted the little bundle and held him to her, letting his small weight sink into her arms. “Hello, Josh, you handsome man, you.” He smelled like baby powder and she closed her eyes and breathed him in. She felt an ache of longing that went all the way from her heart to her womb, and she opened her eyes to smile down at him, then looked at Ling, who regarded her with a knowing smile.

“You need one of your own,” she said.

Remi laughed, although she felt a little stab at how unlikely that was. Someday. Maybe. “Is he a good baby?” she asked instead.

“He’s so good! He hardly ever cries. And he’s slept through the night the last four nights in a row.”

“That’s awesome.”

“He wants to eat all the time, though.” Ling grimaced. “He’s growing so fast!”

“He’ll be big like his dad.”

Ling smiled. “I hope so.”

“I have to go,” Remi said, regretfully. “I have the Stars for Reading program starting in a few minutes.” She handed Josh back to his mother reluctantly and her arms felt empty. She sighed, but smiled as she left Jennifer and Ling chatting.

Babies were so sweet and precious and she’d never admitted it to anyone, but she wanted one of her own. A crazy thing to want when she wasn’t married and didn’t even have a boyfriend. Probably she just wanted to replace her brother and sister with someone else to look after. She rolled her eyes at herself as she hurried down the hall toward her classroom. Except…she’d always loved babies and kids. Hell, that was why she’d become a teacher. She sighed.

Jason was in her classroom when she arrived and she went from soft longing to tingling awareness in the blink of an eye. As he worked with the kids, he seemed more focused this week, though very tense. Which was exactly how Remi felt. Damn. She plastered on a smile for the kids and made it through the reading session. Once again, Jason hung back until they were alone.

Her heart tapped in her chest as she gathered up some papers she was going to take home and looked up at him inquiringly.

He stood there, putting his jacket on, blinking, his mouth tight. She’d kissed that mouth. And he was such a good kisser…

With a mental shake, she tried to refocus.

“Was it better today?” Jason asked, almost sounding…nervous.

“Was what better?”

“Ah…me. I know I’ve been kind of distracted. But the truth is…Remi, you distract me.”

Her heart missed a beat and her mouth fell open. “Me.”

“Yeah.” He rubbed his face, then blurted out, “I can’t stop thinking about you!”

She stared at him, her lungs refusing to expand and take in oxygen. Funny he should say that, since she couldn’t stop thinking about him.

“Would you like to go get some dinner?”

She still stared at him. From the pained expression on his face, she wasn’t entirely sure he’d actually meant to issue that invitation. “Dinner?”

“Yeah.” He lifted a shoulder. “You know. In a restaurant.”

Now she almost smiled. “Why?”

“Uh…why not?” He smiled too, that sexy, boyish smile that was enough to melt her panties. And she did begin to feel a little warm and her tummy did a little flip.

“I don’t think so,” she said, breaking eye contact and picking up the folder she planned to take home.

“Why not? C’mon, Remi. We had fun that night.”

Was that was this was about? He wanted more sex? She frowned. “I think if you’re looking for ‘fun’,” and she emphasized the word for effect, “you’d be better off with one of your supermodel girlfriends.”

He drew back and his smile disappeared. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I mean, I’m not really made for fun. Apparently. After what happened the last time.” Add to that the fact that he’d said he was going to call her when he clearly had no intention of ever doing that, having dinner with him would be a big mistake.

He laughed. “I told you. That was funny. Maybe not at that moment. I think it’s nice that your friend cares that much about you.”

And it also showed how out of character it was for her to do something like that, but she didn’t want to point that out to Mr. Fun.

“Come on, Remi.” His voice was deep and velvety soft. “It’s just dinner.”

The suggestive and silky tone of his voice made her shiver, made her nipples tingle, made her insides clench.

He reached out and stroked a hand down her bare forearm, lingering at her wrist, his thumb stroking over her pulse there.

“How about the fact that you said you were going to call me and you never did?”

He pursed his lips. “I meant to call you. Really.”

She lifted one skeptical eyebrow.

“Really. But then I came here and found out who you are and…” His words trailed off and she regarded him with confusion.

“You found out who I am? How about, I found out who you are!”

He waved a hand. “That doesn’t matter.”

He apparently really believed that. She gave her head a shake. “You’re a famous pro athlete. I’m a teacher. That doesn’t exactly seem like…” She waved a hand back and forth between them.

“You’re telling me,” he said with heartfelt agreement that only puzzled her more. Lord, the man was twisting her brains up. “C’mon. Let’s go out.”

“When?”

“Right now. Tonight.”

“I can’t go out on a school night!”

He laughed. “Why not? It’s just dinner.”

Why not, indeed? He’d dismissed every objection she had, although hadn’t really dealt with them to her satisfaction. Remi nibbled her bottom lip. No Jasmine or Kyle waiting at home for her to cook dinner. She had papers to mark but that could wait ‘til later. What was wrong with a dinner out? Other than this guy was the hottest guy on the planet and was dangerous like dynamite. And about as resistible as chocolate.

“Just fun?” she asked.

He nodded. “Just fun.”

“Why not?” she murmured.

“We could go to Inferno,” he said. “The food’s incredible there.”

It was the hottest, most expensive restaurant in Chicago. She looked down at her black pants and teal blue turtleneck sweater.

“I’m not really dressed for that,” she murmured. “Neither are you.”

“True.” He shrugged. “How about pizza?”

She smiled reluctantly at him. “That sounds great.”

They dropped her car off at home and he took her to Mama Sophia’s. Over deep-dish pizza and beer she quizzed him about his hockey career. “I don’t know much about hockey,” she admitted. “But I think it’s very rough.”

“It can be.” He smiled at her. “That’s the fun part.”

“Do you fight?”

He laughed. “I have been known to mix it up a bit. But not often. There was a time back when I was a junior player and I was headed to goonsville. I was big and I liked to protect the other guys, but sometimes I tended to jump in and get physical without thinking about the consequences. I had a great coach, though, who really got me to work on controlling those impulses and to think about things.” He tilted his head. “You should come to a game.”

“Oh. Yeah. Maybe.”

“I’ll get you a ticket. I’ll get you two tickets and you can bring your friend…what’s her name…?”

“Delise.”

“Yeah. She didn’t seem too impressed with me the other night. I think I should make it up to her.”

“It wasn’t you she wasn’t happy with, it was me.” Remi grimaced. “She’s the one who wanted me to find a guy that night and get lucky. Then when I did, she freaked out and got all paranoid that I was leaving with a serial killer.”

Jason choked on a mouthful of beer. “Good to know she has a high opinion of me.”

Remi laughed. “She didn’t even know who you were. She would have felt that way if I was going home with the Pope.”

“Ha. Be glad it was me. You wouldn’t have gotten three orgasms with the Pope.”

Now it was her turn to choke. “I didn’t get three! We were interrupted…”

“Damn. That’s right.” His eyes went even darker. “I guess I owe you one more, then.”

Everything inside her drew up tight and her skin tingled with warmth. Oooh. Suddenly it was hard to breathe. Maybe after this…

“When is your next game?” she asked breathlessly, clutching her beer glass.

He grinned. “Sunday afternoon. Two tickets. Okay?”

“I’ll check with Delise.”

He nodded. “I’m number twenty-five. Don’t forget that.”

Remi’s cell phone twittered in her purse. “Damn.” She grabbed her bag and dug around for it. It was Jasmine, sobbing.

“He’s such a jerk!” she cried.

Remi eyed Jason. “Uh…who is, Jasmine?”

“Ethan! Who else!”

Remi sighed and leaned back in the booth. “Why? What happened now?”

Sniffling and choking noises came across the line. “I think he’s cheating on me.”

“Oh.” Remi rolled her eyes. There they went again. She’d been waiting for this.

“So I’m moving back home.”

“What!?” Remi sat up straight.

Jason frowned at her from across the table and mouthed, “What’s wrong?”

She shook her head and put her hand to her forehead. “When?”

“Right now. I’m on my way there. Where are you?”

“I’m…out. Having dinner.”

“On a school night?”

Remi rolled her lips in and released them with a pop. “Yes. I’ll be home in a while.”

“Get home quick. Please, Rem.” She sniffled again.

Remi snapped her phone shut, then met Jason’s eyes. “My little sister. She just had a fight with her boyfriend and is moving back home as we speak.”

“Oh.”

She nodded, and finished her beer. “I’d better go. She sounded pretty upset.”

“Damn.”

She huffed out a laugh. “Yeah. Damn.”

He’d already paid the bill with a platinum credit card and stood to help her with her jacket. “We could go back to my place.”

She looked over her shoulder and up at him. Her insides all warm and melty, she really, really wanted to. But her little sister was at home crying.

“I’m sorry,” she said, voice catching. “I can’t tonight.”

He nodded. “That’s okay. Another time.”

Sure. She’d heard that before. He was looking for fun and she was going home to be the responsible, dependable big sister yet again. She’d never hear from him again. She knew how that worked.

He parked in front of her house in his Jeep Liberty. “Do you want me to come in with you?”

“That’s okay.” She smiled at him. He reached across and took hold of her chin with his fingers, then leaned over and brushed a kiss across her mouth. A soft, melt-your-insides kind of kiss. She blinked at him.

“I’ll call you tomorrow. About the tickets. Check with Delise.”

She stared at him. “Really?”

“Yeah. Really.”

Her heart missed a beat, then pitter-pattered embarrassingly. A thrill skittered through her. “Okay. Thanks.”