Kelly Jamieson - Breakaway

Two kids hung around after class, Ryan and Jessie.

Ryan started talking about hockey, while Jessie stood there smiling worshipfully up at Jason.

“You ever come to any Wolves games?” Jason asked Ryan.

“No,” he said glumly. “My mom says tickets are too expensive.”

Jason’s smile disappeared. “Yeah. I guess they are pretty expensive.”

“Well, I guess I better go,” Ryan said.

When he’d gone, Jessie looked up at him. “Are you married?” she asked.

He grinned. “Nope.”

She nodded and gave a smile that looked way too mature for a twelve-year-old. “When’s your next game?”

“Friday night,” he answered, folding his arms across his wide chest. “You like hockey?”

“I love hockey,” she said breathlessly.

Remi sighed. The pre-teen clearly had a huge crush on Jason.

“Cool,” Jason said.

Jessie made no move to leave.

“Jason.” Remi spoke up. “I need a word with you before you go.”

Jessie dragged her feet out of the classroom with a wistful wave at Jason.

Jason turned to face Remi and her stomach went fluttery. His expression turned wooden. “Yes, ma’am, what is it?” he asked.

Remi glared at him. “You know, if you’re not into this anymore, we can probably find someone else.”

“Do you know how many people are in Ryan’s family?”

She blinked at the completely unrelated question. “Um…why?” She frowned at him.

“Just curious.”

“He has a brother, I taught him two years ago. And his mom, she’s a single parent.”

He nodded. “Okay.”

“So as I was saying…”

“You don’t need to find someone else,” he said. “I’m still into it.”

“Well, it didn’t seem like it,” she snapped back. “You kept drifting off somewhere. You weren’t even paying attention.”

He stared back at her, his mouth tight, eyes narrowed. “I’m sorry. It won’t happen again. Ma’am.”

“Why are you calling me that?” she demanded. She set her hands on her hips. “It sounds ridiculous.”

“You’re the teacher, right? You’re in charge.”

“I’m not…” She blew out a breath. What was with him? “Okay, we all have days where we have a lot on our minds. I’m sure that’s what was happening today for you. But you have to be able to hold the kids’ attention.”

“I know that.”

They stared at each other, the air crackling between them.

“This was supposed to be fun,” he muttered.

Her lips parted. Fun? Oh yeah, sure. Fun. His main goal in life.

Oh, why was she thinking like such a stick in the mud? Of course it was supposed to be fun. What better way for kids to learn than by having fun? “I’m sorry if you’re not enjoying it,” she said stiffly.

“Whatever.” He grabbed his leather jacket and headed for the door. “See you next week.”

She stared after him, stomach churning, heart thumping. What had she said that had made him so angry? She covered her eyes with one hand and stood there for a moment. Damn, having him in her classroom every week was becoming torture. She still felt unreasonably attracted to him, going hot every time she saw him and hotter every time their eyes met. Which happened a lot, because she kept catching him staring at her. With a frown on his face that totally confused her. He totally confused her. Dammit.

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.”