Page 100 of Breakaway

He hugged her tightly again. “Thank Christ. I can’t wait until we have babies of our own.”

Her heart stuttered. “Well, I hope you’re not in a hurry for that.” She smiled and met his eyes. “The funny thing is, all I’ve ever wanted is to be a mother. I love kids. I love babies. I love looking after people. As you know.” She gave him a roll of the eyes and he smiled back at her. “But…you made me see it, Jase. I…” Her throat tightened. “I’ve been holding on to Jasmine and Kyle, protecting them too much, doing too much for them…because you were right.” It was hard to say the words out loud never mind admit them in her own head, but she did it. “I liked being needed. When they both moved out, it was devastating for me, because my whole life was wrapped up in them, looking after them. That’s who I was. But I’ve decided I need to find out who I really am before I become a mother.”

“Oh.” His eyes filled with understanding. “Remi. You’re an amazing person. You have so much love inside you, so much caring. I told you before, you’ll be an awesome mom.”

“I will.” They both laughed. “But first I want to do things forme. I want to have fun. I want to have love. With you.” She kissed him. “I want to ride Ferris wheels and build teddy bears. I want to travel. Will you take me places, Jase?”

“I’ll take you anywhere you want.”

They kissed again, long and sweet and clinging. Remi shook and burned inside for him, a huge swelling of relief and love and longing for him inside her.

“I’ve been acting like such an idiot,” Jase murmured against her hair long moments later. “So unprofessional—letting my personal life interfere with my professional life. Dan had to ream my ass the other day to make me see straight. I was letting everybody down.”

“Yeah, you were kind of acting stupid.”

“I hope I haven’t fucked up my Stars for Reading for next year. I love doing that. Helping those kids.”

“People will have forgotten by then. Or you can help kids some other way.”

He grimaced. “And I almost lost you.”

“Almost.” She smiled, trailing her fingers down the side of his neck and under the collar of his shirt. “I’m sorry I wouldn’t talk about it. I had to think things through. I was upset when you told me and I had to calm down and get rational again. It’s hard to be rational when you’re all emotional. It hurt so much, Jase. It still does. That she’s having your baby when that’s all I wanted.” Somehow telling him that, sharing that with him, made the pain lessen just a bit. Not much, but a bit.

“It will happen, I promise you. Whenever you’re ready.”

Her throat closed up again and she nodded.

“AndIwasn’t exactly rational when I went out and got stupid drunk and then dropped my pants in a restaurant.” He smacked his forehead. “Fuck me. Just when I thought I’d gotten my crazy impulses under control.”

“Please don’t do that again.”

“I won’t.” He gripped her tightly. “I promise, I won’t. That was the last time I ever act so irresponsibly. Without thinking throughthe consequences of my actions. I’ve been such an irresponsible idiot.”

“No you haven’t.” She grabbed hold of his shirt and gave it a sharp tug. “I don’t want to hear you say things like that. You were under a lot of stress and you got drunk and did a stupid thing, but you are not stupid. And you are not irresponsible. You didn’t blame anyone else for what you did that night, you took responsibility for your actions. You showed up every week to help those kids read. You take responsibility for every loss your team has. Yes, your job is a game, but you take it seriously—you know you have responsibilities to the team, to the owners, all the businesses that depend on you and especially the fans. And you’re taking responsibility for your child.”

She took a breath and let it out, long and slow. “I was ready to let you go,” she said softly, breathing in the fresh masculine scent of his recent shower. “Because I knew you had to look after your child. I know parents have to make sacrifices for their children. But there are some sacrifices you shouldn’t have to make. And I didn’t want you to do that.”

“I’m glad you realize how special I am.”

She swatted his chest, but laughed. Then her cell phone rang. She leaned down to grab her purse from the floor and dug around in it for the phone. It was the realtor.

“We have to get together to go over this offer,” he said.

“Oh, yeah.” She sighed, not wanting to move off Jase’s lap. “Okay. I’ll meet you at my place in an hour.”

“Who was that?” Jase asked as she ended the call.

“My realtor. I listed the house and there’s an offer already.”

Jase had gone very still. “Uh…Remi…”

Regretfully she slid off him and stood, straightening her sweater.

“The offer…” He stood too. She looked up at him, tipping her head to one side. “The offer is…from me.”

She gave her head a shake. “What?”

He held her gaze.

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