Page 29 of Breakaway

“Jase.” 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 Jase.

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

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 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? Ofcourseit 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.Hetotally confused her. Dammit.

Chapter Five

Jase made a call from his cell phone once he got to the car, then headed home to his Lakeshore East 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 stiffy 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.

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