Page 54 of Breakaway

He lifted his head and gazed at her quizzically. “What?”

She shifted in his embrace. “I mean, what are wedoing?”

“Fun. Remember?” He held her gaze, then his smile faded. “Aw, fuck.”

“Yeah. That’s kind of what I was thinking.”

Chapter Nine

They sat there, silence swelling around them, dense and tense.

“I missed you,” Jase finally said.

Remi bit her lip. She’d missed him too, so much, but she was vexed from all the stuff she’d found on-line about him and how this was supposed to be fun and how much fun it hadnotbeen, missing him like that.

“Remi.” Jase put his knuckles under her chin to lift it. “I think I’m falling in love with you.”

She stared at him. Her body went stone-still and stone-cold. Her heart suspended beating. He did not just say that.

The look on his face—the hopeful, nervous anticipation—gave her a splintery feeling in her chest. And it pissed her off.

She shoved at his chest with both hands and scrambled off his lap.

“You are not!” she yelled. “Are you insane?” She stood there, hands on hips, glaring at him. “That is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard.”

His eyes shuttered and the cracking feeling inside her intensified to the point of hurting.

“I think you should go,” she snapped. “We hardly know eachother. This was supposed to be fun. If you can’t keep it fun, then let’s just forget it.”

He set his big hands on the couch cushions beside him and stared at her. She kept her frown firmly in place although the corners of her eyes were stinging. She blinked rapidly.

“I think you’re kind of overreacting,” he finally said, the words long and stretched out. “What’s gotten into you?”

She breathed out through her nose, lips pressed together. “This isn’t working, Jase. You live in a different world. I had no idea who you were or what you did or that you make freakin’ millions of dollars.”

“What does that have to do with anything? And besides, I never knew you were a teacher, either, but I didn’t let that stop me from getting to know you.”

She took a step backward. What was he talking about? That made no sense at all. “You have something against teachers?” She gave her head a shake at that.

“Forget it.” He stood, towering over her. “You’re acting weird, Remi. You knew that stuff last week. Why is it such a big deal now?”

“Because you…you said…that!”

He ran a hand through his hair, making the short dark strands stand up in all different directions. He closed his eyes briefly. “I’m sorry. I just wanted you to know…ah hell. This is fucking nuts. What the hell am I doing?”

He walked to the door, still wearing his jacket.

He turned in the French doors, his mouth a straight, grim line, brows drawn down over his eyes. “Bye, Remi.”

When she heard the front door close, her knees wobbled. She stumbled to the couch and sat down, her fists clenched. What the hell had that been? Falling in love? Was he crazy? Okay, she knew hecouldbe a little crazy. A little impulsive. But that was just too much, too fast.

Except…she really, really liked him. And even though she knew she didn’t really fit in with his world, it wouldn’t be that hard tofall in love with him too. Some of her anger dissipated, replace by heavy sadness and regret. “Damn.”

Much as Jase looked forward to working with the kids at Abraham Lincoln Middle School, he dreaded going there Wednesday afternoon. He was dying to see Remi, but he was terrified too. He pulled in to the parking lot in his Jeep and sat there, hands on the wheel.

He wasn’t sure exactly what the hell had happened at her place Monday night. Women. He damn sure didn’t get them. And why, why had he made that lame confession about falling in love with her? Once again, he’d blurted something out without thinking about the consequences of it. He’d spent his whole life working on controlling his impulses, and telling a woman he was in love with her was one of the craziest impulses he’d ever had, with huge fucking ramifications. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

He’d never told any woman he loved her. Not even Brianne. Well, okay, his mother, but that didn’t count.

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