Page 8 of Breakaway

“I’m sure she was already disappointed.”

“Yeah, I guess.” He shifted on the couch. “She’ll get over me.”

“Why do you say that?”

He looked at her. “I’m not that great a catch. I have this feeling she loved me for more than just uh…me.”

Her brows drew down and her bangs tangled in her long lashes. “I don’t know what that means. Was she after your money or something?”

He shrugged. “Or something. I don’t know. I don’t want to accuse her of being shallow. Like I said, she’s a nice girl.”

“Hmm.”

What was she thinking? He could see her mind turning over. Enough of this conversation about Brianne. She was the last thing he wanted to talk about.

“Jase!”

Dammit. He looked up at Brianne and forced a smile. “Hi, Brianne.”

She stood there all super-model tall and gorgeous, frowning and flicking her eyes back and forth between him and Remi. Her frown deepened.

The air thickened around them and he felt Remi tense. He set a hand on her bare forearm and slanted her a glance. Her eyes were wide and worried and she nibbled her bottom lip.

“I…uh…can leave…” she began, but he clamped down harder on her arm.

“That’s okay, honey.”

“You said there wasn’t anyone else.” Brianne stabbed him with an accusing stare.

“There wasn’t.”

Remi tried to pull away from him and he held on tighter, dragging her across the leather seat easily—she weighed like a hundred pounds—and up against him. She shot him a startled glance.

“Brianne, this is Remi. Remi, Brianne.”

Brianne’s dark eyes shot sparks and then she swiveled on a spiky heel and stalked away.

Whew.

“Thanks,” he muttered into Remi’s ear. “I thought for a minute there she was going to make a scene.”

“That was your ex-girlfriend?”

“Yeah. Brianne Haskett.”

“Jesus. She’s a famous model.”

“Well, yeah.”

“You dumpedher?” Remi’s voice rose. She squirmed next to him so she could look up at him. This close he could see the green and blue flecks in her turquoise eyes, the long eyelashes that brushed her bangs every time she blinked, the perfect smooth texture of her skin.

“Yeah.”

“Oh.” Silence. More silence. “Well, I guess we’re even now. I should get back to my friends.”

“Stay.”

She blinked up at him. Her soft body squirming in his arms had every nerve ending in his body tightening. He felt the room shift around him, slip out of focus, her face the only thing crystal-clear. The fresh flowery scent of her, the way the red lights turned the flicked-up ends of her hair pink, combined with the deep gratitude he felt for her just being there and saving him from an ugly scene with Brianne, made him want to pick her up and carry her out of there.

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