Breakaway (20 page)

“I love you,” he whispered, over and over. “I love you.”

She whispered it back, the words so sweet on her lips. He
kissed her jaw, her cheek, her eyebrows. He felt it right to his bones, his
need for her. Heat slid down his spine and gathered in his balls and he pushed
into her hot softness. Her fingers dug into his shoulders and she made the
hottest little noises of pleasure. She tipped her head back and he kissed her
throat, sucked gently there, then dragged his tongue over soft skin.

They drifted into another dimension, lost in the pleasure of
each other, moving together, murmuring soft words, touching each other
everywhere. Heat twisted inside him, pressure built, perspiration gathered on
his body and he came inside her, hands in her hair, his mouth on hers. “I love
you.”

* * * * *

Remi woke up to Jason’s furnace-like body wrapped around her
in her bed. Saturday morning.

She had laundry to do. Grocery shopping. Her car needed an
oil change and she needed to sit down and pay some utility bills. And then
there was the marking of tests, preparing for a big project.

Later.

Jason was there, in her bed, big and warm and hard, and she
wasn’t going to let that go to waste.

She shifted against him and his hand went to her butt. “Mmm,”
he said.

“I love you, Jase,” she whispered, not sure if he was even
awake enough to hear her.

He was.

He flipped her onto her back, and smiled down at her. “I
love you too. So much, Remi.”

He bent his head and kissed her. “Oh, let me go brush my
teeth,” she begged. He laughed and rolled to his back, taking her with him.

“I don’t care,” he said.

“I do.”

She buried her face in the space between his neck and his
shoulder and felt his cock harden against her leg. “I’ll be right back.”

She quickly used the bathroom and brushed her teeth, then
slipped back into bed beside him. He pulled her on top of him and she gazed
down at his face, the beard stubble darkening his strong jaw, eyes so deep and
delicious, his beautiful mouth. She traced a finger over one eyebrow, brushed
her fingertips across his lips.

“Last night…” she began and then emotion clogged her throat
up. Last night he’d made love to her with such tenderness and devotion she’d
cried after, pressed against him, her love for him so huge and engulfing.

“I know,” he murmured, running his hands down her back, over
her butt, back up and into her hair. “I know.”

She gave him a shaky smile, touching her mouth to his. His
opened immediately to her and he tilted her head for a deeper angle.

The alarm pinged, announcing someone had just entered the
house.

They both froze and lifted their heads.

It could only be Jasmine. No one else had a key.

“Remi?” Jasmine’s voice called out.

What the hell was she doing there this early? Remi frowned
and looked at her alarm clock. Okay, it wasn’t early, it was almost ten-thirty.
They’d had a late night with Jason’s family and then they’d made love half the
night, so they’d slept late.

She met Jason’s eyes and hitched her shoulders, then smiled.
“I met your family,” she said. “Now it’s your turn.”

“I’ve met Jasmine.”

“Bah. For thirty seconds.”

“Uh…this isn’t the best…”

The bedroom door opened. “Remi, are you still…oh my god.”

Remi, on top of Jason, with her back to the door, froze.
Then she glanced over her bare shoulder.

“Jasmine.”

“Sorry, sorry.” The door closed.

A few weeks ago, Remi would have been horrified. Mortified.
Distraught. Now—she laughed.

She rolled out of bed. “I better go see what she wants.”
Still smiling, nothing able to penetrate her blissful bubble, she slid her arms
into the silk wrap she’d bought at Victoria’s Secret the other day and tied the
belt as she meandered down the hall.

“Are you still here?” she called out.

“In the kitchen.”

Remi walked into the kitchen smiling. “Hi.”

“What the hell, Remi?”

Remi frowned. “What do you mean, what the hell?”

“There’s a man in your bedroom!”

“Uh…yeah. So?”

Jasmine just looked stunned. “I…I just…you don’t…”

Remi waved a hand and filled the coffeepot with water. “You
met Jason.”

“That’s the guy who came that night…”

“Mmmhmm.” Remi scooped grounds into the filter, brushed off
her fingertips and pressed the button to start the coffee. She needed coffee.

“So you and him…”

Remi smiled, leaned against the counter. “Yes. Me and him.”

“Oh.”

“What are you doing here, Jas?”

“Oh. Yeah. I needed to talk to you about something.”

Jason sauntered into the kitchen in his boxers and T-shirt.
Remi rolled her lips in, even as she admired his long muscular legs and broad
chest.

Jasmine’s eyes widened.

“Hi. You must be Jasmine.” Jason held out a hand and speared
her with his charming smile.

Jasmine made a noise and shook his hand.

“We met before, but only briefly. I’m Jason.”

“Uh. Yeah. I remember. Hi.”

Remi put her fingers to her mouth. “Jasmine apparently
dropped by to talk to me about something. So, what is it, Jasmine?”

“Maybe I should come back later.” She couldn’t seem to take
her eyes off Jason.

Remi almost laughed. “No, don’t be silly. What is it?”

Jasmine looked back and forth between them, watching Jason
cross the kitchen and kiss Remi’s forehead. Remi smiled up at him.

“I gotta go,” he said regretfully. “To take my parents to
the airport.”

“Oh yeah. Okay.” She went on her toes and he lifted her
against him for a long, sweet kiss.

Jason kissed Remi, smiled at her sister then headed back to
her bedroom to get dressed.

See, this was the problem. His suit and shirt were wrinkled
from lying in a heap on the floor where he’d left them last night and he had
nothing else to wear. Saturday morning he did not feel like putting on a suit.
He’d have to rush back to his place, change and then get to the hotel to pick
his parents up. Everything would be easier if they lived together.

He waited for the familiar panicky feeling to claw inside
him at the thought of committing like that, but it didn’t come. He buttoned his
shirt with fingers that didn’t tremble. Huh. It was kinda weird, but they’d
figure it all out later.

Remi followed him to her front door, holding her coffee mug.
He bent and kissed her mouth. “I’ll call you later, okay?”

“Okay.”

He patted her cute butt under the silky robe, drawing a
smile from her, and then he left, locking her door behind him. The early April
morning held hints of spring, the breeze softer, the sun warmer as he strode
down the sidewalk to his Jeep, parked at the curb.

It felt like a beginning.

As he drove downtown and thought about everything that had
happened in the last twenty-four hours, an expansive feeling of well-being rose
inside him. He smiled as he drove. They’d made the playoffs. Yeah, there was
still a long road to the Stanley Cup ahead of them, but they’d done it after a
long season that had handed them lots of challenges—injuries, trades, talk of
financial problems with the team.

He winced a bit, remembering that Tag hadn’t made it. But
that was life.

His parents had been there, had been proud of him, had seen
him play better than Tag. He didn’t like to gloat, but he couldn’t help a tiny
feeling of satisfaction at that. It had been a long time coming.

Remi had been there and she’d been proud of him too. He loved
that. And he liked knowing his parents had met her and liked her and now…the M
word even popped into his head and didn’t cause a panic attack.

In his apartment, he quickly showered and changed into jeans
and a T-shirt, threw on his jacket and headed out again, over to the hotel.

Marriage.

He could see being married to Remi one day. Moving in
together was a big step, marriage would really be rushing it, but the idea of
one day taking that leap didn’t scare the shit out of him. He grinned. Maybe he
was growing up.

Or maybe he’d just found the right woman.

Maybe he’d been wrong when he said that to Brianne—maybe it
was
her. Maybe the reason all the hints about marriage and weddings had scratched
away at his nerves was because he knew she wasn’t the one for him.

Which could only mean Remi
was
the one.

He paused in the lobby of the luxe hotel. Put a hand to his
chest. His heart beat normally.

It was okay. It was really okay.

Wow. He laughed out loud.

His parents and Matt sat on couches arranged in a grouping
on one side of the lobby, their luggage sitting on the floor beside them. They
were all looking at him as if he’d walked in wearing his skates and equipment.
He laughed again.

“Feeling pretty good today, huh?” his dad said to him,
standing as he approached them across the expanse of gleaming granite floor
tile.

“Yeah.”

“You haven’t won the Stanley Cup yet.”

“I know.”

As they walked out to his Jeep, his mom took hold of his
arm.

“Jason.”

“Mmm?”

She looked a little flustered, like she wanted to say
something, but was afraid. “Are you and Remi…serious?”

“Did you like her, Mom?”

The two of them paused on the sidewalk while Matt and his
dad loaded suitcases into the vehicle.

“Well, I just met her, but she seems very sweet. You looked
so happy with her.”

He nodded, throat constricted. “Yeah.”

“She’s um…different…than other girls you’ve gone out with.”

He hesitated. He knew what she meant, but wasn’t sure how to
express it. “I know. She’s…real.”

His mom smiled. “Yes. She is.”

He nodded, glad he’d somehow made his mom happy, even more
glad that Remi was in his life, but he felt like a big dumb jock because he
didn’t have the words to express all that.

After seeing them off at O’Hare, he drove to the Metro
Center where their practice had been moved to the afternoon for a change. The
physical workout felt good. Much as they all wanted to take it easy to
celebrate their win the night before, they also knew they had a lot of work to
do. The playoffs were a whole new season. Mentally they had to get into a
different place. Physically they needed to be at their peak.

He debated going straight to Remi’s place after the
practice, but glanced at his watch. It was early. She had things to do too. He’d
go home, call her, they’d figure out what they were going to do tonight. They
could have a nice celebration dinner, just the two of them, somewhere quiet and
casual, then go back to her place and…

Well. Yeah.

In his apartment, he sat down in front of his computer and
started going through emails, some things from his agent to look at, some stuff
from his financial guy about his investments. He was glad he’d been smart with
his money. His parents had drilled that into him over the years. His career
could end tomorrow with a bad check or a puck in the face, so he had to be
prepared for anything.

The security buzzer announced someone at the front door. He
frowned, spun around on the chair, then went to the security system. Had Remi
decided to come over instead of waiting for him to call?

But the security camera showed Brianne standing there. Huh?
What the hell was she doing there? He paused, his finger on the button to let
her in. She buzzed again.

With a sigh, he picked up the phone. “Brianne? What are you
doing here?”

She looked into the camera. “I need to talk to you, Jase.”
She hugged a big purse to her like it was a security blanket or something. His
frown deepened.

“What about?”

She glanced around, then looked pleadingly back at the
camera. “Just let me in, Jase. We have to talk.”

Hell. He buzzed her in, shoved a hand through his hair and
paced while he waited for her to come up in the elevator. What the fuck was
this about? If she was going to beg him to get back together, she’d picked the
wrong time, with him just figuring out he wanted to spend his life with Remi.
His gut still clenched, though, at the thought of having to tell Brianne that.

Maybe it was something else. Maybe she’d just realized she
was over him and came to tell him that.

Maybe the Toronto Maple Leafs would win the Stanley Cup this
year. Yeah right.

He moved to the door at her light knock, and opened it.

She walked in.

She actually didn’t look too good. Which was weird,
considering that she didn’t like leaving her home without hair, makeup and
clothes all perfect because you never knew when paparazzi could be waiting to take
pictures of them and that was how she earned her living, after all.

Her hair was in a ponytail, she had no makeup on under the
big dark glasses she wore and she was dressed in pair of stretchy black pants
and a long-sleeved gray T-shirt.

“Hey,” he said. “What’s up?”

She turned to him, biting her top lip in a way that was very
unattractive. If she knew how she looked doing that, she’d never do it.
Something was clearly wrong.

“Have a seat.” He gestured to his black leather couch.

She sat and pushed the sunglasses to the top of her head.
Blinked. “Congratulations,” she finally said. “You made the playoffs.”

He smiled. “Yeah. Thanks.”

She sat there, saying nothing, her hands clutching her
knees.

“Brianne?”

She swallowed, nodded, then looked at him, but her gaze was
on his chest, not his eyes. “I have something to tell you.”

“Okay.” Get on with it, he thought. He resisted the urge to
glance at his watch.

“I’m pregnant.”

Chapter Thirteen

“So what did you want to talk about, Jasmine?” Remi
sauntered back into the kitchen after saying goodbye to Jason, feeling soft and
relaxed and happy.