Breakaway (7 page)

Jason had taken over the microphone and was getting the kids
all worked up into a frenzy over reading books. She focused on him and what he
was saying, clamping down on the resurgent lust.

“So you guys can ask us all questions now if you like,” Jason
said. “Who’s got a question?”

Hands shot up and little bodies bounced excitedly on the
bleachers. Remi smiled.

“What’s your favorite book?” a student asked Jason.

“I have a lot of favorites,” Jason replied. “But I really
love
Tom Sawyer
.”

A murmur of agreement rippled through.

His hockey buddies shared their favorites too.

“What’s your favorite video game?”

Jason tipped his head to think. “Tough one,” he said. “Right
now I like Hosuko Heroes.”

More cheers. The kids were eating it up.

“How many of you play sports?” Jason asked. Again hands
reached for the sky and kids jumped up and down. “Wow! That’s great! Any hockey
players?”

More hands.

“Any girl hockey players?”

Remi laughed and shook her head, but sure enough, several
girls jumped up and waved.

The rally continued and then the three athletes stationed
themselves at the doors of the auditorium along with the teachers to hand out
buttons and score sheets and gift bags with free books to the kids as they
filed out.

Remi went over to talk to Jennifer, who was all smiles. “That
went great!” she said. “Those hockey players were fantastic with the kids!”

“Yes. They were.”

“Come on. I’ll introduce you. You’ll be working with them
over the next few weeks.”

Remi nodded, sucking her bottom lip as she followed Jennifer
toward Jason. Her heart picked up speed and her head went just a little light
as she neared him, tummy tight and fluttery. She’d given him her number, but he
hadn’t called.

Yet. It was only Wednesday.

Maybe he had no intention of calling her.

Maybe he was going to be horribly embarrassed to see her.

Maybe he was going to regret that he’d volunteered to work
on this program.

Remi pressed a hand to her stomach and stopped with
Jennifer. Jason was bumping fists with a boy—Remi’s student Ryan—who’d stopped
to talk to him. She’d never seen Ryan so focused.

Then Jason straightened to his full, imposing height and
turned and his gaze landed on her.

She felt it like a touch.

His eyes widened and then a slow smile spread across his
face.

She liked that smile.

She gave him a tremulous smile back.

“Remi, this is Jason Heller, Dominic Griffin and Matthieu
Lalonde. Gentlemen, I’d like you to meet Remi Buchanan. She’s a grade six
teacher here at Lincoln and she’s the one who was instrumental in bringing the kickoff
rally to our school this year.”

Jason’s smile disappeared, replaced by a glower. Oh lord. He
was embarrassed. She automatically held out her hand. Jason took it first.

“We’ve actually met,” he said, his face smoothing and that
charming white smile flashing.

“Oh, really?” Jennifer looked confused, and shot Remi a
curious look.

“Nice to meet you, Ms Buchanan,” Dominic said, shaking her
hand with a grin. Matthieu did the same. Remi hadn’t paid that much attention
to Jason’s companions that night, since all her attention had been focused on Jason,
but she was pretty sure they’d both been there too. Her cheeks felt like they
were on fire. Did they know she and Jason had…yeah. They must know.

Her whole body blazing, she kept a smile firmly in place. “Thank
you so much for coming today. I understand it was somewhat short notice.”

“Not a problem,” Jason said. “I’ve been involved in the
program for a few years at other schools. I’m glad to do it again this year.”

“The kids really seemed to enjoy it,” Jennifer said. “I
think we’re off to a great start.”

“So for the next six Wednesdays we’ll be back here to work
with smaller groups,” Jason said. His gaze held Remi’s and she resisted the
urge to fuss with her hair. Did she have any lipstick left on? Likely not.
Usually by the end of a school day she didn’t care.

“That’s wonderful,” she choked out. “We really appreciate
it. It helps the kids get more involved when there are role models for them
participating.”

They made small talk for a few more moments and then
Jennifer offered to show the three athletes out, their jackets having been left
in her office.

Remi watched them leave, feeling a weight of disappointment
settling on her. She left the custodians in the now empty gymnasium dismantling
the sound system and putting the bleachers away, and walked slowly down the
hall to her classroom, also empty but much quieter.

She sank onto the chair behind her desk.

She’d felt his stiffness. The coolness of his greeting,
although he’d smiled at first. He was so freakin’ good-looking. She couldn’t
believe she’d done what she had with him. And had so much fun. Watching him
with the kids here had been a whole other side to him—boyish and charming and
fun. Yeah. He was all about fun.

Which was the opposite of what she was all about. She was
all about serious responsibility. Boring.

She sighed and picked up a folder of math quizzes she had to
mark that night. She bent to pick up her briefcase from under the desk.

“Hey.”

She straightened up so fast she cracked her head on the edge
of the desk.

“Ow!” She rubbed her temple, blinded by the pain.

“Jesus, Remi, are you okay?” Jason’s voice, heavy footsteps
and then his hands on her shoulders.

“Yes, yes. I’m okay.” She blinked up at him. “Dammit.”

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you.”

“Th-that’s okay.” She tried to shake off the pain. “I’m
fine.”

“I was surprised to see you here,” he said slowly, releasing
her and stepping back.

“Have you really been involved in the Stars program before?”

“Yeah. This is my fourth year.”

“That’s…impressive.”

“It’s important.”

“I…it surprises me. To hear you say that.”

“Why? Because I’m a big, stupid jock?”

“No, of course not!”

“I like kids,” he said, shrugging those big shoulders, now
wearing a black leather jacket. A buttery soft, thigh-length black leather
jacket.

“I could tell that. They liked you too.”

“I didn’t know you were a teacher.” The glower returned to
his face.

“Well, I didn’t know you were a hockey player.”

“Really?” His brow creased.

She tightened her lips against a smile. “Sorry. I guess you’re
not that famous.”

He looked at her, smiling wryly. “I guess not.”

“What’s wrong with being a teacher?” she asked.

He pressed his lips together. “Nothing, I guess.”

A silence stretched between them.

“Well,” he finally said. “It’ll be fun over the next few
weeks. So…I guess I’ll see you again next week.”

“You don’t have to.” The words spilled out her mouth. “You
can work with a different group. It doesn’t have to be mine.”

He frowned. “Why?”

“I just thought…we had that one night….thing…and you might
be…”

Lord help her, she was stammering like Joey Kupchuk, a boy
she’d once taught who had a painful stutter.

“That’s okay,” he said. After a short pause, he said, “I was
going to call you.”

She waved a hand, anxious to stop him before he said
something she didn’t want to hear. “That’s okay. It was just one night of fun.
Right?”

“Right.” Relief lightened his scowl and he gave her a faint
smile. “That’s right. Okay, then. I’ll see you next week. Bye, Remi.”

She watched him leave, then sank back onto her chair, her
legs soft as butter. Damn. She’d known it was only one night, and now knowing
who he was made it that much clearer—he’d never really intended to call her.

“Wasn’t that the little blonde you picked up last weekend?”

Jason stared out the passenger window of Dominic’s car as
they left the school parking lot. “Yeah.”

“You didn’t know she was going to be there?”

“Nope. We didn’t get into a lot of conversation.” Hell, that
wasn’t true. They’d talked about a lot of things. Just not their professions.

Dominic laughed. “Right on, dude.”

“She did not know you were a ‘ockey player,” Matthieu said
from the backseat in his rhythmic French accent.

“Nope, she didn’t know that either.”

He couldn’t believe she was a teacher. He’d picked up a
teacher in a bar, taken her home and fucked her! Jesus!

“Kinda awkward, running into her again like that,” Dominic
said, signaling and making a lane change.

“I was going to call her again,” Jason said, still staring
out the window. He had wanted to see her again. She was adorable, but fuck! A
teacher! “But not now.”

“Why not?”

“She’s a teacher.” Dominic was probably his best buddy, in
Chicago at least, and even he didn’t know about the trauma inflicted on him by
teachers. “I don’t date teachers. Don’t want anything to do with teachers.”

Teaching was a noble profession. He couldn’t judge all
teachers the same. Just because a few teachers had made his life hell didn’t
mean they were all like that. Hell, he should thank Ms Wong. If it wasn’t for
her, he probably wouldn’t be where he was.

“Huh.” Dominic shot him a mystified glance. “She’s kinda
cute. What difference does it make if she’s a teacher?”

“Never mind. Not going there. Let’s go get some food.”

But he couldn’t get the sexy little teacher out of his head
for the next week, until he was back at Abraham Lincoln Middle School a week
later, sitting in her classroom with a bunch of grade six kids.

He watched Remi with another group as he sat in a corner of
her classroom. He seemed unable to drag his eyes away from her, and his
concentration kept drifting off into images of her naked, his hands on her…dammit.
He had a hard enough time paying attention without a major hot distraction like
her.

He should just ask her out again. He’d wanted to. He’d
planned to call her. He couldn’t stop thinking about her.

And yet, the intimidation factor was high. Teachers were
smart. Bossy. Know-it-alls. Teachers made him feel like a speck of dirt on the
ice.

Why he kept thinking about Remi, he’d never know. She was
clearly unimpressed with the fact that he played a game for a living. He’d
caught that comment about how surprised she was that he was involved in the
reading program. She probably thought he didn’t even know
how
to read.

A familiar knife twisted in his gut at that thought. He had
to get over all that old crap.

Dammit. A teacher.

She laughed at something one of the kids said and at that
moment looked up. Their eyes locked on each other across the room. His heart
knocked in his chest.

He tore his gaze away from her, sucked in air and tried to
focus on the kids he was supposed to be paying attention to. Christ, she’d
really think he was illiterate if he couldn’t even read a short story with the
kids and she’d really think he was stupid if he couldn’t focus long enough to
put a few sentences together about what they’d read.

“I cried when Travis had to shoot Old Yeller,” Lindsay
confessed. Two boys groaned.

“Hey,” Jason said. “I cried too. He loved that dog. Don’t
you think that was a tough choice he had to make?”

Again, he caught Remi’s eyes on him and had to refocus.

As the session drew to a close, Remi retreated to her desk
and began tidying up. Jason found his jacket and slid his arms into the
sleeves, taking his time, picking up some books and placing them on a table,
until the kids were gone and he and Remi were alone.

She looked up at him, her pretty face expressionless, as he
approached the desk, a book clasped in his hands.

“Is this what we’re reading for next week?” he asked.

She nodded, lifting an eyebrow. “Yes.”

His face heated. She knew he’d already told her students
that. He felt like one of those kids, a kid with a crush on a classmate,
practically scuffing his feet on the floor as he hung around on a pretext.

“So, I…uh…” Jesus, she had turned him into a stammering
idiot. Why did teachers have that effect on him? He drew in a long slow breath,
and forced a smile. She was just a woman. A hot, sexy woman, one he’d already
in fact had in bed. Nothing to be afraid of.

He was terrified.

“I’ll…uh…see you next week,” he said and booked it out of
there.

Helping kids with reading, being back in school in the
classroom, creating hopefully positive experiences for other kids had seemed
like an excellent way for him to deal with his own crappy past and the other
years he’d done this Stars for Reading program had been great. But this year…why
was he getting all screwed up again?

So he’d nailed a teacher. She was just a woman. It didn’t
matter if she thought he was big and dumb. It didn’t matter what she thought at
all.

Remi watched Jason with the kids. This was now the third
week he’d been there in her class and the kids seemed to love him, but she was
starting to have doubts about his ability to keep them focused. Seeing as he
could barely keep himself focused.

He kept staring off into space or, even worse, staring at
her, dammit, and Jessie Doherty had to ask him the same question twice, then
twitch his shirt sleeve before he seemed to hear her. “Sorry,” he said to her
with a smile, but it wasn’t long before he’d done it again. He rubbed his face,
glanced over at Remi, and when he saw her watching, a dark flush stained his
cheeks and he frowned at the book in his hands.

With a sigh, she moved over to the group and took control of
the discussion about
The Chronicles of Narnia
, earning a scowl from Jason
that tightened her insides. Well, she couldn’t worry about him, she needed to
make sure the kids were getting something from this.