Breakaway

Breakaway

Kelly Jamieson

Jason and Remi want the same
thing—no-strings-attached, screw-their-brains-out, burn-the-sheets-up fun. Pro
hockey player Jason just broke up with his girlfriend because she got too
serious. Schoolteacher Remi just saw the last of the younger siblings she
raised leave the nest. Jace isn’t ready for responsibility. Remi’s had enough
responsibility. They’re perfect playmates.

But fun and sexy games get
complicated when emotions get involved. Then responsibility and commitment
crash the party when Jason’s past comes back to haunt him. Like it or not,
Jason and Remi both have to figure out what they really want.

Chapter One

“It’s a classic case of empty nest syndrome.”

Remi frowned at her best friend. “How can it be empty nest
syndrome when I’m not even a parent?”

Delise waved a hand. “It’s the same thing. You’ve been
raising those two kids for the last five years. No, actually you’ve been
raising those kids since they were born. Your parents were hardly ever around.
So it totally makes sense that you would feel depressed now that they’ve moved
out.”

“I’m not depressed.” Remi slumped lower into the soft
cushions of her couch.

Delise laughed and patted Remi’s knee. “Yes, you are. And
you’re making the rest of us miserable too. Emily told us you stopped by her
place to make sure she was okay the other day and interrupted her and Caleb…”

Remi pursed her lips and folded her arms across her chest. “She
was sick.”

“That was a week ago.”

“I was worried about her.”

“She’s an adult.”

Remi regarded her friend glumly. “I know.”

“You just want someone to take care of. I know, hon. And you
can’t keep dropping in on Jasmine and Ethan.”

Remi’s stomach tightened. “I’ve only visited them a few
times.”

“She just moved out a couple of weeks ago.”

“You know I’m worried about her. I think she’s making a big
mistake moving in with Ethan.” Remi pressed a hand to her fluttery stomach.

“She’s a big girl. She has to make her own mistakes.”

“I know, but…”

“I know what you think of her jerk-off boyfriend,” Delise
said. “But she loves him. If they want to live together, fine. She’s twenty-one
years old.”

Remi nodded. “But…”

“You’re just such a mother hen, you can’t help but worry
about them.” Delise patted Remi’s knee again and Remi scowled. Was she being
that much of a pain in the butt to her friends?

Sure, she’d been a little bit at loose ends since her
brother and sister had moved out. Kyle had started college this year and
Jasmine had just moved in with her boyfriend. She just had to adjust to things.
Then she sighed. The truth was, she did feel lost and alone. Her whole life had
been looking after her younger siblings and without them there always needing
something, she almost felt like she didn’t really exist anymore. But she’d been
trying to keep busy with work and after-school projects and…pestering her
friends. She gave Delise a crooked smile. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize! We love you. We just hate seeing you so
blue. Someday you’re going to be a great mother.”

Yeah, right. With no man in her life, motherhood seemed a sadly
farfetched dream.

“But right now,” Delise continued, “you’re young and single
and now totally free. You should be out having fun!”

“Sure.”

Delise grinned and stood. “Which is why we’re all going out
tonight. You, me, Emily and Sarah.”

“We are?”

“We are. And I brought over something to get us started.”
She walked out of the living room and Remi rose too and trailed her friend into
the kitchen. Delise opened the refrigerator with easy familiarity and pulled
out a bottle of champagne.

Remi’s eyes widened. “Where did that come from?”

Delise grinned, eyes dancing behind her funky eyeglasses. “I
sneaked it in.” She peeled away foil and untwisted the wire cage, then pointed
the bottle away from Remi as she eased the cork out. A satisfying pop and a
wisp of smoke and the champagne fizzed out. “It’s time to celebrate, girl! You
can finally have a life of your own! Glasses?”

Remi blinked, then moved automatically to the cupboard where
the champagne flutes were. Champagne? What was she celebrating? Her little
brother was barely making it through his freshman year of college and her
younger sister had just moved in with a man she’d suspected more than once of
cheating on her. Remi was pretty sure he had. The scumbag.

“I don’t exactly feel like celebrating,” she said glumly as
she held out the glasses.

“Oh, come on! I know you’re worried about Jasmine, but you
have to let go! You just need to change your attitude!”

“I’m living alone for the first time in my life.” It hit her
then that she did in fact live alone. All alone. No more kids to worry about,
to bail out of scrapes, to sacrifice sleep and money and a life of her own for.

Well, until they came running back out of money, broken-hearted
or in trouble of some kind.

“But that can be a good thing! Just think—you’re free now to
do whatever you want! Whenever you want.” Delise poured champagne carelessly
and it frothed over the top and ran over Remi’s fingers in cold, foamy
rivulets.

Delise was right. She did need to let go. But she couldn’t
get rid of the worry that Jasmine was going to get hurt or that Kyle was going
to flunk out of college and spend the rest of his life working at Burger King.

“I’ll try,” she said and clinked her glass against Delise’s.
The sparkling bubbles nipped at Remi’s nose and throat as she drank and she
laughed.

“So. Where should we go tonight?” Delise picked up the
bottle to refill the glasses.

“I don’t know.” It had been a while since she’d been out
with her girlfriends. A long while.

“We’ll go to Rouge,” Delise said, answering her own
question. “It’s the hottest, most happening place in town. And you’re going to
find the best-looking guy there, pick him up and bring him home for
head-banging, screaming sex. And it won’t matter—because you live alone now!”

Remi laughed at the outrageous plans. Like that’d ever
happen! But she supposed she was willing to go out. It would probably be good
for her, to keep the worry about Kyle’s marks and Jasmine’s cheating boyfriend
at bay.

“Okay!” She forced a smile, drained her glass and held it
out for more.

“I’ll call Emily and Sarah and tell them where we’re going.
They said they’d meet us there.”

“Wow. You guys have this all planned.”

Delise shrugged, mouth curved into a smug smile. She tossed
her long, spirally auburn hair back over her shoulder. “I had to. If I left it
up to you, you’d stay home marking papers or something. On a Saturday night!”

Remi grimaced. Yeah, that was usually what she did on
Saturday nights. Or pretty much any night lately. “You’re so right,” she said
with a sigh. “My life is boring. I need to have some fun.”

“True that.” Delise toasted her again. “Let’s go find your
sexiest outfit for you to wear tonight.”

“Uh. That might be a problem. I don’t exactly have a sexy
wardrobe.”

“Hmm.” Delise tapped her index finger against her lips. “Okay,
then—let’s go shopping!”

“I can’t go shopping!” Remi glanced at her watch. “It’s
nearly dinner time…”

“Remi. You don’t have to cook dinner for anyone. Time doesn’t
matter. The stores are open for two more hours. Let’s go!”

Remi stared at her friend, fighting her reflexive resistance
to anything spontaneous and carefree. A lifetime of being responsible, of being
the dependable older sister, the mature, reliable one everyone counted on, had
worn grooves in her that were too deep to disappear in an hour. A day. Maybe
ever!

She drew in a long deep breath and straightened her
shoulders. “Okay. Let’s go shopping.”

Pulsing techno music wrapped around Remi and Delise as they
descended a long red-carpeted staircase into the dark nightclub. Ornate
lanterns on red walls provided discreet light and mirrored columns reflected it
back around the room, creating light and shadow, glitter and darkness. Remi and
Delise walked into the front area of the club where well-dressed patrons
crowded around a long glass and stainless-steel bar. Emily and Sarah waved from
a small table near the back, which led to a second level where more gorgeous
people lounged on red leather banquettes.

When Sarah looked up at Remi, her jaw went slack. “Remi!
Holy cow!”

Emily’s reaction was similar. “You look incredible!” She
studied Remi’s gold sparkly camisole top, short black skirt and stiletto heels.
“Where’d you get that outfit?”

“Diva.” Remi looked down at herself and bit her lip, wishing
she could slouch down into her seat. The low-cut top revealed generous
cleavage—not that she had that much cleavage, but the mega-push up bra Delise
had talked her into was doing a fine job. She tugged at the short skirt and
shifted in her chair.

“Doesn’t she look hot?” Delise demanded with a satisfied
smile.

“She does!”

Delise dropped her small purse on the table. “We went
shopping. I helped pick it out.”

“Good job, Delise,” Emily said.

“I thought it would help with the uh…shift in mindset.”

Emily and Sarah grinned.

“So here we are, four single girls out for a night of fun.
Now that Remi lives alone, she can do whatever she wants, whenever she wants,
with whoever she wants, and that starts tonight! We’re going to find her a hot
guy to have some fun with.”

“No, we’re not,” Remi said, her cheeks burning. She picked up
a small plastic drinks menu. “What’re you two having?”

“Mojitos,” Emily answered. “Yum.”

“Sounds good to me.” Remi dropped the card and discreetly
pulled at the bodice of her top.

“Stop it!” Delise gave her hand a smack. “You look great!
Stop fidgeting. You’ll just draw more attention to yourself.”

Remi blinked and dropped her hands to her lap. Delise was
right. She needed to act like she dressed this way all the time. Another quick
glance assured her nothing inappropriate was being revealed and she sat up
straight.

A waitress appeared to take their order. When she’d left,
Delise turned in her chair to scan the crowd, moving to the throbbing music.
Flashing red lights lit the dance floor, shifting with dancing bodies. On a
catwalk, three gorgeous girls in tiny shorts and bikini tops swung their long
hair in sexy choreography. Remi couldn’t take her eyes off them. They were so
fit, so confident in their beautiful bodies, so graceful.

“That guy over there,” Delise said in Remi’s ear. Remi
dragged her gaze away from the dancers to a group of three men standing at the
bar. All three of them were good-looking, clean cut, nicely dressed. She
shrugged.

“I’ll go invite them over,” Delise said and rose from her
chair. Remi grabbed her arm.

“No! Don’t be crazy!”

“Why not?” Delise shook her hand off and smiled down at her.
“Relax, Remi. It’s okay to talk to men.”

Remi rolled her eyes. It wasn’t as if she was a twenty-eight-year-old
virgin, for god’s sake. She’d had boyfriends, relationships…but picking up guys
in bars was not her style.

“Fine,” she sighed. “Go ahead.”

She tapped her foot to the music while she awaited her
drink, studiously avoiding watching Delise approach the men. Sure enough, all
three followed her back to the table and a search for extra chairs ensued. Soon
Remi sat sandwiched between two men.

She pulled her shoulders in and reached for the drink the
waitress set in front of her. Lord.

“Hi,” the guy on her right said. “I’m Elton.”

“Remi.” She smiled at him. His gaze dipped to her chest. Her
lips tightened.

“Nice to meet you, Remi,” he said, still looking at her
cleavage. She sighed.

“I’m Dave,” the man on her left said. “This is Tiger.”

Remi blinked. Tiger?

The girls all introduced themselves and Remi sucked back her
tangy cocktail. The lime puckered the inside of her mouth, but it was cold and
wet and she was feeling very warm, despite the scant fabric of her new top.

“We’re celebrating tonight,” Delise announced to the men.

“Oh, yeah? What?”

“Remi’s new life.”

Remi wanted to slide under the table. She forced a tight
laugh. “It’s not really a new life,” she explained. “My sister moved out
recently and now I live alone.”

That didn’t even begin to explain the huge change that had
just occurred in her life, but whatever. She didn’t need to share every detail
with strangers.

“Cool,” Elton said. He leered at her. “Party at your place
tonight, huh?”

She rolled her bottom lip in and seared Delise with a look.
She was so dead after this. Delise grinned.

Remi tried to make conversation with Elton and Dave. She really
did. But all Dave wanted to talk about was the stock market, which she knew
next to nothing about, and all Elton was interested in was staring at her
boobs.

Remi ordered another drink along with everyone else. The
music grew louder, the dancing more frenzied.

“Wanna dance?” Elton invited.

“No thanks.” She smiled politely.

“Aw, come on.” He stood and tugged her hand. She tried to
resist, but his grip was tight and rather than make a scene, she let him lead
her onto the dance floor.

Oh dear lord, what a mistake. Elton danced like he was doing
the funky chicken, elbows up and out, flapping like wings, feet shifting
erratically. Her face burned as she cast glances at the other patrons on the
dance floor. Nobody paid any attention to them, wrapped up in their own dancing
or wrapped up in their partners’ arms.

Remi smiled brightly at Elton, waiting for the song to end.
When it did, she stood on tiptoes. “I’m going to the ladies’ room!” she said
into his ear. He nodded and she quickly exited the dance floor.

She passed the catwalk where the go-go dancers shook their
booties. A group of men at the end of the catwalk watched them with smiles on
their faces. Remi spared a glance and then a second glance at the group of big,
good-looking and uh…big men. The five of them created quite a sight, with their
massive shoulders, expensive-looking suits and neat haircuts.

She returned to the table moments later to find only Elton
sitting there.

“The others are dancing,” he said. “Wanna go dance again?”

“No thanks.” She smiled and picked up her drink.

They sat there for a moment, Remi trying to think of
something to say, and then Elton stood and said, “Excuse me. I see someone I
know.”