Breakaway Read Online Free PDF Page A

there.” She put a hand to her mouth. “This is still
crazy. He could be a serial killer and once you get in a car with him…”
    “Ssssh. I’m not that stupid.” Remi smiled at her friend. “I
know this isn’t the kind of thing I usually do, but…I want to have fun tonight.
I like him. He likes me.”
    Delise’s face softened. She put her hands on Remi’s upper
arms and squeezed. “Okay. But remember…I’m calling.”
    “Yeah, yeah.”
    Remi hugged Delise and then turned and hurried toward the
front of the club, looking for Jason. He stood near the entrance, a long, black
coat loose over his suit, hands in the pockets. Her breath stuck in her throat
at how gorgeous he was. She fumbled in her little purse for her coat check
ticket, then Jason held the new silver trench coat Delise had made her purchase
earlier while she slipped her arms into it.
    “Let’s go,” she said, turning to him with a smile, lifting
the ends of her hair out from the collar.
    “Where are we going?” he murmured as they climbed the
red-carpeted stairway to the door, one hand on the small of her back.
    “My place.”
    “Okay. We’ll have to take a taxi. Unless you…”
    “No. I came with my friend.”
    “Me too.”
    The frosty March night air greeted them as they stepped out
of the club onto the sidewalk. Busy restaurants and clubs with brightly lit
signs surrounded them and throngs of people filled the sidewalks on both sides
of the street. The windows of the office towers climbing into the sky around
them glowed golden and tiny white lights twinkled on the bare trunks and
branches of the trees lining the street. Several yellow cabs waited at the
curb. They climbed into one and Remi gave the driver her Lincoln Park address.
    “Is it far?” Jason asked, his hand warm on her bare knee.
She glanced at him.
    “No. Don’t you know where Lincoln Park is?”
    “Sort of. I’ve only lived in Chicago a few years.”
    “Oh, really? Where did you live before?”
    “Canada.”
    “Oh.” Curiosity spurted inside her. They’d agreed they didn’t
need to know a lot of personal details about each other, but that was such an
unexpected answer she wanted to know more. She studied him. “Why are you in
Chicago now? Your work?”
    “Yup.” He reached out and touched her hair. “What about you?
Have you always lived here?”
    “My whole life. The house I live in is the house I grew up
in. When my parents died, we inherited it, and it was lucky because it was paid
for. We didn’t have much money, but at least we had a roof over our heads.”
    “That must have been hard for you. You were what…twenty-two,
you said?”
    “Yes. I’d just finished college, was just starting my first
job.”
    “And you had to look after your little brother and sister.”
    “Mmm.” She hitched a shoulder. “I did what I had to do.”
    His eyes grew a bit distant. “I couldn’t have done that when
I was twenty-two. Hell, I couldn’t do that now.”
    She laughed. “Well, hopefully you won’t have to. Are your
parents still living?”
    “Oh, yeah. Alive and well.”
    “In Canada?”
    “Mmhmm.” He focused back on her, his gaze warm and intent.
She quivered inside.
    “And do you have brothers and sisters?”
    “Three brothers.”
    “Whoa! Four boys! Your poor mother!”
    He grinned. “She’s a tough lady.”
    “Are you the oldest?”
    “No. My brother Tag is older. Matt and Logan are both younger.”
    “That’s cool. Must have been a busy house with four boys.”
She eyed him. “Are they all as big as you?”
    “Bigger.” He grinned.
    “That’s not possible.”
    “Well, Matt is about the same size as me. I might have a few
pounds on him yet.”
    She was intensely curious about the woman who’d given birth
to four boys as big as Jason and how she’d reared them, but that was way more
personal than they needed to get, so she shut off that train of thought.
    The taxi pulled up in front of her two-story Victorian style
house, and