Breaking Away

by Toni Aleo

  Typing quickly, he wrote:

  What are you wearing?

  He worked his lip as he waited for her response. When his phone dinged and a picture of her in absolutely nothing came over the phone, his body tightened as he bit down hard on his lip.

  Typing quickly, he wrote:

  I want you in my mouth. Right. Now.

  Come and get it.

  You wish.

  I’ll be waiting.

  Keeping his feelings locked up from this girl?

  Yeah, right.

  COMING OUT the studio, Reese was surprised to find Phillip in her parking lot, getting off his bike. A smile formed on her face, and her heart picked up in speed as she took him in. It had been some long nights thinking of him. To see him now set her body on fire. Of course, he looked delicious. Wearing a pair of fitted jeans and a tee, he moved with ease as he put his helmet on the back of the bike. One would think that riding a bike and wearing a tee shirt would be crazy at the end of February but, like always, Tennessee’s weather wasn’t sure if it wanted to be cold or hot. Reese swore that the weather was bipolar in this damn state.

  When Phillip looked up, his gaze meeting hers, all thoughts of the weather went out the window, as a slow, devilish grin crossed his gorgeous face. Tucking his hands in his jeans, he met her on the steps, grinning as he took her in. He was so blunt about it, slowly moving his eyes up and down her body, his tongue coming out to run over his bottom lip. She wished she would have looked better but then again, with the way he was looking at her, like she was something to eat, maybe the gym shorts and tank weren’t as bad as she thought.

  When his eyes met hers again, she smiled. “Nice bike.”

  He looked back at the bike before turning to meet her gaze. She would have liked to admire the bike but staring at him was way more fun.

  “Thanks, I’d love you take you for a ride.”

  “I bet you would,” she said suggestively.

  “I would, it could be fun,” he said with a wag of his eyebrows.

  Reese laughed as she rolled her eyes. “No doubt about that.”

  Crossing her legs, she pushed the strap of her bag back up on her shoulder as she said, “So, what are you doing here?”

  Looking at her through heavy-lidded blue eyes, he whispered, “I came to put you in my mouth, remember?”

  Jesus, if her body was on fire before, it was on the verge of exploding now. Hoping that her voice didn’t betray her by letting him know how much she wanted to be in that sexy mouth of his, she croaked out, “Unfortunately, I am walking out the door.”

  He laughed. “I see that, so turn around and walk back in.”

  She shook her head slowly, biting her lips softly, her eyes never leaving his. “I have a date.”

  His eyes narrowed, but only for a second before a careless expression came over his face. “Blow him off.”

  “I can’t blow it off, I need the workout.”

  She knew they were talking about two different things, but she sure was enjoying the way his eyes were glued to hers. How his body sang to hers and how she wanted nothing more than to get lost in his hot kisses. It was as if her body was being pulled to his as his mouth turned up into a naughty grin. Leaning towards her, his lips tickled her earlobe as he whispered, “I’ll give you one hell of a workout.”

  When he pulled back to look at her, his eyes told her he wasn’t messing around and her kitten liked that. “I’ll work you harder than he ever will.”

  Breathless, Reese smiled as she looked deep in his eyes. She had never been so captured by a man. So completely taken. Not even with Kevin had she felt that way. Her feelings for Phillip scared her and when she leaned into him, her body feeling every inch of his, feelings were thrown to the side as red-hot lust took over.

  “I have no doubt that that is true. I may very much enjoy the workout you would provide me, Phillip, but I need to go to kickboxing. You are going to make me late.”

  A wide smile replaced his carefree one as his hands came to rest of her hips.

  “Kickboxing?”

  “Yup.”

  “I thought you were going out with another guy.”

  Looking up at him through her eyelashes, she swore she saw jealously, but surely not.

  “Would that have been a problem?”

  He held her gaze, her heart picking up in speed as he leaned into her, letting her feel the long, hard length of him.

  “Nope, not at all,” he said, but she couldn’t help but think he was lying.

  Nodding, she looked down as she slowly pushed away from him. If he had said yes, she would have needed to cut him off, so she was thankful he said no. She was far from done with him, and the only thing she needed to do was ignore her own feelings and enjoy Phillip Anderson. She couldn’t let what happened last time with Kevin happen again. With one look up into Phillip’s carefree face, she knew that he didn’t want anything more than sex, and that was good. Very good. Feelings were trouble, complete and utter trouble.

  “Good, cause we are keeping things light.”

  “We are,” he agreed, squeezing her hips with his large hands.

  “Only having fun.”

  “Lots of it,” he agreed. “That’s why I’m going to go to kickboxing with you. That will be fun.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “You’re going to kickbox with me?”

  “Sure, but I’ll need to ride with you. I don’t have another helmet with me. I’ll bring one next time.”

  She eyed him for a second before asking, “Ride with me?”

  “Yup, I’ll get my workout bag off the back of my bike; we can go to lunch afterwards.”

  With not another word, Phillip turned, making his way to his bike. Confused, she watched as he grabbed his things before looking up at her and motioning for her to come on. As she made her way down the stairs, she couldn’t help but think that him going to kickboxing with her, and then taking her to lunch, seemed very much like a date.

  Reaching for the handle to her car, she asked, “So, this is like a date then?”

  He looked over at her and shook his head. “No, you’re driving.”

  Her eyebrows drew together. “Because I’m driving, it’s not a date?”

  “Yup.”

  Putting her hands on her hips, she asked, “How the hell does that make sense?”

  Phillip laughed as he looked down at the top of the car before looking back up at her. “Because if this were a date, I’d wear something nice. I would have bought you flowers, and most of all, I would hire someone to drive so that my hands would never leave your body. We are having fun, Reese. Stop analyzing shit, and let’s go.”

  With that, he fell into the passenger seat while Reese mulled his words over. She was curious to know if that was thought out just for her, or if that was the way he worked. She wondered if other girls had the pleasure of being wooed by Phillip Anderson and, for some odd reason, she was jealous of the women. That only lasted a minute before she mentally slapped the hell out of herself.

  This was sex, pure sex. No flowers, no drivers needed, and no fucking wooing. No! Just nice, hot sex. If Phillip wanted to go smack a bag and then feed her, who was she to analyze it? They were having fun, and that was it. But as she got into the car, her kitten recovered from the bitch slap and informed her that date or not, she was excited to hang out with Phillip outside of the bed.

  And even her regular self agreed.

  Shit.

  Reese loved kickboxing.

  She loved beating the crap out of a bag and getting out all her frustrations about life out on the floor. She hit the bag for the spoiled kids she dealt with, and she kicked the bag for their extra asshole parents. She kicked the bag whenever she had a bad day, or when her mom annoyed her. Kickboxing was her outlet but, right now though, the only frustration she was beating out on the bag was the sexual kind. The whole way over to the gym, Phillip’s scent suffocated her. All she had wanted to do was pull over and climb into his lap. Everything he did, sh
e was aware of. When he moved his fingers along his chin, she saw it. When he bit on his lip, she saw it. When he moved his shorts to readjust his junk, she fucking saw it! Everything and anything that sexy piece of man did, she saw, and God how she wanted him.

  Like now. She was squared up and hitting the bag with all her might, trying to pay attention to her hot, yummy instructor, but even he couldn’t keep her from glancing over and seeing what Phillip was doing. And what he was doing was slowly overheating her. Every punch into the bag was done with skill and precision. It was as if he had been kickboxing his whole life and when he started to sweat, it took everything out of her not to tackle him. The class was torture and not because of the workout, but because of Phillip’s sexy ass.

  The crazy thing was that while making her want to jump his bones, he had her laughing her butt off, too. He was a nut, making faces at her, and making her laugh when they would break for water. The thing was that was how it always was with him and, if she were honest with herself, she would admit she liked it. That she liked him. But since admitting that would never happen, Reese hurried to clean up before meeting up outside to walk down the street to her favorite sushi place.

  “That was a lot of fun,” Phillip said, before reaching for the door to let them inside.

  It was torture, she thought before saying, “Yeah, it was.”

  Following the waitress to their table, Reese slide in and was surprised when Phillip sat beside her rather than across from her. As he cuddled close into her, she watched as he picked up a menu and started to read it. Instead of pointing out that this was what a couple would do on a date, she leaned over his arm and looked at the menu too. She wanted to be close to him, and no matter how much she knew it wasn’t a great choice, she couldn’t help herself. She just hoped she didn’t pay for it later.

  After picking out their sushi rolls, Reese leaned back in the booth and sipped on her water as they watched the highlights from the Assassins game the night before. When Phillip’s awesome goal replayed, she found herself smiling as she watched him score again. She usually didn’t watch hockey, but the night before she had. Since she wasn’t one to admit things, there was no use in asking why she was watching it last night, but she had.

  “Good goal,” she found herself saying.

  “Thanks, do you like hockey?”

  “Eh, I guess. I mean, it isn’t baseball.”

  “Baseball, huh?”

  “Yup, I love watching baseball.”

  “Seriously? Baseball is boring compared to hockey.”

  She gave him a sneaky grin before saying, “True, but they wear very tight pants, and all you guys do is skate and knock into each other. I mean, that’s kind of hot, but it would be better if it were me you were slamming into.”

  With a shake of his head, he muttered, “You horny little thing.”

  “It’s true, I am, but you like it.”

  “Very much so,” he said, winking at her before reaching for his own water. When his hand came to rest on her thigh, he moved his hand down to her knee and then squeezed before looking over at her. A smile pulled at her mouth before he leaned over and met his lips to hers in a soft, sweet kiss.

  When he pulled away, he smiled as he said, “I’m on a mission to make you like hockey more than baseball.”

  “Unless you are wearing tight baseball pants, you aren’t keeping my attention.”

  Holding her gaze, he said, “I always keep your attention, and you know it.”

  Reese giggled as she looked down to hide her blush, knowing he was right.

  Phillip was having a great day.

  After waking up and working out, he was going to drive home and take a shower before napping, but then he decided to go see Reese. He had planned on having her naked for most of the afternoon but, when he learned of her plans, he decided that it would be fun to just hang with her, and it had been. After a long class, where he mainly watched her ass jiggle as she hit a bag, he now had the pleasure of sitting beside her and enjoying her. She was easy to talk to, and he loved her teasing little comments. It had turned out to be a great day, and he was hoping it would end with her beneath him.

  “So you said Claire is doing well?”

  He nodded before saying, “Yeah, she is slowly but surely going back to the girl I used to know.”

  “If you don’t mind me asking, why haven’t you always had her? I know some of the back story, but it just seems like she is better off with you.”

  “Yeah, she is,” he said, before washing down the piece of sushi he had just eaten. “But my sister, her mother, didn’t want me to have her. Thought she was a better choice for her than I was.”

  “That doesn’t seem to be true though.”

  “Nope, but Rochelle thought it was.”

  A moment passed before Reese looked over at him and asked, “Had she always been really bad into drugs?”

  Phillip looked away, his mood souring. “Yeah, both my mom and Rochelle were horribly into them. My dad was an alcoholic. He ran out on us when I was three, and then it’s the horror story of strippers and drugs. Claire and I were caught in the middle of it. Thankfully, I never touched the stuff, it scared me, but they needed it to survive, I guess.”

  “That’s too bad, I’m glad you never touched it though.”

  “Yeah,” he said with a shrug.

  “It’s a disease, you know.”

  Phillip glanced over at her. “What is?”

  “Addiction. I know it seems like a selfish thing and all it does is hurt people, but it’s a disease.”

  He shrugged as he twirled the chopstick with his finger. “That’s what the therapist told me, that it’s not my fault.”

  “It isn’t,” she said softly. “My dad was really bad into alcohol when Harper was a child. He got help, but he has always been honest with us. My mom used to blame herself, but he reassured her it wasn’t her fault.”

  He didn’t like this subject. It always brought up sucky feelings, so with an uncommitted shrug, he said, “Yeah.” Looking over at her, he asked, “So, it’s just you and your sisters right?”

  She smiled. “Yeah, after my dad cleaned up, they tried for a boy and got two girls.”

  They both shared a laugh at that, and he loved the way her eyes shined. It was obvious that she loved her family, and he wished he could say the same. Well, he loved Claire. She was his family.

  “Just you and your sister?”

  Phillip looked over as his chest tightened. “No, I have a brother, Miles, but we don’t talk anymore.”

  She let her head dropped to the side. “Can I ask why?”

  “You can ask anything you want. To answer your question, he isn’t my whole brother—he’s my half. Apparently, before coming to run through my mom, my dad had a family that he left for my mom. After having me and leaving, he got cleaned up and his ex-wife took him back to have their family back together. When I went into the AHL, I ran into him. We joked around about being related because of our last name, and then our dad came to practice and knew it was me. Long story short, my dad freaked, thinking I was like my mom. He told Miles that he couldn’t have anything to do with me and if he did, he would lose his relationship with his father.”

  She took in a sharp breath. “That’s horrible.”

  “I know, but I don’t blame him for cutting off a relationship with me because he had his dad so long before he left, and he didn’t want to lose him again. I guess, or at least that’s what I tell myself. It sucks you know. He plays for the Bruins now and, when we play against each other, we don’t even talk. It sucks and it hurts, but it is what it is. Maybe one day we’ll reconnect.”

  He could see the sympathy in her eyes, and he hated how much he had opened up to her right then. He never talked about Miles anymore. Their short term together was that, short. He missed him but had let him go ages ago. And like he said, he hoped to one day reconnect with his older half-brother, but it just didn’t seem like it was in the cards and he was okay with that. W
hen Reese leaned into him, he smiled over at her.

  “Well, I think you are pretty amazing and strong to have gone through all this shit and still be the amazing guy you are. Claire is lucky to have you, and she is going to grow into a very successful woman because of you.”

  Phillip’s mouth pulled up at the side as he looked over at her. “God, I hope so.”

  “She will,” she said with all the confidence in the world.

  She shot him a grin before going back to eating. He didn’t know why she believed in him so much, but it felt great to have her in his corner. Watching as she ate, something inside him urged him to ask her something that he had been wondering for a while. When she had asked him earlier if this was a date, he knew to say no because of the fear in her eyes. She wanted this to be a date, but she didn’t want to admit it to herself or to him.

  He had a lot of experience with females, and Reese was the poster girl for the one that got hurt by a douche. Because of this, she decided a life of sleeping around would fill the void in her heart, when really what she needed was a good man to love her the right way. Usually, Phillip was one to capitalize on these kinds of women, but Reese was different and, for some odd reason, he wanted to be the one to make her realize that he wasn’t like the douchebag. That he was actually someone that could make her happy.

  Why, he wasn’t sure yet, but that didn’t stop him from asking, “So who’s the guy that ruined you for the male race?”

  She looked over at him, surprised. “Excuse me?”

  “The guy who broke your heart and put you in the ‘not emotionally available’ status,” he said, making air quotations just to make her laugh. It worked but only for a second before she looked away.

  “His name was Kevin; I met him in New York. We both danced for the same company. He was older than I was. I thought he was everything I wanted, but boy, was I wrong.”

  He watched as she took in a deep breath, still not looking at him, before going on. “I thought we were going to get married and have little dancing babies, but he was already married with a child.”