Page 116 of Breakaway Hearts

I feel like our arrangement is coming to an end, and if he’s serious about getting back together with Sienna, then that will be the end of our lessons too.

He doesn’t mention her at all over the next several days though. He continues to watch over me like a hawk, calling my school every morning just to make sure that a substitute teacher is there that day. He brings me breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and if he isn’t around because of a game or practice, he packs me food and leaves it in my bedroom, within arm’s length of the bed.

On the seventh day after my accident, when most of my bruises have faded to a much less terrifying color and barely ache at all, I decide to defy Reese’s orders and go downstairs to watch his game on the TV. I’ve missed being in the stands cheering him on, and I’m feeling so much better that I’m too antsy to lie around in bed all night.

Resting on the couch seems like a good middle ground. It’s not too strenuous, but it will be a nice change of scenery.

I grab a blanket and settle in against the cushions just as the puck drops.

Noah takes off with it, passing it to Reese who passes it to Theo. They make several attempts on goal before finally scoring just as the first period ends. The rest of the game is a nail biter after the Falcons tie it up in the second period. I’m bracing myself for overtime when Owen Ashford delivers a clutch snipe, sending the puck soaring into the top corner of the Falcons’ net with only one minute left to go.

I do a little dance without getting up, celebrating the victory as the camera pans over the players skating past each other and shaking hands after the end of the game. I watch some of the post-game commentary, grinning when one of the talking heads praises Reese’s quick thinking on the ice.

Despite lying in bed for so long, I feel surprisingly tired. My eyes flutter open and closed, and when I reopen them, I realize twenty minutes have passed. I shake my head, not wanting Reese to come home to find me snoozing on the couch when he left a laptop in the bedroom for me to watch the game.

As I head toward the stairs, I glance into the kitchen. A few books are sitting on the small kitchen table, filled with tabs. I finished those ages ago and definitely didn’t tab them as extensively as they are now. Knowing that Reese is using the tabs I gave him makes me grin widely.

I wonder how many of the smutty scenes in this particular book have inspired some of our own escapades in the bedroom, and curiosity propels me forward as I pick it up from the table. But the first tab I flip to surprises me.

Because it’s not a sex scene at all.

Instead, it’s a scene where the hero is looking at the heroine, realizing for the first time that he loves her.

I flip to another spot he’s tabbed, reading a passage where a character’s laugh is described.

Reminds me of Callie’s, Reese has written in messy handwriting across the sticky note.

My stomach swoops.

I keep reading the passages that he’s marked in the book, and although there are one or two spots that are part of spicy scenes, most of them are about the little, simple moments. The tiny pieces that all add up to falling in love.

More than once, I see my name written on the notes. Reminders to himself to take me someplace he knows I’ll love, guesses of how I would react in certain situations, or just things that made him think of me.

But it’s the last passage I read that sends my heart galloping in my chest. It’s a line I recognize, because I tabbed it myself when I read this book, thinking it was one of the most romantic things I’d ever read.

My heart knew it belonged to her long before my mind caught up.

There’s a little orange tab placed right under that line, and on the sticky note, Reese has written and underlined a single word:THIS.

I snap the book closed, pressing it against my chest. My breath comes out shaky, and I can feel my pulse everywhere, as if my body is a plucked guitar string. I shut my eyes, my mind whirling.

Reese was thinking ofmewhen he read this book. When he marked that line.

Not Sienna. Just me.

“Callie?”

My eyes fly open as the front door opens. Reese steps inside, standing in the foyer with a clear view of the kitchen. His hair is still damp from his post-game shower, and his brows draw together in concern as he looks at me.

Then his gaze drops to the book I’m holding against my chest, and his eyes widen.

Chapter40

Reese

My first thought when I got home and saw Callie out of bed was worry about her being up on her feet when I left her with strict instructions to keep resting.

But as I step into the kitchen, still staring at the book clutched to her chest, my heart lurches for an entirely new reason.

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