Breaking Brandon

Chapter Twelve

Regina

Indebted wasn’t a strong enough word to describe how Regina felt toward this man she’d referred to as a pretentious jerk just a week ago. As if last night hadn’t been enough, Brandon had taken the day off work and was apparently going to wait on her hand and foot.

She watched as he undid the extra wrap they’d given her at the ER. “This is barely enough for a few days if you plan on changing it daily,” he said without looking up. “I’ll make another run to the drugstore and grab you some more.”

“That’s okay, Brandon,” she said quickly, feeling like such a burden. “It should last me the weekend, and then I can get some on Monday on my way home from work.”

He looked up at her. Regina was already recognizing some of his expressions. The one he wore now was the annoyed one he got every time she rejected his help.

“Okay,” she conceded, preferring the smiling even serious Brandon over the annoyed one. “I guess if it’s not too much trouble you can get it for me before then.”

“No trouble at all,” he said, lifting her ankle gently then taking a seat on her bed and lowering her ankle onto his thighs.

Regina watched how gentle he was when he removed the splint, trying to focus on that and how she would’ve never believed this last week. Sergeant Billings was in her bedroom, sitting on her bed with her legs technically around him. It was a silly thought, even rang a little of middle school immaturity, but she had to bite her lip to keep from smiling.

“I was gonna make a run to the drugstore anyway to get you a shower chair.”

Her silly thoughts were instantly warped, and she looked up from her ankle to his very serious face. “What?”

Taking his eyes off her ankle for a moment, he glanced up at her. “Yeah, I saw the mess you made in your bathroom. Even after all these hours, the floor is still wet. It’s a wonder you didn’t fall trying to get out of there.” He shook his head and went back to concentrating on wrapping her ankle. “A shower chair will be a lot safer.”

Normally she would’ve said something snarky—retort sarcastically that he was taking an awful lot of liberties with decisions that should be hers. She’d never been one to need someone to take care of her, much less come in and just take over. But something about his concern for her well-being warmed her. And she had to admit there had been a few scary moments in the shower that morning.

“A chair in there is a good idea,” she said softly. “Thanks, but I won’t let you pay for it.”

She saw his jaw tighten as he continued with the wrap. “All done. The swelling’s gone down a bit too.”

He leaned down to pick up the splint and began putting it back on her. Unable to stand it anymore, Regina inched her butt up little closer to him, hoping he wouldn’t notice since he was busy with the splint. When he was done, he looked up and pulled his face back when he realized how close she was.

Smiling nervously, she licked her lips, and bingo, her lips had his undivided attention. “Can I thank you again, Brandon?”

With his eyes still on her lips, he nodded but said nothing, so she pecked him softly. “That’s for taking the day off.” She took his face in her hands and kissed him again this time sliding her tongue in his mouth, and he kissed her back softly, gently. It wasn’t at all as ravenous as last night’s kiss, but she still felt her heart speeding up. She pulled away, licking her lips, loving the taste of him still on them. “That’s for bringing me my meds and fixing my wrap.” Diving in again, the kiss took a turn with him leaning into her as she kissed him much deeper. He moaned and practically ate her mouth up just as he had last night, as if he couldn’t get enough, and now his fingers were in her hair. It went on for what seemed like forever, but even then she didn’t want it to end. The kiss alone had her so wet and aroused it was embarrassing, but she couldn’t bring herself to end it. Finally, he pulled his lips away and hugged her tightly, breathing heavily against her neck.

“What was that for?”

Regina smiled against his shoulder. “For remembering how I ordered my chicken salad.”

His body seemed to tense for just a moment, and then he relaxed and pulled away to look at her. “I have a good memory, I guess, but even I surprised myself that I remembered every detail of that,” he said, indulging her with one of his almost-never-seen smiles. “I walked into the deli for sandwiches and then saw the salads on the menu, and it just came to me.”

She slipped her hand in his and laced his fingers through hers. His smile instantly vanished, and she saw alarm in his eyes. They’d just shared one of the most passionate kisses she’d ever experienced, and this alarmed him? She started to let go of his hand, but he squeezed it and kissed her again, bringing his other hand behind her neck. This kiss was slower yet deeper somehow, their tongues dancing beautifully in perfect rhythm like a couple who’d been doing this forever.

Sucking on her bottom lip one last time, he pulled away to look at her, but his hand remained on the back of her neck. She hoped that meant he wasn’t going to stop because she could kiss him all day and into the night. “You know,” she swallowed, looking deep into those intense eyes of his. “For a while there, I thought my holding up the line at the airport because of my special order of that salad might’ve been the reason you didn’t like me.”

His blue eyes disappeared underneath that heavy sheath of thick lashes as he looked down for a moment. “That was really shitty of me to treat you that way. I shouldn’t have. I’m real sorry about that.”

“Can you tell me about her?” she said, lowering her voice a little. “The girl you said I reminded you of?”

His eyes were on her again, and she saw something different in them now, only like before, she couldn’t decipher it. To her disappointment, he did pull his hand back from behind her neck. But as much as she wished she hadn’t asked, a part of her really wanted to know now.

“There’s not much to tell,” he said, shaking his head. “She’s just a girl from my past. Way back.”

“A girlfriend?”

“Nope.” He frowned. “She wasn’t even a girlfriend. She was just someone I knew most my life and thought I had feelings for. It didn’t end well, and I haven’t spoken to or seen her in years. That’s about all there is to tell.”

“What about me reminded you of her? I noticed the distaste from the moment I saw you at the airport, so I take it I resemble her?”

He nodded with an apologetic smile then kissed her softly. “I saw the dark hair.” He touched a strand of her hair. “The big brown eyes.” He smiled then went serious again. “I heard you on the phone with your dad, and I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, but it was hard not to listen, standing right behind you. I picked up on how maybe he was going a little overboard, making sure you were okay, and that’s how this girl’s entire family was.” He frowned now, the look of distaste exactly as she remembered it at the airport and those first several times she’d run into him here. “Her family was way over the top, and then you referred to your grandma in Spanish to boot. This girl was Hispanic too, so it brought back memories of someone I hadn’t thought about in years. It was just a little irritating.”

Without thinking, Regina’s brows shot up, and Brandon kissed her again quickly. “The memories, that is, not you.”

Smiling, she kissed him back and chewed her lip. “Well, you were right about my dad. He can go a little overboard. My whole family can actually. That’s why I didn’t wanna call them today. They’d waltz in here and just take over.”

She said that as if that weren’t what Brandon was slowly doing also. Somehow having Brandon pamper her, even if he had started taking liberties with what he thought was best for her, seemed a lot more fun than having her overbearing but well-meaning family doing just the same.

That last comment didn’t seem to go over too well with him. Maybe she was a little too much like this girl he didn’t like thinking of. She was about to ask exactly what he meant by “didn’t end well” when his hand on her thigh distracted her.

“Are they coming tomorrow?”

“I haven’t called them,” she admitted, feeling bad instantly. “But I will. Don’t worry. I wouldn’t dream of asking you to wait on me all weekend.”

Raising a brow, he stared at her for a moment. “Wouldn’t dream of it?” he asked with a smirk, squeezing her thigh.

Surprised by his playfulness but even more surprised by how unnerving the very thought of what he might be implying was, she gulped. Had she given him the wrong impression? Having him around all weekend was an exciting thought, but not if he was thinking she’d be thanking him in other ways.

“No, I wouldn’t,” she reaffirmed. “You’ve already done so much for me. I couldn’t possibly—”

His lips were on hers again, and she let herself fall into the amazing experience once again. Just when he’d begun to lean into her, the buzzing of one of their phones interrupted them. He stopped, pulling away just so, breathing heavily against her lips still.

“Is that you or me?” he asked.

Taking a deep breath, she looked around. “That’s you,” she said as his phone on the nightstand buzzed again. She leaned over and grabbed it, catching a part of the name as she handed it to him: Sergeant something or other.

He answered it as soon as he saw who it was. “Sergeant Billings, here.” She watched as he listened intently. “Yes, sir, that’s the one.” He nodded a few times. “Not a problem, sir. I can do that.”

All the “sirs” reminded her of the incident with Lansing at the ER. She wondered if Brandon was still planning on speaking to his supervisor. The guy had given Brandon his supervisor’s name and number, and Brandon had been very adamant about the whole thing.

“Absolutely. Thank you, sir. You too.”

He hung up and tossed the phone on the bed then leaned into Regina again. His playful expression was a new one to her. “Where were we?”

She leaned back before he could kiss her again. “That just reminded me of something, Brandon.”

“What’s that? he said, licking her bottom lip, making her shiver.

“Were you really going to still call the supervisor of that poor guy from the ER?”

She may as well have pulled the emergency brakes on Brandon’s sudden and uncharacteristic playfulness because he pulled back sharply, his eyes zeroing in on hers.

“Why?”

“I’m just wondering.” She touched his face, a part of her wanting suddenly to take the question back but another part still wanting to help out the poor guy, so she added. “I just feel bad for him. He seemed nice enough—”

“Is that why you asked him if he was married?”

He started to pull away and let her hand loose, but she held it. “No,” she said with the craziest feeing in her belly.

“Then why did you?”

She stared at him, her heart beating a little faster. This was insane. She’d kissed the guy a few times, and yet here he was practically demanding an answer from her, but what was even crazier was she felt as if she absolutely owed him one.

Not liking how fast the mood had begun to take a dive, she pulled him to her and ran her fingers through his hair. The way his hardened expression softened with just that touch almost made her smile. “I just had a conversation with my sister the other day. The single one,” she said, caressing his face. “She goes through phases when it comes to the guys she dates. Her latest is guys in the medical field.” Regina laughed softly, feeling incredibly silly. “She told me to be on the lookout for her, and she likes them tall, so . . .” She shrugged. “I remembered, and I guess that dose of morphine made me braver than I normally would be.”

Without saying anything, Brandon stared into her eyes. Then his eyes were on her lips again. She hadn’t even licked them as she now knew could easily distract him. “I haven’t decided.”

“Can you please just let it go?” His questioning eyes were back on hers a little hardened again. “For my sister,” she teased with a smile. “You never know. He may be my future brother-in-law.”

“You’re not going back to see him, are you?”

“No.” She laughed now. “I’m kidding. But please consider giving the guy a break, yeah? I’ll feel responsible if he gets in trouble. If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t have ever been at his workplace last night to begin with.”

His expression remained hard, and then she saw the tug on the corner of his lips. “Are you gonna have your family come down this weekend?”

They were back to this, and she still wasn’t sure how she should respond. Was he saying he didn’t want her to? That he’d be willing to—wanted to hang out with her all weekend? If so, was it because like her, he was enjoying the company and wanted more of it? Or was he thinking more in terms of how else she’d be showing him her gratification?

He must’ve read her mind because, before she could respond, he added. “I’m free all weekend if you’d rather not tell them about this until you’ve healed a little more.” Squeezing her hand, he smiled. “I’d be a perfect gentleman. I promise.”

Feeling bad that she’d even mentally questioned his motives, but at the same time completely thrilled that he was offering, she shook her head. “I don’t doubt that you would be.” She tilted her head. “Are you sure? Last night I didn’t want to admit it, and I wasn’t even feeling like I do today, but I feel like a total invalid now. I can barely move. I’d hate to be such an incredible weight on you all weekend.”

“Nah,” he leaned in and pecked her. “We’ll just keep you up here all weekend. There’s no need for you to go down until you have to. I can bring up anything you need. The longer you stay off that ankle, the better.”

“But you have to let me pay you, Brandon—”

“Hell no!” he said with a furrow of his brows. Then he smiled again, and, God, she could get used to that smile. “But you can keep thanking me the way you have so far.”

Cradling his face with both hands, she kissed him. “Thank you.” She kissed him again a little longer. “Thank you.” Then she went even deeper, making him as crazy as she was beginning to love feeling him get.

“Thank you,” he said, this time with a groan and leaned her back into the pillows piled up behind her, making her giggle against his lips.