Regina held her breath, her eyes on Brandon’s clenching fist. He turned to her with a frown. “Damn bird shit on my shirt outside the drugstore.” He pulled a shirt out from the closet. “I wanted to soak it first thing.” He motioned toward the bathroom with his chin. “Since it’s white, I don’t want it to stain.”
Relieved, but now completely distracted by his bare chest and shoulders, she stared at them with a sinful grin. This entire week his shirtless chest managed to elude her, despite all the showers he’d taken and times he’d changed. “Wait,” she said, before he could put his shirt back on. Her eyes dropped to the lower right side of his abdominal muscles. “Can I . . .?”
She pointed at the string of words tattooed as she got closer. For a moment, she was almost afraid to finish her question. What if the words were for another girl? Someone in his past. The girl she reminded him of maybe? He’d gladly and proudly explained all his other tattoos. The ones on his arms were all tributes to the Marines. He’d even lifted his sleeve a couple of the times to show her a few a little higher on his arm she might’ve missed, but he hadn’t mentioned this one. If they ever made love, could she stand staring at something so profound he felt for someone else he decided to have it tattooed on his body forever?
Staring at it now, she was close enough to make out the words written in script, and read downwards. The sentence ended with a small heart woven into the script itself. She didn’t understand it, but it was about his past. “What does it mean?” she asked.
“What’s past is prologue,” he whispered, before lifting the shirt over his head and bringing it all the way down to cover the tattoo. “Technically, it means history repeats itself, but I like to think of it how my mother explained it. While our past does set the stage for what’s to come in the future, ultimately it’s your decisions based on what’s happened in that past—good or bad–that determine your future.
The way he looked at her when he said that last part was so piercing it almost felt personal, not as if he were explaining but rather telling her. Did he know something about her past already? Could he possibly know about what she’d almost done? Or was there something else he was trying to tell her?
She cleared her voice, trying not to sound as nervous as those last words made her. “That’s very profound. But do you really believe you can dictate the future? There are some things you have no control over. Sometimes things just happen.”
Taking a few steps toward her, he looked at her with a vacant expression. “But they happen for a reason, like you falling down those stairs and me being there to help you.” He slipped his hand in hers as he reached her. “If I had let past experiences interfere with the decisions I made after that night, you might not be here with me right now.”
He slipped his arm around her waist, pulling her against his hard body. Gulping, because her heart was already doing that thing it always did when she was in his arms, she searched his eyes. As risky as her next question was—because he might turn it around on her—she had to know. “Is there something in your past I should know about?”
Slipping his hand out of hers and bringing it behind her neck, he smiled softly, shaking his head and mouthing the word “no.” His eyes were immediately on her lips, and he licked his own. “I can hardly stand to look at you for very long without kissing you.”
Then his lips were on hers, and she sighed against his. Regina had come to the conclusion earlier that week that nobody had ever kissed her the way Brandon did. From the very first time, he’d done so with that unabashed craze, and she’d felt it. But since then, even though the craze had calmed a bit, the passion hadn’t. Even when he kissed her softly and gently, as he did now, there was so much in those kisses. They reached a place in her she didn’t think had ever been touched. Kisses. These were just his kisses!
But they were so much more than just kisses. She wished she could explain it—understand it—because if she ever said it out loud, it would sound preposterous. They’d been together for less than a week, and already his kisses held so much emotion. Emotion he was yet to express verbally. He’d told her she fascinated him and that after she’d kissed him he was a goner—he wanted more of her, but why? Even with as much passion as he’d kissed her all week, he hadn’t so much as attempted to take it any further. It was almost as if kissing her as he did satisfied something much deeper than sex would for him. Regina felt it too, but even as satisfying as his kisses were, she was ready for more. She was more than ready.
Moaning as they moved closer to the bed, she pulled him along, tugging on his shirt. She wanted him to see—feel how ready she was to take this further. Even as they sat on his bed, he never took his lips away from her, immediately pulling her to him as they lay back. His hand moved up from her neck, and his fingers massaged her head as he continued to kiss, sucking her tongue a bit harder as the kiss went on.
Finally, he pulled away, only to breathlessly admit, “I’ll never get enough of your mouth.”
Before she could beg him to make love to her, his lips were on hers, and she was helpless to pull away. She too was beginning to feel addicted to his tongue in her mouth. What was he doing to her? She felt completely spellbound by his mouth—his tongue. So much so she was beginning to think if he did this much longer she might come undone and cry out in pleasure from just kissing him. Was that even possible?
If his mouth on hers alone could do this to her, she could only imagine if . . . The moment he took to catch his breath, she gasped. “Make love to me, Brandon. I wanna feel you inside me so bad.”
He stopped and stared at her. “Are you sure?”
She nodded eagerly then wrapped her arms around his neck. “Yes, I’m sure.”
Without saying another word, Brandon pulled away and began undressing her slowly. Luckily, there was not much to remove. When he’d left earlier, the first thing she’d done was shed her work clothes for a San Diego Padres T-shirt of his that she’d come to love in the short time she’d been staying with him. It smelled like him, so fresh and clean and perfect but with that hint of his personal scent. That first night when she’d spent the night at his house, she realized in her haste to make sure she brought everything she needed for work and all her toiletries, she’d forgotten any pajamas. He’d offered her the shirt, saying he often changed into it in the evenings after taking a shower to relax in. When she’d gone into his bathroom to change into it, the smell of it as she brought it over her head combined with the perfectly worn soft cotton fabric had been almost orgasmic. If she had it her way, she’d live in his shirt.
Brandon kissed her naked shoulders after pulling the shirt off of her. Sprinkling more kisses down her collar bone, his touch was so incredibly gentle she could hardly believe he was into the stuff in his closet. Maybe those things weren’t his, but they had to be.
Continuing to make his way down under her neck, he pulled her panties off without ever stopping the rain of soft kisses all around her neck and just under her ears.
Lifting his body away from her for a moment, he pulled his own shirt off, and it was her turn to kiss his shoulders as he leaned back onto her. She ran her fingers over his hard chest and perfect abs. This whole week he’d hardly left her side, except for when they’d been at work, so he hadn’t mentioned working out, but judging from his perfectly sculpted hard body, obviously he did—a lot.
He kissed her, and once again, she fell into that place only his kisses ever took her. She closed her eyes, and her mouth soaked his up. Even though she was lying there completely nude under a man, something she hadn’t done in over eighteen months, she couldn’t think of anything more than giving into his masterful kisses. She felt him move around doing things as he occasionally ran his hands over her naked body.
She’d been so lost in the magic of his kisses she didn’t even notice he’d stripped down to nothing until he stopped to place the condom on. She stared breathlessly, knowing he’d soon be inside her, something she’d practically begged for, and now the reality of it really sunk in.
Before she could give it another thought, Brandon positioned himself between her legs. “You ready, princess?” he whispered with a smile almost as nervous as she felt.
Somehow, she thought there’d be more foreplay, that he’d do a lot more to her before they got to this part. Maybe he’d bring out his tote of naughty treasures. She’d imagined him taking her roughly, spreading her wide then plunging in her with force. Instead, he lay down gently over her, bringing those lips that would be the death of her and began kissing her just as gently as he slipped into her. The one thing he did that was different from anything she’d ever experienced was he brought her hands over her head and held them there with both his hands.
The only time their lips parted from that moment on was when he was inside her completely, and she gasped at the incredible feeling of fullness it gave her. She’d been right. Having him inside her was amazing. He slid in and out in the same rhythm as his kisses for a very long time. Even as he began to rock into her harder and faster, holding on tighter to her hands still above her head, she got the distinct feeling that he was getting just as much arousal from kissing her as he was from fucking her.
Shifting his body ever so slightly, she felt him smile against her lips as his erection began to slide over that perfect spot, making her entire body quiver in reaction. Regina moaned as each time he slid in and out, and her body trembled uncontrollably. She cried out as the sensation began to peak, but even that didn’t make him release her mouth. He slammed into her harder—faster—and she lifted her hips up to take him as deep as possible. Regina didn’t just climax; she erupted. Even as the explosions of pleasure went off again and again, she felt him bury himself in her, and not once did his tongue ever stop.
She closed her eyes tightly, and the mixture of her continued throbbing climax and his enthralling deep kisses had her climaxing for so much longer than she ever had. Long after they’d both come, he continued to kiss her and slide in and out of her until she felt him harden again. Feeling him slowly fill her again as he slid in and out, she lifted her good leg around him, suddenly wanting to—needing to—relive the best sex she’d ever experienced. There’d been nothing out of the ordinary about it. She and Ryan had done it almost just like that every time, minus the amazing marathon-long kissing. Something as simple as her hands being held her over her head coupled with the perfect positioning and timing when he’d driven into her near the end, had made for such a profound climax. Or maybe it was just him. He was so different from anyone she’d ever been with this felt so different—so incredible.
To her disappointment, Brandon pulled away, moving her leg down. “I’d go on, but this condom’s had it.” He chuckled as he pulled out of her, leaving her feeling incredibly empty and yearning to have him inside her again. “Damn, this thing is done.”
Climbing off the bed, she watched as he walked off into the bathroom then came back with a towel. Almost ashamed that her eyes had gone directly there, she smiled when she saw he was still as ready as she was to go at it again. The moment he was done cleaning her up so gently it drove her nuts, she wrapped her arms around his neck.
“Again,” she whispered in his ear, and in the next second, she was flat on her back again, giggling in delight as Brandon pulled out another condom.
~*~
Brandon
No way would Brandon have believed it if anyone had told him this would happen just a week ago. The little princess from the airport was his girl now, and they were making incredible love day and night. For years, Brandon hadn’t allowed himself so much as a distant acquaintance with any girl. He’d gone to great lengths to make sure any interaction he had with women remained safely unemotional. Now just like that he was in a formal relationship with a girl he already felt crazy about. He was completely helpless to remain unemotional. Everything he said or did to her overflowed with emotion, an emotion he’d been afraid to give into for years. Now he couldn’t imagine going even a day without hugging her, kissing her, and making love to her the way he’d been doing for such a short time. He had a girlfriend now, and he’d been the one to suggest it.
As scary as the thought was when he’d decided to put it out there, Brandon knew he’d made the right decision. There was no way he would’ve been able to remain just friends with her, no way he would’ve ever agreed to the idea of not having the right to protest the other men in her life. That was one of the most pressing reasons why he needed things this way. And now that he’d felt what it was like to make love to a woman—felt what had been written about in poems and songs for centuries—he was damn sure he’d made the right decision demanding exclusivity so early on.
Over the course of the past week, they’d talked about a few things, and one of them was how they’d be introducing each other to friends and family.
“Are you really going to introduce me as your girlfriend?” she’d asked a bit skeptically.
“Of course,” he’d answered, trying not to sound as terrified as the thought had made him.
He hadn’t even thought that far ahead when he’d made his all-or-nothing declaration last Saturday night. Being holed up in her apartment that whole weekend then having her in his bed all week, the entire thing felt a bit surreal still. But it didn’t get more real than going out and introducing her to his colleagues as his girlfriend and meeting her friends and family.
At first, he’d wondered if he was going to regret this. But once he heard her introduce him to Antonio and the other guys as her boyfriend, as weird as it felt, he was glad they’d had that conversation.
Fortunately, Brandon had one less thing to worry about when it came to this sudden enormous change in his life. Rodriguez had been sent out of state to cover for another sergeant. He’d be gone at least a month. He knew how hypocritical that would look. Although Brandon was very hard-nosed about the rules being followed at work and Rodriguez’s comments about being willing to risk his job were off the charts stupid, Brandon’s reaction had been a bit over the top. So while he’d had no intention of keeping his relationship with Regina a secret from anyone, he certainly wasn’t looking forward to that conversation with Rodriguez.
To his relief, Regina had been right about one thing. His not having friends in his life was not for lack of personality and being able to hold a conversation with someone. He was way more comfortable having her in his life and even staying in his place than he’d ever imagined he would be.
Saturday morning, Brandon started to slip out of bed to go make her coffee. As much as he hated the stuff, he loved seeing that smile on her face when he brought it to her. Since being on the receiving end of Regina’s grateful and breathtaking smiles, he was beginning to understand what the allure was for her daddy and possibly most of the men she’d ever met to want to spoil her. Making her happy and taking care of her had quickly become his first priority. It was the weirdest phenomenon. He’d always heard that giving was so much more satisfying than receiving, and this entire past week had been proof of that. He’d never felt as satisfied as when he saw that content smile on her.
Just as he got up, her phone rang by the chair where she’d left it, and it woke her. Frowning, he walked over to pick it up and bring it to her. He glanced at the name on the screen. C. Devereux.
“Your friend Chris from New York,” he said, making sure she knew he remembered what the “C” stood for.
Her eyes widened, and she took the phone but didn’t answer him. Brandon waited for her to comment, say something, anything that might explain her strange reaction to this guy. But she offered nothing, so he had to ask. “Aren’t you gonna answer?”
Looking up at him, she started to say something then seemed to change her mind and answered the phone instead. “Hey, Chris.” She smiled, pulling a strand of hair behind her ear. “Yes, I got it. Thank you so much. That was very sweet of you. No, no, everything is fine. I meant to call and thank you, but this week has been so crazy it totally slipped my mind.”
Brandon stood there, watching her, his jaw tensing at her telling this guy how sweet it was of him. Did all her guy friends go out of their way to do sweet things for her? This was exactly why he didn’t believe for a second that men and women could be friends. So this guy sends her a book, and she never responds. Can’t he take a hint? He has to follow up and call her and pretend he was worried because she hadn’t bothered to call him and thank him? Brandon could already tell he wasn’t going to like this old friend of hers, if, in fact, that’s all they’d ever been.
“In a few weeks? Yes, I’d like that. We can do coffee or dinner or something.”
Oh, hell no. She wasn’t going to start this shit. She had to know that unless she was planning on bringing Brandon along for that coffee or dinner with this guy this would never work. Panic crept in him slowly because things had been so perfect all week. Even when he’d brought up Antonio and her relationship with him, it had gone smoothly. He didn’t want to ruin things by getting into an argument now, but there was no way he could begin to hide what he was feeling.
“No,” she said, her voice going a little strange. “I have had my moments when I’ve been very tempted to call you.”
She glanced up at Brandon and cleared her throat, sitting up a little as he struggled to remain calm and not glare at her. Very tempted to call him?
“Listen, I gotta go, but it was really good to hear from you, and, again, thank you so much for the book. Call me when you’re in town.”
She hung up and smiled at him. “Were you going somewhere before the phone rang?”
“To get you coffee,” Brandon said with no intention of letting her brush the subject of her friend away again as she’d done before. “Your friend’s gonna be in town?”
She nodded, bringing her legs to the side of the bed. “In a few weeks.”
“And you two are getting together?”
“Most likely,” she said, getting up. He reached his arm out to help, but she motioned that she had it.
She hadn’t worn the splint all day yesterday, and she was actually walking on her ankle now. She said it didn’t hurt to step on it anymore, but Brandon had still warned her to take it easy.
“You said this was an old friend. How long have you two been friends?”
Without looking at him, Regina reached the bathroom. “Did I say old really? Not too long. We met last year. I’ll be right out.”
Last year? After her husband passed? A part of Brandon wanted to just let it go—not stir the waters. But he’d picked up on something ever since her reaction to the book this guy sent her. There was something about this subject—this guy. Something made her nervous to talk to Brandon about this friend. He’d since decided he wouldn’t push it, that it wasn’t a big deal. The guy didn’t even live in California. How much trouble could he be? But now he was calling her, and she was talking about meeting up with him? A guy she’d been very tempted to call?
Brandon was determined not to make a big deal of this, but he was absolutely getting to the bottom of this today.
A few minutes later, he heard the toilet flush then the water running. More minutes passed. Then she opened the door, her toothbrush still in her mouth, and she smiled. Even with a mouthful of toothpaste, bed head, and no makeup on, she was adorable. He couldn’t help smiling, but it only made him more anxious about this guy she thought she’d be getting together with.
After rinsing and wiping her mouth with a towel, she walked out. “You know what I’m craving?” she said, all bright-eyed. “Chocolate-chocolate-chip waffles.”
He hated to put a damper on her cheery mood, but he had to know. “We can go get some if you want. But you wanna tell me about this friend of yours from New York first?”
Her smile instantly vanished, and she started toward the bed. “No, not really,” she said, surprising him.
Brandon thought for sure she’d try to make light of it and change the subject. This just turned up the need to know more about this guy a few hundred notches. “Why?”
“Because it’s not something I feel like talking about.” Her response was abrupt—terse—not at all what he was expecting.
Taking a few steps toward her, he chose his words wisely because he could feel this getting tense already. There was no way he was letting this go now. “Why do I get the feeling there’s more to this friend that you’re not telling me?”
She turned to him with a look he hadn’t seen on her since the day she confronted him at the base, the glare that had him holding back a smile then. Only now he was in anything but a smiling mood. “We’ve been together for all of one week, Brandon. You really think I’ve told you everything about my life? I agreed to do this with you because I didn’t want things to go back to the way they were. I like having you in my life, but, Jesus, give me some time. There are some things I’d rather not talk about just yet.”
Brandon didn’t want to regret having done this with her. He didn’t want to regret that they were just into this one week and already the thought of her having a guy friend she didn’t want to tell him about had him wanting to punch a hole through a fucking wall. “Like ex-boyfriends or male friends you plan on getting together with?” he asked, every word louder than the last. “Because I’ll be damned if—”
“Chris is a she,” Regina said sharply, but then the severity in her own expression lessened, and the corner of her lip rose. She reached out and touched his face with her hand, relieving some of the enormous pressure already brimming in every one of his muscles. “If that’s what you’re worried about, don’t. You’ve made it very clear how you feel about men and women being friends, and if you recall, I agreed with you.”
He reached for her, pulling her into his arms, and buried his face in her neck. The relief was replaced by instant fear—fear that he was going to blow this. Even he hadn’t anticipated his reaction to be so heated. “I’m sorry.” He kissed her neck twice before pulling away. “I had a feeling I might suck at this, but I promise I won’t always be like this. I just . . .” He shook his head. “I’ll give you all the time you need. If you’d rather not talk about her yet, I’ll wait. I won’t be so—”
She kissed him, not letting him go on, and that was a damn good thing because, unbelievably, another thought he never expected to be thinking had begun to cloud his mind. For a moment of insane desperation, he actually considered doing something he long ago vowed he’d never do for anyone—beg. As much he felt for Regina, even she wouldn’t make him break that vow.
He had to get it together. His insecure ass was going to destroy this—this thing that after only a week he could already tell was the best thing that’d ever happened to him. Still, his reaction to thinking she didn’t want to tell him about another guy in her life hadn’t been unfounded. “I’m sorry I misunderstood,” he explained. “I really thought it was a guy you were on the phone with and sent you that romance novel.”
He kissed her deeply, wanting that last comment to register loud and clear. He wasn’t apologizing for nearly losing it because of that. If that were ever the case, she should expect nothing less. In fact, it’d probably be even more severe. The longer he was around her—spoiling her—claiming her with every kiss every time they made love, the likelier it’d be that he’d have less control over his emotions over anyone coming between them.
She ran her fingers through his hair as their kissing began going into that familiar, wild, uncontrolled place. Just like that, as always when he kissed her, he was instantly aroused, and his throbbing erection was already impossible to conceal through his thin boxer briefs. Remembering she was hungry and this was his chance to appease her with what she was craving, he pulled away gently, but she pulled him back, holding his shoulders tight.
Taking that as an invitation to dive in, he did so as wildly as only she could make him, as he had that very first time he kissed her madly. He picked her up, and she wrapped her legs around him instantly. “Careful,” he reminded her, mindful to not hurt her ankle.
He may never beg, but spoiling and appeasing his girl he could do. In fact, he couldn’t think of anything that felt better than seeing that beautiful smiling face or, in this case, her crying out in pleasure. Just like the spoiling, he wanted to make something perfectly clear: she didn’t need anyone else spoiling her or making her cry out in pleasure ever again.
Laying her down on the bed, he pulled her panties off and spread her wide. Her eyes went equally as wide. Since the first time they’d made love, while he’d made sure she was satisfied to near exhaustion, they’d done it his new favorite way every time—feeling her come while he kissed her insatiably, something completely and utterly new to him. He knew if things didn’t work out between them it would never happen again. That was something reserved exclusively for Regina, and he would never even try it with anyone else. So he could not get enough of it.
But right now was all about spoiling his little princess. Getting comfortable between her legs, he smiled because he hadn’t done a thing yet, and already she was trembling. The whole giving-feeling-so-much-better-than-receiving theory certainly applied here. The moment his mouth and tongue began greedily sucking up every ounce of her sweetness and he heard her moan in pleasure, he knew it. Just like kissing her, this was just another thing he’d never get enough of.