Brundar halted in front of Onegus’s office and knocked. If the chief was going to chew his ass for taking another half a day off, he would be well justified. Everyone was stretched to the limit, working double shifts. The thing was, Brundar and Anandur’s job allowed them more free time than the others.

When Kian didn’t have meetings outside the keep, they could choose to help out with other tasks or not.

Lately, Brundar was mostly opting to take time off. Between his second job helping manage Franco’s club and seeing Calypso, he just couldn’t afford to volunteer any of his free time.

Today, he was taking her to UCLA, even though Roni had made it unnecessary by changing the records. The kid was amazing. Calypso’s old name had been replaced by the new one Brundar had chosen for her in each and every one of the admissions records the university kept.

For some reason, this outing was important to him. As a guy who’d never taken a woman anywhere, it would be a first for him. He didn’t want to give it up unless he absolutely had to.

“Come in,” Onegus called out.

Brundar pushed the door open. “I’m taking the rest of the day off. I’ll be back for my night shift.”

Onegus shook his head and waved him off without a comment. The dismissal was worse than the chewing Brundar had been expecting.

Closing the door, he wondered whether he should’ve offered an explanation. But what could he have said? That he was choosing to escort his lady friend over helping his fellow Guardians? Promise that it was the last time?

Both options would have made him look bad. It was better to keep his mouth shut. Anyway, no one expected him to explain, because he never bothered.

Not Calypso, though. She had a way of pulling words out of him like no one before her had managed. Which reminded him that he should text her to get ready.

He pulled out his phone. On my way. Be there in twenty.

I’m waiting, was her reply.

As he tucked the phone into his back pocket, Brundar frowned, wondering why the text exchange bothered him. For some reason, he felt uncomfortable, as if he was wearing shoes that were rubbing his feet the wrong way or an article of clothing that didn’t fit well.

He was still trying to figure it out when he knocked on Calypso’s door.

She opened the way, her broad smile taking his breath away. How was it possible for her to look more beautiful every time he saw her? And it wasn’t as if she was dressed to kill. The thing was, simple jeans, sneakers, and T-shirt looked better on her than an evening gown on another woman.

“Don’t just stand there, come in and give me a kiss.”

He could do that.

Taking a step in, Brundar kicked the door closed and wrapped his arms around her middle. Trapping her arms as he lifted her up, he kissed her until she pulled back to suck in a breath.

“You must have huge lungs,” she said after catching her breath.

Brundar sat her back down. “I do.” His lungs could go without air much longer than a human’s.

“Can I see the papers?”

He’d kept the name she was going to use a secret, wanting to surprise her.

Reaching inside his pants’ back pocket, he pulled out the envelope with her new birth certificate, social, driver’s license, and passport.

Calypso walked over to the kitchen counter, upended the envelope, then picked up the driver’s license first.

“Heather Wilson?” She grimaced. “That’s so boring.”

“I agree, which is exactly the reason I chose it. You need a name that’s forgettable. A unique name would stand out. You don’t want people to remember it.”

“Yes, you’re right of course. I need to memorize it.”

“Do you want me to start calling you Heather?”

“Oh, God, no. It’s weird enough that you call me Calypso when I think of myself as Callie.”

She should’ve told him she didn’t like her given name. He thought it was beautiful, like the woman herself.

“If you don’t like it, I can start calling you Callie.”

“No. For some reason, I like the way you say it. It sounds so regal coming out from your mouth. Calypso.” She imitated his serious tone, then chuckled nervously. “Ignore me. I’m talking nonsense.”

“No, you are not. I like using your given name because it sounds special. Like you.”

“Thank you.” Calypso opened her purse and put her new documents inside. “Heather Wilson is ready to tackle the administration offices.”

Brundar shifted his weight to his other foot. “I have another surprise for you.”

“What is it?”

“My hacker took care of everything, changing your name in the university’s database. There is no real need for us to go there. Only if you want to.”

Calypso lifted her purse and tucked it under her arm. “First of all, I still want to verify that everything is all right. Secondly, they might keep a paper trail.”

He hadn’t considered the possibility. “I don’t think any institution does that anymore these days. Why waste space on endless paper files?”

“Maybe you’re right. But we need to check.”

“Agreed.”

Brundar pulled the door open for her.

“How long do you have?” she asked while locking it. “Do you need to go back to work? Or just the club?”

Brundar held the door to the stairs open for her. “I have a night shift, so no club. But other than that I have the rest of the day off.” He took her hand as they descended the stairs.

“After we are done with the administration, do you want to have an early dinner with me?”

“I would love that.”

“I mean out in a restaurant. Like a date. Our first.” She cast him a hesitant glance.

A date. He’d never been on one. Did hookups count as dates? Not likely. Not his kind of hookups. The kind that required a signed contract.

Calypso was still waiting for his answer, her heartbeat getting faster by the second. He assumed it wasn’t due to physical exertion. Going down the stairs wasn’t a strenuous activity.

“Of course. I owe you for all those amazing home-cooked meals.”

Her face fell and he knew he’d botched it.

“What I meant by that is that it is my turn to treat you, and since I don’t know anything about cooking, I should invite you to a good restaurant.”

Calypso smiled, but it was forced.

Could he have said it better? How?

The uncomfortable feeling from before was back.

Calypso was expecting too much from him, and he was feeling trapped by her expectations, trying to accommodate them because he wanted to make her happy. Or at least not sad. That was why he’d felt weird about the texting earlier. With all her talk about caring and showing that he cared she was trying to turn him into someone he was not and would never be.

He wasn’t her boyfriend, and he didn’t do the things a boyfriend was expected to do. He would never fit into that mold.

Friends with benefits. That was what she’d called their arrangement. It was a good definition for what they had, and they should never cross that line.