He got up then thought of his hermit parents and how they almost never got the door when someone knocked. He turned back to her. “You do want me to get it, right?”

“Yeah.” She nodded, the expression on her face as curious as he felt.

His insides tightened a little as he made it down the stairs. They definitely would be getting back to that conversation they’d started upstairs. Just the thought that he might be opening the door to a male friend of hers had him working his jaw already.

It was a dude at the door, but thankfully he was in an UPS uniform, holding a large square envelope with what felt like a book or something inside. Brandon took it from him, signing for it, and read who it was from: Chris Devereux MD. The originating address was from New York. He remembered her saying her mom used to have her meds delivered. Though he thought if that’s what this was it’d be coming from a pharmacy, not from what appeared to be a private address. He highly doubted any doctor’s office would be on Cherry Lane. Typically, it would have a suite or office number; this had neither. He shook it very subtly anyway as he walked up the stairs, but there was no noise.

Regina’s expression went as curious as he felt as soon as she saw him walk into the room with the package in his hand. “Hmm, I wasn’t expecting anything.”

“It’s from New York,” he said, handing it to her.

She read the return label, and the change in her demeanor was unmistakable. She even lost some color in her face.

“Your doctor?”

He pulled the tray with her waffles out of one of the bags on the bed, pretending not to notice her obvious sudden unease.

“No, um.” She glanced at him then put the package down next to her. “An old friend.” Bringing her attention to the tray he was now holding, with the see-through plastic cover, she smiled. “Are those chocolate waffles?”

“Chocolate chocolate chip, actually,” he said, pulling the lid off and handing them to her.

Her lips parted slightly in surprise as he sat down next to her and kissed her. She brought her hand to his face and kissed him deeper. “Thank you. These look delicious!”

Her reaction was pretty much what he’d expected, but something about it felt a bit forced. The package, or rather who it was from, had rattled her, and for as much as she tried bringing the focus onto her waffles and away from the package, he caught the struggle.

“Aren’t you curious?” he asked as she dug into the waffles.

She looked at him while chewing, her eyes nearly rolling back in ecstasy. “God, these are good,” she said, covering her mouth with her fingers.

Deciding to let it go—for now—Brandon pulled his steak and egg sandwich and orange juice out of the bag and joined her in eating breakfast. He told her about the shower chair he’d gotten from Walmart that morning and his history with the place he got the waffles from.

“Oh, one of my sisters lives near there. Wait.” She covered her mouth again as she finished chewing and thought about that. “Is Pacific Beach near La Jolla?”

“Yeah, that’s nearby there,” he said, crumpling up the wrap his sandwich had come in and throwing it in the bag.

“I thought so. I’ll have to tell her about this place. These waffles are to die for.”

Regina finished with her waffles, and Brandon gathered up the garbage in the bag.

“That was so good,” Regina said, tapping her belly. “And it was the perfect size, because I’m not overstuffed.”

“I thought you’d like them.” He smiled.

Seeing how content the waffles made her, Brandon was beginning to think maybe a drive out to La Jolla once in a while wouldn’t be so bad. Geez. Here he’d had the nerve to make fun of the other guys she very possibly had wrapped already. At least those guys had been around her for a few weeks.

Shaking his head, he stood. “I’ll go get the chair from my car.”

“Oh, yes!” she said with a big smile. “That’s gonna make showering so much easier. Thank you.”

He turned to her with a smirk, and she held her hands out. “Yes, I wanna thank you for it. Come here.”

She wiggled her fingers in front of her, and he was there in an instant, leaning over. Pulling him gently by his shirt, she gave him one of the deepest kisses yet, one that had parts of him shifting. He had to pull away before things got embarrassing. She’d already made it clear there’d be nothing more going on than what they’d already done, but if she kept this up, he may be tempted to try and change her mind.

“You’re welcome,” he said, pecking her one last time. “I’ll be back.”

The moment he was out of sight, he adjusted himself. As much as he avoided kissing in the past, he’d never let them get this frenzied, so while he had felt aroused by a single kiss before, he’d only felt the beginning of arousal. Never before had he gotten a full-blown erection from one kiss as he had now. This wasn’t just embarrassing. It was ridiculous.

Chapter Fourteen

Regina

Waiting until she heard the door open downstairs, Regina chewed her lip before ripping the package open from Dr. Devereux. First, she pulled out the card. She ripped the envelope it was in, saw it was an anniversary card, and read it quickly.

Regina,

I hope this finds you well. I was in the bookstore the other day and saw a sign announcing that E.R.Rico would be doing a book signing there in a few days and immediately thought of you. I remembered how books were your escape, even during your darkest hours, and that she was one of your favorites. So I decided to come back and get you a signed copy of her latest. In revisiting your file for your forwarding address, I noticed it’s been almost eighteen months since your very first therapy session. So I thought this would make a nice little anniversary gift.