Regina’s lips parted, still stunned that he remembered these things with such detail. Even she’d forgotten about that conversation until just a few days ago.

Brandon’s eyes moved down to her lips, and he pecked them softly. “Tell me,” he whispered.

“He bought bagels for everyone, and he brought me my favorite.”

“Which is?”

She smiled, knowing once she told him he’d likely never forget. “Blueberry.”

He nodded again, and she was certain that confirmed that the fact had been locked away in his memory vault, which apparently held on to even the most insignificant of things. “You’d only been there a week. How’d he know it was your favorite?”

Regina tilted her head with a smirk. Would he always pay attention to the smallest of details? “The very first day, when I was introduced to the whole office, they had a list of very important questions for me. How do I take my coffee and was I a donut or bagel girl were among them. When I said, “Bagel,” he immediately asked what my favorite was.”

Brandon’s eyebrow went up, but not in a playful way. “Immediately, huh? You and he talk on the phone outside of work?”

Uh oh, now she knew exactly where this was going. “Not really.”

“Yes or no, Regina. Not really isn’t gonna fly.”

Just like when he’d made it clear that it was all or nothing, as nervous as he could make her, being so upfront, Regina had to admit she appreciated his not beating around the bush. She hadn’t even noticed she had a missed call from Antonio Thursday night until the Friday morning when she got a text from Antonio asking if she was okay. After their post-When Harry Met Sally conversation and especially after his all or nothing proposal, the thought had crossed her mind that any relationship with Antonio outside of work might be an issue. But just like everything else when it came to Brandon, she never imagined they’d be addressing this so soon.

“I exchanged numbers with everyone in the firm. Things do come up after hours, so occasionally, we may need to speak outside of work.”

“But he’s not your friend?”

The caveat in his tone was undeniable. Brandon wasn’t just asking a question. He was making a statement. He’d certainly made himself clear last night, and he was doing it again now.

“He’s my co-worker,” she said, feeling a little stupid now that she’d actually laid the syrup on when talking to Antonio that morning on purpose. The last thing she would’ve imagined then was that it would come back and bite her in the ass in this way. “Subordinate actually, but I prefer to see them all as co-workers.”

“You call all of your subordinates sweetie?”

“Okay,” she said, straightening out a little. For someone who liked cutting right down to the chase, he sure was dragging this one out and painfully so, since they both knew what he was trying to insinuate. “First of all, no, I don’t. Second, I’ll just admit it because I don’t want this to become an issue moving forward. That morning I was extra nice to him because you were standing right there listening. You’d been pretty curt with me up until then, and I just wanted to make a point that I wasn’t the anti-social one. I can be very nice when people are nice to me. But no, that was the first and last time I ever called him that.”

His continued heavy stare dug into her. Now that she knew how closely he was paying attention to even the smallest of things, she wondered what was going through his mind. To her surprise, his stern expression softened. “You are very nice,” he said, kissing her softly, “and very beautiful.” He kissed her chin then moved down to her neck and sucked, making her squirm in response. Kissing his way back up to her lips, he stopped, and their eyes met again. “He shouldn’t be an issue. I was gonna let it go actually. I didn’t wanna make a big deal out of something so trivial, but after seeing the surprised look on his face today, it made me wonder just why the f**k he’d be so surprised that you were with someone, so I had to ask.” He smirked, though it wasn’t as playful as his usual smirks. “As of right now, I’m not fond of any guy so willing to go out of his way for my princess, but I’ll take your word that he’s nothing more than your eager-to-please subordinate. Just be warned. Unless you want me to really hate the guy, please never let me hear you call him sweetie again.”

“I won’t,” she whispered with a smile, and Brandon took her mouth in his again.

Her insides churned with a mix of excitement and nerves as he kissed her slowly but incredibly meticulously, not missing a single spot of her hungry mouth. She wondered even through her suddenly aroused state how long it would take for her to get used to Brandon’s emphatic way of getting straight to the point when it came to certain things. There’d be no guessing games in this relationship about things of this nature. That was for sure.

~~~

By Thursday, they had their routine down. That evening, Brandon had to make a run because she was getting low on the wrap for her ankle, even though it wasn’t nearly as sore as it had been days ago. He still insisted she continue to wear the wrap. He also said he’d be stopping to pick up dinner and a few other things he was getting low on from the market. As usual, he refused to take any money from her.

From the first day Regina had stepped foot into Brandon’s meticulously organized apartment, she’d been even more overwhelmed with concern over what she’d gotten herself into. She was almost embarrassed now that he’d been witness to her less-than-organized place. She wasn’t a slob or anything, but Brandon’s apartment was a perfect exhibit of a neat freak bordering on OCD.