“Okay, what?” he asked.

“I am not calling you sir!”

Brandon laughed heartedly and kissed her. “That’s not what I meant. I mean I wanna know exactly what you think you’re agreeing to.”

She looked at him, confused and a little embarrassed. “Being your girl, right?”

He leaned in and kissed her so deeply she began to squirm, but she wrapped her arms around him tightly, relieved she’d clearly gotten it right.

Pulling away just slightly, he looked deep into her eyes. “My princess,” he whispered.

The term of endearment and how sweetly he said it took her by surprise, but she immediately loved it, so she smiled big. “I like that,” she whispered back.

As unexpected as this sudden change in her life was, Regina’s heart pounded with the eager anticipation of what was to come.

The next day had been as wonderful as the rest of the weekend. She’d been able to keep her family at bay by telling them a little white lie. She knew her mother would want her there again for their Sunday family brunch. But there was no way she could go with her ankle like this. And Brandon had been right. It was better that she not tell them about her injury just yet. They’d make a big deal out of it, so she told them she was still having some things delivered and while they’d told her they’d deliver on Sunday they didn’t give her a time. She also mentioned having a major breakthrough at work and had some things she really wanted to work on ASAP. That wasn’t entirely a lie, so she felt less guilty about the first lie.

Brandon had been as sweet and attentive as he’d been from the first day. Then things took an unexpected change. After the struggle of getting Regina down the stairs Monday morning, he insisted they stay at his single-story place at least for that week.

“No sense in having to deal with those stairs all week,” he’d said. “We’ll take whatever you need to my place for the week, and maybe by the weekend your ankle will be strong enough for you to climb up on your own.”

At first, Regina tried to protest she couldn’t do that—just move into his place for the week and intrude on his life that way. But after getting that scolding look because she was apparently being difficult and he was only trying to make life easier not just on her but himself, she gave in.

Monday she’d given Brandon a tour of her small office space at work when he walked her there in the morning. They’d arrived early before anyone else was there because they’d made sure to allow enough time for her to walk as slowly as she needed from the parking lot to the building. Then, just as she’d finished the tour, Antonio and a couple of the other guys she worked with arrived. Regina made sure she introduced Brandon as her boyfriend since he’d been so adamant that he didn’t do the friend thing. She’d gotten the distinct feeling from the way Brandon eyed them the moment they walked into the office Brandon might be ticked if she hadn’t introduced him that way.

He appeared pleased enough but still planted a long deep one on her just before he walked out of her office. He finished it off by telling her to have a good day and that he’d be back at the end of the day to help her to her car. Then he gave the guys, but especially Antonio, one last very significant look.

Monday night they’d gone back to her place as she gathered everything she’d need at his place for the week. Or rather she told Brandon where he could find everything, and he’d fetched it all, including her fancy single-cup coffee maker. She’d already begun to notice what a control freak Brandon was, so it didn’t even surprise her when he’d wanted to know how to work it even though he hated coffee. He told her he wanted to make it for her in the mornings so she could concentrate on taking her time getting ready.

“Rushing could lead to injuries,” he’d said as she showed him how easy her coffee machine was—fill with water, drop the pod in and hit start.

That night, he also surprised her with another question as they lay there in bed, enjoying their now usual goodnight kissing. He’d been lying over her, his body half on hers when he pulled away and stared at her very seriously for good long moment. “The morning we got stuck in the elevator, two Fridays ago,” he said, and she stared at him, the memory of that morning coming back to her.

It was hard to believe how drastically things had changed between them since that morning. She nodded running her fingers through his hair. “Yeah?”

“Your co-worker Antonio, the one you called to get the power back on?” Again she nodded, curious now where he was going with this. “You thanked him for doing something for you. You called him sweetie.”

“You remember that?”

This time he nodded, still staring at her a little too seriously. “What did he do that had you smiling so big and made you even more anxious to get to your office?”

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.”