His blue eyes disappeared underneath that heavy sheath of thick lashes as he looked down for a moment. “That was really shitty of me to treat you that way. I shouldn’t have. I’m real sorry about that.”

“Can you tell me about her?” she said, lowering her voice a little. “The girl you said I reminded you of?”

His eyes were on her again, and she saw something different in them now, only like before, she couldn’t decipher it. To her disappointment, he did pull his hand back from behind her neck. But as much as she wished she hadn’t asked, a part of her really wanted to know now.

“There’s not much to tell,” he said, shaking his head. “She’s just a girl from my past. Way back.”

“A girlfriend?”

“Nope.” He frowned. “She wasn’t even a girlfriend. She was just someone I knew most my life and thought I had feelings for. It didn’t end well, and I haven’t spoken to or seen her in years. That’s about all there is to tell.”

“What about me reminded you of her? I noticed the distaste from the moment I saw you at the airport, so I take it I resemble her?”

He nodded with an apologetic smile then kissed her softly. “I saw the dark hair.” He touched a strand of her hair. “The big brown eyes.” He smiled then went serious again. “I heard you on the phone with your dad, and I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, but it was hard not to listen, standing right behind you. I picked up on how maybe he was going a little overboard, making sure you were okay, and that’s how this girl’s entire family was.” He frowned now, the look of distaste exactly as she remembered it at the airport and those first several times she’d run into him here. “Her family was way over the top, and then you referred to your grandma in Spanish to boot. This girl was Hispanic too, so it brought back memories of someone I hadn’t thought about in years. It was just a little irritating.”

Without thinking, Regina’s brows shot up, and Brandon kissed her again quickly. “The memories, that is, not you.”

Smiling, she kissed him back and chewed her lip. “Well, you were right about my dad. He can go a little overboard. My whole family can actually. That’s why I didn’t wanna call them today. They’d waltz in here and just take over.”

She said that as if that weren’t what Brandon was slowly doing also. Somehow having Brandon pamper her, even if he had started taking liberties with what he thought was best for her, seemed a lot more fun than having her overbearing but well-meaning family doing just the same.

That last comment didn’t seem to go over too well with him. Maybe she was a little too much like this girl he didn’t like thinking of. She was about to ask exactly what he meant by “didn’t end well” when his hand on her thigh distracted her.

“Are they coming tomorrow?”

“I haven’t called them,” she admitted, feeling bad instantly. “But I will. Don’t worry. I wouldn’t dream of asking you to wait on me all weekend.”

Raising a brow, he stared at her for a moment. “Wouldn’t dream of it?” he asked with a smirk, squeezing her thigh.

Surprised by his playfulness but even more surprised by how unnerving the very thought of what he might be implying was, she gulped. Had she given him the wrong impression? Having him around all weekend was an exciting thought, but not if he was thinking she’d be thanking him in other ways.

“No, I wouldn’t,” she reaffirmed. “You’ve already done so much for me. I couldn’t possibly—”

His lips were on hers again, and she let herself fall into the amazing experience once again. Just when he’d begun to lean into her, the buzzing of one of their phones interrupted them. He stopped, pulling away just so, breathing heavily against her lips still.

“Is that you or me?” he asked.

Taking a deep breath, she looked around. “That’s you,” she said as his phone on the nightstand buzzed again. She leaned over and grabbed it, catching a part of the name as she handed it to him: Sergeant something or other.

He answered it as soon as he saw who it was. “Sergeant Billings, here.” She watched as he listened intently. “Yes, sir, that’s the one.” He nodded a few times. “Not a problem, sir. I can do that.”

All the “sirs” reminded her of the incident with Lansing at the ER. She wondered if Brandon was still planning on speaking to his supervisor. The guy had given Brandon his supervisor’s name and number, and Brandon had been very adamant about the whole thing.

“Absolutely. Thank you, sir. You too.”

He hung up and tossed the phone on the bed then leaned into Regina again. His playful expression was a new one to her. “Where were we?”

She leaned back before he could kiss her again. “That just reminded me of something, Brandon.”

“What’s that? he said, licking her bottom lip, making her shiver.

“Were you really going to still call the supervisor of that poor guy from the ER?”

She may as well have pulled the emergency brakes on Brandon’s sudden and uncharacteristic playfulness because he pulled back sharply, his eyes zeroing in on hers.

“Why?”

“I’m just wondering.” She touched his face, a part of her wanting suddenly to take the question back but another part still wanting to help out the poor guy, so she added. “I just feel bad for him. He seemed nice enough—”