Breaking Brandon (Fate) (21 page)

“Wh
y does that make you a coward or even a fraud, Regina? You had two terrible losses back to back, and you snapped. It’s not unheard of.”

“I’m not the first person to lose someone,” she said, raising her voice. “People lose loved ones all the time, and they
get through it. I never even got rid of the gun” She frowned, motioning to the wooden chest.” It’s buried in there somewhere. I made the mental argument with myself that I should keep it since I was a single woman living alone, but deep inside, I knew it was really for fear that I might need it again someday.” She pointed at him with that feral look in her eyes she had earlier when she’d told him about Janecia, so Brandon held her tight. “You lost both your parents, one of them just as suddenly and tragically as I lost Ryan, and I bet you never considered taking your life.” Shaking her head, she stared out at nothing in particular. “I can’t even imagine,” she whispered. “You’re so much stronger than I am. I’m so weak. After everything you’ve been through and all by yourself, you didn’t fall apart like I did. I had my entire family and friends, and still, if it hadn’t been for my neighbors, I wouldn’t be here right now.”

Brandon lowered his face to try to get her attention. He waited until he had it and she wa
s looking right at him. “People handle things differently, and everybody grieves differently, okay? No, I never considered taking my life, but think about it. What
did
I do? I did the very same thing you almost did. Maybe not literally but I made the decision to stop living. I went through the motions of waking and working and continuing with my life, but I wasn’t living. I didn’t even realize it until you came along.
This
is living.” He kissed her softly because he’d just had a huge revelation. “What I was doing before you . . . Baby, I may as well have been dead. My life now with you compared to what it was then . . . I
was
dead.”

The corner of her lip lifted, and her eyes were flooded once again, but this time there was a smile behind them, and she wrappe
d her arms around him tightly.

“I was so afraid to tell you about what I’d done,” she said against his neck. “The only people who know are my therapist and the neighbors who broke down my apartment door after hearing me trash the place and screaming like a
crazy person. Janecia doesn’t even know. All she knows is I had a breakdown and had to start seeing a therapist. I was afraid you’d see me differently—lose respect for me—but as usual, you’re amazing, Brandon.” She pulled away and their eyes locked. That gentle innocence he’d been drawn to way back when, reflected in the way she looked into his eyes now. “I love you,” she whispered.

For a moment, he froze. Aside from his mother, no one else had ever said these words to him, and it nearly suffocated him. It
was subtle, but there was no hiding the disappointment in her eyes when he didn’t immediately respond.

“You do?”

She nodded nervously. “I do.”

This was the last thing he expected to hear tonight, especially
after everything they’d just discussed. As terrified as he was to admit it—say it out loud—he had to.

“I love you too.”

He got that look from her, that same one she’d given him when he promised he’d never ride a motorcycle. It was suspicious, and he knew why. “I do.” He laughed, hugging her tightly then kissing the top of her head. “You just caught me off guard, but I do.” He leaned his forehead against hers. “I love you, Ms. Brady.”

She laughed, and it was a beautiful sound—beautiful and satisfying—conside
ring she’d been so miserable just minutes ago.

“Make love to me, Sergeant Billings,” she whispered against his lips.

“Yes, ma’am,” he said with a growl as he stood up and lifted her in his arms. “Your wish is my command, princess.”

Feeling like the luckies
t man in the world, he rushed off with her.

Chapter Eighteen

The following Friday Regina walked out of his bedroom after changing into nothing more than Brandon’s Padres T-shirt and panties as she often did after work during the week. She informed Brandon they wouldn’t be meeting Janecia and Clay for appetizers and drinks like they had the past few Friday nights.

Brandon chose his words carefully because he didn’t want to ignite anything, but he had a feeling she’d be regr
etting this later. “Babe, you can’t just stop talking to your best friend over this. I know how strongly you feel about it, but do you really want such a long friendship with someone you care so much about to end like this?”

Regina opened up the box of piz
za she’d ordered in lieu of their date night out. “It’s not ending,” she said, pulling a slice out of the box and setting it onto a paper plate but didn’t look at him. “They left this morning for Puerto Nuevo.”

“Oh,” Brandon said, feeling like a complete a
ss now.

The last thing he wanted was to have her thinking about this all night. Mercifully, before he could come up with a way to change the subject, her phone rang. She walked away from the pizza on the table and into the kitchen where she’d left her phon
e.

Brandon walked over to the pizza box and opened it, examining the gourmet pizza she’d ordered from her favorite place. Unlike the pizzas he was used to with lots of red sauce, she’d mentioned this was made with white garlic sauce, so the whole thing was
mostly white, but it at least it had sausage.

He’d just taken a bite of the pizza and the flavors had exploded in his mouth when he heard the tail end of Regina’s conversation and froze.

“She’s dating
my
Ricardo? Are you sure it’s the same one?”

Chewing s
lowly, he waited as Regina paused and he heard the refrigerator door open. “Get out!” she said, suddenly sounding a little too giddy for someone who’d just walked away in such a somber mood. “She’s bringing him Sunday? Does she know he’s my ex?”

She paused
again while Brandon swallowed down his pizza. It went down a little harder than he’d expected.

“Oh, wow. Did she say if he’s still surfing? I wonder if he still looks the same.”

After hearing that, Brandon started toward the kitchen. He didn’t want to be petty, but Regina’s interest in
her
Ricardo was irritating as shit, so he figured he may as well get close enough to hear every word. It wasn’t like she’d hushed her voice or was trying to keep this conversation private, so he leaned against the kitchen entryway and took another bite, looking straight at her. Suddenly, she seemed uncomfortable. It was almost as if it’d just hit her that Brandon could hear what she’d been talking about.

Clearing her throat, she turned away and reached into the fridge. “No, d
on’t be silly.”
Now
she lowered her voice, making Brandon chew slower in an effort to remain calm. “I know she’s annoying, but I’m seeing someone now, remember? Besides, I wouldn’t play those immature games. Listen,” she said, abruptly turning back to Brandon with a smile. “We were about to eat. I’ll call you later. Let me know if there is anything you need me to bring.”

She hung up and put the phone down on the counter. “You want a soda?” she asked, reaching back for the refrigerator handle.

Brandon shook his head, staring at her as he stuck the last piece of pizza in his mouth and continued to chew.

“Did you like it?” she asked, smiling brightly.

Again his response was nonverbal; he simply nodded but continued to stare at her. She tried walking past him, but he didn’t move. His body took up most of the door frame, so she stopped, placing her hand over his chest. The tiny smirk on her face relieved him slightly. Obviously, she wasn’t too worried about this.

“My s
ister was just telling me about my cousin’s new boyfriend.”

“I heard.” He finally spoke up. “
Your
Ricardo?”

She brought her fingers over her mouth in an attempt to hide a bigger smile. “I just meant my ex.”

Brandon brought his hand around her and squeezed her ass, making her yelp then laugh nervously. “Your ex who you’re still curious about?”

“No,” she said, caressing his face as she pressed her body against his. “Not curious.” She pecked him softly. “I just haven’t seen him in
years
.”

She tried to kiss him
again, but he pulled back. “Curious,” he restated then nipped her bottom lip as he brought his other arm around her and squeezed her other ass cheek even harder. “What kind of immature games was your sister asking you to play?”

That surprised her though s
he quickly recovered and kissed him a little more aggressively, but he pulled away again.

“Answer the question, Regina,” he said, spreading her ass cheeks and sliding his fingers upwards.

He almost smiled at her gasping, but he continued to stare in her suddenly aroused eyes.

“Our cousin can be annoying, so my sister thought it’d be fun if I flirted with him Sunday.”

He spun her around and pinned her against the kitchen wall. “And that’s how you refer to me to your family? Someone you’re
seeing
?” Before she could respond, he ripped her panties off. “Is it? Not your boyfriend? I thought we discussed this?”

Sliding two fingers into her, he loved that she couldn’t even respond since she was so hot she was almost moaning. He dove into her neck, sucking harder th
an he normally did.
His
immature side was tempted to leave a mark so
her
fucking Ricardo could see it Sunday, but then he thought better of it. This was not the impression he wanted to make on her family before they even met him, so he spun her around again and lifted her up, setting her down on the counter. Spreading her wide, he fucked her with his fingers while he dug for his wallet with his other hand.

“They know,” she said breathlessly as she ran her fingers frantically through his hair, “that you’re m
y boyfriend.”

He unzipped his pants and pulled out his aching erection, all the while kissing her madly. He pulled away just long enough to slip the condom on.

“They know we’re living together,” she said, making him stop for a moment and look up at her. Her eyes widened, looking a little alarmed. “Because we are, right?”

He hadn’t even thought about it, but it made sense. They’d been inseparable since that first night. Whether it was here or her place, they hadn’t slept apart once. “Yeah,” he said, slipping
his hand behind her neck and kissing her then slamming into her.

Regina cried out and slid closer to the edge of the counter, spreading wider, and he went in deeper—harder—kissing her just as hard the whole time. He pounded away again and again, trying to
push aside the unreasonable jealousy he felt over her and an ex she hadn’t seen in years. Then he remembered her curiosity about the guy and pounded into her even harder, making her cry out even louder, until she was trembling all over.

“I’m . . .” he sai
d as he slammed in as deep as he could.

She moaned, squeezing her legs around him at the same time lifting up to him. “What?” She gasped.

“I’m coming . . .” he said as he exploded into her, and her thighs clung on to him for dear life.

Her arms squeezed ar
ound his neck as both of them gasped and struggled to catch up with their pounding hearts and breathing.

“I’m coming with you Sunday.” He was finally able to say it as his lungs struggled to gasp in chunks of air.

She didn’t say anything, and he helped her off the counter. They walked over her ripped panties on the floor as he led her out of the kitchen and into his bedroom where they could collapse. “You ripped my good
chonie
s,” she said.

“I’ll buy you more,” he said, smiling and hugging her to him. “So yo
ur ex is a surfer, huh?”

Regina groaned bringing her arms around him and hugging his waist as they continued to walk. “It’s been over seven years since I last saw him, Brandon. That was girl talk you weren’t supposed to hear. I didn’t realize I was speakin
g so loudly. Even my married sister says things her husband would seriously have a fit about when he’s not around. But it’s just how we girls talk. It’s harmless.”

Brandon brought his hand down and squeezed her naked ass. “You’re not still gonna call him
your
Ricardo when I’m not around, are you?”

Regina giggled, pulling away from him quickly, but he caught her just as they made it to his bed, and they fell onto it. “Maybe I didn’t fuck you hard enough,” he said, pinning her down, and she laughed even loude
r. “I was trying to send a message.” He struggled to keep a straight face as he stared down at her. “I don’t think you got it.”

Barely able to speak from all the laughing, Regina squirmed under him, spreading her legs. “Clearly, I was too caught up in the
moment,” she teased with a murmur. “Maybe you need to send that message again.” She bit her bottom lip. “Even harder this time.”

Instantly, Brandon was on his knees reaching over to his nightstand for another condom.

~*~

Regina

The outcome of Brandon overhearing Regina’s conversation with her sister Friday night couldn’t have gone better if she’d planned it that way. In fact, with her rotten luck, if she had actually done that on purpose, she was certain it would’ve backfired on her and ended with an ugly fight instead of ending the somewhat unnerving yet thrilling way it had.

Over the past several weeks, Regina had been privy to that softer, sweeter side of Brandon. But what secretly thrilled her was that, as sweet as she knew he
could be now, he still hadn’t lost that dark bewildering side. That side was still there when he was on duty at the base and resurfaced every now and again even around just her, though she could tell he did his best to conceal it. As nervous as it made her, there was something so incredibly sexy about it. She especially loved the power she had to lessen his tension with just a few kisses.

Today’s visit with her family wasn’t the usual Sunday brunch. She’d casually mentioned her nephew’s baptism to Brandon
weeks ago. The way the guy remembered even the smallest details of things she’d told him so long ago she’d been certain he hadn’t forgotten. Yet, up until Friday’s incident he hadn’t mentioned anything about going with her. She knew him well enough to have picked up on one thing. He wasn’t anxious to meet her family. Regina knew this was all new to him. Just making an attachment was a huge step for him, so she knew meeting her family would only reaffirm just how attached they were becoming. When she mentioned her nephew’s baptism, she hadn’t wanted to make him feel obligated or forced to go, so she left it on the table but didn’t so much insinuate that she wanted him there.

He already knew that her family Sunday brunches meant just that. Her whole family wou
ld be there. This was a little different, and she hoped it would make it a little less intimate so he wouldn’t feel so overwhelmed on his first meeting with them. Since it was her nephew’s baptism, it would be at her sister’s, not her parents’ place like the usual brunches. There would also be other people there besides her immediate family: extended family, friends, and her brother-in-law’s family. Brandon wouldn’t be the center of attention as she knew he’d be had his first visit with them been at one of their brunches.

Running her fingers through his hair, she stared at her new love as he slept soundly. He shifted at the touch of her fingers and wrapped his arms around her even tighter. A soft moan escaped him, but he didn’t open his eyes. “How much time
do we have?” he murmured.

She smiled, continuing to run her fingers through his hair. “A few hours. I’m gonna get in the shower, but you can sleep longer if you want. We have time. I just take long getting ready.”

Fortunately, since her sister had chosen a Sunday to have her nephew baptized, those Masses were held in the wee hours of the morning at their church before all the other Sunday Masses began. Her sister had told everyone who wasn’t an actual mandatory part of the ceremony they needn’t be there at the early Mass and the family gathering at her home wouldn’t be until noon. They were having the ceremony professionally taped anyway, and no doubt Regina would be watching it over and over as she did the other videos of her niece and nephew.

Brandon ran h
is hands up and down Regina’s naked body as he squeezed one eye open. “I could join you in the shower if you want.” The corner of his lip tugged as he nudged her thigh with the erection she’d already felt earlier. “It’s not like I’ll be able to go back to sleep now anyhow.”

Un-wrapping his arms from around her, Brandon jumped out of bed suddenly and headed to the bathroom. She knew what he was in a hurry to do more than actually use the bathroom—brush his teeth. She’d already brushed hers and knew it was ju
st one of the things he was obsessive about. Within minutes, he was back and crawled in next to her again with a very mischievous smile. His hands were already roaming her body.