Deciding she wasn’t even sure where this could go and that could very well mean nowhere, Regina wasn’t going to worry about all that yet. She’d take her weekend with him for what it was worth and enjoy it. At least, she didn’t have to worry about feeling dirty or used afterwards because she’d already set that boundary, and he’d assured her today he would be respecting it.
~~~
“I can’t believe that’s the first time you’ve ever seen When Harry Met Sally!” Regina said, shaking her head as she clicked the remote, turning the television off.
Smiling, Brandon shrugged. “It just never seemed like something I could get into.”
Brandon slid down from his sitting position on her bed and lay back all the way. Regina did the same, turning to her side and resting her head on her fist. “So what’s your take on it? Do you agree men and women can’t be friends?”
“Yep, absolutely.”
This surprised her. “Really? They absolutely can be friends?”
“No, I agree that they can’t, and I think Harry nailed the reason why perfectly. Men and women can’t be friends because the sex part always gets in the way.”
“Wow, you really do have a good memory.”
“Not that good,” he said, smiling and playing with her hand. “I said I’ve never seen the movie, but I’ve seen plenty of parts, like that one and the part where she fakes the orgasm in the diner. Actually, I’ve seen most of the more famous parts. I just never sat through the whole thing from beginning to end before.”
“Well, this will probably get my woman card taken away, but I’m gonna have to agree too.” This seemed to surprise him. “But not exactly for the reason you or Harry think. I think it comes down to feelings, not just sex. I think, even if you don’t have sex, the relationship can be ruined because one side starts developing feelings and the other side might not.”
He shook his head. “Maybe for you that’s the case because you’ve probably never met a man who hasn’t fallen in love with you immediately. So you’ve never been able to keep friendships with men. But most of the time it’s about the sex, especially if, say, the woman you had sex with—and didn’t fall in love with, so you remained friends—gets an actual boyfriend or even husband. There’s no way that friend is gonna stay a friend without her man having issues with it, unless, of course, she lies about never having slept with her friend.” He frowned, glancing at her, his expression going grim. “In that case, if they’re starting off with lies or cover ups, the relationship with her new man is probably doomed to begin with.”
With her heart beating a little faster, Regina tried not to put too much weight on his statement about her not having met a man who didn’t fall in love with her immediately. He was just being sweet. She’d already established that he could be sweet—very.
Caught in his eyes for moment, her heart pounded even harder before she managed to counter. “But that’s not exactly what Harry argued in the movie. He said that men and women can’t be friends because attracted to them or not,” she laughed nervously, “you pretty much want to nail them all anyway. You seem to be saying that only if you have sex with them you can’t be friends but if you don’t you can?”
“I’m probably the wrong person to be arguing this point to begin with, because I’ve never had many friends, period.” He reached out and ran his fingers through a few strands of her hair that fell to the side of her face, making her shiver. “So I can’t say for certain if I would or wouldn’t want to nail every one of my female friends if I had any. All I know is that’s my reason for no return visits with them whether we’ve had sex or not.” He paused, and it almost seemed to Regina as if he wanted that part emphasized. Then he went on. “Return visits with anyone form attachments. So maybe your reasoning is more correct than mine. Those attachments could lead to wanting sex, and, therefore, unless that turns into a relationship, the friendship is ruined.”
Regina tilted her head, staring at him curiously. “Why is that?”
He seemed confused. “Why is what?”
“Why is it that you don’t form attachments with anyone? You mentioned that before. You really don’t have any friends?”
He brought his hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling, his features going a bit stiff. “I really don’t.”
“But why? It’s obviously not for lack of personality or ability to hold a conversation. I’ll admit after the start we had I’m a little surprised, but never in my life have I felt as comfortable being around someone as quickly as I have with you.”
His smile surprised and relieved her a little bit, but he continued to stare up at the ceiling. “It’s never been because I can’t make friends or keep them, Regina. I choose not to make attachments that might lead to friendships.” He turned to her now, his expression much softer than when she’d first posed the question. “At least I had until now.”
Feeling her heart flutter, she couldn’t help smile. “So what changed your mind?”
He slid over and lifted himself onto his elbow to face her. With his hard body up against hers, he looked deep in her eyes. “You did.” Bringing his hand behind her neck, he pulled her gently to him and kissed her softly, stopping to suck her bottom lip for a moment. “Though I didn’t admit it then, you sucked me in from the moment I first laid eyes on you. Your lips alone are enough to drive me insane.” He ran his tongue across her bottom lip slowly. Then those intense eyes of his were on hers again. “I thought it was just a physical thing, something I could easily ignore like I always do when I meet attractive women, but little by little,” he said, leaning in and kissing her very slowly—very deeply—before pulling away, “I could tell there was more to you. After spending just a few hours with you, I knew I’d be in danger of wanting to come back for more of you.” He smiled. “Then you kissed me. Just one taste of this mouth,” his eyes dropped down to her lips, “and I was a goner.”