A guy who works for the same company as me just called me “baby” during a phone conversation.

I have a silly cute dumb pet name for my wife. While speaking with a coworker, for some reason it slipped out and I called her by this name. I was quite embarrassed, but she just laughed and said that was more affection than she'd received from her husband in years. I think she was joking, but I still felt kind of bad.

And what's the context of the guy calling you "baby?"