Page 21 of Texting Mr. Stranger

A knock comes at my door. “I’m going to heat these leftovers if you’re hungry,” Mom says.

“Sure,” I croak, my mouth dry. “Thanks, Mom.”

I transfer the video to my phone and then attach it to the text. I almost don’t send it. This isseriouslynot my jam. It’s sonotBella that many people wouldn’t even believe me if I told them. That’s only because I’ve never had a crush before.

Quickly, I presssend, then start pacing my bedroom as if he’ll reply to me straightaway.

“Are you okay, Bella?” Mom asks over the kitchen divider as she does the dishes.

I’m sitting in the armchair, attempting to catch up on a novel I’ve been reading recently. “Huh? Yeah. Fine.”

“You keep sighing.”

“Do I?”

She gives me a look, then turns back to the dishes. I do my best to stop sighing. It’s been almost an hour since I sent that video, and there’s no way to take it back. The status of the text showsread, which means he’s seen it. Maybe he’s just seen the message but not watched the video.

What if he realizes what I’ve done? What if he sees the outfit and thinks,Oh, crap, this woman is getting the wrong idea. I need to find a new tutor.This is exactly what I was trying to avoid when I noticed Matt was attractive.

“I’m going to get an early night,” I tell Mom. “Emily texted and said she won’t be home until tomorrow.”

“Ooh, lucky girl,” Mom says with a giggle.

I try to laugh, but even to me, it sounds forced. There are too many competing images in my head. In some of them, Matt is staring at the screen, obsessed. In others, he’s disgusted. In more—and maybe this is the worst—he’s indifferent.

Since I’ve got three back-to-back classes tomorrow, I need to sleep. The second I rest my head on the pillow, I know it won’t come quickly. Instead of tossing and turning, I grab my phone and search the internet for DeLuca Investments Limited. I haven’t searched it yet, maybe because I don’t want to knowjusthow rich he is.

There isn’t much except a stock website and around five hundred reviews, most of them five stars. It seems like the kind of business that flies right over my head: moving money, financing, and other almost stubbornly nonmusical things.

Evidently, though, it’s a big business. I recognize some of the client names listed on the site. Two of them are billionaires.

A surreal feeling washes over me. I’ve never believed in fate, but it almost matches up too well. I’ve been waiting for a chance to create a real future for me and Mom, and here it is.

“Now I’ve ruined it,” I whisper under my breath.

When my phone vibrates, I almost leap out of bed, eager to grab it. My chest tightens. Did the video even send?

Hi, Bella. Do you have any appointments available for the day after tomorrow?

The change in tone seems so abrupt. Did he even see the video? If he did, then clearly, he’s telling me without telling me to back off. Stop being desperate.

Yes, of course,I reply.

So that’s that, then, no more silly thoughts or childish attempts at flirting.

No more crush.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

MATTEO

It’s the middle of the night, and I can’t sleep. I’m not sure how many times I’ve watched the video. The first time I watched it, and she walked into the frame, I paused it, my mouth salivating like I was some beast. She’s just wearing casual clothes, which is no big deal.

Yet it was—is—a huge deal. I stared at the thickness of her ass in the short shorts, the way I could see her ass just about poking out the bottom. My dick got rock-solid as I stared, imagining what it would be like to push her shorts aside and slide my pre-come-wet dick up her leg and toward her entrance.

There’s something so savagely hot about the idea of pushing the shorts aside and driving my dick deep into her tight, wet heat. We’ll both be too hot to bother with undressing. We won’t be able to tame ourselves. We won’t even be able to try.

The first time I saw it, I couldn’t stop myself. I ran into the bathroom and jerked my dick so hard and fast it was like I fell into a fever dream. It was like I could feel her pussy kissing the tip of the dick tightly. When I exploded, it was like I was inside of her, emptying myself until I was completely spent.

---