Page 15 of Wrong Number Text

Most of the people here have some kind of pool going about “Cap” which I guess means me too. I can’t believe this whole time we’ve been so close.

Emma starts to fuss, so I take her and try to calm her so Merrily can finish her cake. I feel Leo’s eyes on me. Thoughts of our texting comes to mind. The many, many times he got me pregnant in our fantasies. The way I would ache for a child that was never coming after we hung up. I smell Emma’s hair and wonder what all this means.

Leo didn’t have to claim me. He could have just been polite when we met in the kitchen. If he really didn’t want to carry on, it would have been easy enough for us to pretend we were meeting for the first time.

But he keeps talking about things like weddings and houses and babies. It’s too soon though, right? We just met. And even if we count the sexting—we’ve still only known each other for a month.

It’s crazy, the way he’s making me feel right now. I’ve spent too long tamping down hope, knowing how hurtful it could be. To want what isn’t in the cards. I can’t just jump into this image of the future he has.

I sense his presence before I hear his voice. “Watching you with a baby is killing me.”

Heat fills me at his low, gravelly tone. “Have you held her?”

“No.” He protests when I put her into his arms and he holds her like she’s a bomb that might go off at any time.

But damn. His thick, rippling muscles gently holding a tiny baby against his broad chest sets off a fireworks show in my ovaries. His body totally matches his voice—rough and masculine. He’s over-the-top hot, but somehow also so safe. Like you know he can do what needs to be done in any situation, but that he would never use his strength the wrong way. He’s in control, yet there is a fierce power banked inside him, always ready.

I want to be claimed by him. Dominated by him.

“You keep looking at me like that, Dixie, and we’re going to have a problem.”

“What kind of problem?”

“The kind where I fuck you against the wall and don’t care who knows I’m doing it.”

I feel the heat creeping across my skin, but it’s nothing compared to the heat in the center of my body. “How am I looking at you?”

“Like you want to be fucked against a wall.”

I chuckle and I take the baby from him gently. “You’re a very bad man.”

“You have no idea. I don’t know what you’ve done to me, but I know exactly what I’m going to do to you.”

“What if I want to slow things down? Go on a few dates?” Is this just a sex thing? Would he put in for more?

He stands behind me, reaching his hand around my waist and pulling me into his erection. His very substantial erection. “Is that what you want? To slow things down?”

I have to remember to hold onto the baby when he kisses me softly where my neck meets my shoulder. “No.”

“I didn’t think so.”

The rest of the shower goes by incredibly slowly. He’s not even trying to mask his hunger when he looks at me. His dark eyes are so possessive, raking over my body in a carnal gaze that makes me blush and makes me so, so wet.

When we can finally leave, he practically drags me out to his truck. “I’m taking you home with me. Is that okay? Is that what you want?”

This is effectively my last out. Am I ready for this? He watches my face very carefully. “Yes, this is what I want.”

“You’re sure.”

“I can’t wait.”

“Thank fuck.”

When he pulls in front of a house on Maple Street, I laugh out loud.

“What?”

“I live three blocks west. We’ve been three blocks away from each other the whole month.”

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