Page 23 of Right Number

“Because the real-life you is the one who’s intelligent, funny, a total smartass, a brilliant photographer, and has a passion for the things she’s pursuing in life. Those are the things I think make you incredibly beautiful.” I felt myself start to smile as I read through Mason’s message. I was about to respond when a second message came through. “Although I have a sneaking suspicion you’re way hotter than you give yourself credit for.”

My smile only grew bigger as I read through both messages again. I was completely focused on my phone and I didn’t realize someone was standing right in front of me until I heard a deep voice say, “Anna?”

I was so startled I almost dropped my phone. I looked up and saw Liam standing there holding two coffee drinks in front of him. I blushed and shoved my phone into my coat pocket. “Hi! Liam! How are you?” I tried to sound as normal as possible, but even I could tell I failed miserably.

Liam just looked at me for a moment. “Good,” he finally responded. “I think these are your drinks. They called your name a few times, but you seem to be pretty engrossed in what you’re reading and must not have heard.”

“Oh! Thank you! You’re right, I didn’t hear.” I took the drinks from Liam and let out a nervous sounding chuckle. “That’s really embarrassing.”

Liam gave me a warm smile. “What are you reading that has you so fully captivated?” he asked innocently.

“Oh…well…just a book from an app on my phone,” I finally stammered out. “One of those romance stories Sarah is always after me to read.” I felt like a giant asshole as the words left my mouth. Not only was I telling a big old fat lie to Liam, I was telling the lie to cover up the fact I was talking to another guy. Not cool, Anna. So very not cool. A giant wave of guilt rolled through me. I tried to push it down as I put a smile on my face. “Thank you for getting the drinks for me. I’d better get going to class now. One of these is for Sarah. She’s in class with me.” My rambling just made things even more awkward. That’s why I didn’t lie. I was terrible at it and I always felt so damn guilty.

Liam looked at me with a flash of confusion on his face. “Right. Are we still on for dinner Friday night?”

“Yes! Looking forward to it,” I replied, grateful for the change in conversation.

“Good. Me too.” Liam leaned in and kissed me softly on the cheek. “See you Friday,” he whispered in my ear as he pulled away. I smiled at him and nodded as I quickly exited the coffee shop.

I waited until I got to the building of my next class before putting the coffees down and pulling out my phone. I took my backpack off and sat down on a bench outside of the classroom where I reread the last two messages before responding. “Thank you, Mason. What you said really means a lot to me.”

“Well, it’s all true,” was his immediate response. Everything from my encounter with Liam at the coffee shop seemed to fall out of my mind as I felt my cheeks flush from Mason’s message. A second message came through right after I finished reading the first. “Do you ever picture what I might look like?”

I sucked in a deep breath. It was as good a time as any to tell him. “I think I may have had a dream about you the other night, but your face was blurry.” I quickly pushed send before I could change my mind.

There was a pause before Mason responded. “You were dreaming about me?”

My fingers flew across the screen as I typed, “Well, there was the no face issue, but yeah…it was you.”

“What was I doing in this dream, Anna?”

I could feel my cheeks flush even deeper as my breath grew heavier. “You came up behind me and put your arms around me. Then we started kissing.” What the hell was I doing? It didn’t seem like the type of conversation friends had. Then again, the dream wasn’t exactly a friend-type of dream. I glanced up from my phone to see who else was in the hallway and was relieved to see it was still relatively empty. What the hell? It wasn’t like Mason and I were ever going to meet. The conversation between us was just something fun, right?

My phone vibrated in my hand and I looked down. “I like where this is going. Were you glad to see me?”

“Very glad,” I quickly typed back.

“How was the kiss?”

I could feel my pulse start to race. I put a hand over my heart and it felt like it was beating double time. I decided to answer him honestly. “Totally fucking amazing.”

It didn’t take long for his response to come through. “Shit, Anna. I’m sitting at my desk picturing all of this and now I’m not going to be able to get up for a while.”

Oh. My. Freaking. Goodness.

That was hot. Like really hot. My heart felt like it was going to explode out of my chest. I crossed my legs and wiggled in my seat a little, hoping no one walking through the building could tell how turned on I was.

Without even thinking I fired off my next text. “Tell me how you’d kiss me, Mason.”

My breath felt like it was coming out in shallow pants and I waited for his response. I could see the little bubbles showing he was typing. My eyebrows flew up when I read the incoming message. “I would lean in until our lips were almost touching and then I would put one hand on the small of your back while I used the other to wind through the hair at the base of your neck.”

Jesus. His text was like something out of one of those romance novels Sarah read. “Tell me more,” I pleaded with him.

“I would kiss you softly on the lips.”

I wrinkled my nose. It was not the time for soft kisses. “What if I wanted more than that, Mason?”

“Fucking hell, Anna. I’m going to lose it right here at my desk.”

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