Page 49 of Right Number

Just then my phone rang. I reached over to grab it off the coffee table and felt a flutter when I saw who was calling. “It’s him,” I told Bree and Sarah with a huge smile. “I bet he’s calling to confirm plans for tomorrow. I’m going to take this in my room.”

I jumped off the sofa and pushed the answer button as I walked back to my room. “Hey!” I greeted him, not even attempting to hide my excitement.

“Hey! How are you?” his deep voice rumbled through the phone.

“Honest answer?” I quietly shut the door to my room and sat down on the bed. “Super nervous and super excited all at the same time.”

He let out a deep, throaty chuckle that made my heart go pitter-patter. “Me too! I’ve been putting in extra hours this week to get this big project finished before I leave. My flight is in the morning, so everything should work out perfectly.”

“I can’t wait to meet you in person, Mason. Thank you again for being my date to the Spring Art Show. It really means a lot to me that you’re going to be there.” I broke out into a huge smile. It was the same one that’d been appearing on my face every time I’d talked to Mason since the night I’d asked him to be my date.

“I’m so glad you asked me and that I get to be there for you.” Mason’s voice seemed to be filled with a deep level of sincerity that made me feel good.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to pick you up from the airport? I can borrow a car and it really wouldn’t be a problem.” We’d been over the plan a few times already, but I thought I’d offer one last time.

“I want our first meeting to be perfect. I don’t want it to be rushed as we try to get out of the airport and on our way. I’ll take a cab to your place and we can go from there.”

I smiled. It made me feel special that he wanted our first meeting to be so perfect. “Sounds good. I’m really excited to see you, Mason.”

“Hopefully it’s even half as excited as I am to see you,” he joked. “I’m still at the office right now, but I’m going to head home a little later and get packed. You said to dress up for the Spring Art Show, but how dressed up are you talking?”

“Not tux-level or anything like that,” I answered vaguely. I wasn’t really sure what appropriate dress was for guys at the event. The year before when I’d gone with Oliver, he’d just worn the same thing he always did: leather pants and a button-down shirt with the top few buttons undone. I shuddered at the thought.

“Not much help,” Mason laughed. “Can you send me a picture of what you’re wearing so I have a better idea?” I’d mentioned in a previous conversation that I’d purchased a new dress for the night, but hadn’t told him anything about it.

I chewed my bottom lip. “Wouldn’t that violate the rules?”

“Is it a picture of you in the dress?”

I sighed. “Don’t laugh, but yes. When Sarah and I went shopping, I had her snap pictures of me in the dresses I was trying on to see which one I liked the most. It’s better than looking in the dressing room mirrors.”

“Now I really want to see the picture.” Mason’s voice took on a husky quality that made my heart race.

“Won’t it ruin the surprise of tomorrow?” I was still a little nervous about meeting and wondered if there was going to be a physical attraction between us.

“How about you just send the part of the picture with the dress? That way it’ll be more like a sneak peek, rather than a full reveal.”

I started laughing. “You’re persistent, sir.”

“I can be when I know what I want.” Mason’s voice took on that husky quality again.

I felt my cheeks flush. It was such a huge, crazy leap to even be talking with Mason, let alone meeting him, but it’d felt so good and so right ever since the night I’d left the message inviting him to the Spring Art Show. It had been really hard ending things with Liam. I still wanted us to be friends, and I thought we would be, but it was just going to take some time.

“OK, you win,” I finally relented. “Dress only, no face. And it’s only to help you figure out what to pack.”

“Deal,” Mason said quickly. “Send it.”

I scrolled through my pictures until I found one of me in the pink dress. I quickly cropped the picture at my shoulders so it was only the dress. I’d been wearing my black Converse tennis shoes that day, which looked out of place with the fancy dress, so I cropped them out as well. I could hear Mason’s steady breath on the other end of the line as I got the picture ready. I was still a little nervous and hesitated for a moment before I hit send.

The silence from the other end of the phone continued long after my phone said the picture had been sent. “Did you get it?” I asked nervously.

Great. He’d gotten it and was now second-guessing why he was flying across the country to meet me.

Mason cleared his throat. “This is you in the dress?”

“Yes,” I said quietly, bracing myself for what was coming next. I figured he was thinking of some reason why the flight scheduled for the next day wasn’t going to work out.

“Holy shit, Anna,” he whispered back. There was a pause before he continued. “You’re so beautiful. Damn! I kind of want to ditch work now and see if I can get an earlier flight.” Mason’s voice was back to its husky tone and my heart felt like it was going to thud out of my chest.

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