Wrong Number Text (Love in Brazen Bay Book 1) Read online

  Wrong Number Text

  Love in Brazen Bay, Volume 1

  Brill Harper

  Published by Brill Harper, 2019.

  This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

  WRONG NUMBER TEXT

  First edition. May 13, 2019.

  Copyright © 2019 Brill Harper.

  ISBN: 978-1386249825

  Written by Brill Harper.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Wrong Number Text (Love in Brazen Bay, #1)

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Sign up for Brill Harper's Mailing List

  Further Reading: The Right Stuff

  Also By Brill Harper

  About the Author

  Don’t miss a new release—sign up for Brill’s super non-spammy newsletter. For a limited time, mailing list readers also get a free book. And more!

  She doesn’t share her list and only posts updates when there’s a new book or a great deal or sometimes a cat picture. You can also find her on Bookbub!

  About Wrong Number Text

  So wrong it’s right...

  When grumpy firefighter Leo finally answers the wrong number texts he’s been getting for several days, he has no idea pixels on a screen could be so hot—make him want things he’s never wanted before.

  Dixie has always been quiet, shy, and reserved. Until she “meets” Leo. He’s got the once shy librarian shedding her inhibitions and growing her confidence in their texts and calls—and it even starts spilling out into her everyday life. Part of her revels in her secret life—but part of her secretly wishes for more.

  They never share more than first names, but each texting encounter gets hotter and hotter—and more intimate than either of them ever imagined. But you can’t trust a stranger on the phone. Not really. You can’t ache for something you’ve never had. And you certainly can’t fall in love with someone you’ve never even met, can you?

  Author Confession: Welcome to Brazen Bay, a small town I crafted just to explore that feeling of so wrong, it’s right. Just because something is forbidden or taboo doesn’t make it wrong, does it? (You’d have to see the pictures on their phones to answer that.) Gruff Leo and sweet Dixie are perfect strangers and perfectly naughty when they let their guards down with someone for the first time. What starts as an innocent wrong number turns into something much more daring. Bonus points if you read this wrong number romance on your phone.

  Chapter One

  Leo

  Dixie: Hi, Tim. This is Dixie from the accident.

  Dixie: Please text insurance info you promised.

  Two days later

  Dixie: Still need insurance stuff. Please?

  [...]

  I SET MY BEER DOWN. I ignored her texts two days ago. I thought she would just go away. I don’t like texting people I know, much less strangers, but it looks like I need to deal with this.

  Leo: Tim sounds like an asshole.

  Leo: He also gave you a wrong number.

  Dixie: Are you serious right now?

  Dixie: I hate men.

  I smile at my phone. A first for me. I hate my phone. I only ever scowl at it.

  Leo: I’m a man.

  Dixie: Sorry! It’s not your fault.

  Leo: If you find him, text me back. I’ll beat him up for you.

  [flexed biceps emoji]

  If the guys at the station knew I was using emojis right now, I’d never hear the end of it.

  Dixie: [smiley] My hero.

  Dixie: I wish there were more guys like you.

  Leo: My last gf would disagree.

  Dixie: Don’t ruin my fantasy!!

  Leo: You’re fantasizing about me already, huh?

  Dixie: Sure, LOL. Help me out. What are you wearing?

  [heart-eyes emoji]

  Leo: You don’t want to know my name first, baby?

  Leo: I feel so used.

  If only it was this easy to flirt with women face to face, I’d be a real Casanova, like my buddy Drew. He does all the swiping and never sleeps alone. I don’t actually know what swiping is.

  Dixie: JK. I’m not the kind of girl who sexts with strangers.

  Leo: My name is Leo.

  Leo: There. Now we aren’t strangers.

  It’s a little weird that I have to rub my palm on my jeans. I’m going to blame the condensation on my beer and not that I have sweaty palms from flirting with a stranger on my phone. Too much time goes by with no reply, and now I’m starting to feel like a dick.

  Jenkins sets his empty on the bar next to me and taps my shoulder from behind. “Hey, Cap? You’re up.”

  I flip my phone over. Which probably draws more attention to it. Like I’m hiding something. Which I am. “I’m going to finish my beer and call it a night. I’ll forfeit this round.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah.”

  Jenkins goes back to the dartboard, and I think about what the hell I’m doing. I must be pretty hard up if I’d rather flirt via text than beat the guys on my crew at darts. I should probably see about getting myself a real live woman instead of pixels on a screen. But something about Dixie keeps my eyes glued to my phone, wondering if she’s going to respond.

  Leo: Dixie? You still there?

  Dixie: Yeah. I think. Nice to meet you, Leo.

  Leo: Do you still want to know what I’m wearing?

  Dixie: I don’t know. I’m—this isn’t how I usually am. I’m kind of shy.

  I’m strangely aware of my own breath as it quickens. I look around the bar, but nobody is noticing me. My face feels hot. I’m almost forty fucking years old. My days of flirting online should be in my past. I feel like I’m back in 1999 in the first chat room where a woman asked me: a/s/l.

  Here goes nothing.

  Leo: Do you want to be the kind of girl who sexts with strangers?

  I exhale and take a drink.

  Dixie: I don’t know that either. Is this normal?

  Leo: Flirting with a wrong number text? I think it’s hot.

  Leo: Tell me something about yourself.

  Dixie: I’m 23.

  Fuck. She’s a baby. I should stop this right now.

  Leo: I’m 38. What do you do?

  Dixie: I work in a library and I’m a grad student.

  Oh, man. I love librarians. And she didn’t cut me off when I told her how old I was. That’s a good sign, right? I almost lied and said twenty-eight.

  She’s a librarian. Fuck. My pants are getting tight at the thought.

  Leo: Do you wear those pencil skirts and glasses? Because that’s seriously sexy.

  Dixie: If I didn’t, I would tell you I do. Since you think that’s hot.

  I check the mirror behind the bar. The guys are still playing darts in the reflection. Nobody is paying attention to me.

  Leo: I think you might be a bad girl.

  Dixie: I think you just have a thing for naughty librarians.

  Leo: God, yes. Brainy girls are hot.

  Dixie: What about you?

  I could tell her. A lot of women think firefighters are hot. But something stops me. Tonight, I don’t want to be regular me. I want to be this Leo, the one who flirts on his phone. The one who isn’t always waiting for the next thing he’s responsible for to need him, to drop everything and attend to it.

  Leo: What do you want me to be?

  Dixie: Hmm...anything I want?

  Leo: Anythi
ng.

  Dixie: Well, right now, I’m fantasizing that you’re a mechanic because my car is toast thanks to Tim.

  Damn. She’s cute.

  Leo: So you’re still fantasizing about me then. That’s a good sign.

  Leo: What are you doing right now? Besides texting me?

  Dixie: Trying to figure out how to find that asshole who hit my car and gave me a fake #.

  Dixie: You?

  Leo: I’m in a bar. Supposed to be playing darts, but I forfeited my game.

  Dixie: So you could text me?

  Leo: So I could text you.

  Dixie: I feel special.

  [smiley]

  “Seven Nation Army” comes on the radio, and I’m feeling like I’m twenty-three again myself.

  Leo: Are you alone?

  Leo: Sorry. That sounded like a creepy line from the serial killer in a movie.

  Leo: You’re probably going to block my number now.

  There’s a pause, and I tell Nash behind the bar that I don’t want another beer and clear my tab with him. I’m walking out the door when my phone vibrates.

  Dixie: I’m alone.

  I pause. Hell.

  Leo: I’ve never spent this much time with a wrong number before.

  Dixie: What would be different if we met at the bar?

  Leo: Well, I’d know for sure what you were wearing.

  Dixie: Ha-ha

  My house is only a couple blocks away. So I keep walking while I text and hope I don’t have any embarrassing autocorrects or physical accidents while walking and looking at my phone.

  Leo: My moves work better in person.

  Dixie: You have moves?

  Leo: I do.

  I really don’t.

  Dixie: So if you were trying to get me to go home with you, what would your 1st move be?

  I swallow hard. I have to. My mouth is flooded in saliva. I can’t believe I’m having such a crazy physical response to a woman on the phone. I know absolutely nothing about her. Hell, she could have lied about her age. Maybe she’s a fifty-year-old dude living in his mother’s basement.

  Leo: That depends. Which Dixie is sitting in the bar with me? The good girl or the naughty librarian?

  Dixie: You say that like I have two personalities.

  Leo: All women do.

  Dixie: Oh really? Fine. Naughty librarian Dixie.

  Fuck. I make it to my living room, glad I can get comfortable. By comfortable, I mean unzipping my pants. I’m hard as an iron rod.

  Leo: How naughty do you want to be, Dixie?

  Dixie: I think I’d like you to make me blush.

  Leo: I have a feeling you’re already blushing.

  Dixie: Yeah.

  I don’t want to scare the poor girl. I look at my dick and reconsider.

  Yeah. I kind of do. I want her a little scared and a lot turned on. I want to push her out of her comfort zone. It’s only fair. The way she’s pushing me out of mine.

  Leo: I repeat: How naughty do you want to be, Dixie?

  Dixie: You’ll probably think this is lame, but I’ve never done this before.

  Dixie: But I want to. I want to be naughty.

  Here goes nothing.

  Leo: After I bought you a drink, I would tell you that when I fuck you, I want you to leave your hot as fuck glasses on.

  Dixie: Wow. Nobody has ever talked to me like this before.

  Leo: Do you like it?

  Dixie: [...]

  Dixie: [...]

  Leo: Are you still there?

  Dixie: Yes

  Leo: Yes you’re here or yes you like it when I talk to you like that?

  Dixie: Yes.

  Leo: Do you want me to keep doing it?

  Dixie: [...]

  Leo: Dixie...be brave.

  Dixie: yes

  Leo: Let’s go out the back door. Into the alley.

  Dixie: Okay.

  Leo: I’m following you through the bar. Your ass is amazing in that skirt. You look so prim and proper, but I know who’s really underneath that tight buttoned up white shirt.

  Dixie: We’re alone in the alley. It’s dark out here.

  Leo: I push you against the brick wall and pin your arms on either side of your head.

  Dixie: My heart is racing. I’m dying for you to kiss me, but you’re just staring into my eyes so intensely.

  Oh fuck. My heart rate just kicked into overdrive. The hair on my nape is sticking up. I can’t help it. I grab my cock and give it a quick tug. But I’m shit for texting one-handed.

  Leo: I kiss your neck first, scraping my stubble on your soft skin. Marking you. So everyone knows you’re mine.

  Dixie: Little electric shocks zap me everywhere. I arch my back so I can rub my breasts against your chest.

  Leo: Jesus. Dixie, are you wet?

  Dixie: Yes.

  Leo: For real. Right now. Is texting with me making you wet?

  Dixie: Yes.

  Leo: Good. Because I’m so fucking hard right now.

  Leo: All I want is to really be in the alley with you.

  Dixie: Me too. I don’t want to stop.

  Leo: I bring your wrists together in one of my hands and brace them above your head. I need a free hand.

  Dixie: Why?

  Leo: I think you know.

  Dixie: Are you ever going to kiss me?

  Leo: Not yet, baby girl. I roughly bunch up your skirt. What kind of panties are you wearing underneath it?

  Dixie: I think you know.

  Leo: That’s my girl. No panties. I’m going to—

  Fuck. I’m not on call tonight, but when I hear the radio call, I know I need to go.

  Dixie: You still there?

  Leo: Yeah. I’m getting called into work. We’ll have to finish this later. If you still want to.

  Dixie: Is getting called into work a code for your wife rolled over in bed and realized you’re on your phone?

  Leo: If I had a wife, or girlfriend, which I don’t, I would not ever have started this with you. You don’t know me, and I expect you’ve probably met a few assholes who would, but I’m not like that.

  Now she’s probably wondering why a man who’s my age doesn’t have a wife or girlfriend. I wonder sometimes too.

  Dixie: So maybe we can do this again sometime? I mean if you want to. If you don’t we don’t have to. I just thought...you know, never mind. You probably think I’m rambling. Which I am. And I do. Often.

  Leo: I really want to do this again sometime. I swear.

  God help me, but I do. Something about her makes me more than hard. It’s crazy. I think about that as I head to the station. How can words on a screen, a wrong number text, feel so strong? Like something I’ve been waiting for all my life?

  I’ve dated, had a few girlfriends, but how did I make it to thirty-eight without feeling this rush? I just assumed I was missing a settling-down gene since no woman has ever zapped that thing inside a guy that makes him think forever.

  Jenkins tried to explain it to me recently, how it felt when he met his wife. How he just knew instantly that she was his woman and he was her man and he would move heaven and earth to be with her. And he did. He almost quit Engine 37 because she wasn’t sure she wanted to get involved with someone who risked his life every day on the job. That was a red flag for me, but the damndest thing happened. After he offered to quit, she realized that she couldn’t ask him to do that. They’re happy as fuck now, having a baby soon.

  I’ve seen a lot of marriages go south. It’s one reason I’ve never put myself out there too much. It’s not easy to be a family man and a hothead.

  And why the hell am I thinking about this now?

  Chapter Two

  Dixie

  Leo: What’s your dirtiest fantasy?

  I PAUSE BEFORE RETURNING his text. We’ve been doing this for two weeks now, this sexting, and it always takes a few minutes for me to acclimate myself to this version of Dixie. This woman I hardly know.

  What am I even doing? This is so
not me. I don’t even get as intimate with men I know and date as I do with Leo. And he could be anyone. And even if he is who he says he is—I still don’t know why we are doing this. I don’t know where he lives. What he does. Why he wants to do this with me. Why I want to do this with him.

  I’m a good girl. Ask anyone. A dutiful daughter. A responsible employee. A studious student. I’m actually quite boring, truth be told. And that has always been okay with me. I don’t want to stand out.

  I pace my small living room. My house is small and kind of dingy, but I like it. My parents hate it. They want me back in Seattle commuting the other way. I work in the library here in Brazen Bay and take classes two days in the city to finish my degree.

  They think I’m coming back after I graduate. I hate the city.

  Leo: Dixie, you still there, sweetheart?

  Dixie: Yeah, sorry. I’m not sure I know what my dirtiest fantasy is.

  Leo: Baby...don’t be shy.

  Dixie: I’m sorry...I’m distracted today. Maybe start by telling me yours?

  Leo: Knocking you up.

  My hand flies to my throat and I gasp.

  Knocking me up? My hand leaves my throat and travels down to my middle.

  Leo: Too much?

  Dixie: No.

  Leo: Are you sure?

  Dixie: Why is that your fantasy?

  Leo: I love how you get, all flustered and naughtier, when we talk about going raw. When we talk about my cum dripping out of you.