1. Vivi Delacruz

one

vivi delacruz

My phone rang, and without looking at it, I knew what it said.

Unknown caller.

But I knew.

I knew exactly who it was.

My hand trembled as I moved my thumb to the answer button. There were a million and one reasons why I should ignore it, why I should send it to voicemail. But only one reason to answer.

Him.

Nix.

"Hello," I answered as calmly as I could and anxiously waited to hear his voice.

"I didn't think you would answer," he remarked, his voice scratchy and deep. Somehow, the tone went straight to the core of my body, making my sex ache. Pulse. There was something about it, something that sounded familiar about my sexy somewhat stranger, but no matter what, I couldn't put my finger on who he could be.

Nix.

"Why?" I asked, softly slipping back into my bed. Spring had rolled in, raising the temperature during the day, but it was still chilly at night.

"Because of last night," he reminded me like it was no big deal. My pulse picked up speed at the reminder. My face went hot, and I licked my lips. Last night's call was one for the books.

"Last night," I whispered, unable to hide how much that call had affected me. How I hadn't been able to concentrate on much of anything for more than five minutes without thinking of last night's dirty, sexy conversation. A conversation that had worn me out so much I had slept through my alarms and been late for work.

"Hmm," he grunted, and I knew that tone.

I was more than familiar with it. I didn't miss the way his breathing changed just slightly. Just a little, but I'd noticed it. I always did. There wasn't a lot I missed when it came to my unknown caller. I knew exactly what he was doing on the other end of the line.

"Did you have a good day?" I asked, making mundane small talk while I was pretty sure he was stroking himself. If I shut my eyes, I could almost picture him in my room even though I had no idea what he looked like.

I imagined him sitting in the reading chair I kept in the corner of my room across my bed. His face and form hidden beneath the shadows of the darkness and soft moonlight that streamed through the slats of the blinds. A faceless man with fathomless eyes.

He'd watch me.

Study me.

His darkened form would be breathing heavily as he sat with his legs open wide and his hands on his lap while he stroked himself to the sight of me.

"Nix? I called his name, wondering if I had somehow dropped the call.

Nix. That's all I knew about my sexy caller.

The whole thing had started three weeks ago. Three weeks. How could my life change so much yet stay the same in such a small amount of time?

"You don't really want to know about my day, do you, kitten?" His voice sounded thicker, deeper with those tempting words. I licked my lips. I felt like I couldn't catch my breath.

Three weeks ago, I had been living my life. My very predictable, somewhat boring life. I lived in a busy city that never slept and I worked in a large call center during the day. I took the same bus back and forth like clockwork. Three nights a week, I picked up a shift with my cousin Jenna's cleaning company for extra money.

I didn't go out.

I didn't club or date, really.

Once in a while, I'd meet coworkers for happy hour but usually drank a cherry Coke and then went on my way because I hardly knew them. And even if my best friend, Lana, liked to tease me, there was a beauty to it.

It was safe .

Reliable.

Steady.

And with how I had grown up, I liked knowing things were stable, even if it made them a little boring.

My parents' relationship had always been volatile, up until the very end when my mom drove their car off the road after an argument. They were found dead on the scene, and even though I'd lost my parents, I'd felt relieved.

I had family, but thankfully, Lana's mom took me in. Not that I didn't love my aunt or cousin; I did. But I knew adding one more person into their lives would make things harder.

Margie Pruitt didn't have to do what she'd done, but I had loved her more than my own mother for it. It had only been the two of them, and Marg needed another mouth to feed like she needed hole in the head. But she had taken me in anyways and had never made me feel like an intruder. It was the opposite, actually. She and Lana had made me feel welcome and part of their family just like they had always done.

And since then, I'd liked to live my life quietly.

I appreciated it.

Thrived on it.

But three weeks ago, my life was shaken up like a snow globe, all by one short little text from a wrong number. The conversations had escalated with a man I could very easily pass by down the street and never know was him.

"Vivi." His deep voice rasped my name, making shivers slide down my spine .

"Nix," I whispered into the darkness. I liked his name. It was probably fake, but it was one of the few things I knew about him.

"That's not what you want to know," he murmured and then hissed. I knew that hiss. I knew what he was doing without him telling me. "You don't want to know about my day, do you, kitten?"

Kitten. I loved the nickname he had imposed on me after the first time our chats had turned spicy. Dirtier. He'd heard me moan and said I sounded like a kitten and had kept it going from there.

"Nix, I don't think?—"

"Then don't. Don't think," he cut me off. I had to be really messed up in the head because I loved the way he talked to me. How bossy he could get because it was such a contrast to how sweet he could be.

"Just listen. Feel," his deep voice drawled in a demanding tone that had my free hand moving down my body. "Cup those pretty, little tits for me, sweetness." I did as he asked and moaned.

"Viv. Fuck," he cursed. "Those little sounds you make," he growled in a low tone. "They drive me insane, beautiful."

Beautiful. He was very generous with compliments. I'd had men tell me I was pretty, but I never believed them. But I believed Nix. I believed a man who had never laid eyes on me because that's exactly how I felt when he talked to me.

"Last night, listening to how wet that tight, little pussy got for me." His words sounded strained. Like he was barely holding on to some kind of control. "All fucking day, baby, all day, those sweet sounds have been bouncing in my head, driving me crazy."

"Mine, too," I confessed in a soft tone. "I couldn't stop thinking about you."

"Never thought I'd get this from you, Viv. My beautiful, dirty girl. I love listening to you. I can tell when you do something different, when you touch a different part of your body all by the way you breathe. Did you know that, kitten?" I turned onto my back and opened my leg wondering if it was true. The moment I grazed my already swollen clit, he made an animal-like sound.

"Just like right now." I could swear, I had no idea how, but I knew he smiled in that moment. "Fuck." He gulped for air. "Open those sweet legs for me." I did as he asked, and somehow, he knew. "Wider," he demanded deliciously. "What would you want if I were there?"

"Nix…" I had no clue what I would want. I'd had sex one time and one time only. And if I was honest, it hadn't been much of an experience.

"Tell me."

"I'm not sure."

"Yes, you are. You know. Don't get shy on me now, kitten, tell me."

"I'd want your hand on my, umm…" God, I was lame! I was twenty-five! I wasn't some blushing teenager, yet talking like this made me shy. I didn't know why.

"Pussy?" The dirty word rolled off his tongue, and it felt like a shock of electricity hit the very spot he asked about.

"Yes." I licked my lips. "I'd want you to tap it." I had no idea what I was saying. I felt like it wasn't coming out right. I wasn't the best with dirty talk, and I really had to up my reading game with some yummy smut for the future if these late-night phone calls were going to keep happening.

"Tap it or smack it?" he asked roughly, and I could almost imagine him licking his lips before baring his teeth.

Like a man wound tight.

Just then, an image of a man popped into my head. One I'd only seen once during one of my cleaning shifts at the police department. Tall and strong with an intense expression on his masculine face. He hadn't been classically handsome like a pretty boy. No. That man had been rough around the edges with a slight bump on the bridge of his nose that hinted at a really good story.

"Talk to me, kitten." I felt slightly guilty for imagining a complete stranger while talking to Nix. Though, to be fair, he was a stranger, too.

"Smack," I whispered with a tremble.

"Good girl." The praise made me feel like I glowed from the inside out. "What else would my kitten want?" My kitten. His. Why did that possessiveness make me ache?

"You'd check how wet I am."

"And how wet are you, baby girl?" he drawled slowly. A low sound escaped from the back of my throat when I slipped my fingers between my legs.

"So wet," I whispered.

"Keep touching. Just pet that pussy for me. Can you do that for me, baby?"

"Yes." I licked my lips, and my breath hitched. The pads of my fingers skimmed back and forth between my folds. "I'm so wet, Nix," I whimpered. "I don't think I've ever been this wet," I admitted, and suddenly, it was like a dam had been broken inside of me. I wanted, no, I needed him to know what I wanted. "I want more." I could have easily just done it. slipped my finger inside of myself and started to work my body up, but I didn't want to. I wanted him to lead and take control.

"Not yet. Keep teasing it. Imagine me there." My eyes skated to the darkened corner.

He'd sit there and watch. Would his eyes be dark? Light? Intense? His hands, big and strong, would hold on to the armrests with a white-knuckled grip.

"Nix," I whined.

"Fucking love how you say my name. Keep going." I did as he asked, and when he told me to rub my clit, there was relief, but not enough. "Good girl. Just like that," he encouraged, and I didn't try to muffle the sounds I made. I couldn't. I couldn't think about anything but him and coming for him.

"Fuck! You have any idea how hard I am?" he grunted. I could make out the faint sounds of his hand working his dick. The slapping of flesh. Would it sound that way if he were in bed with me? Would he play with me? Let me play with him ?

"You got a clue how fucking much I want you, Viv?"

"Nix!" I cried. I needed more.

"Yes, finger that pussy for me. But with two fingers now. Stretch it nice and wide for me because I'm not a small man, beautiful," he ordered.

Again, that cop from a month or two ago popped up in my head. He wasn't a small man in the least. He'd pin me down on my bed, his wide, strong body tucked next to me, sharing his body heat with me while he fingered me. Hard and ruthless. His wide, long digits wouldn't show me any mercy, and I wouldn't want it. My toes started to curl, and sweat started to form over my brow.

"Nix, oh, oh…"

"Find it, kitten," he hissed. "Come for me, pretty girl!" And just like that, like he had some kind of detonation button, I shattered. My body thrashed as wave after wave of bliss took me over before I floated back slowly to my body snuggled tight in my bed. It wasn't until a moment after that I heard him come, and the sound made me horny all over again.

"Fuck," he cursed, and I could tell he was having a hard time catching his breath.

"You okay?"

"Yeah," he chuckled. I snuggled my face into my pillow. "I'm fucking great. You?"

"Good. Cozy."

"Shit." He swallowed. "I wish I were there."

"Mmm." I breathed in with a smile as my eyes started to flutter shut. I wished he were here, too. "What would you do if you were here?"

"I'd be your big spoon."

"That sounds nice." I'd never done that with anyone.

"It would be fucking great. You could be my little spoon."

"I think I could manage that." My eyes stated to grow heavier.

"I missed talking to you today," he noted, and I sighed.

"I'm sorry. Work was really busy. I wanted to text you at lunch but?—"

"What?"

"I had to work through it." I hated my job. I hated calling people and asking them to pay their bill. I hated that I had to be mean and listen to their stories of hard times and act like I didn't care.

"Work through lunch?"

"Yeah. My boss was on one. You know how they can get." He grunted again, and I snuggled deeper into my pillow. "How was your day?"

"Boring," he muttered, and as sleepy as I was, I giggled.

"Tonight was fun." I winced at my words. Tonight was fun. God! I was so lame!

"You think tonight is over?" My eye popped open to glance at the digital clock on my nightstand because taking him away from my ear to look at my cell phone felt like it'd somehow make him farther away than he already was.

"I wish we could keep talking but?— "

"You gotta work?" he guessed. I nodded despite the fact he couldn't see me.

"I'm sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry about," he muttered.

"I know, but for the record… I just… I'd rather talk to you than get up and clean."

"I'd rather you do that, too, kitten." The softness in his voice told me how sincere he was.

We'd started to text after I'd told him he had the wrong number. Texts had turned into calls that had turned into this, but he'd yet to ask to meet me. I knew by the area code of his phone number he was in the same city, but maybe he wasn't? Maybe he was far away and just happened to have the same area code I did?

It was crazy meeting someone the way we had. Getting to know him had been easy. Maybe it was because, in a way, he wasn't actually real. He was just a voice on the other end of the line who helped me feel a little less lonely without me having to get out there and step out of my routine.

"It's chilly tonight." He sighed. My lips started to quirk up.

"I'll bring a sweater."

"I hate how late you gotta be out."

"I'm safe. No one ever bugs me." Hell, I was pretty sure no one even noticed me.

It wasn't that I was hideous, but I was kinda plain. Curvy because even though I walked a good mile to get to the bus station to get to either job, I loved bread, and I would never give it up. It meant I had an ass and boobs and some tummy, though it had never really bothered me. I glanced down at my body and chewed on my lower lip. I wasn't like the women who graced magazine covers. What if a man like Nix saw me and was disappointed by what I looked like?

"Where did you go?"

"I'm here."

"You know that's not what I mean. What's wrong? You got quiet," he observed softly. I opened and shut my mouth.

"Nothing, just thinking about the rest of the week." It was Wednesday night. I had tonight's cleaning shift and two more days at the call center then one more cleaning shift Friday night.

But I had the weekend off and to myself.

Originally, I'd thought about asking Lana if she wanted to do something, but she mentioned she had plans, so a weekend on my own worked out.

"You don't get enough sleep, Vivi." Vivi. I liked that, too. No one had ever called me that. It had always been Vivian or Viv, never Vivi. "You gotta go to work, and then you gotta wake up early."

"I know, but… it's almost the weekend." I tried to look at the positive. "I'm not doing anything after my Friday shift cleaning offices. I have the weekend off."

"Hmm…" his voice rumbled. "You know where you gotta go clean before you go to your shifts?"

"Sometimes. But not all the time. Depends how many workers my cousin has on shift."

"You really have no plans? At all?" Suddenly, I wasn't sleepy anymore. Is he going to ask to meet? Will he finally do it?

"Not really. Just staying home. I'll probably stop by the grocery store after my cleaning shift and just do laundry at home. Why?"

"Just wondering." His voice rumbled into nothing, and silence filled the line for a heartbeat.

"Do you think I'm boring?" I blurted.

"No." He didn't miss a beat to answer. "Not even a little bit."

"Should I go on some hot date?" I teased and laughed softly when he made an animal-like sound.

"That's not funny, Vivian."

"I don't think I could find one anyways," I accidentally said out loud.

"Viv." His voice sounded different. Tortured almost.

"Anyways, I just—" I tried to change the subject, but he had other ideas.

"Send me a picture," he blurted, and I stilled.

"What?" My voice cracked. We hadn't done this. We hadn't sent pictures to one another or even brought up what we looked like. We also hadn't talked about meeting face to face.

"Send me a picture, Vivi."

"Right now?" I squeaked.

"Right. Fucking. Now," he growled. My skin broke out into goose bumps.

"But I'm naked, Nix," I whispered. Before I could get completely flustered about his request, he moaned, and I felt a zip of electricity race up my spine.

"Show me, beautiful." His hoarse whisper tempted me. It was stupid. How many times had I thought that when Lana mentioned sending nudes to a guy she was talking to?

"Will you… will you send me one, too?" I asked and heard the distinct sound of him swallowing. I had no idea why my eyes shut, and I could almost picture him. My imagination ran wild. Thick muscle-corded neck, a very pronounced Adam's apple bobbing up and down. One I would want to lean in and lick. Bury my face in and breathe in his scent as deeply as my lungs let me.

"Vivi." His voice sounded strangled, and I knew he was going to say no before he actually did. "My cam's busted."

"Oh," I whispered without trying to conceal the disappointment I felt. Of course, it is.

I had no idea what I was doing.

Talking to a stranger like this. He was probably some kind of pervert who texted random numbers to see if he could get his jollies. You know that's not true, a voice whispered in my head. Either way, I wasn't stupid enough to send him a nude. But I couldn't get myself to deny him completely.

"Hold on." I muted the call and brought up the camera in my phone, then snapped a pic of my hand against the pillow and sent it to him before I could overthink it.

"Fuck," he growled the moment I unmuted it. "Looks like every part of you is pretty. Even your fingernails."

"Shut up." I laughed.

"Thank you."

"Thank— I just sent you a picture of my hand." I laughed, not sure if he was being ridiculous or sweet or both.

"Yeah, and that's enough. For now. " I could have sworn he said those last two words, but it'd been so low I wasn't sure it was just hopeful wishing on my end.

"They're a little dry right now. I forget to moisturize after cleaning, and the stuff we use is a little harsh."

"I hate that you work so much."

"It's okay. I'm close to what I've been saving for."

"Oh yeah? And what's that?"

"Hmm, maybe I'm not ready to tell you all about me?"

"Fair enough, kitten. Shit. It's late. You have enough time to sleep?" he asked.

"Oh, umm…" I glanced at my alarm clock and grimaced. "Probably not," I whispered. "But it's okay. Talking to you is worth it." The words slipped past my lips before I could stop them.

"Do you know where you're working tonight?" he asked.

"The fire house, the one off Main." I sighed. "I should go and shower. It'll wake me up a little more."

"Okay, baby." His okay, baby in that soft tone made my heart yearn for something more. Which was seriously stupid because I had no business wanting more. With Nix or anyone. "Text me later?"

"Yeah, sure," I answered with a tight smile.

Three weeks of talking, and he hadn't asked about meeting. By the way he talked about the city, it made me think he lived there or once upon a time had. Either way, the fact he couldn't send a picture or ask about meeting was a red flag that was getting harder and harder to ignore.

Maybe he is married?

Maybe he is under house arrest?

I shook my head. My mind was on overdrive while I moved around my apartment and grabbed my things. It was crazy. It was time to put some space between us. A smart, reasonable woman would do just that. One who liked living a quiet and boring life.

But somehow, as I tossed my hair half up, clipping it with one of the bows I liked to wear that Lana liked to tease me about, I knew I wouldn't ignore his text if he messaged. He'd changed something the last week, quietly sneaking into my daily routine in a way I knew would suck when he decided I was too plain and boring and ghost me.

But until then, I was going to have fun. At the end of the day, it was all so innocent. A couple of calls and texts? He didn't know who I was any more than I knew who he was.

With that little pep talk and a plan in place, I grabbed my coat and bag and hurried out. Even though I had rolled out of bed early, I must have been getting ready in slow motion because I was suddenly running late and cutting it close to missing my bus.

Story of my life.