Texting

A wrong number is supposed to be just that—a wrong number. Delete. Done. Do not continue to text. Do not flirt. A wrong number shouldn't be the first person on your mind in the morning, or the last at night...and you're definitely not supposed to talk them into buying a baby goat. Because that would be weird. When Zach Hastings and I get into a wrong-number mix-up, we don't follow the rules. We keep texting and flirting, because he's wicked funny and perfectly nerdy and a wonderful distraction. I'm not looking for love, and Zach definitely had the wrong number. But maybe... Maybe he's the right guy.

When I put up a ROOMMATE WANTED poster, he was the last person on earth I thought would respond. He was also the last person on earth I'd agree to let live with me...on purpose. But, here we are⁠—roommates. I'm certain we can coexist without it being awkward, and I'm determined to make it work. There will be no sexual tension building with each accidental touch, no flutters when he wears that stupid backward baseball cap, and definitely no flirting when we text back and forth. Caleb Mills can't be the guy for me. He's my best friend's ex-boyfriend. And that would be wrong...right?

My cock has an appetite. A huge and very particular appetite: Blonde, curvy, and preferably not a fucking liar... (Although, that's a story for another day.) As a high profile lawyer, I don't have time to waste on relationships, so I fulfill my needs by anonymously chatting and sleeping with women I meet online. My rules are simple: One dinner. One night. No repeats. This is only casual sex. Nothing more. Nothing less. At least it was, until "Alyssa"... She was supposed to be a 27 year old lawyer, a book hoarder, and completely unattractive. She was supposed to be someone I shared law advice with late at night, someone I could trust with details of my weekly escapades. But then she came into my firm for an interview—a college-intern interview, and everything fucking changed...

From New York Times bestselling author Penelope Ward, comes a new, sexy standalone novel. We met in the least likely of places. It started out innocently enough. I was “ScreenGod” and she was “Montana,” but of course, those weren’t our actual names, just the virtual cloaks we hid behind. Logging in at night and talking to her was my escape—my sanctuary. Her real name was Eden, I’d soon come to find out. From the first time we connected online, I found myself transfixed. She was an addiction. At first, we knew nothing about each other’s real identities…and she was adamant that we keep things that way. Anonymity had no effect on our unstoppable chemistry, though. If anything, it allowed us to open up even more in ways we may not have otherwise. Eden was funny, intelligent, gorgeous—everything I’d ever wanted in a woman. But I couldn’t really have her. I had accepted things would have to stay the way they were—until the day I found a clue that led me straight to her. So I took a chance. And that was when our love story really began.

"Hi Monty. Wanna see my python?" That's how I ended up in the bathroom of some dive bar with a stranger. Me, Monty Andrews, the quintessential virgin girl next door. I was so out of my element, but there was no denying our explosive attraction, even via text. Commence Operation Bang Each Other Out of Our Systems, because that was all it was⁠—unfinished business. I had no intention of falling back into the sheets with the tattooed, muscly, dirty-in-the-best-kind-of-way single dad over and over again...but I did. Everything was going great—until we discovered I was his son's teacher.

I love you, he said. Forever, he said. Turns out, he lied. When he leaves me high and dry after a cross-country move, I push him out of my life as much as I can, which is hard to do when the guy who broke your heart also happens to be the most famous dude in town. After a disastrous year, he's aiming to rehab his reputation, and I just so happen to be aiming for a promotion at the paper. So, we strike a deal, and it's a win-win all around. Besides, what's the harm in a few dates to charity galas anyway? He's arrogant, a total jerk. There's no way I'll fall for him...again. I used to love him. Now I hate him...I think.

So wrong it's right… When grumpy firefighter Leo finally answers the wrong number text he's been getting for several days, he has no idea pixels on a screen could be so hot—or 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 Welcome to Brazen Bay, a small town I crafted just to explore that feeling of so wrong it's righ t. 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.

From cybersex partners to hackers gone awry, each of McCarthy’s three fiery tales involve couples who interact with computers and find love in the process. In “Hard Drive,” Kindra is mortified when her coworker and secret crush, Mack, catches her cavorting online with her cybersex lover. But when Mack offers to show her the benefits of love the old-fashioned way, Kindra realizes what she has been missing. In “Press Any Key,” it seems like Jared can’t stand his sexy coworker Candy. But beneath his scowl, he is deeply attracted to her sweet ways. “User Friendly” finds Halley reluctantly turning to her best friend, Evan, for help with a hacker. They both have feelings for each other but are afraid to act on them until the heat of the hacker chase finds them giving in to their lust and discovering the perfect mate in each other.

Ruby Santos knew exactly what she was getting herself into when she signed up to write a soldier overseas. The guidelines were simple: one letter or email a week for the length of his or her deployment. Care packages were optional. Been there, done that. She thought she knew what to expect. What she didn’t count on was falling in love with the guy.

Millie Morris has always been one of the guys. A UC Santa Barbara professor, she’s a female-serial-killer expert who’s quick with a deflection joke and terrible at getting personal. And she, just like her four best guy friends and fellow professors, is perma-single. So when a routine university function turns into a black tie gala, Mille and her circle make a pact that they’ll join an online dating service to find plus-ones for the event. There’s only one hitch: after making the pact, Millie and one of the guys, Reid Campbell, secretly spend the sexiest half-night of their lives together, but mutually decide the friendship would be better off strictly platonic. But online dating isn’t for the faint of heart. While the guys are inundated with quality matches and potential dates, Millie’s first profile attempt garners nothing but dick pics and creepers. Enter “Catherine”—Millie’s fictional profile persona, in whose make-believe shoes she can be more vulnerable than she’s ever been in person. Soon “Catherine” and Reid strike up a digital pen-pal-ship...but Millie can’t resist temptation in real life, either. Soon, Millie will have to face her worst fear—intimacy—or risk losing her best friend, forever.