This is the last chapter in Devon and Ebonee’s story.

An accidental phone swap leads to a day of messages—and an unexpected connection.

When Devon and Ebonee bump into each other at a busy subway station, their phones get swapped, and they find themselves connected for the day. What starts as a frustrating inconvenience turns into a series of flirty, revealing texts—and the possibility of new love.

They meet again

It was already ten minutes after five, and Ebonee was still in the bathroom touching up her makeup. She hated to admit it, but she was anxious about seeing Devon again. Flirting and chatting with him over text had been easy, but seeing him again could prove… awkward.

She was also very excited. So excited that she couldn’t quell the fluttering in her stomach, no matter how hard she tried.

She powdered her nose to cover the shine on the tip and then stood back to examine her handiwork. “This is as good as you’re going to look,” she told herself, smoothing a hand over her ponytail.

She dropped the brush and compact in her purse and rushed out the door. She grabbed the bag of cannoli from the break room refrigerator and hurried to the elevator. It seemed to take forever, but soon she was inside and on her way to the first floor. As she stepped into the late afternoon sun, her eyes scanned the pedestrians walking briskly down the sidewalk in front of the building.

No sign of Devon yet.

A few minutes later, she checked the time on his phone. He was a few minutes late.

Then she saw him, striding toward her from across the street in his chocolate suit and gold-and-rust-colored tie, the gold hoop glinting in his right ear. Tall, confident, and—ugh—even more scrumptious-looking than she remembered.

Ebonee straightened her shoulders and arched an eyebrow. “You’re late.”

“Am I?” he asked, coming to stand in front of her.

She held up her phone—his phone—for emphasis. “It’s 5:18.”

“My bad.” He slipped one hand into his pocket. “As I was heading out, one of my co-workers had a question that no one else could answer but me.”

“You’re the only person who could answer it?”

He shrugged, a faint smile touching his lips, his eyes twinkling. “I’m not one to brag, but I’m like a god to those people. It can be so draining.”

“So you say.” Ebonee handed over his phone with mock ceremony. “Here’s your precious phone with all your unread emails.”

“And your shopping addiction is our little secret,” he responded, handing over hers.

During the exchange, their fingers brushed, just enough for Ebonee’s pulse to jump and warmth to fill her cheeks.

They stood awkwardly for a few moments, both of them making a big show of checking their phones as people milled around them.

“So,” Devon started.

Ebonee looked up at him with nervous anticipation.

“We have our phones back,” he said.

“Yeah, we do.” Why couldn’t she think of anything else to say? Texting was so much easier.

“I’m headed to the station. How about you?”

“I’m headed that way too.”

“Then we should walk together.”

Ebonee smiled. “Not a bad idea.”

They started walking the few blocks to the train station.

Ebonee shot a sideways glance at him as they stepped off the curb together. “Tell me something…”

“Okay…” He narrowed his eyes.

“Not to get all up in your business—”

“As if you haven’t already.”

“You’re one to talk,” Ebonee said, side-eyeing him. “Anyway, I was wondering, why were you yelling this morning in the station at Milton—no, Mort was his name? I felt sorry for the guy.”

He laughed. “That was your first impression of me? Loud and aggressive?”

“Maybe not aggressive, but definitely loud,” Ebonee said.

Devon chuckled and then shrugged. “I’ll take that. I didn’t mean to be yelling. I’m mostly deaf in one ear.”

The smirk fell off Ebonee’s face. “Are you serious?”

He nodded. “I started losing my hearing a couple of years back and finally went to get it looked at. They couldn’t find anything wrong, but I kept having trouble hearing. I went to another doctor who dug a little deeper and found out I had a tumor on my auditory nerve.”

Ebonee gasped, her mouth falling open.

He shot her a wry look. “Yeah, it sucked. They removed the tumor, but by then I’d lost 90 percent of the hearing in my left ear. When I’m on the phone, I kind of overcompensate without realizing it.”

Ebonee sidestepped a couple coming toward them. “Now I feel like crap for judging you.”

“Don’t feel bad. You didn’t know,” Devon said with a laugh. He briefly bumped her arm. “Real talk, I need to get better at regulating my voice when I’m on the phone. It’s just hard to gauge how loud I’m talking when I’m in a crowded space and there’s a lot of background noise, like in the subway station.”

They entered the station and walked down to the platform. As they arrived, the train squealed toward them on the tracks.

“Just in time,” Devon remarked.

They pushed their way onto the train with everyone else. No seats were available, so they stood shoulder to shoulder, holding onto the silver pole, pressed between commuters ranging from office personnel dressed in business attire to a single mother wrangling two noisy kids.

Devon leaned sideways toward Ebonee. “Take that look off your face.”

She stuck out her bottom lip. “I feel bad about what I said.”

“Forget it. Seriously. We’re good.”

She looked up at him. His smile was infectious, causing her to smile back in relief. “Thanks.”

She could feel Devon’s warmth beside her, his arm brushing hers each time the train swayed. She tried to focus on the passing stops and not the ridiculous rhythmic beating of her heart, dreading the moment they stepped through the doors and went their separate ways. She might as well enjoy their last moments together.

“You didn’t go through everything on my phone, did you?” Ebonee asked quietly.

Devon leaned in so only she could hear. “I thought about it, but I stopped at the girls’ trip.”

“Aren’t you a gentleman.”

“I have my moments. You, on the other hand, don’t know when to quit.”

“You warned me, but you didn’t warn me well enough,” she said.

He shrugged.

“You’re not the least bit embarrassed I saw that photo of you naked, are you?”

“What do you think?” He cocked an eyebrow at her.

Ebonee let out a laugh and shook her head.

From then on, they talked for the rest of the trip, their conversation light and easy, like they were old friends rather than strangers who’d only met that morning. But by the time they rolled to the stop where they would disembark, tension resurfaced between them.

They exited the train in silence. The day had faded to a dusky glow as nighttime approached. People hurried by them as they climbed the stairs and walked slowly out of the building.

“I’m parked over there,” Devon said, pointing with his thumb.

“I’m over there.” Ebonee pointed with her forefinger in the opposite direction. She swallowed, her heart heavy. “Thanks for giving me my phone back, and um… it was nice to meet you, Devon.”

“Nice to meet you too. Watch where you’re going in the future.”

“You too, klutz.”

“Yeah, whatever,” he said with a chuckle.

A beat passed.

“Well, I need to get these cannoli to my mom. Bye,” Ebonee said with a finger wave. She stepped off the sidewalk and started toward her car.

“Hey, Ebonee!”

She turned. Devon was standing in the same spot.

“How about dinner tomorrow night? I could… give you advice about starting your own business. What not to do, that kind of thing.”

Ebonee rested a hand on her hip. “What makes you think I’m free on such short notice? I might have plans.”

“You don’t. Remember the text from Derek? I think your exact words were ‘I’m free. Just not for him.’ Ring a bell?”

“Oh, right.” She let out a short laugh.

“So, what do you say, Ebonee? Dinner and more stimulating conversation with me tomorrow night?”

She saw the fleeting hesitation in his face and heard the way his question didn’t sound quite so confident. She was pleased to see that he might be nervous, like she was, about their attraction to each other and the direction it was taking.

“Sure.”

“You like sushi?”

“Yes, I do, actually.”

“How about we meet at Wasabi Kitchen? Seven work for you?” Devon asked.

“Make it seven-thirty and it’s a date.”

“It’s a date, then.” A smile spread across his face. “Don’t forget me.”

“I won’t.” Ebonee continued down the aisle, her heels clicking on the pavement as she practically floated to her car.

Sliding into her vehicle, she placed her purse and the bag of cannoli on the passenger seat and let out a breath. What an interesting day.

Her phone buzzed, and she quickly fished it out of her bag. It was Devon.

_____

Hope you enjoyed Devon and Ebonee’s story! I think these two are going to make it, don’t you?

For more fun, flirty romance, check out my novel Boyfriend for Hire.

For more romance short stories, check out Love on the Brain: a short fiction collection.