Call This Love: Call Center Series, #2

By Janet Berry

Friends with benefits are always fun

Until someone falls in love. Esme Diaz knows that won't happen with Duncan Reilly, serial bachelor and fellow commitment-phobe.

Except Duncan doesn't want to be the new girl every night man. He wants a real relationship.

After two horrible first dates, they realize that maybe what they really want is right in front of them.

***This book was previously Changing Us, book 2 in the call center series. The title, cover, and blurb have been changed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Janet Berry
• Release date: Feb 28, 2021
• ISBN: 9798215176276

Book preview

Acknowledgements:

For my Twitch family. <3 

Chapter One

Esme Diaz stared up at the ceiling, breathing heavily. She looked over at her bed partner and laughed, watching his chest rise and fall with his labored breathing.

Ready for round two? he asked, leaning over and pressing hot kisses down her neck.

Duncan, I have to go to work. And, she said, throwing the blanket off, You have to go home.

She looked back at her bed and the sexy Duncan Reilly covered by her silk, purple sheets, and almost joined him back in bed.

You have to go to work. Even if he is super sexy wrapped in your sheets.

She smiled to herself and strutted to the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

A few minutes later, she came out, dressed in her bra and panties with her makeup done.

She was almost let down when she saw Duncan pulling on his t-shirt over his chiseled chest instead of still in her bed.

You want to get together around ten or something tonight? he asked, following her out of her bedroom, his shoes in hand.

It took her a minute to answer. They had only been fooling around for a few weeks now, but it was just sex and nothing else. She didn’t want him to get attached.

But she liked the sex with him. It was really great!

Yeah, I should be off by then. If not, I’ll let you know.

His face split into a shit-eating grin as he sat on her couch and put his shoes on.

She rolled her eyes and headed to the kitchen. She turned her Keurig machine on and leaned up, opening the cabinet above her.

She grabbed a pod and flipped open the Keurig, then popped it in and started it up. Realizing she forgot a mug, she flipped open the cabinet nearest to her and grabbed one, shoving it under the nozzle right as it started to spit out coffee.

Would you like some coffee? she asked, turning to look at him.

He walked to the bar of her kitchen and shook his head.

Not much for coffee. I’ll just grab a Monster on my way home.

She shrugged and took another sip, breathing the smell deeply into her nose.

All right. Well, I gotta run. I’ll call you later.

She waved and was surprised when he came around the bar to give her a scorching kiss, leaving Esme licking her lips as he unlocked her apartment door and left.

Damn. She smiled and fingered her lips gently before sighing once more, finishing off her coffee.

Esme walked into work, her heart sinking at the sight of the floor in front of her.

This blows.

She couldn’t even talk to her best friend Elisa, since she didn’t come in for another hour.

Shitty schedule changes, she murmured, heading to her desk.

She tossed her bag underneath her desk on one of the shelves that lined the side, then pressed her mouse to wake her computer.

She rolled her eyes when the little box asked for an update. Esme clicked yes and then leaned back in her chair to wait for it to update.

When she realized it was 9:58, she reached over and typed in her phone login, putting in another code to avoid having to take a call while she was still trying to get her computer to cooperate.

A few minutes went by, and the little box started to work, finally finishing her updates.

Once she was logged into the computer, she opened all the windows she needed and pressed her phone button, ready to take calls.

She was in the middle of a disgruntled customer’s call when her MessageMe system popped up, indicating she had a message from Elisa.

Thank God.

She laughed when she read Elisa’s first message.

Hey. What the hell is going on? Why are there so many calls today?

There’s apparently an outage somewhere. Not sure what’s going on or what’s happening, but we’ve been told just to tell the customers that it’s an outage, and we’re working on it.

Fantastic. This is gonna be a fun day.

Yep!

She heard Elisa’s voice over the chaos and knew she’d gotten a call, so she went back to focusing on her own customer.

A few minutes later, as the customer rambled on about how poor Destin’s customer service was, Esme watched Duncan stroll onto the floor, looking over at her with a wink.

She rolled her eyes and looked back down at her computer, unsurprised when a message popped up.

Hey.

Hey.

Why did Duncan just WINK at you?

Esme sighed. I don’t really want to talk about this at work right now…

I’ll tell you later.

What? Why not now?

Elisa, I promise, I will tell you later.

It took a few minutes before she responded, All right. It’s not bad, is it?

She smiled, touched by the concern of her friend.

No, it’s not bad. Well, not really bad anyway. *winky face*

She could hear Elisa laugh from her desk, glad that they were still close, but sad that their teams had moved so far away from one another. Esme and Elisa had been able to sit right next