Page 1 of Dream Lover
Prologue — Quinn
THE PERFECT MAN: AN UNKNOWN CREATURE FOUND ONLY IN BOOKS AND MOVIES OR A HIGHSCHOOLER’S IMAGINATION
Past
“You’re laughing.You swore you weren’t going to laugh at me.” I narrowed my eyes on Carrie, and she held her palms up in mock surrender.
“I’m sorry.” Her thin lips curved into a mischievous smirk that told me no, she was anything except sorry, but she was doing her best to shut it down and failing miserably. “What were you saying?”
I folded my arms over my chest and looked out the window of my second-floor bedroom, staring at the pool out back, debating diving in. The cool water would feel good right about now. It was one thing I loved about this house—an underwater escape even for a few moments.
“I’m not telling you.” I moved to the side wall and flipped my ceiling fan on. The dry air made me feel like I couldn’t breathe at times. It didn’t matter that I had lived in Arizona half of my life. The heat was something I never adjusted to, and it was worse with summer drawing near. Not to mention the pressure of Carrie’s amused gaze shooting lasers at me.
“Oh, come on now. That’s not fair. I gave you my list of must haves.” My best friend since before I could remember tugged on my arm and pinched my side as she sat at my desk. It was true, she had listed her dream man who also sounded a lot like her latest celebrity crush. Someone unattainable. Someone so far out of reach it made me wonder if she was being truthful. I was very serious about my dream man.
“Stop it, you goof,” I said, pulling away from her and moving to sit on my bed in the middle of the room.
“I’ll leave you alone when you finish that list. What did you say? Dark hair and blue eyes that make your heart skip a beat…” She trailed off and tapped her pencil against her notebook, waiting for me expectantly.
I rolled my eyes but gave in, knowing she wouldn’t give up. I wanted this over with. “He needs to be tall and sexy. But more importantly he has to make me laugh and be kind. He should have a good job. One that makes him happy. A nice reliable car and his own place. I want a guy who doesn’t have to try to be something he’s not. I want a man who can be my best friend.”
“You trying to replace me?” Her dark brows knitted together, then she got that sneaky grin again telling me she was going to hit me with it. And boy did she ever. “You know Conner will be home this weekend.”
“Okay … and I care because?”
Truthfully, I did care. A whole lot, actually, but I couldn’t tell her that. Conner was her older brother and my older brother’s best friend. Growing up it was always the four of us until Drew and Conner got too cool to ‘play’ or hang out with us and got into girls. Then it was a firm, ‘No-go to the baby sister and her friend.’
When it first happened it hit me hard, but as time went on, I understood.
Her left shoulder lifted. “No reason. Just thought you might want to pack a dress when you spend the night. You know my dad will insist that we do a family dinner, and it will be fancy.” Her father loved to spend money on good food. Regularly. Conner being home was just an excuse, which I didn’t mind.
I’d gone to dinner with her family a million times. I didn’t know why she was being so weird about it now. It wasn’t like Conner would care what I wore or even notice I was there at all. He wouldn’t even acknowledge I existed, but to say hi and move on.
“College boy. Hey, is he bringing any of his buddies home this time?” I wiggled my brows and rubbed my hands together.
Carrie shook her head, her face falling a touch. “Doubtful. I heard him griping about Jameson being too flirty toward us. Can you believe that?” Jameson was a friend of Conner’s who came home with him a while back. Jameson did flirt and, truth be told, I kind of liked it. An older hot guy winking and telling us we were beautiful—who wouldn’t like that?
“Well, you are his baby sister. He’s just doing that whole macho protective big brother thing.”
“I guess… But you aren’t his sister. He shouldn’t care if a guy like Jameson flirts with you.”
“He doesn’t. You’re just lumping me into the equation.” I didn’t believe that Conner even knew I existed anymore. He was a junior at Arizona State, was in a fraternity, and had other things and people on his mind. I was the furthest down on that list. I’d accepted that a long time ago.
“Whatever. Do you think we’ll ever find a guy who meets our wants?”
I thought about my bestie’s question, but I didn’t have an answer for her. I hoped one day I’d find my Mr. Right, but there was no such thing as perfect.
Quinn
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN LIFE IS NOT KNOWING EVERYTHING… IT’S HAVING THE PHONE NUMBER OF SOMEONE WHO DOES.
I glancedat the text message from my brother for the third time dreading each word my eyes scanned across. The last thing I wanted to do tonight was meet up with Drew and Rebecca. I loved my brother dearly, though, so for him I was willing to go just to make him happy. It wasn’t every day your brother got married. Unfortunately for me, my future sister-in-law was a bridezilla from hell. Yay me, not.
Drew-Be at Fat Olives at seven. It’s about the wedding. Don’t be late.
Ugh. I sighed and grabbed my keys along with my purse that had my phone inside. It was already half past six. I delayed as long as possible without being late.
I had big plans for my Friday night that consisted of Netflix—hello, Oliver, from theGreen Arrow—and chilling with my new bottle of wine until the entire bottle was consumed. At least there would be wine at the restaurant. That was the only perk of the evening, and I was going to need it to deal with Rebecca.
