Finding Dandelion (Dearest #2) Read Free Page A

great university with a three point five GPA. You’d think I’d have some linguistic abilities.
    Travis has been frowning since we left the tattoo parlor.
    I have to laugh at this whole situation. When I got my tattoo a few weeks ago, Travis decided he wanted one. Except today, he chickened out, and I walked out with piercings instead. I nudge him with my hip, edging him off the sidewalk. “You’re still lusting after Brady, aren’t you?”
    He turns toward me, his black hair flipping in his face. “What gave me away?”
    “Just a hunch. Too bad Brady doesn’t play for your team.”
    “The good ones never do. He seemed pretty into you, though.” Travis flashes that trademark crooked grin, and I shake my head. Travis thinks every guy likes me.
    “Brady is, like, a man. He must be twenty-five or twenty-six. At least. I just turned twenty. And he’s all muscly and hard and sexy. There’s no way he’s interested in me.”
    It’s Travis’s turn to shake his head and look at me like I’m crazy.
    But there’s something else. Even though Brady is good-looking, I can’t stop thinking about the guy from the restaurant. Jax . Damn. Even his name is sexy. One smile from him and my panties almost melted off my body. This is what I get for being so judgmental about that girl trying to give him her number.
    Travis bumps me with his elbow. “So were you totally turned on while Brady had his hands all over you?”
    “Yeah, until he jabbed me with a needle. Twice.” I adjust my bra strap. “Do you think they… look okay?” I can’t talk about the piercings without my face turning crimson.
    Travis edges around an old lady walking in the opposite direction, and his eyes fall on me, dipping briefly to my chest. “They’re hot, and you’re gorgeous.”
    “You don’t think they make me look a little trampy?” The words are out of my mouth before I have a chance to filter them, but it’s an honest question.
    “Hell, no.” I love that his response is lightning quick. “So you want to do a little more body modification? It all looks great on you.”
    I grin. Travis always makes me feel beautiful. He lived on my floor freshman year, and we immediately hit it off. For the last two years, we’ve been nearly inseparable. He’s beautiful with black hair and eyes the color of dark chocolate. My BFF is tall and lanky and a bit of a brooder. All the boys love him. I do too. He was my shoulder to cry on when Reid and I broke up last spring.
    “Besides, if anyone is the tramp in this relationship, it’s me, remember?” He nudges me again. “You’re too pure to be trampy.”
    Maybe that’s my problem. Guys view me as the good girl. The nice one.
    I blow out a deep breath. “Do you think that’s why Reid lost interest?”
    “Reid lost interest ‘cause he’s a douche canoe. Sleeping with your roommate almost within hours of your breakup is the only proof you need. And you weren’t a virgin. You just don’t have sex with every guy on the planet.”
    I get that I’m not ugly, and I’m not the kind of person to go fishing for compliments, but my girl-next-door qualities don’t exactly attract the guys who get my toes curling in bed. More like wham-bam-five-minute-slam. And Reid was no exception. Which is why I was so shocked to see him prance out of Ashley’s room an hour after the porno sounds started last spring. Granted, we had broken up a few days before, but still. I’m nauseous thinking about how she screamed the whole time. “Harder! Oh, God, yes, fuck me harder!”
    I thought she had hooked up with another guy she’d been crushing on. Sucker that I am, I was rooting for her, happy she found someone who was hot in the sack. Except when the door opened, my ex-boyfriend sauntered out, shirtless, with his unbuttoned jeans hanging low on his hips, and his penis still saluting at half-mast through his pants. He didn’t even have the decency to be embarrassed. Instead, he gave me a look that suggested I was