Chapter 1

“C'mon, Erika.” Tommy James pleads. “Please go out with me.”

“I can't go out with you, tonight, Tommy.” Erika lies. “I have to work tonight.”

“Erika, I've been asking you out for years, and each time, you turn me down. I really like you and have liked you since we were in middle school together.” Tommy explained to her.

“I'm sorry, Tommy. It can't be helped. My boss called me in to work. Sarah Silverman called off and I was called into work.” Erika lied.

“Oh, alright.” sounding dejected again, Tommy hit the “end call” button on his cell.

“Whew!” Erika thought to herself. Erika felt bad for turning Tommy down for a date yet again. But the truth was Erika didn't want to date boys. She was saving herself for a special guy. A guy so special, she had yet to meet him. She had only dreamed of him. . . . for ten years she dreamt every night of the same guy. A tall handsome man, possibly 6-foot 3-inch guy, who towered over her 5-foot 2-inch frame and had dark hair and dark piercing eyes that saw through her soul.

Tommy James wasn't the only boy in her school to turn down for dates. So sure that Erika would meet this mysterious guy, she turned down several boys in her class. She wanted to save herself for the one guy she had been dreaming of for ten years. She knew if she had to hold out for this guy. After all, if she was dreaming of him, they had to be destined for each other? Why else would she be dreaming of him for so long?

But after ten years and still Erika had yet to meet this guy, Erika began to wonder if maybe this guy was just a figment of her imagination. She didn't want to call up Tommy and finally tell him she would go out with him, or any of the other guys she had been turning down all these years. They would wonder why she was suddenly willing to go out with them. They would all think she was either crazy or desperate to ask them out after all these years.

Erika did the next best thing. She decided to go online to a social website called MeetPeople.com. Her bestie, Jennie Wilcox had met her husband online and were now happily married after finally meeting after chatting online for only three months. If Jennie could do it, why couldn't she?

So she went to MeetPeople.com and opened an account. She got a response to chat within five minutes and a friend request from a guy from New York. She went to his profile. Liking what she saw, Erika accepted the request. She got a message almost immediately:

“Hey, there Sexy. I saw your profile. After I saw it, I just knew that I had to get to know you. I would like for us to chat on messenger as I do not like sending messages via these social networking sites. Here is my email, ***************@*****.com. I'll be waiting to here from you.”

Erika was curious. She left a message telling this guy her email so he would know who it was from. Then she logged into her email. And left her first message with SexyLover.