Page 22 of Rating the Book Boyfriend

“Riggs! What are you doing?” she asks, and I kiss her along her jawline.

“I’m kissing my girlfriend.” My nose nuzzles at her neck. She smells flowery and expensive, as always.

“Well stop. I’m mad at you for going to that stupid convention,” she retorts, and my mood plummets.

Lucinda is surprisingly supportive of my side career as a book cover model. I think she likes bragging to her friends about it because they think it’s cool. She still acts annoyed when I travel, even though I only go to a few book conventions a year.

“I only signed up for this one because you had that trip planned with your friends. And you know you’re always welcome to go with me, Lucinda. I invite you every time.”

She shoves against my shoulders in annoyance, and I set her on her feet. “Hanging out with book nerds isn’t really my thing,” she announces before easing gracefully onto her pristine white couch and picking up her coffee.

I sit beside her and push her dark-brown hair back over one shoulder, trying to preserve the day. Lucinda really is a beautifulwoman. She’s petite and has pretty brown eyes, but the scowl on her face mars her beauty.

“Let’s not argue about that again, babe. Maybe we can talk about more pleasant things.” My lips drop to the side of her neck at the same time my hand slides up her toned thigh and beneath her white tennis skirt.

But her hand grips my wrist and halts my progress. “Riggs, stop it. I feel like all you want me for is sex.”

Huffing out a harsh breath, I flop against the back of the couch and stare at the ceiling, calculating how long it’s been since Lucinda and I slept together. It was… let’s see… August?

“That doesn’t even make sense, Lucinda. I could see it if we actually had sex at any point in the past two months, but you keep saying you’re not in the mood.”

“My choice,” she retorts, leaving me with absolutely no response to that. Nothing I could say out loud anyway. I’m sure she doesn’t want to hear about me jerking off in the shower morning after morning after a long string of lonely nights.

But I suck up all my frustration and force my head around to look at Lucinda. She’s scrolling through her phone, obviously unworried about my irritating predicament.

“Would you like to go out somewhere Saturday? We can go to that seafood place you like.”

“No, I’m going to Chicago to see Elizabeth this weekend.” She glances up and shoots me a sly smile. “Liz is the one who told me about that thing I signed you up for.”

I scruff my hand through my hair, mussing it up as I ask the question that’s been burning through me since she sent me that text. “What exactly are you looking for with this book-boyfriend service, Lucinda? What am I doing wrong?”

She shrugs and turns back to her phone. “Liz said it’s supposed to make your boyfriend swoonier. She’s totally jellythat I could sign you up, but she can’t do the same for Ethan because they don’t offer that service in Illinois.”

Ah, now I see.This whole thing has less to do with me and more to do with one-upping her friend. Or maybefrenemiesis the better term to describe Lucinda and Elizabeth. They’ve been like this for as long as I can remember.

“Maybe you’ll find this swoony,” I say, going for a teasing tone that falls a little flat. I pull out the small box from my pants pocket and hand it over. It’s wrapped in Lucinda’s favorite color, white, with a silver bow.

She tears off the paper and opens the box to reveal a pair of elegant diamond earrings. Each has a huge central stone with smaller diamonds encircling it.

Lucinda’s eyes light up. “These are beautiful, Riggs.” She quickly takes the jewelry from the box and puts them in her earlobes before using her phone as a mirror to admire them.

“They were made by a Colorado jeweler,” I explain. “I found his shop when I was walking around downtown, and I thought you’d like these.”

“I love them.”

To my surprise, she presses her lips to mine, and I lift my hand to cup her cheek.Hmmm, maybe she’s changed her mind about…Before I can deepen the kiss, I hear a click and realize Lucinda has taken a picture of us. She pulls away and looks at the pic.

“Hmm, your hand is covering my earring. Let’s try again.”

Dutifully, I move my hand down to the side of her neck when she kisses me again. Chastely. “There. That’s better,” she says after taking another photo. “I’m posting this and tagging Elizabeth. She’s going to be so jealous.”

“Glad I could be of service,” I say dryly.

“All done.” Lucinda turns the screen toward me, and I read the caption:My boo bought me new earrings. He loves me so much.

Though we’ve dated for a year now, Lucinda and I have yet to say we loved each other, but she’s always posting about our “love” on her social media accounts. That irritates me. I don’t want to say those words until I mean them, and I’m fully aware I’m not in love with Lucinda. I want to be, but I just don’t feel it yet.

She looks up at me and tilts her head, a smile playing across her lips. “Thank you, Riggs.” Sliding across my lap, she seats her ass right on my dick, and the lonely fucker perks up and takes notice. Lucinda leans forward, and I think she’s about to kiss me for real when the doorbell rings.

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