Page 38 of Rating the Book Boyfriend

“She’s coming back,” Penn mutters, glancing over my shoulder before letting out a very loud, very fake laugh. We allfollow suit like we hadn’t just been talking about some serious shit.

“What’s so funny?” Libby asks, sitting down and grinning at us.

“We were just talking about Ty’s penis tattoo,” Penn blurts out. “Get this, about a year ago, he was crazy for this girl, and she wanted him to get her name tattooed on his dick to prove his love for her.”

Libby frowns. “And did you?”

Ty rolls his eyes. “I did, and then she left me two weeks later.”

She covers her cherry lips with one hand. “That’s terrible. Can you get it removed?”

Ty lifts an eyebrow. “Do you have any idea how painful laser tattoo removal can be? Especially in such a… delicate area.”

“His penis is very delicate. And tiny,” Penn says, earning him a middle finger from our other friend. “Anyway, her name was Erica, and now Ty is datinganotherwoman named Erica, and when she saw the tat, she thought he had it done for her.”

Libby’s mouth drops almost to the floor. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Wh-what does the new Erica look like?”

“Totally fucking hot,” Ty replies, closing his eyes. “Dark hair, and these nerdy glasses that make her look like a sexy librarian.”

“Oh my fuck,” she whispers, blinking rapidly.

“I know,” Ty laments. “And I really like her a lot. I want to see if this can go somewhere between us, but now I feel like I’ve started our relationship out on a lie. At the same time, I don’t want to hurt her feelings. Maybe you could give me a woman’s perspective on what to do.”

Libby purses her lips and lifts her eyebrows before shocking the hell out of us all. “Seeing as how the Erica you’re talking about is one of my friends and she was just telling me this story about an hour ago?—”

“No fucking way!” Penn yells, and she nods.

“Yes fucking way. Ty, you really need to tell her. Erica likes you a lot but she’s a little concerned that you’re a stalky weirdo who got his peen tattooed after being together one time. I can assure you, if you tell her the truth, she’ll understand.”

Four sets of eyes dart between one another before the ridiculousness of the situation hits us at the same time, and all we burst into laughter.

“Um, I have your food and drinks,” the server says, looking concerned at the crazy folks in her booth. “Is everything okay here?”

“Fine,” Libby says, wiping tears of mirth from beneath her eyes before pointing at Ty. “We’re just trying to help our friend with an unfortunate penis incident.”

The waitress quickly slides her entire tray onto the table and sprints back to the kitchen as another bout of hilarity roars from our table.

Could this woman be any more perfect?

CHAPTER 11

Riggs

My friends may be idiots, but they were a hundred percent right when it came to Libby. I fucking like her.

And there’s absolutely nothing I can do about it.

Knocking on the door, I force a bright smile when Lucinda answers, and I lean in for a kiss. She offers her cheek, not her lips, and I brush it lightly. “You ready to go?”

“Sure. Let me get my purse.” Then she looks over her shoulder at me. “You didn’t bring the truck, did you?” Lucinda hates my truck.

“No, I brought the Mercedes.”

“Good.”

The ride is made in silence while she scrolls on her phone, which gives me time to think. The first month after Lucinda and I got together a year ago was great. I took her to all her favorite places and doted on her.

The second month, I tried to introduce her to things I liked—fishing, the beach, parasailing—but she despised all of it. I thought it was okay though. Couples could enjoy differentthings, right? We could have our own interests that we could do with our friends when we weren’t together.

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