Page 44 of Rating the Book Boyfriend

Istep barefoot onto the wooden deck behind Riggs’s home. I’ve changed into a blue-and-white-striped bikini with a sheer white cover-up. The salty air hits my nose, and I’m not sure I’ve ever smelled anything more appealing.

Pulling my folders from my bag, I arrange them neatly on the wrought-iron patio table and take a seat in a padded chair. Riggs appears a few minutes later.

“All loaded in your car.”

“Thank you again for the photos. I wish you’d let me pay?—”

“You’re insulting me, Liberty,” he says with a stern voice, and I give him a chagrined smile.

“Okay, I’ll shut up. Do you have your paperwork?”

He hands over the navy-blue folder, and I page through it. “This looks good, but can we talk about the self-assessment?”

A slight flush rises up and spreads across his cheeks. “M’kay.”

“You pretty much gave yourself fives across the board, except in honesty. You gave yourself a ten there.”

His shoulders lift and fall. “That’s the only one I feel confident that I’m a ten in. I don’t lie. Ever.”

“What about attentiveness? Do you not pay enough attention to Lucinda?”

“I try to,” he demurs.

“And?”

“She’s not always receptive to it, so maybe I’m doing something wrong. Same with all the rest of the categories.”

My eyes stop on each category down the left side. “And do you give her compliments?”

“I do. I know women take time with their appearance, and I always try to mention it so she knows her efforts haven’t been wasted.”

“Then why did you give yourself a five?”

Riggs drops his head and runs a hand over the top of his hair. “I don’t know. I’m just not sure why Lucinda signed me up for BBB. I must be doing something wrong.”

“Maybe…” I don’t finish the thought because it doesn’t seem professional.Maybe you’re not the problem. I hate seeing him blame himself when he honestly seems to be putting in the effort. “I contacted her for more information, and we’re meeting for lunch week after next.”

“Really?”

I smile. “Yes. She’s the one who signed you up, so I’m going to try and get more specifics from her.”

“Oh, okay.” His nonchalant response tells me it doesn’t bother him that we’re meeting, which makes me happy. If he’s secretly an asshat that treats his girl like crap, he would have protested, right?

“You did give yourself a seven in the dirty-talking category.”

“Yeah, I told you I think I’ve got a pretty good handle on that.”

I shuffle through the papers. “I don’t see page forty-two. The one where I asked you to document some examples?” I let that hang in the air like a question.

“We, uh, haven’t had the chance to… Lucinda’s been busy.”

Now it’s my turn to blush. “Okay, no problem,” I say a little too brightly. “You can give it to me next week.”

His almost-admission confuses me. They haven’t been intimate in the past week? Or maybe he’s simply not into dirty talk, though he looks like he would be. Hell, the man looks like he could growl out the filthiest shit imaginable while pummeling a woman’s cervix into submission.

Stop thinking things like that, Libby,I scold myself, moving on to discuss romance. I read over page thirty-one, which is the list of romantic things he’s done for Lucinda since they’ve been together, and I have to be honest. All these things are sweeter than anything I could have come up with. Maybe he needs to be the coach here.

“This all looks great, Riggs.” I rap a knuckle against the paper. “Especially the private, candlelit dinner on the beach. That sounds super romantic. Did she enjoy it?”

---