Page 3 of Faking the Book Boyfriend

Just then, JoJo and Ava walk into our room. I let out a whistle. “Wow. You two look gorgeous.”

JoJo is a little younger than me. Her dirty blond hair is straightened, and her trademark black outfit doesn’t mask her gorgeous curves.

Ava is the oldest of all of us, with brown hair, blue eyes, and curves that match JoJo’s. She’s a stunner.

Ava gives us a bashful smile, but JoJo sucks in her cheeks. “I do look like Giselle, don’t I? I hope my karate instructor wants to bang me like hers did.”

Libby channels her best Marilyn Monroe voice, and breathes, “Yes, sensei. Your wood is so big and hard, sensei. You bring me to my knees, sensei. How about I show you how far I can spread my legs, sensei?”

We all burst out laughing as JoJo places a coffee carrier with four cups on the desk.

Libby looks at it. “Did you get any cream and sugar?”

JoJo lifts an eyebrow. “They’re already in your coffees. You like one cream and two-and-a-half sugars. Two isn’t enough and three is too many. Ava likes it black. Gemma likes a splash of skim milk. Not a full pour because then it makes her coffee cold.”

I love that she knows all that.

She hands me mine and I take a sip. “Yum. This is good. Where’s it from?”

JoJo is a coffee snob. She refuses to drink hotel lobby coffee and always brings her own coffee grounds to brew when she travels.

“This little gourmet shop near my house. Fucking TSA always thinks I’m trafficking drugs when I fly with my coffee grounds. I usually get pulled to the side and they check it. That’s not even why I got pulled aside before a flight a few weeks ago though. Note to self, don’t travel through airport metal detectors in a bodysuit that has a metal clasp at the crotch. I think Vernon from TSA is the most action I’ve gotten in months.”

Libby quips, “That sounds like a reason youshouldwear a bodysuit through the airport. Was Vernon hot?”

JoJo shakes her head. “Vernon was so ugly he could scare the crap out of a toilet. When he looks in the mirror, the reflection walks away.”

Ava spits out her coffee in laughter. “Oh my god. That’s horrible…and hysterical.”

I nod in agreement as I quickly type away on my phone. “I agree that it’s horrible and hysterical. It’s now going in my next book. Thanks, JoJo.”

She sarcastically responds, “Nothing says rom-com like a good old-fashioned airport near-fingerfucking incident.”

I smile as I turn Libby toward the mirror to show her my finished product. “Liberty Hill, meet your alter ego, Libby Cocksin your mouth, banter queen of the south.”

She rolls her eyes. “My pen name is Libby Cox with anx, not Cocks as in dicks.”

I wink. “Potato, patahto.”

She takes in her full reflection and gasps. “Oh, Gem, even with only one eye I can see what a great job you did.” Libby is blind in her left eye and always makes jokes about it.

After everyone agrees, Libby and I finish getting dressed and meet JoJo and Ava in the living room of our suite.

Ava sighs. “Let’s rock this and sell some books. I didn’t fly all the way to Colorado with this shit just to have to take it all home with me.”

We all grab our oversized trunks of books that we travel with and then make our way to the convention hall for the giant book signing.

FOURTEEN HOURS LATER

We’re all lounging in our pajamas in the living room of our suite, braless, makeup-less, and in a Chinese food coma. We’re drinking some weird JoJo-produced wine and vodka concoction that I know will lead us in a bad direction, but I love these girls and we’re having too much fun to let a little thing like the promise of a bad hangover deter us from a good time.

Our normal silliness is broken up by Libby admitting that she and her boyfriend, Logan, broke up. I feel so bad for her. She moved halfway across the country for that dickhead.

And then Ava admits that her man-child ex-husband, Zach, still calls her because he doesn’t know how to manage his own life.

I sigh. “What does it say about us that we write romance yet can’t seem to find men who come close to the ones we write about? Do you think our standards are too high?”

Ava shakes her head. “Absolutely not. We just haven’t foundthe right guys yet. They’re out there. Don’t give up on finding your Mr. Perfect.”

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