Rating the Book Boyfriend (Book Boyfriend Builders)

19. Riggs

CHAPTER 19

Riggs

I awaken in the dark and immediately smile. I’m in my soft, cozy bed with a long, lean blonde wrapped in my arms. We’d come to my house last night because I had to take care of Ace, and I’d asked Libby to come with me. Thank god she’d agreed because I wanted to spend all the time in the world with her.

After checking the time on the bedside clock, I lean up on one elbow and kiss Libby's cheek. “Baby?” I whisper, not wanting to startle her. She stirs and presses her fine ass back against my crotch.

“Again?” She says it amenably, and not in a good lord, you want to fuck again? way. Which is how Lucinda used to say it when I wanted sex more than once.

But Libby—this beautiful, wild woman—has a sexual appetite that rivals my own. We went at each other all night, with long naps in between. Once I’d roused with a warm mouth around my cock, her soft suction gently waking me from a bone-deep sleep.

“No, baby. I mean, yes. Always yes with you, but first I thought you might like to watch the sunrise from my balcony.”

She rolls over, and I can feel the curve of her smile against my neck. “Yes, please.”

Turning on the bedside lamp, I get up and grab us some clothes, wrapping Libby in my fluffy lavender robe. Don’t judge. My sister bought it for me as a joke, but I kinda love it. I slip on a sweatshirt and pajama pants and lead Libby out the glass doors to my flagstone balcony.

The first hint of the sun lightens the strip of sky just above the water as I settle onto a sling-back patio chair with the most gorgeous woman in the world curled in my lap.

As the yellow orb turns the sky into a rainbow of pastels, the scene before us is simply majestic. But the beauty of it pales in comparison to Liberty Hill. The emerging sunlight sets her hair aglow. Her locks hang loose and messy down her back, the ponytail having been disposed of during one of our romps.

I like her like this, and I can feel the earth shifting beneath us. Nuzzling my nose against her cheek, I say her name. “Liberty.”

“Hmm?” She turns her pretty face toward me, and I can see a few freckles dusted across her nose.

“I meant what I said last night. I’m not into one-night stands. Do you think you’d…” I inhale a deep breath and expel it, letting the air take the nervous butterflies with it. “Do you think you’d like to be with me?”

She’s silent for a long moment, her eyes searching mine. “Are you sure that’s what you want? You had a girlfriend about five minutes ago.”

My fingers tangle in the hair above her right ear, and I pull her toward me for a tender kiss. “That’s been over for a while. I was just too dumb to realize it. But I think being with you is the smartest thing I’ve done in a long time.”

“Genius, really,” she comments, making me smile. “I’d love to give this thing between us a try.”

Relief floods my every vein, and I pull her head to my shoulder. “That makes me happy.”

Libby sighs as we resume our sky watching “It’s so easy being with you, Riggs, and the chemistry is off the charts. People who say physical stuff doesn’t count are deluding themselves. You make me feel special when we’re together.” She cuddles closer, and I can hear the smile in her voice. “Even when you go all panther on me.”

“Panther?” I ask with a laugh, and she gazes up at me.

“Oh, don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about. Every time you came back from the bathroom, you prowled at me like a big, dark cat.”

Dragging my thumb across her bottom lip, I ask, “Were you afraid I was going to eat you up, little girl?”

“Terrified,” she says, widening her eyes in mock-fear.

“Is that why you kept spreading your legs for me?”

She giggles. “I spread them because you, sir, are a master with your tongue.”

“The better to lick you with, my dear.”

“I think that’s the big, bad wolf you’re quoting.”

I stand, holding Libby in my arms and carrying her back to my bed. She bounces when I toss her onto it, and then I crawl up over her, attempting to be as prowly as possible.

I untie my robe from her waist and part it, my eyes hungrily taking in the sight of her naked body.

“Brace yourself, little one. The panther-wolf is ready for his breakfast.”

Libby and I took a nap after our morning activities. It’s a little after noon, and I’m singing along to “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay” as I make meatballs in my kitchen.

My head snaps around when I hear a commotion, and I find my sister bustling in with about fifty shopping bags.

“Come on in, Silvia. Don’t bother knocking,” I snark, internally freaking out. Libby is somewhere in my house, and I really wasn’t planning on telling my family about her just yet. Hell, I just broke up with Lucinda two days ago, and today I have another woman in my house. It makes me look like a bit of a manwhore.

“Well, that’s a fine way to greet your sister,” she says, dropping a kiss on my shoulder before plopping her bags onto the counter. “I’ve been Christmas shopping. You should see the shoes I got for Mom.”

“I-it’s really not a good?—”

“And I got Nana an Hermes scarf at a steal. It’s purple. What are you making? It smells delish. God, my feet hurt. I’m turning the music down; I can barely hear you.” Silvia is a bit of a babbler when she’s excited.

As soon as she turns down the volume on my phone, her head swivels slowly toward the first-floor corridor. The unmistakable sound of a woman laughing filters into the kitchen, and Silvia’s head whips back toward me like something out of The Exorcist .

“Swear to god, if you’re back with Lucinda, I’m going to stab you in the face,” she hisses.

I put myself between my sister and the knife block she’s now eyeing. “It’s not Lucinda,” I sigh, turning to wash my hands. After drying them, I turn to find Silvia marching down the hallway.

Goddammit.

I chase her and almost slam into her back when she stops outside Ace’s room. My silly dog is leaned down on his front paws, butt in the air as he raptly watches his favorite toy, a large cardboard box.

For the record, yes, I buy my dog nice toys. And no, he doesn’t like them as much as a stupid empty box. He’s like a fucking toddler.

All of a sudden, Libby pops up out of the box, her back to us, and yells, “Boo!”

Ace goes nuts, waggling his butt and grinning his doggy grin as he barks at his own personal jack-in-the-box. When Libby sinks back down into the box, Ace assumes the ready position once again.

The next time she jumps into view, she yells, “Fluffernugget!” before giggling and disappearing again. My excited pooch runs in circles around the box.

I’m pretty sure a grin is permanently etched on my face. Libby is playing the canine version of peek-a-boo with Ace.

My sister hooks a hand around my wrist and drags me to the spare room next door. “What the hell? Who is that?” she whisper-yells as soon as the door is closed.

I rub the back of my neck. “That’s, um, her name is Libby.”

Silvia’s lips form a coy smile. “Oh. My. God. My big brother has got a rebound fuck in his house. Good for you, Riggsy.”

“She’s not a rebound fuck,” I snap, and Silvia lifts her dark eyebrows. “She’s… my new girlfriend.”

My sister stares open-mouthed for a long moment before a snort fills the air. “Since when?”

“Last night,” I admit.

And then she’s laughing, hands on her stomach as she cackles at my expense. “What the actual fuck, bro?”

I riffle my fingers through the top of my hair. “Look, I’ve been interested in Libby for a while, but I haven’t been in a position to ask her out because of, you know… my situation. So I went to her house to talk to her last night to see if she might want to pursue things with me.”

“And, of course, she said yes,” Silvia fills in. I nod. “Well, I already like her better than the wench you were with. At least she likes your ridiculous dog.”

Thoughts of Libby flood my mind. Her hooking my pants on the boat, playing on the beach with Ace, the way her eyes sparkle when she laughs. Though a fair amount of my thoughts are of the tits bouncing while riding my cock variety. “I like her too,” I finally say.

Silvia’s grin is laden with mischief. “I can tell. You’re letting her wear the jersey. You yelled at me last time I wore it.”

“That was ten years ago, and you were dribbling chocolate ice cream all over a special-edition, signed Dan Marino jersey.”

I’m not sure why I draped that particular garment over Libby’s head after our shower this morning. I guess I just wanted to see it on her.

“Come on. Introduce me,” my nosy-ass sister insists, grabbing my arm and dragging me toward the door.

“No,” I hiss. “It’s too soon to be meeting family members.”

“But it’s not too soon to be clapping cheeks?”

“No one says clapping cheeks, Sil.”

“Would you prefer I say making whoopie ?”

“Only if you’re a contestant on Family Feud in 1986,” I say dryly.

“Pleeeeease, Riggsy. Please let me meet your new friend.”

I sigh and roll my eyes. “All right, but don’t call me Riggsy or say anything else embarrassing for fuck’s sake.”

“Okey dokey,” she says, giving me a quick hug. As we retrace our steps back to Ace’s room, Silvia whispers, “One question though. What the hell is a fluffernugget?”