Page 50 of Starcrossed Colorado

“The worst of the pain and nausea might be a day. Then I’m really exhausted after. I hate missing things because I’m sick.”

“How often do they come?”

“Depends. Once every month or two.”

“That sucks.”

For some reason, my statement made her smile. “It does. But it’s really nice to have roommates to bring me soup and crackers. And hot tea.”

My phone rang at full volume. I cringed, grabbing it out of my pocket and switching it to silent. Thankfully it wasn’t Dixie. It wasn’t a number I had any intention of answering.

“That’s a Los Angeles area code,” Emma said.

Damn. So she’d seen my screen.

“Oh, is it? I wouldn’t know,” I lied. “Must be a wrong number. Hey, I bought ice cream. I’ll go get it.”

Shameless change of subject. But I wanted to head off any more questions.

In the kitchen, I scrolled to my recent calls and blocked that number.When the heck is she finally going to give up? I wondered.

Then I pushed the subject out of my mind. Because it seemed like the answer wasnever. And that scared me more than I would ever admit.

“Which flavor?” I brandished the two options, one bowl of each.

I’d bought two kinds of ice cream at the market. Mint chocolate chip, which Lori had always liked when she had a migraine. And chocolate. Since Emma had a chocolate shake yesterday, I’d figured that was a safe bet.

Emma bit her lip, looking from one to the other. “Can we share? Unless you don’t want my germs. Migraines aren’t contagious,” she joked.

“I think I can take the risk.” I scooted back into my spot beside her. I’d also brought a paper bag with me, tucked beneath my arm, but that was for later. I set the bag on the floor and handed Emma the bowl of chocolate. “Here you go.”

We traded bowls halfway through. My gaze followed as she licked ice cream from her spoon while I did the same to mine.

The lower half of my body responded, cock firming up against my inner thigh.

Calm down, I told myself. The poor woman was sick. But apparently I had a weakness when it came to Emma Jennings. In all kinds of ways.

Stella jumped up on the bed, and this time, Emma didn’t bother scolding her. The dog watched us forlornly until I gave up and said, “Here,” holding my bowl out.

Stella made short work of licking the bowl clean.

“She’ll love you forever now,” Emma said. “Won’t be able to get rid of her.”

“Yeah, yeah. I got tired of the puppy eyes.” Hopeless. I was hopeless. “I picked up something else while I was out.”

Setting the dish on the nightstand, I leaned down to grab the brown paper bag I’d left beside the bed. Stella pushed in between us, so I had to reach over to hand Emma the bag.

“What is it?”

“It’s nothing really. Just saw it in the window at Silver Linings when I was walking by.”

She opened the bag. “Oh my gosh. Ashford. This is… I don’t believe it.”

“If you don’t like it, I can exchange it. Or return it.”

Emma pulled out the new journal. It had a white leather cover with stars and shiny gold on the edges of the pages.

I hadn’t exactly seen it in the window. I’d had to hunt around, and Piper had suggested this one.

---