Page 58 of Falling Stars

“Go to sleep. I can rub some in later.”

“Mav, you could barely reach up to hold the ice. Don’t be stubborn.”

I smile at my equally stubborn friend. “I’m going to remind you of this the next time you won’t let me help you.”

She snickers. “Being difficult is part of my charm.”

I stare at her beautiful face. At her pouty lips I’m dying to kiss. “It’s nice to know you don’t kick anymore.”

Her nose wrinkles. “What do you mean?”

“Remember our slumber parties when we were little? I used to swear you were part donkey because you kicked in your sleep. Even when we were each wrapped in our sleeping bags, you’ve always been a kicker.”

She snorts. “Amara and I used to share a bed, and she was always hogging it. I guess I started kicking as a defense mechanism so she’d stay off my side.”

“And look at you now. All up in my space.”

“It’s so we can talk without waking Leo, doofus.”

“Sure. Keep telling yourself that.”

“I can’t even smack you right now for fear of hurting you.” Shaking her head, she smiles. “It’s not fair.”

“I won’t always be laid up in bed. You’ll get your fun.”

A pulse of heat passes between us, and I’m glad she threw the comforter over me so she can’t see the boner I’m sporting.

We shoot the shit about nothing for the next twenty minutes, just catching up in the dark.

She sighs. “Remember when my parents divorced? You letme drag you through the fields of wildflowers every weekend like we were two little vagabonds. You were the only person who could get me to smile back then.”

“I remember.” Baylee was distraught when she found her mom crying one day because her father had cheated on her.

She draws circles on her pillow. “And those times we’d hide out in your barn and try to come up with the scariest stories?”

“I’d have to hold your hand the whole way home because my horror stories freaked you out.”

She sniffs. “I wasn’t scared.”

“Chicken. Cluck, cluck.”

“Shut up.”

Smiling, we stare at each other. I motion to my shoulder. “I think I’m ready for that CBD.”

She takes my ice, dumps it in the kitchen, and grabs that small bottle. “How do you want to do this? Sitting up? Or can you roll onto your stomach now?”

“Maybe lying down. Is that okay?” Now that my neck doesn’t hurt so bad, I can roll more easily.

“Sure.” She hops on the bed and crawls up to my side. “Will it hurt if I rub your neck?”

“It shouldn’t, but just be gentle.”

“So I shouldn’t throw you around?” she teases.

I laugh into my pillow. “Sorry, you’re gonna have to hold off on that for a bit.” I press my suddenly aching dick into the mattress. Thanks to my injury, I went almost three months without an erection, and now every other sentence out of Baylee’s mouth has me sporting wood.

“This is a hundred milligram strength, but this company makes stronger stuff too, so if it doesn’t work, we can try a higher potency.” Her oiled hands smooth over my neck and shoulders, and I groan. “Does that hurt?”

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