The women turned to her with smiles and Sabrina jumped up immediately to give her a hug.

“Hey, I’m so glad you’re here. I would have invited you yesterday but I knew you had a date with Baz so I wasn’t sure you were going to have this morning free. And, oh my god, that concert last night was incredible. I’ve never seen Baz play onstage live. And, jeez, girl, did you have fun afterward? If he was my guy, I would’ve so totally jumped his bones all night.”

Sabrina’s knowing smile made Tru shake her head and sigh as she took a seat. “It was amazing. He was amazing, and yes, I totally jumped his bones.”

In for a penny, in for a pound, as her mom always said. If she wanted to be part of this circle of friends, she might as well open herself up totally. And this was her, straight up with no filter.

As Kate and cool, quiet Talia raised their flutes to her, she knew she’d made the right decision to come. She needed to get all this stuff off her chest and she needed someone who kind of knew what she was dealing with. Sabrina had had her own problems with Greg. And Kate and Tyler’s relationship hadn’t always been hearts and roses. Talia . . . she and Dane seemed like the perfect couple at the moment but maybe she’d be willing to share how she pulled that off.

“I totally get the whole musician thing,” Kate said. “When Ty plays the piano, it’s like foreplay. It’s something about watching his hands move, and then thinking about him using them on my body.”

“Kind of like Greg and his camera,” Sabrina added as she poured Tru one of whatever they were drinking.

“All Dane has to do is look at me a certain way and I’m toast,” Talia said. “I guess I’m just that easy.”

And that quickly, Tru felt her shoulders relax. “But it’s all happened really fast. I mean, we just started, uh, dating? Hell, that’s not even right. Last night was our first real date.”

Sabrina waved her hand. “You guys have been flirting for the past three months. You just called it fighting. Everyone else figured you were going to end up in bed together or in jail after you tried to kill him.”

“But it’s not like I’m ready to marry the guy.”

“Well, of course you’re not.” Kate got up to answer the soft knock at the door and waved in the young waiter pushing a large cart filled with covered trays. “Thank you, Billy. I appreciate it.”

“No problem, Ms. Song. Have a nice morning. If you need anything else, let me know.”

After Kate closed the door behind him, she turned back to Tru. “But if the sex is really good, and you can’t wait to get him in bed again, then don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Enjoy it while it lasts.”

Tru winced. “Well, that’s the problem, isn’t it? It’s not going to last.”

“What do you mean?” Sabrina asked.

“I mean, he’s going to get back together with his band, they’re going to record a new album, and they’ll go out on tour again. And that’ll be the end of that.”

Talia frowned at her. “Why does that have to be the end? Lots of musicians are married and have families. Why does your relationship have to end when he goes on tour?”

“Because I don’t think a relationship built on three nights together can weather a year-long tour with women throwing themselves at him every night.”

There. She’d said it out loud. The black cloud that’d been hanging over her head for the past couple of days.

“I just don’t know that I’m cut out for the life of a musician’s girlfriend. Honestly, why the hell would he want to tie himself down to one woman when he could have pretty much anyone he wanted any night of the week?”

“I guess it will come down to whether or not you trust him enough to stick with him.” Talia’s soft words made Tru look right at the other woman, whose gaze had a knowing look. “It takes a hell of a lot of trust to give someone that piece of yourself you’ve kept safe for so long. Just imagine how great it would feel if Baz actually lived up to the person you want him to be. But if you don’t give him the opportunity, you’ll never know.”

Everything went quiet for a moment, and then Kate’s napkin sailed through the air and hit Talia on the shoulder.

“Damn, woman.” Kate’s voice held an edge of wonder. “When did you become such a guru of relationships? Don’t get me wrong, that was totally the shit. But seriously, I don’t think I know you at all.”

As Sabrina began to laugh, which turned into a snort, and Kate joined her, Talia continued to hold Tru’s gaze. “I’ve had my own issues with trust. Sometimes you just have to make the leap. Otherwise, you really could miss out on something amazing. Do you really think he’s worth it?”

Tru only had to think about that for two seconds. “Yeah, I do.”

“Then there’s your answer.”

Sabrina whipped her napkin at Tru. “Of course he’s worth it. But so are you. And he’s an idiot if he doesn’t treat you right. And I’d tell him that myself if I knew you wouldn’t shoot me if I did.”

“Damn right I would. I can fight my own battles. Now, where’s the damn carbs you promised me? I need sugar. And alcohol. And later, I’ll probably need a nap.”

And then she’d chart out the course of the rest of her life.

Ha.

*   *   *

Baz waited by the door for Nik to show up, as nervous as if he was going on a first date.

Which was really fucking stupid. But then nothing about the last week of his life had been normal. Hell, the past year of his life had been far from it.

What the hell classified as normal anyway? Up until two nights ago, Ty had been the most average guy he’d known, and then . . . Bam! They throw the Salon at him. A freaking sex-party room.

Sure, everybody has their kinks. But when you build a fucking shrine to them . . . Definitely not standard behavior.

Nik kissing him the way he had last night was so not like him. Why wouldn’t his fucking heart slow down?

It didn’t get any better when he spotted Nik emerging from the parking garage down the street.

He hadn’t noticed last night but Nik’s black-as-ink hair had grown out from the Mohawk he’d had pretty much since the day they left on tour that first time. Now it fell in long, uneven chunks around his face and still managed to make him look like a badass.

Then again, Nikky always looked good. It was part of the reason the band did so well with women. They loved him. Whether it was his looks, which a Rolling Stone reporter had once described as “the face of a fallen angel,” or the way he moved onstage like “sex and chocolate and fine whiskey” they wanted to eat him up.

Female fans mobbed him after shows, held up signs saying they wanted to marry him. Most of them were serious.

Baz still saw the furious little boy who didn’t believe his mother loved him enough to keep him safe and who would sleep in Baz’s bed more often than his own because his mom was just as happy to have the kid out of her house so she could screw around with her asshole of a second husband.

Okay, maybe Baz still had a few unresolved issues with Nik’s mother, too. It served to remind him that they’d been through too much together to not make this work.

Baz had the door open before Nik reached it. He looked just as nervous as Baz felt, which put him more at ease. At least he wasn’t the only one ready to jump out of his skin.

“Hey. Come on in.”

“Thanks. So, what is this place?”

“The offices for Greg Hicks’s production company.”

Nik’s head swiveled, looking all around. “The place is fucking huge.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty much an entire city block. I recorded the music for the score here.”

He wanted to take the words back as soon as they left his mouth but Nik didn’t look upset at the mention of the score. He just nodded and continued to look around.

“So you liked doing the score?”

Was there something else behind such an innocent sounding question? Or was Baz trying to read too damn much into everything that came out of Nik’s mouth?