Nik nodded, still not looking at him. “She’s cool. I mean, she’s uptight, but that’s okay because it works for her.”

Yes. Exactly. This is why he and Nik were best friends. They saw things the same way.

Which didn’t explain that kiss.

No. They’d agreed. They weren’t going there.

“She is.”

Nik finally looked up. “And have you talked to her about coming back to the band? What does she think?”

A twinge of something hit him in the chest but he brushed it off. “She knows how important Baseline Sins is to me.”

“So she’s gonna be okay when you head out on tour for months at a time?”

“We’ll talk about it. She’ll have nothing to worry about.”

Nik’s smile was bittersweet and Baz had no idea what he was thinking. “Always the optimist.”

“No. I don’t know. Maybe. I just know how I feel about her.”

Nik nodded.

“So, we gonna call the guys or we just gonna let ’em twist?”

Baz smiled. “Let’s get the band back together.”

Chapter Twelve

“Hey, Tru, baby. How goes it?”

A smile already curving on her lips, Tru looked up at the bear of a man standing in the doorway to her office.

Zach Sheidy had the smile of an angel, if angels came with size-fourteen feet, stood at least three inches over six feet, and weighed in at 220 pounds of pure, bulging muscle.

“Good morning, Zach. You’re early today.”

“Didn’t get done recording last night. Practically fell asleep on my kit but I hate leaving shit unfinished so I figured I’d get in here before anyone else.”

He must’ve been able to tell from her expression that he wouldn’t be the only one in the studio.

“Let me guess.” He shook his head. “Baz.”

“Got it in one.”

Zach shook his head, auburn waves swaying. “The guy’s fucking relentless when he’s got his mind set on something. Thanks for the heads up, babe.”

“No problem.”

His gaze narrowed. “Everything okay?”

She wanted to be able to smile and say, “Yep,” but the past three weeks Baseline Sins had been working here had been . . . eye opening. In so many ways.

So she lied and said, “Sure.”

Which Zach didn’t buy for a minute. He walked into her office and sat on the chair in front of her desk. The chair gave a slight creak but held. “Bullshit. What’d he do? I’ll go smack him down for you.”

Shaking her head, she smiled, and this time, it was totally genuine.

For the past two weeks, the men of Baseline Sins had become constant fixtures in her office. Zach always stopped on his way in to say hello. The guy lived up to his nickname of Zachy Bear, because he was just a big teddy bear, sweet natured and quiet, so different from the four other men of Baseline Sins.

“He didn’t do anything.”

And that was the problem. They hadn’t had time to do anything. He didn’t ignore her. He just wasn’t . . . there.

And she missed him. It felt like a hole in her gut, it sucked so bad.

“Ah.” Zach’s mouth twisted in a grimace. “He can get pretty damn focused when he’s making music.”

“Yes, he can. And don’t get me wrong. I’m not complaining. Not at all. He’s just not . . . here.”

“But the sex is still off the charts, yeah?”

She sighed and shook her head but, truthfully, she’d become used to the lack of a filter displayed by all of the guys. If it crossed their minds, it usually came out of their mouths.

“Yeah, it is.”

Hell, it was better, if that was even possible. When they had sex. But those times had become few and far between these past few weeks.

With a quick glance over his shoulder, Zach leaned forward and when he spoke, his voice dropped to almost a whisper.

“You’re good for him. Don’t let him scare you away.”

Her lips curved in a smile that Zach returned, which made her want to sigh. The guy was built like Dwayne Johnson but when he smiled, he had the charm of Colin Firth. And that was no mean feat in her book.

But when Sebastian smiled at her . . .

Her smile fell away. Because when Sebastian smiled at her, she knew she was going to be broken-hearted when he left. And he would leave. Probably sooner rather than later.

She’d started to steel herself against it and had begun to retreat. Not that Sebastian had noticed. Which meant she was a better actress than she’d thought.

“Tru? You okay?”

Blinking, she forced herself to smile again. “I’m fine.”

Zach nodded but he clearly didn’t believe her. Luckily, he didn’t push. Rising, he tapped his fist on her desk. “Hang in there, babe. Recording can be worse than touring sometimes. And sometimes you just need to smack him upside the head to get his attention. Don’t be afraid to do it every now and then.”

“Do what?” Sebastian appeared in the door, hair sticking out at all angles, like he’d been running his hands through it. His fingers were wrapped with tape to stop the bleeding. “Hey, where the hell you been? Come on, man, we got stuff to do.”

“I’m getting there.” Zach turned and headed toward Sebastian. “Just stopped to say hi to Tru.” Then he gave Sebastian a shove into the office. “You better do the same.”

Sebastian had a question in his eyes when he turned back to her. “What’s up his ass? I said hello this morning.” Then he frowned. “Didn’t I?”

When she raised her eyebrows at him, he wrinkled his nose in the most adorable grimace.

“Shit. Sorry. Mind’s going in a million different directions. No excuses.” He closed the distance between them with two long strides, skirting the desk to lean down, wrap his hand around her neck and bend down to kiss her.

Even though she’d been expecting it, her breath caught in her throat and her heart pounded against her ribs like a trapped bird.

She let him take the kiss, let him have what he wanted and soaked in everything he gave. His desire blazed through, burning straight into her blood.

And then he was gone. Or at least, his lips were. But he hadn’t gone far. Just enough to be able to stare into her eyes.

“Damn, how the hell could I forget to do that this morning?”

She tried to suck in a breath and not show how breathless she was. Which was almost impossible when he moved his hand from her neck to her cheek and rubbed his thumb across her lips.

“No problem. You’ve been a little preoccupied. I get it. You’re busy.”

And she did. Because for years, she’d been the same. Always needing to be somewhere or do something. The only difference was, she hadn’t had anyone in her life to make demands on her time.

No one to potentially break her heart.

“Yeah. And I’m sorry—”

“No. Don’t apologize for doing what you love.”

She never wanted him to say she’d tried to come between him and his music or his band. That wasn’t the kind of woman she wanted to be. It wasn’t the type of relationship she wanted.

And what type of relationship is that?

She was beginning to believe she didn’t want any kind of relationship at all because her heart hurt, just thinking about how alone she’d be when he left. Which he would do sooner rather than later.

His gaze narrowed and she knew he’d seen something in her expression. Something that made him pause and study her more closely. And since she didn’t want him to see exactly what she was thinking, she leaned forward and rubbed her nose against his.

Any type of affection threw him off course. He craved it as much as she did. And she hated herself for manipulating him.

Especially when she’d felt herself pulling away and he’d been too busy to notice.

“You want to get some lunch today? I’ll make sure we take a break and—”