“I’m not completely flustered.”

Vi snorted. “Oh really? Then why’d you call?”

“Because . . . oh, shit. He kissed me.”

It was her sister’s turn to fall silent for at least three seconds.

“Holy freaking crap. Seriously? You kissed Sebastian Valenti?”

In the background, Tru heard her brother-in-law say, “What the fuck?” which made Tru laugh. She couldn’t help herself.

But it quickly devolved into a sigh. “More like he kissed me. And . . . I think I totally screwed up, Vi. And I don’t know how to fix it.”

“What’s there to fix? It’s not like you slept with the guy? Right?”

“No.” Though now she couldn’t stop thinking about what it’d be like. “I didn’t sleep with him.”

“Maybe I should rephrase that. Did you have sex with the rock star, Tru?”

“Um, no.”

In the background, she heard Chris say, “Holy shit. She slept with Sebastian Valenti? How was he?”

“She didn’t sleep with him,” Vi said. “Or so she claims. But you want to, don’t you? Please tell me you want to sleep with the hot guy. Otherwise, I’m seriously going to think there’s something wrong with you.”

Tru wanted to tear at her hair. “Ugh. I don’t know what I want. I shouldn’t want him. He drives me absolutely fucking crazy on purpose. And then there’s the whole working-together thing.” And the fact that he’s still working through issues, big issues. “He definitely isn’t relationship material.”

“Ah. And there it is.”

“There what is?”

“That unbendable piece of you that always has to make everything right or at least make it mean something. You’ve always been so focused that sometimes I think you forget that life’s really not a lot of fun if you don’t give yourself the chance to have any.

“Sometimes, Tru, you just gotta say, ‘What the fuck?’ and do something just because you want to. You used to be able to do that. What happened?”

Shit.

“Tru, you still there?”

“Yeah. I’m still here.”

“That’s too bad ’cause I think you should go sleep with the rock star.”

Chapter Five

Sebastian barely slept, and when he finally dragged his ass out of bed in the morning, he felt like he had a hangover.

But you didn’t get a hangover from a couple of beers.

No, his head hurt because he couldn’t get his fucking brain to shut down. But all that thinking had been good for something. He’d come to two conclusions.

He needed to call Nik. And he needed to talk to Tru about the previous night.

He’d avoided Nik for way too long and might’ve seriously fucked up their relationship. A relationship they both needed personally and professionally.

He didn’t want to make the same mistake with Tru.

Which was ridiculous because there was no “with Tru.” Because she was probably gonna take his head off when she saw him this morning.

“Shit.”

Maybe he’d work here at the hotel today.

Coward.

“Shit.”

An hour later, showered and shaved and dressed like he had a purpose besides fucking up his life, he took the elevator to the lobby and prepared for the first interrogation of the day.

“Hey, Bree. How’s it going?”

Sabrina’s smile could light up a room, but for the first time since he’d known her, it didn’t make him want things from her he could never have. For the first time, it made him think he’d rather see a smile on another woman’s face instead.

Jesus, he was fucking crazy.

“Hey, Baz. How— Hold on. Suzette, do you mind if I take my break a little early?”

“No, sweetie, go ahead.” The older woman working the reception desk with Bree this morning waved her off with a smile. “Slow morning.”

When she gave Baz a look over the top of her librarian glasses, he automatically straightened. With her blond hair always in a twist and her cool blue eyes, she reminded him of a teacher he’d had a crush on in high school. Suzette had to be in her fifties and he’d totally do her if she wasn’t happily married. And if he had any desire to do anybody.

“Good morning, Mr. Valenti.”

“Good morning, Ms. Charles.”

They played this game every time he saw her. He had the feeling she enjoyed it as much as he did.

“Have a good day, Mr. Valenti.”

“Thank you, Ms. Charles.”

Her lips curved in a barely there smile and Sabrina shook her head as she pulled Baz toward the employee’s break room.

Guests typically weren’t allowed back here but he had friends in all the right places. Friends who put up with a lot of shit from him.

Once he and Sabrina were alone in the break room, she turned to him with a look he knew pretty well by now. Concern.

Shit, when the hell would everyone stop worrying about him and just treat him like a normal un-fucked-up person?

Maybe when you start acting like one.

“Are you okay? What happened last night? You disappeared. I was going to call but I didn’t want to bother you. If you hadn’t come down in a few more minutes, I was going to go up and pound on your door.”

“I’m fine.” He sighed. “Sorry, I just . . . I had to get out of there last night. Everything closed in on me and I had to get out. Sorry. I should’ve called.”

Sabrina frowned. “Does that happen a lot?”

“Not lately, no.” Not in months, actually.

“So what triggered it?”

He thought about his answer for a few seconds, because he hadn’t really thought about it last night. He’d had too much other shit going on in his head. “Honestly, I’m not sure.”

Her expression held a shitload of concern. “Do you want to talk about it? Come back for lunch and we can—”

“I can’t today.” He shook his head. “Too much to do.” And frankly, he wasn’t sure he wanted to spill his guts to Sabrina about this. Not now. “But maybe we can get together later this week, okay?”

Sabrina chewed her bottom lip for a second before forcing a smile. “Sure, that sounds great.”

“Okay, it’s a da . . . plan. We’ll catch up then. Gotta run, babe. Already running behind.”

He leaned in to brush a kiss along her cheek. Something he always did. But today it felt awkward and he hated that.

As her arms went around his shoulders, she gave him a hug. He let her, but he pulled away faster than he normally would have.

“Listen,” she said before he turned away. “Greg’s worried he pushed you into a situation you weren’t ready for. Let him apologize when you see him this morning, okay?”

His smile was genuine now. “No problem. See you later.”

He escaped Haven without seeing anyone else he knew and decided to walk to the office.

Huh. He had an office. He’d never really thought of the studio as an office. And now that he had, well, shit. He’d never thought of himself as ever having an office. Did that mean he’d grown up?

Can’t be Peter Pan forever, can you?

Which made him start humming “When You Wish Upon a Star.” Which led him into a whole other melody.

By the time, he arrived at the ManDown offices, he was practically running. He’d found that last elusive piece of music he needed to complete the film. And he had another piece . . . one that needed words.

He had his hand on the door just as he realized he was probably going to run into Tru before he could get to the relative safety of the studio.

Shame hit when he hesitated to open it.

Jesus, how much more of a coward could he be? Seriously, he was a total dick for even thinking about heading for the door at the back of the building, where he had much less of a chance of running into her.

Be a man. Open the fucking door, apologize for last night, tell her you’ve got this music in your head you need to get out before you can chat, and promise you’ll talk later.