Boneless and satisfied beyond what I ever imagined possible, I lie in bed and watch Gavin walk out of the bathroom, freshly showered, a towel wrapped low around his hips.

“So, how are we going to do this? I won’t really be able to get away from LA while we’re recording.”

Water droplets slide in a languid trail down his shoulder and across the round of his pec, dripping off the balls on each end of the silver bar that elicited the grittiest groan when I tugged on it with my teeth while sliding down over his cock. I want to go back to that moment and forget the semantics of our separation.

“Um, I might be able to get away for a long weekend, but with holidays coming, it might be too late for me to get any vacation time,” I say, as he follows the trail of clothing we shed in our haste.

My body protesting, I slide off the bed and take a quick shower, relishing the stretch and pull of my muscles as I move. The hot water sluices over my shoulders and down my tender breasts. Images of the way he made my body hum dance through my mind as I run the soap over the sensitive skin.

“You should pierce them.”

I open my eyes to find Gavin’s gaze focused on my nipples, sore from his lavish attention to them.

“Seriously. By the time I’m back from tour, they’ll be healed, and, Jesus, Gracyn … the way it feels. I never thought I’d thank Kane for one of his bullshit dares, but goddamn.” He bites his lip, eyes lazily caressing me as he leans against the bathroom counter, his towel replaced by jeans. The top button open, his tight V-cut abs are framed delectably.

“I’ll think about it,” I tell him, turning off the water and grabbing a towel.

I throw on some jeans and a sweater, boots, and my scarf, packing the rest of my stuff in my bag. “What time do you have to leave for the airport?”

He’s really wormed his way into my heart this week, and I don’t want this to end. I don’t want him to go.

“Soon, I guess. Really soon,” he amends, checking his watch. “I wanted to take you to dinner, drop you at Grand Central, and kiss you breathless under the constellations. But I really need to get going.”

I pull my coat on, and out the door we go. “You have my number, right?” I ask, stepping into the elevator.

I know he has my number. We’ve texted plenty this week, brief moments stolen through the day when we were separated by our jobs.

“I do. Same as earlier. Same as yesterday.” He bumps his shoulder into mine and grins. “We’ll figure this out. I need a couple of days to get settled, get in the groove of things, and then we’ll look at when we can see each other next.”

He’s right. I know he’s right. We’re in much different places now than we were the last time we had this conversation. We can figure this out.

The doors of the elevator open, spilling us out into the chaos of the lobby. I start toward the front doors and am caught up short when Gavin latches on to my arm, pulling me to a halt.

“Gracyn, say good-bye first. Don’t just bolt.” He leaves the again unsaid, but it hangs between us just the same, dark and ugly. “I have a car waiting for me in the back, babe. I can’t go through the lobby with you.”

“Oh, right.” I didn’t think … didn’t expect it to be this hard.

He erases the space between us with a few quick steps. And, dropping his bag to the floor, he takes my face between his hands and lowers his lips to mine. Kissing me softly, tenderly. Sadly.

“We’ll figure this out, I promise. I have no intention of losing you.” He strokes the hollow of my cheek with his thumb, staring deep into the depths of my soul. “Message me when you’re home—in your place, not pulling into the train station or anything. I want to know you’re safe.”

“I will.” I feel sick to my stomach, like deep in the pit of my gut.

“Say hey to your friends for me. I can’t wait to meet them—Lis and …”

“Kate. Lis and Kate. I will.” Maybe it’s indigestion; the pain is climbing, burning.

“Right. And, G … miss me like crazy. Because I’ll be dying a little on the inside every minute we’re apart.”

“I already do.” And, with a final kiss, my heart shatters as I watch him scoop up his bag and walk away.

Even though I slept way later than normal, until almost eleven, I’m still awake well before Kate begins to stir. I sent Gavin a text just before crawling in between my sheets last night, missing the way his body wrapped around me as I curled around my pillow. The weight of his muscular leg wedged against my thighs, his hand holding tight to mine and his warm breath skating across the back of my neck. I got used to those things in mere days.

Days.

Once again, the measure of time we’ve actually spent together can be counted in days. Little more than a full week overall, but I have never felt this kind of connection with anyone. Never before Gavin. No one other than him.

As the rich aroma of strong, dark coffee fills the apartment, Kate’s bleary-eyed face peeks around the doorjamb. “Hey,” she whispers, clutching her head. “Didn’t wake you when I got home, did I?” She looks like she drank a fish tank full of tequila and kind of smells like it, too.

Wrinkling my nose, I pour us each a mug of coffee and add a splash of vanilla almond milk to mine, straight black for Kate. “Take this with you and go shower,” I say, thrusting the cream-colored mug in her direction. “You reek. Where the hell were you last night?”

“God, thank you. I was out with the kindergarten team. Parent-teacher conferences might just be the death of me … if the tequila doesn’t kill me first.”

“You shower … and maybe go back to bed for a while. I’ve got some errands to run and shit to take care of before we meet up later.” I look her over before continuing, “You think you’ll be up to it still?”

She lowers the mug, having just drained the contents in one go. “I’ll be fine. I’m a true professional. Text me? Maybe we need to plan for greasy bar food though instead of anything remotely adultish. Carbs and cheese tend to work better at times like these, you know?”

She shuffles off to the shower, not waiting for a response because, really, where else would we go for girl time other than McBride’s?

Out of habit, I lean over the scarred wooden bar to pay the troll for a cold beer, but Finn just stands there. Stiff and proper, not at all the way he usually greets me. His gaze bounces to the end of the bar where his girlfriend, Addie, is meeting with a dark-haired gentleman in a slick suit.

“Finn, you okay?”

His glower is entirely out of character and more than a little disconcerting.

“Bloody prick touches her one more fucking time … and I might lose control of myself.” He barely glances at me as he pulls a pint of my favorite beer for me. “It’s a fucking business meeting. He’s no reason to touch her. None.” Red creeps up from Finn’s collar, the bar rag in his left hand taking the brunt of his frustration.

“Remember what happened last time you went all caveman on Addie when she was with a client? Wait … is that the same guy?” I crane my neck for a better look, not at all concerned with the obvious way we’re staring at the dude.

“It is. Jesus, he couldn’t find another web designer? Thought I made things perfectly clear.”

“Hey,” Lis says as she takes the seat next to me. “Trust her, Finn. She’s nothing but professional, and Aidan is right behind me. He plans on being with her for the rest of the meeting since he’s the one who recommended Addie. He’s got your back, sweetie.”

The door opens, and a waft of nachos blows in, followed by Kate holding a Styrofoam container, and Aidan, who throws a quick nod to Finn before heading straight to Addie’s table. Nothing good is going to come from that hot mess of a situation, but at least Kate has food since there’s no way in hell Finn is taking his eyes off his girlfriend long enough to make us anything to eat for a while.

“Chill your tits, Finn. Addie’s got this covered,” Kate says. “She whipped your sorry ass into line. I wouldn’t worry about slick willy over there. He doesn’t stand a chance if he steps out of line. But, since I’m here, give me a beer, would ya?” She pops open the nachos and shoves an enormous bite in her mouth, moaning. A glob of sour cream balances precariously on her lower lip.

Finn pulls a couple of pints, setting them down in front of Lis and Kate, never looking away from the perfectly purple-haired girl in the corner, her teal cat-eye glasses framing the glare she sends his way every few minutes.

The girls murmur a, “Thank you,” and Lis turns toward me.

“So, spill. Last time you were away and not posting pics of all the food you consumed was Destin. What was it this time?” Lis reaches across me to pull the nachos closer, so Kate’s not hoarding them.

“Mmm … tell us about the Central Park singer,” Kate says around a mouthful of cheese and avocado. “Tell me you tapped that.”

Evidently, they’ve been talking about me.

“Yeah, so remember that day we talked in the park before I went into Langston’s for the day?”

Lis nods and grabs another cheese-laden chip, popping it into her mouth.

“It was him.” I hold my breath, waiting for a reaction from her that does not disappoint. She doesn’t let me down in the least, choking on her food. Aidan’s head whips away from Addie and her client. He’s halfway to standing when Lis waves him off, getting herself under control.

“Him who?” asks Kate, oblivious to the FOMO funk I was in after returning from the last spring break trip I took in college. The fear was all totally stupid, the missing out, absolutely real.

“The one. The one who grabbed her heart and the one who got away,” Lis supplies, staring me down. Looking all the way through me, assessing, she asks, “You talked to him? What happened?”

I replay the whole week for my friends, sharing everything but the most intimate of details because a girl can only share so much before shit gets weird. No one needs to know the way he groans when I tug on his nipple rings or the fact that I kind of like it when he wraps his hand around my throat.

“So, where does that leave you? What’s the plan, moving forward?” Lis is always the calm, practical one, poking and prodding for information while gauging how I feel.

“We exchanged numbers this time,” I tell her, laughing at my own stupidity from last time.

“And?”

“Wait, why wouldn’t you have exchanged numbers when you met him before?”

Kate is so much a part of us now; I forget that she wasn’t part of our group until after this was all shoved down and forgotten in the past.

“They decided to delete each other’s information before separating to see if it was meant to be,” Lis supplies. “Stupidest thing she ever did.”

“I might have stretched the truth a little,” I mumble, biting my lip. I don’t want to go back and relive any of that shit. Not in the least. “We never exchanged numbers, and I didn’t leave him mine when I left before he woke up.”

“What?” Lis is pissed, and poor Kate looks lost.

I sigh, knowing I have no choice but to completely spill. “It was just supposed to be sex. I never planned on falling for him.

“And then my mom called before the sun came up and demanded I come home because she needed me. She’d caught my dad cheating on her, and she wanted my support.” I snort derisively. “I didn’t want you to think I was off, being a slut, not when you were still hurting from your sister and Rob. I’m sorry. I panicked. I was stupid.”

“Yeah, ya were.” Kate nods, tapping her empty glass on the bar to get Finn’s attention.

Eyes still pinned on Addie, he fills each of our glasses whether they need it or not, mumbling under his breath the entire time.

“But this time …” Lis leads me, the question dangling and the past shoved aside.

“This time, we’re going to see where it goes.”

“You’re ready to take that chance? They don’t drop in your lap too many times, G. Don’t let the skeletons rule from the closet. You’re worth more than that.”