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“Bach!” I shouted, putting the outfit down. “You made it!”

“Of course I did. I wouldn't miss this for the world.”

“But I thought there was that meeting in LA?”

He shrugged into his ears. “Violet and Sherman are more than capable. In fact, they're probably breathing sighs of relief to not have me getting in their way. They're as good of a team as her and my dad were.”

Korine was squinting at him warily. “TheBach Devine, in the flesh.”

“Oh, sorry. Bach, this is Korine.”

“I know who she is,” he said with a smile. That made her blink. “Nice to meet you.”

Some of the tension faded from her body. “You, too. Um... I'll go check on Nana. She's busy collecting people's tickets.” Korine left, shutting the door behind her.

Bach was on me in a second—all hands and mouth and heat. I kissed him back eagerly. Flying without him had sucked, and I hadn't expected to see him for another day. “I missed you,” I whispered.

“Are you that addicted?” His smirk was razor sharp.

“Like you aren't.” Untangling, I sat at the vanity to get ready.

He motioned over his head. “Quite the crowd, huh?”

“Don't remind me.”

Bach chuckled lightly. “After everything, how can you be nervous?”

“Nerves don't just vanish.” Standing up, I stripped out of my plain shirt and stretch pants. Bach's nostrils flared in obvious lust. I warned him with a stare to keep his hands to himself; I was on a strict timeline. Gliding the dress over my head, I smoothed out the layers of white and black skirts that hung to my knees. “I'm not going to faint, but it's still intimidating to think of all the people waiting to hear me sing.”

“If it helps, I've heard you sing a bunch, and I still get excited every single time.”

Flushing, I hurried to adjust my cat ears. “It's amazing that Korine organized this. She's a whiz with this stuff.”

“Yeah,” Bach agreed. “Hopefully she keeps up the effort when she's working for me.”

I slowly turned towards him. “You mean—did you hire Korine?”

He stared straight ahead with a smug smirk. “Maybe.”

Throwing my arms around his neck, I kissed him multiple times, speaking between each. “You! Are! Amazing!”

“I know. But act surprised when she tells you, I swore I'd keep it a secret, which I've obviously failed at.”

“Keep what a secret?” I teased, pretending to forget.Working with Korine... it's going to be great, and she's going to be so happy.

His phone vibrated in his pocket. Yanking it out, Bach rolled his eyes—I saw the name blinking on his phone. “Santino?” I asked. “Why is he calling you?”

“It's the sixth time. He's been begging everyone who'll talk to him to hire him on. Didn't you see the news?” I shook my head. “There were tons of videos of him getting arrested in Vegas after assaulting you. People were throwing stuff at him on stage during his tour. Eckland dropped him before he reached his third city. He's toxic, no one wants him.”

I slid my hands over my mouth. “Jesus.”

“Don't tell me you feel bad for him?”

“A little bit.”

“Well, don't.” Bach turned his phone off and hid it away. “Santino abandoned me when I needed him. Then he kept rubbing it in my face. Seeing him touch you? He's lucky that cop came, I was ready to break him in two. Then he'd have a lot more trouble than just not getting more work.”

Bach's hands balled into fists at his sides. In his loose cotton shirt, his exposed biceps flexed. It was a beautiful sight, like watching a tiger's muscles as it loped along effortlessly. But when Bach saw me staring, he ruffled his hair in chagrin. “Sorry,” he mumbled. “It's hard not to get pissed about some of what went down this past year.”