Page 20 of Don't Bang a Bandmate

“Mistress?”I ask.

“So, anyway,”Chrissy says a half-hour later, the two of us enjoying our coffee and pastries down in the hotel restaurant. “Things have gotten a little out of hand.”

“A little?” I ask.

“I can’t help it!” she says, forever smiling. “He’s just so eager. Like a squirrel desperately searching for his nuts.”

“Which happen to be in your purse?” I joke.

She laughs. “Whatever. It’s a fun way to pass the time.” She turns her hand up at my glare. “What? Don’t look at me like that. I’m not beholden to your rules! Neither is he.”

“You work together,” I argue.

“Where else do people find sex partners these days? Theinternet?I’d rather drown.” She stuffs a corner of her cherry danish into her mouth. “Besides, August knows the score. He knows me and my schedule and my extreme lack of emotional availability. It’s just sex. A little bit ofjust sexis good for you. Not that you’d know.”

To that, I bite my tongue.

Chrissy notices and deflates. “Shit, I’m sorry,” she says, scolding herself. “That sounded way less harsh in my head.”

“No, it’s okay,” I say. “I need to get laid. You said so yourself.”

“But I didn’t mean it in a bitchy way. And that was totally bitchy.”

“No, it’s like you said back in Nashville. I should schedule in some fun.”

“Have you?” she asks.

“No,” I answer quickly, withholding the truth. “But I will.”

“You will?”

“I am, actually.”

Chrissy raises her brows, intrigued. “Oh, yeah?” she asks.

“In fact, the other girls and I are having lunch with Melanie Rose tomorrow. You want to come with?”

“The romance novelist?”

“Yeah, Harvey knows her. Her brother is his frat brother or something. He called in a favor.”

“Sounds like...fun,”she says, her brows falling back to normal.

I laugh. “You don’t have to go if you don’t want to,” I say, sensing her hesitation.

“No, no. It sounds neat. I’m in.” She sits back in her chair and picks up her coffee. “Need to keep up the silent treatment with August, anyway.”

“Silent treatment?”

“It’s... a long story,” she says.

“Ah.”

“A long, sexy story. Actually, if you wanna know, I can?—”

“No,”I spit, stopping her. “I think I’ll pass on that.”

“You’re sure?”

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