"I totally wouldn't be opposed to having those guys with us on the next Shaughnessy album. Even though the four of us sound great and play great together, I think adding a couple more backup musicians could work for us."

"What do you think Riley will say?"

He shrugged. "I have no idea. He seems pleased with all of them, so I can't imagine him being against working with them again."

"And what about Dylan and Julian?"

He shrugged again. "That's anyone's guess. It's a little scary to think about how different we're all going to be when we get back together. By that time, we'll all have done our solo stuff and tried new things and dealt with our own crises, but I have no idea how it's going to change the music. Does that make sense?"

"Definitely. It would seem to me like you were all together for so long that you didn't have a chance to form your own identities. It was the four of you. Now it's going to be four individuals coming together. Are you worried it's going to change the music a lot?"

"Change isn't necessarily a bad thing. But I'd like to think that before we step foot into a studio that we'd spend some time getting to know one another again."

She smiled. "That's a very mature way to approach it."

He nodded. "Clearly I'm growing up." Then he chuckled. "About damn time, right?"

Vivienne squeezed his hand. "I don't know about that. I think you're fine just the way you are."

"You're just biased." His tone was gentle and soothing as he lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it. "Look where we are."

Looking up, she saw they were pulling up in front of her house. "Mmm...home," she purred.

She looked and sounded exhausted, and as much as he knew she was all about being organized and not leaving anything undone, he quickly helped her out of the car and into the house with the promise of getting their luggage later after a long nap.

"But...what if I need-?"

"Shh," he said, placing a finger over her lips before scooping her up in his arms. "The only thing you need is to kick off your shoes, strip down, and climb into bed. We'll deal with the rest later."

The look on her face showed she wasn't completely convinced, but when he put her down next to the bed, she did exactly as he'd suggested and kicked off her shoes and slowly took off her clothes. Matt stood transfixed watching her. Thirty seconds ago, all he could think about was crawling into bed beside her and going to sleep. But as she stripped her black lace bra off and then shimmied out of the matching panties, he was suddenly wide awake.

Vivienne noticed the change in him and gave him a knowing smile. With deliberate movements, she drew the comforter and sheets back and crawled onto the bed, rubbing the spot next to her. "You were planning on joining me, right?" she asked softly, seductively.

He almost swallowed his own tongue as she skimmed her fingers across her breasts and down her belly. His own clothes came off in record time, and before he knew it, he was stretched out beside her, his hands mimicking her earlier movements.

"I thought we were going to take a nap?" she teased.

"We will," he murmured, lowering his head to capture a nipple with his mouth. God, she tasted so sweet. His teeth gently scraped against her skin and Vivienne's back arched off the mattress. "Unless you'd like me to stop."

Her fingers raked up into his hair and held him to her. "No. Don't stop. Never stop."

That was good because he had no intention to.

Another week had gone by and things were still tense with Aaron. Granted, he had gone back to work and wasn't home during the day, so that hadn't helped them bridge any gaps. Vivienne had taken on some additional duties with the magazine while one of the other assistant editors was away on vacation, and that left Matt with a lot of time on his hands.

And most of it was spent in his own head.

He hadn't reached out to Riley because he knew his schedule was pretty full and he didn't want to add any more pressure to him as he finished up the tour. But that didn't mean he wasn't working things out in his head-logistics, music, ideas for freshening up their sound without losing their roots.

It was both exciting and terrifying.

He was sitting on the sofa mindlessly strumming his guitar when Vivienne came bustling into the room and went straight for the kitchen. "You okay?" he called out, putting the guitar down.

"Yeah. I just got word I need to be part of this conference call. It's going to be a long one, I can tell already."

Matt looked at the clock and saw it was after four. "This late in the day?"

She nodded and pulled a bottle of water out of the refrigerator. "I know. We're in crisis mode. Janet, the woman who is on vacation, just emailed and said she's not coming back. She's going to work for one of our competitors and she's taking some of our writers with her! Ugh. I hate this kind of stuff!"

"I guess it goes with the territory."

"I know, I know. I guess I didn't realize there would be this kind of stress when I took the position. From where I was before, it seemed like everyone got along. It wasn't until the promotion that I realized there was a lot of animosity behind the scenes. And now I'm getting sucked into the drama."

He stood, walked over to her, and gave her a quick kiss. "I'm sorry, baby. What can I do? You want me to get dinner?"

"Ooo...that would be great. Maybe in about an hour call in an order. I don't even care what you get. It's your call." She looked over her shoulder at the clock and frowned. "Literally. You decide what to get and pick it up and hopefully by the time you get back, I'll be done." She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him before turning back toward her office. "Wish me luck!"

He heard the door close and stood there for a moment. Now what? Glancing back toward his guitar, Matt knew he could pick it up and goof around for an hour until it was time to call in their dinner order, but he had lost his focus.

With a sigh, he walked across the room to the front window and looked over at Aaron's house. He knew he was home, had seen him pull in to the driveway earlier. "This has gone on long enough," he murmured. It was time to let everyone sit down-or try to-and clear the air once and for all.

There was a real chance it was going to all blow up in his face, again, but he was willing to try. He'd call in a dinner order for three and invite Aaron over. It was a simple plan and had a very real possibility of not working, but someone had to make the first move, and it was clear that the Forrester siblings weren't going to do it.

He only hoped Aaron would be agreeable. Matt had a feeling that given the chance, Vivienne would love to have this whole thing over with. And maybe because Matt had no siblings, he didn't fully understand the dynamics, but it almost seemed as if they considered it a weakness to be the one to apologize first. So fine, he'd be the one to do it.

Again.

With a sense of purpose, he walked back to the kitchen and pulled out the folder of takeout menus Vivienne had. Chinese. Italian. Sushi. Burgers. Chicken. He sighed, trying to figure out what it was that he was even in the mood for. He knew Chinese was a favorite for both Aaron and Vivienne, so he opted for that-one less thing for everyone to argue about. So now he knew what he wanted to order and when he had to order it, all he had to do was wait.

He considered Aaron again and wondered if he should go over there first and invite him to dinner, but then thought better of it. Less of a chance for him to get turned down if he showed up with the food already in his hands.

So he'd wait.

With nothing left to do, he sat on the couch and decided to play solitaire on his phone. He had just swiped the screen when it rang-and he nearly jumped out of his skin.

Riley.

"Hey, buddy! What's up?"

"Finally had some time to sit and think and wanted to give you a call and just say thanks for coming and seeing the show last weekend."

Matt laughed. "It was amazing, Ry. Seriously. And thank you for letting me be a part of it. I didn't expect that, but it was great."

"Yeah, well, I knew if I pushed, you'd decline, so I figured I'd better just throw it at you in a way you couldn't turn down."

"I'm glad you did. I had almost forgotten how much I love to play for an audience like that. I still don't think I've come down from the high it gave me."

Riley chuckled. "That's good. That's good. So, listen. What would you think about doing a couple of more shows like that with me as I finish out the tour? We could test the waters, generate some buzz?"

"Are you serious?"

"I wouldn't be asking if I wasn't."

"What does Mick think?"

That had Riley laughing again. "This has nothing to do with Mick or anyone except the two of us. I enjoyed playing with you. I loved having you up on the stage next to me. You always inspire me, and as much as I've been loving this tour and loving the new music, it's not the same. I was starting to feel burned out and just wanted the damn tour to be over, and then there you were and it invigorated me."

"Dude, I felt the same way-invigorated, I mean." Matt sighed, raking a hand through his hair as his heart beat wildly in his chest. It would be amazing to do some light touring, get his feet wet again, and have the chance to start working with Riley again-and laying the groundwork for a future Shaughnessy project was like a dream come true.

"Think about it," Riley said, interrupting his thoughts. "It would be for maybe only ten shows, and it would only be a three- or four-song set, but I really think it could work and be a lot of fun. And you know the fans would love it."

"Can you send me the tour schedule? Let me see the dates and the cities because I'd have to work out my travel itinerary. There would be-"

"We'd have someone handle it on our end so that you were with us. It would just be a matter of you flying out to meet us. What about your guitars? I know we threw this all at you the other night, and you had to use someone else's stuff. You're going to want your own guitars, I'm sure."

"There are so many guitars that I only took the necessities to New York with me," he murmured more to himself than Riley. Then he cursed. "I hadn't even thought about that stuff in so damn long. I'm sure I can get someone to get a couple of them out for me and ship them to the first stop."

"I'm sure Mick can help us out with that. Are you cool with me talking to him about this?"

"I don't have a problem with it. Do you think he's going to? You know, have a problem?"

"Like I said, Matt, it's not his call. This show, this tour, was my baby. And it was starting to feel a little stale, a little flat. I want to inject some life back into it, and that means bringing you on."

"Wow...Riley. I...I don't even know what to say. How to thank you."

"For what? Matt, we've been playing together since the beginning. I wasn't the one who wanted it to end, if you'll remember."

Matt sighed loudly. "No one wanted it to end. We all just needed a break." Then he laughed. "And you can see how well that's worked out for some of us. So feel free to do the 'I told you so' dance when we're all back together."

"You can count on it." Matt listened as Riley started talking to someone in the background before coming back on the line. "Would you be able to meet me in Dallas on Saturday?"

"Saturday?" The last thing he was expecting was a date so soon. "That's only five days from now. I don't know if I'll be able to get all my shit together and shipped out there that fast."

"I know it's soon and if you can't, I'll completely understand. Talk to Vivienne and see-"

"I will, I will, but...yeah. I want to do this. I'll be there on Saturday. No worries. Just send me the calendar and itinerary and all that, and I'll talk to Mick about my stuff in LA."

"Yes!" Riley cried. "You have no idea how excited I am about this."

"I am too. Definitely! This is going to be like old times."

"Only better, my friend. Only better!"

"I'll see you on Saturday," Matt said, grinning from ear to ear. "Let the party begin!" He hung up as he stood up, mentally high-fiving himself. This was more than he'd hoped for because Riley had approached him rather than the other way around.

Looking at his watch, he figured he'd go out and pick up some champagne to celebrate, and he'd call in their dinner order while he was out and about. With a hearty laugh and a definite spring in his step, he walked to the door and scooped up Vivienne's car keys. "I'm back!" he called out, unable to hide his excitement.

And he had no idea Vivienne was standing in the shadows or that she'd heard any of it.

Matt was leaving.

Everything in Vivienne went cold and numb.

Her conference call had wrapped up much faster than she'd thought, and when she heard Matt on the phone, she had tried to be quiet so as not to disturb him. Then she'd heard him talking about leaving and she had frozen in place.

It was almost too much to comprehend. Her heart hurt and tears stung her eyes. All this time she'd been telling herself not to get attached, not to get her hopes up, and yet...he had made her believe. Everything Matt had been telling her made her believe he was staying with her and that they were going to build a future together.

Like a zombie, she walked to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of wine and then went to sit on the couch.

Why? Why would he do this without talking to her? She knew how much he enjoyed playing with Riley last weekend, but was that enough for him to...leave her? It killed her to think his music meant more to him than she did.

Hard to argue with the truth when you were slapped in the face with it, she thought and felt a fresh wave of pain wash over her. She took a long sip of her wine before placing the glass down on the coffee table. The trembling began as she pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around herself. And then came the tears.

"No," she cried softly. "I'm not ready for this yet." And even as she said the words out loud, she could still hear Matt's in her mind, talking about staying here with her. Talking about them living together. Making plans. "It's not fair." She shook her head and let it fall forward.

She never heard the knock on the door.

Never heard it open and close.

The next thing she knew, Aaron was sitting beside her wrapping her in his arms. "Hey," he said softly. "What's going on? What happened?"

Releasing her hold on her knees, she reached out and launched herself into his arms as she told him about the conversation she'd overheard. When she was done, she lifted her head and tried to wipe away the tears. "I don't want him to go."

Aaron's face was completely neutral. "So you haven't talked to him about this yet?"

She shook her head. "Like I said, I was on a conference call when he got his call, and I guess he didn't want to bother me." She took another swipe at her tears. "Do you...do you think I misunderstood him?"

With a sigh, Aaron pulled back. "Viv, you know this is what he does, right?"

Now it was her turn to put even more distance between them before she jumped to her feet. "Seriously? You're going to start this again? Why can't you just be my brother right now?" she cried. "Why can't you simply try and be supportive? Do you think now is the time to tear Matt down to me?"

Slowly Aaron came to his feet. "What I meant-before you jump to any more conclusions-was that he travels for a living." Then he waited for her to catch on. "He's a musician, Vivienne. In a band. A band that tours. Why are you suddenly so surprised by this?"

She swallowed hard and tried to collect her thoughts. "Because this wasn't on the agenda," she finally said. "We had talked about this being a possibility-down the road! I didn't expect him to pack his things the second he got the call or to do it without talking to me first!"

"You just said he thought you were on the phone," Aaron argued and for a minute he seemed shocked that he was defending Matt. He raked a hand through his hair in frustration and let out a growl to go with it. "Look, maybe he planned on talking to you over dinner but he had to give whoever it was on the phone an answer right away. If you told Matt not to go, I'm sure he'd call them back and cancel." He paused and studied her. "Is that what you want?"

"Yes," she said instantly and then paused. "I mean...no. I mean-"

"Viv," he quickly interrupted. "Stop and think before you do anything. If your relationship with Matt is as solid as you think it is, it should be able to withstand him doing his job. And believe me, it pains me to even say this but...I think you need to hear him out."

She seemed to sag with defeat. "But what if-?"

Aaron shook his head. "I'm not saying you don't have a right to be upset. You do. But you need to talk to Matt and listen to him and find out why he didn't talk to you first." Then he turned and put more distance between them before starting to pace.