Yeah, never again.
After the meeting, he had completely resigned himself to a quiet night alone when fate had intervened.
It had been years since he’d seen his friend—ten, easily—and he had to admit it seemed wild to see him now, after just thinking about Sienna a few nights ago. When Jason invited him to join him and his wife for dinner, it was a no-brainer. Go home alone, or have some company for a couple of hours? Um, yeah. He was all for not being by himself. He was seriously getting sick of his own company.
And now Sienna was walking toward him, and Mick forgot how to breathe.
She was stunning.
Not that he expected anything less. She had always been beautiful, but the woman she had grown into was simply...
“Mick, you remember Sienna, right?” Jason said with a huge grin before he pulled his sister in for a hug.
All Mick could do was nod.
“I can’t believe you were in town and didn’t call!” Then he pulled back with an even bigger smile for his sister. “When mom mentioned the conference and asked if I’d heard from you, I couldn’t believe that you didn’t reach out yourself!”
“Um, yeah,” she murmured. “Sorry about that.”
He hugged her again. “Nothing to be sorry about. I know how busy you are and how intense those events are for someone like you. I’m just glad that we could make this work so I could see you. It’s been too long.”
Sienna pulled back and fidgeted with her hair. “I know, it truly has. I was just thinking...”
“And can you believe I just ran into Mick out on the sidewalk? I mean... what are the odds?”
What indeed.
“Sienna,” he said gruffly, leaning in to kiss her cheek. She was a little wide-eyed, and he felt her stiffen when his lips touched her skin.
He tried not to take offense.
“Michael,” she replied softly before taking a step back. “It’s nice to see you.” She was definitely more reserved than he remembered, but...maybe she was just as shocked as he was right now and unsure of how to react. Fidgeting with her long blonde hair, she seemed more than a little uncomfortable.
He took advantage of how she wouldn’t look directly at him to soak up the fact that she was standing two feet away from him for the first time in twenty-three years.
Her blonde hair was still long and wavy, her porcelain skin looked as smooth as silk, and her figure was downright mouthwatering. She’d been on the cusp of womanhood the last time he saw her, and right now, she looked exactly as he envisioned her in his mind.
And he’d envisioned her a lot over the years.
She still looked young and sexy and vibrant, and he was suddenly regretting his decision to embrace his graying hair and beard.
“Michael?” Jason said with a laugh, interrupting his thoughts. “Sienna, you’re looking at a man who is practically royalty in the music business. He ditched that name years ago!” Patting Mick on the shoulder, he grinned. “Right? When was the last time anyone called you Michael?”
Without missing a beat, Mick looked Sienna in the eyes and said, “May 16, 1999.”
She instantly flushed, and he knew she remembered it, too.
“Ashley? Party of three!” the hostess called out, and both Bree and Jason walked over to see about adding him to the reservation. A minute later, he found himself walking behind Sienna as they all made their way to a table up on the second floor.
He wasn’t intentionally ogling her, but the view of her curvy bottom in snug black denim was impossible to look away from. There was a soft sway to her hips, and he was pretty sure he was on the verge of either drooling or simply reaching out and touching her.
“Right this way,” their server said at the top of the stairs, effectively breaking his trance. Together, they walked to the far corner where a table for four was waiting for them. Jason held out a chair for Bree, while Mick held out a chair for Sienna and smiled as he sat down beside her.
The day had pretty much been a dismal disappointment—particularly the singer—and he had been more than ready to go back to the penthouse and sulk.
But this? This was so much better.
With his arm casually resting on the back of her chair, he was about to ask Sienna about her life, but Jason instantly started asking all kinds of questions about the music industry. Who was he representing these days? Was he heading out on tour with anyone soon? Had he ever met Elton John or Mick Jagger?
As much as it wasn’t a topic he really wanted to be discussing—he hated talking about himself—Mick knew he wouldn’t be able to avoid it. So he went through his current list of clients and shared a couple of short stories about each of them and watched with mild amusement as Bree’s eyes kept going wide.
“I can’t believe you get to hang out with so many famous people!” she said excitedly. “I mean...it must be like one non-stop party!”
Reaching for his water, he took a sip. “Not as much as you’d think.”
“What’s a typical week like for you?” Jason asked.
With a small laugh and a shrug, he replied, “There is no typical week. I work a lot of irregular hours and it changes daily. Most of the time, I need to be available during normal business hours to work with agents, labels, accountants, and lawyers, and depending on who’s on tour or where I’m at, it’s not uncommon for me to attend live performances in evenings and on weekends. I travel a lot and sleep whenever I get a chance.”
“It sounds brutal,” Bree commented. “What kind of specific things do you handle?”
He really wanted to groan and change the subject, but he didn’t want to appear rude.
“Basically, band managers play a complex and varied role in the music industry. Most musicians envision playing in a band as a creative job; they get to go on stage or into the studio and play music and get paid for it.” He shrugged. “Unfortunately, that’s just a small part of the overall big picture and basically, enjoying success as a band or singer, is no different that running any other business.”
“That sounds a little less glamorous,” Jason said with an easy grin.
“That’s the part no one likes to think about,” Mick told him. “There are contracts to review and sign, finances to handle, and marketing activities that need to occur in order for a band to achieve success.” He took another sip of his water. “And because most musicians aren’t interested in the business end of things and simply want to focus on making and playing music, they rely on guys like me to conduct business activities on their behalf.”
“What’s it like for a new band versus an established one?” Bree asked.
Just keep smiling...
“Both require a lot of work,” he explained, “but before a band makes it big, there’s a lot more involved. For example, a large part of my job for unknown bands is sending out demos to record labels and live music venues. My team and I spend a lot of time promoting the band, scheduling shows, and growing a band’s audience.”
“How much of that do you still do yourself?” Jason asked.
“I’m not nearly as hands on at that level anymore. Don’t get me wrong, I step in to close any deals that aren’t getting made—like if a venue doesn’t want to give the band a chance—but mostly, everyone working for me in that division knows exactly what to do to get our acts seen.”