This was also the first and only time he’d be officially introducing a woman he was dating to them. It was different from running into a friend while out on a date. This was a thing. Especially since it was his birthday.

Then he walked into the bar and immediately forgot his nerves. “Leon, you asshole!” He hugged his friend. “What the fuck are you doing here? You have no money for a plane ticket!”

He could say that only because they’d all been tight since their school days—he’d have paid for Leon’s ticket if he’d thought his friend would accept it, but where Leon had seen Danny’s presence at the show as a mate helping him out, he’d never accept a financial assist.

Laughing, Leon slapped him on the back. “Jarod had air points and he twisted my arm.”

Since Jarod—a slick and polished Samoan-born Kiwi who did play rugby but had never wanted to go professional—was an international sales rep who flew almost as often as most people drove, Danny could well believe that. And all of them shared perks from the job when they could, which was why Leon saw the air-points thing as okay.

Danny had scored the group free game tickets while Leon had gotten them into a backstage deal at his last big theater gig. Nirav, lanky and bespectacled with a small goatee, used to moan about not having anything to share in return, his job as a road engineer not one that threw up such opportunities.

None of them had cared, but Danny had been able to tell it bothered Nirav. Then Nirav had worked on a bridge in a remote part of the South Island, green bush and snow-capped mountains as far as the eye could see. He’d received permission from his bosses to take his friends across when it was finished but before any cars were permitted on it. The. Views. Had. Been. Insane.

“Hey, Catie.” Leon hugged Catie after Danny released him.

Jarod and Nirav waggled their eyebrows from behind Leon, where Catie couldn’t see them. Danny grinned, not giving a shit that they were going to rag him about this. He was proud to be with Catie. And yeah, that was getting into dangerous territory, but he couldn’t keep from going there, couldn’t keep from falling deeper.

Jarod’s bubbly girlfriend, Noelle Lu, returned from the bathroom just as Danny was making the introductions. Formalities over, they got themselves drinks—then Nirav pulled out a gift-wrapped box about half the size of Danny’s palm. “Happy birthday, man. This is from all of us.”

Danny had already received a number of gifts from his family as well as from Catie. Some time back, after all of them began to earn a good income, they’d agreed to make the gifts personal and not necessarily bought new.