The city was a glitter of lights and people. I couldn’t wait to see it properly in the morning, but there was something about Paris at night that felt electric. I wanted to experience it first-hand.

“We should go out,” Callum announced, and for the first time I was on the same page as him. I wanted to go out, too.

“I’m wrecked,” James sighed. “Plus, I promised Diana a Skype date tonight, so I’m going to stay in, but you lot should go.”

“I’m up for it,” said Paul, looking to Trev. “How about you?”

Trev slid a hand in his jeans pocket and shrugged, casting me a wicked glance. “I’ll go if Reya does.”

“Sure, I’m in,” I answered easily and he shot me a look of surprise. He must’ve been expecting me to make up an excuse.

An hour later I’d freshened up, put on a purple skater dress with a dipped neckline, and some heels. Not that I needed the extra height. I just liked how toned they made my calves look.

“Hey, look at you,” Paul exclaimed as I entered the living area. “I like your dress. Very sex-ay.”

Trev shot him a disgruntled glare but Paul ignored it. Sometimes I think he flirted with me just to rile Trev. He cleared his throat, his gaze warm as it lingered on how the dress skimmed the curve of my hips.

“You look beautiful,” said Trev, a crack in his voice.

A shimmering heat travelled over me and I uttered a quiet, “Thanks. Um, should we invite Isaac? I feel bad that he has to stay with the crew.”

“There’s no room for him here,” Neil huffed defensively, his ever-present tablet on his lap. “It was the only place I could find to put him.” He looked set for a long night of work and I worried my lip, wondering if I should be staying in and working, too.

“No, I completely understand, but, uh, do you need me to stay and help you? I don’t want to go out if there’s work that needs to be done.”

“Not at all.” Neil waved me away. “I’m mostly replying to a backlog of emails and it’d take more time explaining to you what they’re about since they’re several months old. Go, enjoy yourself.”

“Yeah, quit trying to get out of it. You’re coming with us,” said Paul.

“And unfortunately, so are they,” Leanne added when Jimbo and several other crewmembers stepped inside the apartment.

My excitement for the night ahead deflated. I wasn’t sure I could enjoy myself with cameras watching. Trev saw my disappointment but there was nothing he could do about it. Being filmed was his job. He couldn’t exactly tell them not tonight, Joséphine.

I smiled at my Napoleon-themed reference and headed for the door. “I’ll go grab Isaac. Be back in five.”

A half hour later we were in the VIP section of an upscale Parisian nightclub. Callum and Paul were on the dance floor surrounded by a crowd of women vying for their attention, while Leanne sat next to Isaac. The two were deep in conversation, about what I wasn’t sure, parkour talk probably. It only functioned to punctuate the quiet between Trev and me. He was being uncharacteristically stoic, but he barely took his eyes off me. His attention had the pores on my arms standing on end.

“Want another drink?” he asked, bending close to my ear. His breath on my skin made my belly flutter.

I lifted my glass to show him it was still half full. “Maybe in a little bit.”

I turned my attention away just when the song changed to a dance remix of “Wrecking Ball” by Miley Cyrus. It was hard not to laugh. This song seemed to haunt me when it came to Trev. In fact, I used to sing it all the time when I busked on the street. Who knew Miley would be the one to speak to my heart and soul? I couldn’t have found a song that described us better if I wrote it myself.

“You used to cover this one, remember?” Trev asked, surprising me. Self-consciousness tugged at my chest to think of him knowing why I sang it, how I sometimes subtly changed the lyrics to describe him.

You came in like a wrecking ball.

Any songs I wrote for Trev I rarely played if I knew he was in the audience. Those songs left me too exposed. I’d rather sing them for strangers.

I cast him a quick glance. “Uh-huh.”

The club was loud, which meant he had to sit close for me to hear him. I caught a waft of his cologne and struggled not to bury my face in his neck and inhale.

His mouth did this attractive little quirk at the corner. “I know you used to sing it about me.”

I stiffened and pretended I couldn’t hear him. “What?”

His low chuckle made a pleasant vibration. “Okay. We’ll play it like that if you want.”

“Look at Paul,” I said, changing the subject. “He’s got some serious moves.”

“I know you don’t fancy him, Reya, so quit trying to make me jealous.”

“When did I ever say I fancied Paul?”

“You didn’t, but you’re trying to make me think you do. Actually, I thought you did for a while, but I was wrong.”

“How do you reckon that?”

“I know when you’re attracted to someone. You have a few tells.”

I scoffed to cover my nerves. “Bullshit.”

He grinned wide and took a swig of the gin and tonic he’d been nursing all night. “Try me.”

I rolled my eyes. “Okay, I’ll bite. What are they?”

He set the glass down and reached out to stroke my cheek. “You get flushed.” His fingers moved up. “Your pupils dilate.” Next they moved down, and my breathing stuttered when his hand moved to my hair, where I was twisting a strand around my finger. “And you do this with your hair.”

“You’re m-making this up,” I stammered.

“Believe that if you want.”

Our eyes met and time felt suspended for a moment. Someone tapped me on the shoulder, breaking the connection.

Leanne. Phew.

“You want to dance?” she shouted over the music, Isaac behind her.

It was the perfect excuse to get away from Trev’s heated attention, plus I did love to dance, so I happily agreed. Isaac stayed behind, so it was just the two of us on the dance floor. Callum and Paul were at the other end of the club, still surrounded by revellers.

“You looked like you needed rescuing,” Leanne yelled in my ear as we danced.

I shot her a grateful smile. “I did. Thanks for that.”