Page 130 of Ghost Note

Jules and Billie had both agreed that that show had been one of the best performances Front Row Frogs had ever played, and I hadn’t missed the not so subtle wink Jules had sent my way when that statement had been made.

As soon as it had finished, Danny had taken my hand and told me we were forgoing the after-party… and then I’d been guided into the back of this fancy car.

“Is this how it’s going to be from now on?” I asked, watching him as he faced forward, not looking at me or giving anything away. “You bossing me around and telling me what’s happening all the time? I don’t get a say in anything.”

“Pretty much.” His lips twitched.

“That’s not going to work for me.”

“You’ll come around.” Danny side-eyed me, unable to stop his smirk from rising. “Trust me, Zee.”

I did, and he knew it, too. Damn him.

Ten minutes later, the car pulled up outside a fairly ordinary-looking building—if any of the beautiful architecture in Paris could be called ordinary—with no lights or neon signs announcing where we were or what thebuilding stood for.

There was no point me asking him to give any more clues. He’d made his stance perfectly clear, so I waited for the driver to open the door and for us both to get out before I turned to Danny and waited, faking patience.

He took my hand in his and guided me to a black door that had a control panel on the side, and he never once looked at me when he opened the little Perspex door to type in a six-digit code. A green light lit up the panel, and I heard the lock click open. Danny reached for the handle and guided me inside what looked like a residential block of very fancy flats.

We made our way over to a lift, and up to the tenth floor, which looked to be as high as we could go. The two of us stepped out into a modern corridor, with plush black carpets, grey walls, and fancy art dotted everywhere. Danny pulled me along, his strides slow and controlled until we came to another door, and he opened it to reveal a staircase.

He waved his hand in front of him and gestured for me to go through. I did as I was told, muttering under my breath about his smug silence before Danny let the door close behind us, and he took my hand again, guiding us up a concrete flight of stairs until there was another door.

“Let me guess. Narnia?” I offered sarcastically.

“Even better.”

The moment he revealed what was beyond that door, I stepped out onto the flat roof with the walled-ledge around it—one that looked just like our roof back in Hope Cove, only this one was decorated with fairy lights.

Slap bang in the middle of the skyline was the Eiffel Tower, twinkling away like it had been placed there for nobody else to enjoy but me. The sight of it stole my breath, and I slapped a hand to my chest as I walked closer to the raised edge that kept us safe. My hands fell to the cool brick.

Danny’s hands slid around my waist, and his chin came to rest on my shoulder.

“Two weeks to show you as many of the world’s best rooftops as I can,” he said with a small, contented sigh. “It’s not as much time as I’d like, but I’ll see what I can do.”

“It’s so beautiful.”

“Yeah,” he breathed against my neck, and I had a feeling he wasn’t talking about the Eiffel Tower or the bright, romantic lights of Paris. “Beautiful.”

“I don’t want to blink and miss a second of it. Let’s stay here all night.”

“Whatever makes you happy.”

“It’s perfect,” I whispered, both at Danny, and at the Eiffel Tower. My hands slid around his arms, and I squeezed him tight in the midst of my own fairy tale, feeling like someone new, yet still the same girl I’d always been.

“I’m going to make you so fucking happy, Zee. I’ll do it right this time. I’ll never let you go again.”

Tearing my eyes away from the view, I turned in Danny’s arms and pressed my back against the ledge, trapping myself between my two favourite sights as I wrapped my arms around his waist and tugged him against me.

“I can’t regret a single thing that happened because all of it has led to this. You’ve no idea how happy I am at this very moment. All of the bad things I thought had ruined my life only made it better in the end. Nothing, not one thing, could make it better.”

Danny’s handsome smile was breath-taking, and he reached up to push my hair behind my ear before he buried his fingers in the thick of it and pulled my head back, making my lips part as I looked up at him.

“Nothing?” he whispered.

I shook my head in his grip.

“Then maybe I should leave it as it is and ask you to marry me some other time.”

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