She didn’t expect Liam to come along; even though he was only a few years older than she was, he was a suit—he looked it, he acted it, he lived it. When she told him this, he laughed.

“Even suits need to have fun once in a while,” he said with a wink.

The band that night was an all-female group from Portland called Dorothy Is Dead. The commercial crew filled two tables up front. Paulina was back in her street clothes but still had a face full of makeup and felt out of place. She told this to Liam after their first round of shots.

“I should have stuck to my principles on the makeup,” she said, annoyed with the smear of lipstick on her shot glass.

“It’s a job, Paulina. We all make compromises. Just be thankful you don’t have to go to an office every day.”

“You don’t like advertising?”

“I mean, I like it. But it’s not what I would choose to do if I could do anything I wanted.” Their gazes met as a lock of dark hair, damp with perspiration, fell against his cheek. She had the urge to brush it away. She wanted an excuse to touch him, and it horrified her.

“Um, so what would you do?” she said, trying to even her breathing.

“Travel the world.”

She bit her lip. “Now I feel bad.”

“Why should you feel bad?”

“Because I get to travel all the time.”

He nodded. “I know. I think that’s great. You have an adventurous spirit.”

“I guess we both do.” She looked into his intense navy-blue eyes. He truly was gorgeous. She forced herself to look away, down at his hands with long tapered fingers like a piano player’s. It took all of her will not to lean forward and kiss him.

She reached into her bag for a cigarette.

“So where’s your next adventure?” he said.

“Africa. I’m leaving for a safari tomorrow to meet up with some friends.” She lit up, took a deep drag, and told him the details of her two-week itinerary. “I want to see lions roaming free. I want to experience something totally outside of regular life.” Yes, in twenty-four hours she would be far away. And she’d never think about her sister’s boyfriend again.

He nodded. “I get that. I’ve always wanted to see elephants in the wild, in all their majesty. It must be awe-inspiring.”

“Well, someday you and Elodie can go.” Although her sister’s idea of travel was a jaunt to London for a jewelry conference.

“I’m going to end things with your sister,” Liam said abruptly.

“What?” She turned to him, squinting to see through the dim lighting and haze of smoke.

“Yeah. To be honest, I’ve been avoiding it because I don’t want it to get awkward with work.”

“But why? You guys seem . . . happy.”