Chapter 2

The air in the private karaoke booth was thick, saturated with the scent of expensive perfume, spilled champagne, and the electric hum of a hundred conversations bleeding into one another. Outside the heavy velvet curtains, the main hall of the event space pulsed with the bass of the DJ set, a rhythmic thrumming that I could feel vibrating through the soles of my stilettos. But in here, in this secluded alcove off to the side, the noise was muffled to a dull roar, creating a cocoon of intimacy that felt dangerously small. I had spent the last hour perching on the high velvet stool, nursing a warm glass of white wine, watching him. Watching *Daddy*. That was the title he wore like a crown, even though he was only a few years older than me, just a man with enough authority and steady hands to make my knees weak. He had been holding court with a group of colleagues, laughing at something one of them said, his tie loosened, his sleeves rolled up to reveal the forearms I’d been itching to trace since we arrived. But every time I caught his eye across the room, his gaze didn’t waver. It