Chapter 6

The air in the private back room of *The Gilded Cage* was thick, heavy with the scent of stale tobacco, expensive perfume, and the faint, metallic tang of sweat that had accumulated over the last hour of dancing. It was a sensory overload, a cocoon of velvet and shadow that separated us from the raucous jazz band pounding out a syncopated rhythm in the main room just beyond the heavy oak door. I sat on the floor, my back against the deep, plush velvet of the booth that lined the wall, my legs spread wide for him. My silk dress had been hiked up to my waist, bunched around my hips, leaving me bare from the waist down in the cool, dim light of the single amber bulb swinging above us. He stood between my knees, a tall, broad-shouldered silhouette in his dark suit, loosened at the collar. He had stripped off his jacket and tie, tossing them carelessly onto the nearby chaise lounge, and now he was just him—raw, potent, and waiting. He watched me with those dark, predatory eyes, his gaze tracing the curve of my hip, the dip of my navel, before settling on my ass, which