Page 55 of The Sweetest Devotion

He nodded. “I was in the neighborhood.”

Somehow, I doubted that. “Okay.”

There was no use in fighting him, so I let him into my suite and shut the door behind him. He made no move to remove his jacket or get comfortable. Instead, he stood in the foyer, staring back at me.

“Do you have any plans?” he wanted to know.

“Not particularly, why?”

“I’d like to take you out on a date. Somewhere…special to me,” Cain answered. His eyes ran down my current state of dress before returning to mine. “You’d have to change of course.”

I could’ve stood my ground, asked him to leave, but what was the point?

“What should I wear?” I gave in.

Cain’s eyes returned to my figure. They were empty and impassive. If he lusted after me, he didn’t let it show. “A dress.”

Classy. Got it.

“I’m going to go shower and get ready. Please wait outside.” I opened my door and Cain put up no fight as he began making his way by me. It caught me by surprise he didn’t insist on waiting in my living room. “Wait.”

Cain paused just as he’d made it back into the hallway. “Yes, Kennedy?”

“You can wait in front of the TV,” I offered.

For the briefest second, Cain smiled at the change of plans, but still, he went over to his men and left me to be alone in my suite.

Who knew the Devil could be a gentleman?

Cain was in a fitted black suit. I preferred white, but I had just the black Balmain dress in my closet for the occasion. After all, this was my funeral.

Forty minutes later I was in the back of a town car sitting beside Cain as we rode over to his surprise date. Like a dutiful fiancée, I wore my ring as my only accessory. My hair was back in a bun, I’d only applied mascara and eyeliner for makeup, and my Balmain mini dress had caught the eye of Cain and one of his men. Beans had the decency not to be affected by the sight of me.

When the car came to a stop, I discovered we were downtown at some hole-in-the-wall spot I didn’t recognize. The marquee out front glowed brightly with the venue’s name.Lucky’s Blues Lounge.

I faced Cain for an explanation, but he merely got out of the car and came and helped me out of my side.

“Come, they reserved us good seats,” he instructed. With his hand on the small of my back, he led me inside and I didn’t miss the fact that Beans and the other man were following us.

Lucky’s Blues Lounge was like a step into the past. Once inside I felt as if I’d been immersed into the ’40s with its dim lights, soul music, and classy attire. There were booths and tables, food being brought to patrons who wished to dine. The live singer on stage was singing a rendition of some old-school song I couldn’t quite place, and I was in awe of the environment. It was something like an old-school juke joint.

Whoa.

“It’s Etta James,” Cain clued me in of the young woman on stage singing a cover. “?‘Trust in Me.’?”

The lounge wasn’t bustling with people, but there were enough in the room to let me know Lucky’s was an exclusive spot. The crowd in the surrounding tables and booths were a mix of what looked like Black twenty-somethings, along with an ample amount of people in their thirties and forties.

Cain didn’t take a moment to study the atmosphere like me, nor did he wait to be seated. He took the lead and led me over to a booth on the lefthand corner of the room, with a terrific view of the stage, as well as the door.

His men didn’t join our table. They took a circular one a few feet away and focused on the menus on the tabletop.

I slid into the booth first, and Cain joined me.

All of the staff of Lucky’s wore black trousers, button-down shirts, or dresses for the female members or skirts. They too looked like they’d stepped right out of the ’40s—when men were “dapper,” and the women were “dames.”

Our hostess, a young woman in a black A-line skirt and white polo, came to our table with a chipper smile on her face. She procured a pad of paper to take our order before sweeping her attention between Cain and me. “Good evening, welcome to Lucky’s. My name is Blair. How can I help you folks tonight?”

“We’ll start off with some waters before we order,” Cain spoke up. He glanced my way. “Is that okay?”

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