As selfish as it was, he didn’t want to destroy the already fragile moment.

“I thought I could easily trust you with my body, and I did, but when I trust someone with that, it’s never just that. I don’t know why I thought I could do that.”

“Cherisse, I...” He didn’t want to say the words out loud in case he jinxed it, and God, why was he being such a coward about Sean?

But she stepped back, shook herself hard, and said, “I have to go,” then turned to walk briskly away.

Well, then. What the hell was he supposed to do with that?

Chapter 29

Cherisse

SHE HAD NO CLUE HOW she made it to her birthday without combusting.

The spa pampering afternoon at the Marigold Club had been much needed, but she’d ruined it for herself. Everyone else had been relaxed after, but how was she supposed to do that after that encounter with Keiran?

She’d basically admitted to having feelings for him and then run off.

Talk about terrible timing for a confession of that magnitude. On top of all of that, he’d sent a Can we talk? text, which she was still ignoring. Regardless of knowing the topic of discussion, her anxiety was dialed all the way up. She had no idea how to approach this talk they needed to have.

Why hadn’t she just kept walking, not turned back to utter those words? That damn impulsiveness again, just waiting to cause problems. He’d sensed something was off with her. She’d done a poor job of keeping her nerves under wraps, but he wouldn’t have known that if she’d kept her mouth shut.

“This is orgasmic.”

“What?” Yanked out of her anxious thoughts, she turned to her mother, who sat across the table from her devouring her waffles. Her parents had insisted on treating her to a birthday breakfast at Lola’s, which was delightfully empty at the moment, so they had the place all to themselves.

Lola’s breakfast was amazing, but Cherisse did not need to hear the word ‘orgasmic’ coming out of her mother’s mouth.

“Mummy, please.” She grimaced but shoved another bite of her waffles in her mouth. Heaven. She’d opted for chicken on her waffles because why not?

Her father chuckled. “Honey, don’t embarrass the child on her birthday.”

“What?” Her mother didn’t look the least repentant. “Isn’t that how the young people talk these days?”

“I’m hardly one of those young people you’re referring to,” Cherisse pointed out.

West Indian parents were such a plethora of contradictions. Her mother would conveniently treat her like she was still a child when it suited her needs but, of course, reminded her at every turn that she wasn’t getting any younger and shouldn’t wait too long to get a man. As if she had any control over that.