“How the hell did you get these to look like a rose and taste like heaven?” Dale gushed.

“A chef never reveals her secrets,” she winked, and he chortled around the dessert in his mouth.

“Oh man, Keiran, you should get in on these.” Dale waved the dessert in Keiran’s face.

“I’m good. Shouldn’t you be having dinner first?”

“Nah, man, I had to get to these before they all disappeared.” To prove his point, Dale started going around the tower, adding each type of dessert to his small plate. “My mom loves your stuff. She gets those cookies you have selling in the grocery every month end. A little treat for herself. Can’t go without them. You really have that sweet hand, for real.”

Cherisse beamed. “You are so good for a girl’s ego. Tell you what, I’m working on something new. I’ll send you a sample package, maybe throw in some for your mom. Make sure she gets it.”

“You’re the best!”

Cherisse shot Keiran a triumphant smile.

“Buying customers with freebies, how creative of you,” he drawled, unimpressed.

Cherisse wondered if she could bump into the dessert tower for real, make it look like an accident. Feign shock when the entire thing crushed him under its sugary weight, but there was no way she was wasting her hours of baking on him.

“Hi, I’m Reba. I’ve heard so much about you. All terrible things, but I love me a bad boy,” Reba suddenly piped up, tossing in a wink. Cherisse had forgotten her presence, too busy being distracted by Keiran’s suit.

Keiran’s jaw tightened, and Cherisse found the tiny tic intriguing. Ah, so he could dish out the teasing but couldn’t take it.

“Good to know my reputation precedes me.” The muscle in Keiran’s jaw jumped again, and Cherisse filed that away. How fascinating. The seemingly unflappable Keiran King wasn’t so unaffected by gossip as he’d like people to think.

Oh, yeah, she was pocketing this little bit of information to use as ammo later.

Chapter 4

Keiran

SHE WORE THE SWEETEST dress, bright blue with a glittering beaded collar. The smile gracing her lips was anything but sweet. It promised vengeance, and Keiran felt an answering pull in his stomach.

He hadn’t known she’d be here. He’d ducked out on the awards last year like a punk, but he’d definitely seen photo after photo of her and that fool Sean Daley. That guy had rubbed him wrong from their first meeting. Knowing Cherisse and Sean were no longer together, he’d figured she wouldn’t be here. Keiran hadn’t wanted to come. Dale was more the face of DK Productions, but Keiran had vowed to make more of an effort to be out there, support Dale at events like this. Even though the spotlight was so not his thing—which left him open to being gossip fodder for people in the industry—the guilt of leaving his partner to fly solo had finally gotten to be too much.