“I think he’s doing that on purpose,” Keiran glowered.

Dale chuckled as they searched for a free table to perch themselves at while they ate. They found one occupied by Remi and Maxine, who seemed to mostly be staring intently at their devices rather than having conversation.

“Hey, you seen Worrel?” Dale asked, searching the crowd for his boyfriend.

“Last seen at the pasta station,” Maxine replied. “That stuff is sinfully good.” Dale announced he’d be back and went in search of his guy.

“So, does your friend only slander my good name to those in her inner circle, or...?”

Remi looked up from checking the shots on her camera, brow raised. “Is it slander if it’s true?”

“You believe everything you hear?” he shot back.

This was the last place to get into it with Remi, but Keiran just couldn’t seem to keep his mouth shut. Why did he care what Cherisse thought of him? Her opinion shouldn’t matter, but it was rubbing him wrong more than expected. He had to be more tired than he’d thought to let even a hint drop that Cherisse’s judgment was affecting him. He had been going hard in the studio for the entire Carnival season. He couldn’t count how many late-night sessions they’d done.

The phone in front of Remi suddenly chimed. “Need to get this,” she said, wandering away from the table. The reception had some music piping through the room. It wasn’t loud, but that, combined with everyone’s chatter, would make it difficult to hear whoever was on the other line.

“What are you doing?” Maxine asked, fiddling with her napkin.

“Nothing.”

“You’re being weird.”

He forked some food in his mouth and chewed, not looking at the nail Maxine tapped impatiently on the table. He took his time swallowing before he said, “So?”

Maxine stole a piece of salmon from his plate and popped it in her mouth. “I can’t wait to see you two try to work together. It’s gonna be an epic mess. Don’t disappoint me. I got a bet going. I need to make some extra money. Working with mummy in her office is driving me up a wall.”

Maxine was way too excited about the potential disaster that would be him and Cherisse planning an event together. Eric’s speech about wanting him and Ava’s two main people to bond had sounded like BS to him, but what the bride and groom wanted, they got, apparently.

“So hurry up and fall into hate sex so I can get paid.”

Keiran choked on his food. “A waste of time bet,” he said after he caught his breath.

Him and Cherisse? Not happening. Fighting was their thing. The sizzling looks she’d thrown him earlier were obviously a ploy to keep him off-balance in a different way. He wasn’t even angry at her for it; it was downright dirty-handed, and it made him grin to know he could have the perfectly put-together Sugar Queen on edge like that, to the point where she was trying different ways to get at him.