“Fine,” she gritted out after too many minutes had lapsed with both of them just eyeballing each other. Him still smirking, her grinding her teeth together so she wouldn’t snap or go into a curse-filled rant.

“Ready to flesh out the details now?” Keiran asked.

She could be the bigger person. His idea had been a good one, and he was right. They could incorporate thoughts from both and make the party something special. They could do this. Work together without fighting. Attend that brunch together. Get through a studio session. Cherisse still couldn’t believe those were things she’d agreed to.

“Sure,” she muttered, but an annoying voice in her head kept nagging at her, demanding to know: What the hell was she doing?

Chapter 10

Keiran

KEIRAN SQUINTED UP at the streetlight as he waited for Cherisse to open the door. Still dark out and a little chilly too, he tugged the sleeves of his Henley down to cover his forearms, wondering if Cherisse was even awake. Had her 3:30 a.m. call time been a joke to play with him? Because he wasn’t amused. Did she really need to be up this early to prep for this brunch?

He released a jaw-cracking yawn just as the door swung open to reveal Cherisse, who didn’t look any happier to be awake at this ungodly hour, her usually loose waves up in a lopsided bun. She didn’t say a word, just waved him in, and stumbled towards the kitchen. There were already ingredients all over the counter. She ignored all of them and reached for a huge coffee mug, the thing so big the cat could probably do some laps in it, held up a finger and said, “Don’t talk to me until I’ve had my coffee. For your own safety.”

Keiran raised a brow as she took a long sip and sighed. Okay, so she wasn’t a morning person. How unexpected. He was beginning to realize there was a lot he didn’t know about Cherisse. “Might work faster by IV,” he quipped.

She shot him a death glare. “I said, don’t speak to me yet. I will murder you and toss your body into the bushes.” She resumed drinking her coffee, her blissful sigh so incongruous with her threat he couldn’t help but laugh, which earned him another narrow-eyed gaze over the mug’s rim. She finally nodded. “Okay, you’re safe now.”

“Are you sure?”

Her smile was less deadly when she nodded. “It was a near-death experience for you just then, but yup. All good now.” She swept the counter with her hand. “Welcome to where all the magic happens. Since you’re a newbie assistant, I printed out the menu in order of what we’ll be tackling first. Waffle bar is last. All cakes will be done first because it’ll take longer. Well...after the eggs. I’m doing marshmallow Easter eggs, and I already made them and let them set overnight because of timing, so all you’ll have to do is cover in chocolate.”