He’d never in a million years pictured he’d be here. Ever. Having Cherisse willingly hug him, and it was a good hug. She really was good at this. She threw her entire self into it, and God, she smelled amazing. Like vanilla. Like something good enough to devour whole and go back for seconds.

She mumbled something against his neck, her breath washing over his skin, and Keiran nearly shivered. He didn’t want to let go but figured he better not push his luck. He was about to pull back and ask her what she’d said when someone cleared their throat.

The way they both pulled away had to make them look guilty as hell—not that they were doing anything wrong. Just super-weird because they did not do this—but he hadn’t actually expected anyone to walk in on this hug.

Tyler was the first one he saw, face blank, not one indication of what he was thinking as he let the balcony door slip shut behind him. Then Maxine, whose mouth was hanging open. His mother was busy sipping from her wine, seemingly unconcerned by anything they’d walked in on.

Cherisse put space between them immediately, and Keiran figured he better tackle the giant elephant in the room. “Sorry for taking up your date’s time. I was being a whiny baby about something, and Cherisse was nice enough to offer a hug.”

Tyler’s face remained impassive, but his mother squinted at Cherisse. “Cherisse Gooding, is that you?”

“Hi, Ms. King. Nice to see you.” Cherisse gave a little wave, then looked startled when his mother clasped her hands in hers.

“Haven’t seen you in so long. Look how lovely you are!”

“Thanks, Ms. King. It has been a while.”

“Well, we must change that. Come over for Sunday lunch sometime soon, okay? I’m having a barbecue soon.” His mother held Cherisse at arm’s length and smiled. “That dress.” Then she looked to Tyler. “And who’s this? Your boyfriend?”

“No.” Cherisse seemed unbothered by her forceful reply and didn’t seem to care about Tyler’s frown. Looked like this date wasn’t heading for a happy ending. How sad for Tyler. The man now appeared utterly confused.

“Okay, mummy, we need to get some food in you. Let’s see what they have downstairs because I don’t think those dessert samples did much to soak up that wine.” Maxine didn’t wait for confirmation, just linked their arms and dragged their mother towards the door.

“Food sounds good,” Keiran agreed. Anything was better than the discomfort that was settling in the longer they all stood here.

After a short conversation with Tyler, who looked displeased, Cherisse left him scowling after them and followed downstairs, where they all met up with Reba. She jumped up, waving them over to where she was having sushi with friends at the bar. It wasn’t long before they all ended up outside, claiming a table that faced the waterfront.

Keiran kept an eye on his mother. Maxine was steadily supplying her with water, but his mom was still very much tipsy. Somehow, she had Reba’s friends eating out of her hand, cackling, gesturing wildly as she recounted some hiking trip gone wrong. The two guys with Reba were enthralled by his mother’s story. One of them was hanging a little too closely on her every word. Keiran narrowed his eyes at him.