Like he could. Like it was so simple. There was no forgetting. Not for him. “Why did you let me kiss you?”

Her mouth worked open and closed, but she didn’t say anything. It would be amusing, except Keiran was in pain and wanted to just hide out in his room. Or the studio, where he could listen to the rough cut of her track again and remember every minute detail of that kiss. He moved to close the space between them because why not? Why not make it worse by getting close enough to drink in her scent?

The kitchen door swung open, and Cherisse’s mother swept in, effectively destroying their moment, a huge smile on her face until she landed on Keiran. Her smile vanished completely as she said, “Keiran.” As if the letters of his name left a bad taste in her mouth.

“Mrs. Gooding. Nice to see you.” It wasn’t, but Keiran had been raised to always be polite to elders, even if they didn’t follow that same rule.

Mrs. Gooding had certainly made no secret about her feelings towards him. She obviously believed the rumors too, but Keiran knew she was also protective of her daughters and had incredibly high standards for them. In her mind, he’d been lumped into Sean Daley’s category and didn’t deserve a lick of her time or Cherisse’s. But she was civil when his mother was around.

Not so much now.

He stepped back from Cherisse, and her mother dismissed him with a flick of her honey brown locks as she turned to her daughter. “There’s someone I want you to meet.”

Cherisse’s mouth pursed. “Who?”

“Don’t do that with your face, it’s unbecoming. Let’s not dismiss him until you meet him. He’s good-looking, polite, and a pediatrician, which means he’s good with kids. Sheryl assures me he’s a nice young man. Respectable.”

Mrs. Gooding punctuated that last word by looking right at Keiran. He continued to say nothing but sent her a winning smile because he wasn’t going to satisfy her by letting on that he was in any way affected by her insinuation that he wasn’t respectable.

And did she say, pediatrician? Keiran had a cousin who fit that description, but shit, it couldn’t be. Jerome was all those things but also gay, which wasn’t a known fact in his family. In fact, he was the only one Jerome had outright told, as far as he knew. To everyone else, it was hushed speculation or downright cluelessness.

Cherisse spared Keiran a brief glance before grabbing up the dessert box. “I need to take these cupcakes outside.” She breezed by her mother, who shot Keiran another look like he was to blame for Cherisse’s reluctance.

In this instance, a tiny part of him hoped he was.