“...from all the talking about our plans,” Keiran finished casually.

“Whoa, you okay?”

Cherisse waved off Jerome’s concern, shooting Keiran a glare over her glass. She was going to murder him. He shrugged, broad shoulders making his t-shirt way more appealing than it needed to be.

Her patience shattered, and she jumped up, chair nearly toppling over behind her. “I need to, uh...bathroom! Excuse me.” Not exactly the smoothest exit. Damn Keiran and his...everything. How dare he? She just couldn’t be around him anymore.

In the bathroom, fingers gripping the sink, she stared at her reflection in the mirror. She’d have some explaining to do. But what could she even say?

“Get it together, girl,” she told her mirror image. Now wasn’t the time to have a meltdown because of that kiss. She could be cool. Go on like it didn’t mean a damn thing. Because it didn’t. She’d gotten caught up in the music and the dancing. That was it.

Her phone vibrated in her dress pocket, and she took it out, grateful to see Remi’s smiling face staring back at her.

“How’s it going?”

Cherisse looked around the bathroom where she was currently hiding out and considered lying, glossing over her current situation. She hadn’t told Remi about the kiss yet, but she could really use her friend’s soothing right now.

“Well, I’m hiding out in the King bathroom because Keiran and I kissed last week, and now, it’s a tad awkward. The way he was licking that damn cupcake icing is obscene, and mummy basically tossed his cousin at me, which is beyond fucking awkward, and I dunno if I want to throttle Keiran, or...or...” She hadn’t meant to say that last part. Dammit.

“What!” Remi shrieked so loudly Cherisse winced, pulling the phone from her ear. “Keiran kissed you?”

“Well, the vibe was there, and I may have thrown down a challenge, and he took it up, and kissing happened?”

“Wait. Hold up. What you mean, you threw down a challenge?”

“My exact words were ‘Do it’? I, yeah, I don’t even know. In my defense, there was music and a lot of sugar in my system at the time, so I, maybe, no, definitely got caught up in the moment? But it meant nothing.” She barely sounded convincing to her own ears—she could imagine Remi’s I’m not buying this face.

She was still unsure about what had prompted her to drop that not-so-subtle dare. She could’ve pretended the tension wasn’t there. Could have pulled back. Something. Anything but uttering those two words that propelled everything into motion. She wondered what would have happened if that damn timer hadn’t gone off.

“Cherisse.”

“I know.”

“You and Keiran kissed.”

“I know.”

“So, do you plan to kiss him again?”

“No!” Her lapse in judgment wasn’t something she planned to repeat. Ever. There would be no more kissing Keiran. No matter what he’d revealed to her in that studio, it didn’t mean she wanted to get caught up in his charms. Been there, did that with Sean. The door rattling almost made Cherisse drop her phone. Shit, how long had she been in here? “Talk more later, Rems, gotta go.”