Keiran imagined Cherisse would get a kick out of the title. There he went again, dragging her into his thoughts without even trying. To be expected, since he hadn’t gotten to savor his morning after as much as he’d hoped. Sean had effectively soured that with his presence.
Dale eventually called a break because his co-producer was attuned with his moods and knew when he needed a breather. “Let’s take five, and we’ll get back to it,” Dale suggested. Sean didn’t look pleased, but he toned down the animosity a smidge. Great, because Keiran wasn’t going to stand for any more of the man’s shit in his studio.
“This is the worst idea,” Keiran muttered, swiveling in his chair, his back to the recording booth, eyes on Mara, whose head was down focused on her phone, but Keiran couldn’t be certain she wasn’t listening.
“Agreed.” Dale arranged his body on the couch, legs dangling over one of the arms. “I could really go for one of Cherisse’s goodies right now. I wonder if she’d deliver to us again.”
Keiran walked over to the couch and sat next to Dale. “Not with this asshole here,” he mumbled, eyes on Sean as he chatted with Sheila in the booth.
He didn’t want to think about Cherisse walking in and seeing Sean after last night’s events. Knowing they were going to use their fight and spin it like something they’d planned all along didn’t sit well with Keiran at all. Mara had said they were all supposed to remain mum about it, but it wouldn’t be so bad if he told Cherisse right before the teaser promo dropped, would it? That way, Cherisse wouldn’t be completely blindsided, and Mara wouldn’t murder him in his sleep for leaking information way ahead of time.
Yes, he would tell her right before they went live. Hopefully, it would be soon, so he could stop feeling like he was lying.
Chapter 22
MAY
Cherisse
“FUCK.”
“Yeah.”
“Fuuuuck.”
“Cherisse, if you keep saying ‘fuck’ like that, I’ll...”
“Come?” she whispered in his ear. “That’s the point. We don’t have much time.” She pressed her hips into his, trying to get this show on the road. No idea how long they’d been in this supply closet. “Please.” She nibbled at his earlobe, and Keiran grunted. What a sound. It made her wetter, and she tried to draw him in more with the leg she’d wrapped around him, one hand pressed back on a giant bale of toilet paper, of all things. She refused to think about that too much.
Hurry, hurry, hurry was the chant in her head as he rolled into her, frantic now. So close, so fucking close. Fuck. She bit her lips as she came, her moan extra-loud to her ears. Keiran pressed his face into her neck, body going still, the slow lick of his tongue at her clavicle so unexpected and sexy. She shuddered.
“That was...”
“I know.” Leg hoisted up around his waist, he was still inside her, bodies pressed so close, and even through the layers of clothing, she could feel the wild thumping of his heart. Wearing a dress today had either been worth it or the worst idea. She hadn’t decided yet. She’d just had the hottest quickie of her life, thanks to Keiran, and nothing was making sense right now.
How was she supposed to wrap her head around that?
“We should get back before we’re missed,” she suggested. Or before they got busted in this supply closet.
Keiran slid away from her, looking around for some means to dispose of the condom, probably. The place got points for the well-stocked bathrooms. Condoms, mints, pads, tampons, cozy seats. All that had played a major part in selling her on this venue for the wedding shower. Eric’s mom being a member of this country club didn’t hurt, either.
She hadn’t expected she’d be making use of the condoms, especially not during their walkthrough. The guy giving them the tour had excused himself to take a call. They’d decided to take a little roam of the place while their tour guide had been preoccupied.
They’d been tense with each other when Keiran had picked her up. Their conversations had mostly been by phone the last couple weeks of April, sorting out details. They were in shower month now, with wedding month not so far off. Avoiding each other wasn’t possible.
They weren’t talking about it, which was fine by her. The sex was a one-time thing, no matter how much she kept remembering how Keiran sounded in the throes of passion—that throaty groan, fuck, that had been hot—or how their eyes kept sliding off each other as they’d strolled the venue. One and done. That was it.
Except she’d somehow found herself dragging him into this tiny space, their mouths fusing together, his hands finding their way under her dress, grasping a bare ass cheek before tracing the edge of her thong.
“We can’t do that again,” she added when Keiran didn’t say a thing.
He’d zipped himself back into his jeans and wrapped the condom in some toilet paper. Good thing she’d chosen this supply room to lose her mind in. He was holding the wrapped condom in his hand, grin extra-wide.
“Sure.”
“I mean it.”
Keiran shrugged. “Whatever you want, Cherisse. I’m just going with the flow here.”
“Why?” Prolonging this was ridiculous. Getting away from this too-small room where she’d just let Keiran fuck her should be her priority. They’d started slow then quickly grown frenzied as if they couldn’t get enough of each other. The way he’d rotated his hips...had torn all sorts of sounds from her lips, especially that last one.
Please, Lord, don’t let anyone have heard me.
His expression was way too serious. She didn’t like this. If they were going to do this—which they weren’t going to again, dammit, this had been a fluke—it needed to stay in casual, easy territory. Which made no sense because she didn’t even do casual sex.
“You don’t want me to answer that.” He moved towards the door. “I gotta get rid of this. I’ll meet you back in the main room.”
She didn’t turn around until the door shut behind him. What the hell was she doing? Adding unnecessary complications to her life, apparently. But her needs were being met—was it so bad to want more of that? She inhaled deeply, re-wrapping her Sugar Queen persona back around her.
Her phone beeped as she made her way back to the main room. Reba. Good, she’d use her as a buffer. She wouldn’t be tempted to drag Keiran off anywhere with Reba around. She’d asked Reba to swing by as she was assisting them now that they were in the final phase of planning. They would wrangle the rest of the wedding party for the setup closer to the event date.
Cherisse made it back to the room just as Reba strolled up. She grinned as the tour guide caught sight of Reba, pastel pink hair in two ponytails on either side of her head, face beat, highlighter throwing off that perfect glow. Today, she rocked double gold nose rings and a slouchy top that slid right off her shoulder, drawing the eye to her clavicle, black leggings, and pink/purple ombré canvas sneakers.
“So, what’d I miss?” Reba asked cheerfully, oblivious to the tour guide staring at her.
Cherisse felt Keiran’s hot gaze on the side of her face, but she kept her expression neutral. “Not much. We’re just about to get the official walkthrough going.”
“Sweet! Hey, Keiran. Hope you and boss lady been getting along,” she teased. “Also, just so you know, Sean’s a dick, and I, for one, am Team King.”
Cherisse sighed, and Keiran’s smile was a tad sheepish, but he rolled with it. She’d given in to her curiosity and had watched the video. The comments were mostly speculation on whether they’d been fighting over her, but Cherisse hadn’t delved too deeply into them. That was a time suck, and she’d possibly get pissed off again. But not enough to not have sex with Keiran, in a goddamn closet, of all things. She didn’t recognize herself. Cherisse Gooding didn’t have hot—God, so fucking hot—sex in public spaces. The risk of being caught was too great, as well as a threat to her carefully crafted persona.
“Hey, Reba,” Keiran said. “We’re getting along just fine, aren’t we?” He winked at Cheriss
e, and she looked away, cheeks flaming. Damn him.
The tour went smoothly, for the most part. The only hiccup was when Reba asked what door that was—the supply room door—and tour guy enthusiastically went on about it. It was literally just a place to stash stuff; why was this guy so excited about it? Cherisse chalked it up to his default setting, but it didn’t help that he was lingering here. Reba had ended up walking next to him, which left Cherisse and Keiran trailing behind, side by side.
“He’s really selling this closet. Not that he needs to, to me.” Keiran’s voice was so close to her ear, it startled her. “Ten outta ten, would bang in it again.”
Cherisse snorted. She couldn’t help it. She’d meant to scowl at him, elbow him for bringing that up. Tour guy and Reba looked over at them.
“It’s a really nice closet,” Cherisse said, head bobbing, struggling to keep a straight face.
Reba’s eyes swung back and forth between her and Keiran. Cherisse could see the wheels turning. She hoped they weren’t giving off any we just had sex in this closet vibes because she’d told no one about that rainy night. Not even Remi. Not yet. She would, but she was trying to wrap her head around what she was doing. And since she’d gone and done it again, her just-a-one-time-thing excuse was slowly unraveling.
The rest of the visit went by as expected. The guy, Aron, he reminded them, kept on his overly enthusiastic spiel all the while trying to impress Reba, who wasn’t having any of it but was obviously amused. Cherisse kept her work armor on, refusing to get drawn into Keiran’s jokes and quips. That was as distracting as his chest in that t-shirt. Knowing what his chest looked like under the damn thing made it even worse.
She needed to get her mind off this, so when Remi texted about going to the gym, she jumped on that. Remi had been trying to get Cherisse to come be her gym buddy for a while now. Cherisse could admit she’d slacked off, been inconsistent, so it could be just the thing she needed. She grimaced at the thought of Remi’s trainer. The guy was a beast and didn’t like excuses. Cherisse was full of them. Maybe she’d just stick to an aerobics class or something. She actually liked those.
“Need a ride back?” Keiran asked after the meeting wrapped up.
“No, thanks, I’m good.” There was no way she’d get into the car with him again today. Her self-control needed adjusting. Hopefully, the gym would help her work off these lustful feelings.
“I’m going to the gym. I’ll grab a ride home with Reba.”
“You’re going where?” Reba sputtered. She pressed the back of her hand against Cherisse’s forehead. “You good? You’re willingly going there?” She narrowed her eyes. “Who are you, and what have you done with Cherisse?”
Cherisse nudged Reba’s hand away. “Yes, yes, the world’s ending, better prep the bunkers with snacks,” she joked. She was pretty vocal of her hatred of the gym. Reba and Remi employed good-natured ribbing at her expense all the time. But it was true. Usually, she’d have to be dragged kicking and screaming. Awkwardly sweating her ass off in front of other people was not her thing. She could get her sweat on at home.
“I’m tagging along. I need photographic evidence of this,” Reba said gleefully.
Cherisse rolled her eyes. “You know damn well you’re only going to gape and take selfies.”
Reba cocked a hip and grinned. “Well, boss lady, cute gymwear isn’t gonna photograph itself.”
Reba was gym-averse as well, preferring her swimming and yoga to anything else. Remi was the gym beast among them. Cherisse got tired just watching Remi’s workout routine.
“What gym you go to?” Keiran asked. He was doing that intense stare thing again, knowing smile plastered on his lips. Act natural, she willed herself, even as she felt heat prickling up her neck.
“Jungle Gym.” She hoped to God he wasn’t about to invite himself because there was no way she’d be up for that. She didn’t need to drop heavy weights on her foot because she was distracted watching Keiran craft those lickable abs. She wasn’t strong enough for that.
His smile grew wider. Oh no. “I go there too, sometimes. But not regularly, and not today. Music never sleeps. I’ll probably get in a quick workout at home or something.”
“Mmmhmm.” Reba eyed him up and down. “Whatever gets this package together, I’m here for it.”
Cherisse linked her arm with Reba’s, not the least bit excited about getting to the gym, but she needed to get out of Keiran’s space. Thinking about the private workout they’d just done was a big no. “Bye, we’ll talk. Text. Whatever. Bye.” She dragged Reba away to her car.
HER FRIENDS KNEW SOMETHING was weighing on her. Reba had been giving her sidelong glances since they’d left the country club and swung by Reba’s place for Cherisse to borrow something to wear. Now, she felt both their eyes on her as she and Reba did the aerobics class, and Remi went through her reps with her personal trainer. She sensed a tag team coming. She had no clue what she’d say where Keiran was concerned.
She and Reba sprawled on the floor after the aerobics class and watched Remi do her thing.
“Jesus, my eyes are tired just watching this,” Reba huffed, taking a swig of her water.
“Same.”
They were both breathing hard, trying to catch their breath from their workout while Remi went through some rope workout, abs tensing, muscles in her toned arms bunching. They watched in awe until Remi finished and high-fived her trainer before walking over to plop down next to them.
“How in the world, Remi? That shit looked like a case of noodle arms.” Cherisse slid Remi a bottle water.
“The burn’s good.” Remi grinned and nudged Cherisse. “You should try sometime. Gavin’s not so bad.”
“Nah, I’m good. I don’t like people yelling at me.”
“He hardly even yelled today.”
“Uh-huh.” Cherisse wasn’t about some dude screaming in her face for any reason.
“So, I’m thinking pizza night,” Reba piped up. “We haven’t done that in a while. Pizza-movie-catch-up night. My parents won’t be home, so we can even watch something R-rated.” She waggled her brows. “What say you?”
Ah, so that’s how they were going to do it. Their exchange of sneaky glances wasn’t lost on her. Feed her, then pounce with the questions. She couldn’t even be annoyed about it because she did love pizza.
“Sounds good to me,” she said.
“Good!” Reba got to her feet, hands on her hips. “Then you’ll tell us what’s been up with you these past weeks.”
“You aren’t even being subtle about this food bribery.” Cherisse stuck out her hand for Reba to help her up.
Remi got to her feet, too, bouncing on her toes. Cherisse wondered if she could siphon some of her bestie’s energy. “We know the way to loosen your lips.”
Cherisse groaned. “We’re gonna need a lot of pizza.”
REBA LIVED FIFTEEN minutes away from Jungle Gym, but they’d decided to shower at the gym so they could get right on with making the pizza. Reba and Remi still weren’t asking any questions yet, so they chattered on about other things. The upcoming wedding. Cherisse’s sweating over the dessert stations setup for that and her other Maid of Honor duties. The gift she’d decided on for Ava. She and Reba even ran through a list of emails that needed addressing.
Once the pizza was done, they grabbed their slices and drinks and cued up Magic Mike XXL. Remi and Reba settled in on either side of her on the big comfy couch. They silently lusted after Channing Tatum as he went through his dance routine on that wooden table until Remi stretched her long legs onto the table, plate balanced on her stomach.
“Well.” She raised a brow at Cherisse.
“You not even gonna let me finish my pizza?” Cherisse asked, second slice already in her hand, ready to munch.
“You can eat and talk,” Reba pointed out, ever helpful, as she reached for her ginger-flavored beer that no one liked except her.
Cherisse sighed. She’d been trying to formulate her story. O
nce she dropped the truth, she’d be bombarded by questions she just wasn’t sure how to answer. She and Keiran kept falling into whatever this was, and she didn’t know how to justify the why of it.
She took a deep breath and just said it. “Keiran and I had sex.” She paused. “Twice.”
Reba spewed her drink all over the coffee table. “What the hell!” she choked out, coughing wildly as she wiped at her mouth. She disappeared into the kitchen and returned with the paper towel roll. “In case you decide to drop some more surprises,” Reba said as she wiped up the spewed drink.
“How did this happen? When did this happen?” Remi asked.
“I’m not sure how it happened.”
“Don’t even try telling me you tripped and fell on this dick because I swear to God!”
“Okay, relax.” She cut Remi off. “I just meant it wasn’t planned, obviously. Just sort of happened. It was the night of Sierra’s wedding, after the fight.”
Remi pursed her lips. “Of course, it was that night. I leave you alone for one night and this. But wait.” She narrowed her eyes. “You said twice.”
“Um, well, today may have been another lapse-in-judgment day.”
Reba choked on her pizza this time. “Dammit! Eff this! I’m not eating or drinking a damn thing ‘til you’re done with this. You tryna kill me for sure.”
Cherisse laughed. “Sorry.”
Remi slowly chewed her pizza, listening. “So, what are you doing exactly?”
She shrugged. “The Lord alone knows. This wasn’t supposed to happen once, let alone twice or in a supply closet.”
Reba’s brow popped up. “Damn, girl. At the venue walkthrough? I knew something was up.”
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