Soufflés at Sunrise (9 page)

His stomach clenched. Chase hoped Kai could pull off something incredible with less time than the rest of them. Otherwise he could be in trouble.

I
T
HAD
become a thing for the cast to gather up on the rooftop garden every night after dinner. There was a pool, shallow but brightly lit against the dark Los Angeles sky, groups of chairs, potted plants, and heat lamps for winter, which Chase thought was laughable. Winter.
Please
. Like LA got anything that could be considered winter. Everyone was a glass of wine or two into the evening, and the group wasn’t exactly quiet. Kai waved him over and made room on the love seat he’d been lounging on.

Chase sat down near Kai but made a point not to touch him. It was really weird not to touch him when they spent so much time doing just that any chance they could get. Chance meaning alone. Their only chance to really touch was when they were alone. And of course they weren’t. Polly was on the roof with them, and Al and Breon and Jenna. Chase thought the others were really nice so far, but he wouldn’t go as far as to say he trusted any of them. Or thought of them as his friends. It was too early, and the rules against romantic involvement were clear in the contract. Chase had to say he understood. So in front of the others? Nothing.

Jenna was a bit intense, that was for sure. She had her northwest laid-back vibe on camera, all fleeces and organic nuts and fruits, but she was in it to win it just like any of the rest of them. And if she could get two of them booted off the show on a technicality, he wasn’t sure she wouldn’t take the chance.

Al seemed like a nice guy; he was genius with cakes so far and his pie had been really well received. Chase was wary of him. He was lucky the producers hadn’t given him much of a role to play. He was just Al. He was a nice guy with a sweet tooth. Chase envied that.

“What do you think the challenge is going to be tomorrow?” Kai asked. He was obviously driven too. Probably a lot more than Jenna, though not as intense as Clarissa. Kai was a person to him, not just a competitor. A soft, sexy, good-smelling person who was an amazing kisser in those rare moments they got to be alone. Chase tried to concentrate on what everyone was saying. Staring at Kai like a moron wasn’t in his best interests.

“I don’t know. They’ve been throwing New York hints at us right and left, haven’t they?”

“There’s a ton of things that go with New York, though.” Polly said. “I mean, they’re famous for cheesecake, I suppose, but there are others.”

Kai groaned next to him. “I hate cheesecake.”

“How can you hate cheesecake? That’s like saying you hate existing.” Al chuckled. He clearly liked his cheesecake. And quite a few other things. Chase didn’t hate or love it. But he wasn’t an expert on making it. He knew they weren’t supposed to do research unless it was specifically allowed, so he figured he’d be winging it if that was what they were going to be making.

“I really hope it’s not that.” Jenna rolled her eyes. “What am I supposed to do with that and still show my point of view as a pastry chef?”

“You’ll figure something out. Maybe they’ll surprise us. It’s awfully obvious to go the cheesecake route. Maybe they won’t.” Polly seemed awfully laid-back about the whole thing. He supposed her plan was just to be as prepared as possible for any outcome.

Kai sighed. “I can only hope.”

He reached up and ran his hand down Chase’s back. Chase leaned into the touch for a few moments, then froze.
Shit. Kai’s not supposed to be doing that.
Kai froze as well, but Jenna simply smiled.

“Hey. It’s not like you two were a big secret. The way you fake bickered on camera last week when you were supposed to be enemies? It was like watching foreplay.” A round of nods followed Jenna’s statement.

Kai looked seriously embarrassed. “Really?”

“Uh. Yeah.” Polly grinned. “None of us care. We’d have to be huge assholes to get you kicked off for something like that. I mean, if one of us wins because you two have a thing for each other, well, it’s not really winning, is it?”

She had a point. “Thanks, guys,” Chase said.

Kai’s hand stayed on Chase’s back after that, gentle and rubbing, calming. So far Chase hadn’t liked the main competition day, but at least something like his attraction to Kai wasn’t going to get in his way.

“I think we’ll all be fine, anyway,” Breon said.

“Who do you think is in trouble?”

“Dreya. Maybe Louis. He’s a little full of himself, but he’s not backing it up with anything mind-blowing. I don’t know who else. Carson?”

Chase didn’t know everyone yet, but he recognized those names. Of course Carson was in their bedroom, so he knew him, the big deal chef from New York, so he’d maybe have an advantage in the next round. And everyone knew Dreya. “Aaron?” he added. He felt a little bad discussing those who weren’t there, but he supposed it was part of being in a competition. “He doesn’t seem to have a focus.”

“Yeah, but he pulled out a great pie last week. He wasn’t in the bottom three,” Jenna reminded them.

“You’re right. I guess it’s really hard to say. Hell, I won last week, but there’s no immunity ever. I could go home on Friday,” Breon said.

Polly snorted. “Don’t you wish there was? Then it would be a lot easier.”

“We don’t need immunity,” Al said. He puffed his chest out and tried to look tough and not like a huge teddy bear. Everyone grinned and chuckled at him.

“Maybe you don’t, but I’d sure appreciate it,” Polly said. “The judges barely knew I existed last week.”

“There are still lots of us. It’ll happen eventually,” Chase said. Polly was a good chef. Maybe a little easy to miss in the shuffle of huge personalities, but good.

“Hopefully not at the bottom, though,” she muttered. Nobody wanted to get feedback on their work if it meant standing up there, wondering if they were the one to get the axe.

“Maybe you’ll win this week. Maybe I will.” Chase smiled reassuringly. “Anyway, it’s getting late. I think I’m going to head back down so I won’t be a zombie when it’s time to get up in the morning. Challenge days are always such a pain in the ass to wake up for.”

“This is only our second main challenge day,” Kai teased him.

“I know. I’m just not looking forward to it. You coming down?” he asked.

Everyone else started giggling. “Ooooh,” Jenna teased. She zipped up her fleece vest.

“Please. We’re not going to do that here. Besides. Aaron is in there. Snoring.” There were more giggles.

“Good luck with that,” Breon muttered. “Actually, good luck to him. He’s probably not going to make his whole time here without seeing more of you two than he’d planned.”

Chase felt heat rise to his cheeks. “Night, guys” was all he could manage. He wasn’t used to blatant teasing from almost-strangers.

A chorus of “night, Chase” and “night, Kai” came from the group when Kai rose too and followed him to the door that led downstairs to their suite.

“You okay about tomorrow?” Kai asked when they were inside and on the stairs back down to the penthouse level. He reached up and scratched at Chase’s hair.

“Not really. But I’ll be fine. I’m not going home,” he said. “I can’t yet.” He didn’t want to disappoint his family or his town. He knew they’d all be watching when the show aired, cheering him on, hoping he’d make the final three.

“Who do you really think is going to go out tomorrow?”

“Who knows?” Chase said. “It could be anybody. I don’t think the judges are too happy with some of the weirder stuff, but they don’t like boring either. I think I’m boring.”

“Cheese ice cream with beer-flavored caramel and pretzels isn’t boring.
You
aren’t boring.” Kai pulled him against the wall of the stairwell and dropped a gentle kiss on his lips. “You’ll be fine. You just have to remember to snap at me a few times.”

Chase rolled his eyes. “That’s so dumb.”

“Just think of it this way. I don’t know how rigged these things are, but they wouldn’t have given us roles to play if they didn’t think we were going to stick around for a while.”

“True.” He hoped Kai was right.

C
HEESECAKE
. “W
HY
’
D
it have to be cheesecake? I hate
cheesecake,” Kai muttered to Chase as they walked to their kitchen stations the next morning.

“Shhh, pipe down, Indy. You’re not supposed to be talking to me.” Chase nudged him on the side, though, more of a touch than a nudge. Kai remembered the night before. How good it had felt to casually touch Chase in front of the rest of the cast, like it was no big deal. Hell, to most of them, it probably wasn’t.

Kai hadn’t ever been very physical with the guys he’d dated before. Not outside the bedroom, anyway. It was weirdly nice to be able to touch just for the sake of touching. At least when nobody in charge was watching. He knew it was very much against the rules for them to “form romantic attachments with fellow contestants.” At least according to the contract they’d all signed before they’d learned about how he and Chase were supposed to act antagonistic toward each other. He figured he’d get around that by interacting with Chase as little as possible on camera. He really didn’t feel like sniping at the guy he’d spent the past week making out with.

Kai was startled out of his thoughts when the buzzer went off, loud and jarring in the middle of the studio kitchens. It was a pain to wait, silently sending death glares to Aaron for screwing them up so badly the day before, but then they got the notification, and they were off.

He looked over the supply table, which had been mostly decimated when the other chefs grabbed their own ingredients, and wracked his brain for what the hell he should do with his least favorite dessert. And then he saw them. A gorgeous pile of juicy-looking plump lilikoi fruits. And next to them, like they were tailor-made for Kai, was a little pile of guavas and a single perfect pineapple. He was set.

“T
HEY
’
VE
WHIPPED
and chopped and baked, but now it’s time for someone to get burned,” Diego said into the cameras. They panned over the group of them, waiting to hear from the judges. “Let’s meet the judges. We have Basil Shrewsbury, respected pastry chef and restauranteur, Nicolette Anderson, beloved television star and dessert aficionado, and Emilio. He might only have one name, but he has a huge reputation as one of the country’s foremost food bloggers. Hopefully our chefs can impress our esteemed judges with their cheesecake creations.”

Kai stood there and watched the others get judged, some favorably, others wince-worthy and harsh. He hoped when they got to him, it wasn’t too safe, too predictable. Kai would be happy for a middle position. He didn’t need to be in the top three. He just wanted to get through to something that would be more his style. The judges called him to the table.

“Tell us about your dessert, Kai,” Nicolette said. Kai tried not to be skeeved out by her, but she leaned forward until her breasts nearly fell out of her low-cut top. He was sure there were other guys in the studio who drooled at her, but Kai wasn’t into women, and even if he had been, he thought he’d like quiet loveliness, not Nicolette’s overripe, in-your-face sexiness.

“I’m calling it Waikiki sunrise. I wanted the cheesecake to reflect the flavors of the fruits of the island, and the colors to look like the soft light when the sun rises in the morning. So we have classic cheesecake form, but unique, fresh flavors.”

The judges nodded quietly and took pensive forkfuls of Kai’s cheesecake.

“This flavor I’m picking up is lovely. Passion fruit?” Emilio asked.

“Lilikoi. It’s a variety, slightly tarter than the traditional passion fruit. I thought it would cut through the cream and the sweetness.”

“Why did you choose to make your cake with cream cheese instead of ricotta?” Basil asked. He always seemed disapproving, even when he probably didn’t mean anything by it.

Kai took a deep breath. “I thought the tanginess of cream cheese would pair well with the tropical fruits. It would stand up to their flavors more than a ricotta-based cake.”

“Good choice,” Nicolette said. “I’m impressed with your execution.”

Basil and Emilio gave him nods.

“Thank you, Kai.” Diego nodded and gestured for him to go back to where the rest of the contestants were lined up.

When everyone had been individually assessed, they were led to another room while the judges conferred. Sometimes there was a camera in the back room. There wasn’t one that day. Kai sunk down onto the chair next to Chase.

“You think you’re safe?” he asked.

Chase nodded. “I don’t think I won, but they all seemed to like mine. I think if I were in the bottom three, I’d have gotten worse comments.”

“Yeah, me too.”

Kai wanted to lean into Chase and nuzzle his face into Chase’s neck. Not a familiar feeling, for sure. It wasn’t the time or place, though, with the others all crowded into a tiny room with them. Sure, some knew. And they seemed to be fine with it. But he didn’t put it past others,
ahem
, Clarissa, to use what they knew against him or Chase.

They were called back into the main judging room with the typical drama and pomp. The judges looked at them.

Diego spoke up. “There were some excellent cheesecakes today. For some of you, New York would be proud of how you represented their iconic dessert. But we can have only one winner, and that winner showed us a classic cheesecake with a literal rainbow of fresh, delicious flavors. Our cheesecake champion is Kai!”

Kai couldn’t believe he’d
won
the challenge. He’d have thought this would be his worst. He went up and shook hands with the judges and then went back to the group of chefs.

“Can I have Dreya, Louis, and Aaron come forward.”

All three of them trudged to the judges’ table. They had to know they were the bottom—none of them had performed particularly well all week.