Soufflés at Sunrise (26 page)

“I know. But that was good.” He dragged out the “oo” sound until Kai laughed and punched him on the shoulder.

“You’re such a cheeseball.”

Chase kissed him again, and Kai’s stomach rumbled loudly. With their lips still pressed together, Chase smiled and licked Kai’s lips.

“Hungry?”

“No.”

“Come on,” Chase said, hauling himself to his feet with a loud groan. “There’s loads left in the kitchen from our last grocery order. I’m sure we can pull something together.”

Kai grumbled but pulled on a T-shirt and a pair of pajama pants, and followed Chase through to the kitchen. It was just starting to get dark, the sun setting over LA. Kai hopped up onto one of the barstools at the breakfast bar and turned his back to the window.

“What are you in the mood for?” Chase asked. He had his head stuck in the fridge and gave his ass a little wriggle for Kai’s amusement.

“Honestly?” Kai thought about it for a moment. “Banana
pancakes.”

Chase turned back, his face lit up with amusement. “Let me put bacon on top and you’ve got yourself a deal.”

“I’m totally okay with that.”

Chase could clearly whip up a batch of pancakes in his sleep, so Kai was content to sit at the bar and watch him work. He couldn’t do this all that much when they were in the studio—he was too focused on what he had to do for himself. Silently Kai admitted he was moping. Chase didn’t seem to notice, or if he did, he didn’t comment.

After only a few minutes, Chase was dropping puddles of batter onto a hot skillet, the bacon frying in another pan. This felt almost too homey for Kai, watching his lover make a breakfast-for-dinner meal after a round of really satisfying sex.

He was about to ask Chase “what next,” the question that had been haunting him for longer than he wanted to admit, when Chase slid a plate across to him.

“Bacon and banana pancakes,” Chase said with a flourish, tossing a floury towel over his shoulder.

Kai took a big bite and hummed in contentment. “’S good,” he mumbled. Then swallowed. “Chase Christiansen,” he said dramatically. “This week you chose to make something wholesome and traditional. It’s the best thing this judge has had in his mouth since your dick.”

Chase snorted with amusement and sat down with his own plate, pink color rising in his cheeks. “You’re an idiot.”

By the time the food was finished and Kai had dealt with the dishes—Chase had cooked, it was only fair—the light had gone completely and they made their way back to bed with full bellies. It was almost different this time, curling up together to go to sleep. Kai held onto Chase, keeping their bodies loosely spooned together.

Whether he liked it or not, this journey was almost over. He just had to figure out how it was going to end for himself, and for Chase, and for the two of them together.

W
ELCOME
TO
the finale of
Burned
, where our final three chefs battle it out for the number-one spot. They’ve worked hard to get here and all three of them deserve the highest praise, but only one of them can win the ultimate prize and become the champion in the
Burned
kitchens. At least until next season.

Our final challenge is a simple one, but it won’t be easy. The chefs have to create soufflés, beautiful, light, delectable soufflés. Sounds easy, right? It’s not. They’ll be judged on taste, which of course must be unique and delicious, texture, which has to be perfect to please our judges, and presentation. This is the final. They’d better bake to impress!

Our grand prize winner gets a year of pastry training in Paris, a whole kitchen’s worth of top-of-the-line commercial tools and appliances, and a hundred thousand dollars for his or her own business.

With stakes this big, we ask the one question on everyone’s mind: Do these chefs have what it takes to rise to the top? Or will they get
Burned
?

“Y
OU
’
RE
NOT
okay with this either, are you?” Chase asked. He felt sick to his stomach every time he thought of the producers casually choosing whom they wanted to win. He was pretty damn sure Polly hadn’t heard any of his and Kai’s talking over the week. If she had, she’d have probably left a long time ago, and she was still there. Unless they threatened her with something if she didn’t finish out the competition. He had no idea. It was insane just how much control they had.

“Of course I’m not fucking okay with it,” Kai grumbled. “I just don’t know what to do other than throw the damn competition. We can’t say anything, of course.”

Chase wanted to. It might sound cheesy as hell, but everything he had been brought up to believe was totally against such a scripted ending. What if Kai’s dessert sucked in the final? Were they still going to make him win? “You’re right. We can’t say anything. We’re not even supposed to know.”

“This sucks.” Kai sighed and clenched his fist.

“I’m sorry. I mean, if you want to win, I understand. I didn’t tell you thinking you’d have to do this.”

“I do want to win. I don’t want to be stuck in someone else’s kitchen forever, but if I win like this, it’ll suck every damn day. Every time I open the doors to my place, I’ll think about the kind of money that bought it, and it won’t make me happy.”

“No,” Chase said. “It won’t.” He agreed with Kai. Kai needed to win the right way or it would fester in him forever. Chase would’ve felt exactly the same way. “And there’s no way in hell I’m going to take it either, so it’s both of us throwing it. Polly wins.”

“So we both screw up so bad they can’t pretend we didn’t?” Kai asked.

“Can you think of anything else?” Chase asked.

“Not really,” Kai muttered. “Of course, Polly won’t be winning fair and square either and we’re not the producers.”

“I know.” It could potentially get them in huge trouble. Of course, how could anyone prove they’d screwed up their recipes on purpose? They probably couldn’t. He hoped. He and Kai had both screwed up before when they’d been trying their hardest. “Are we doing it?”

“Yeah. I think we are. Polly’s been awesome the entire time. She’s been quietly perfect, never flashy. She really does deserve to win. She’s never been on the bottom, and we both have.”

“You’re right.”

“I wish I could say that I should’ve never signed up for this,” Kai muttered. “I mean, I gave up my job and I’m volunteering not to win, but I still don’t have any regrets.”

Chase’s heart thunked a little in his chest. “Yeah, me either.” No matter what happened in the final, with the prizes, with the producers, he was glad he’d met Kai. He’d learned so much about himself and what he wanted, whom he wanted to be with. He wanted to be with Kai. Chase knew they were about to pass their expiration date. He didn’t know what was going to happen after that. It was easier not to think about it.

C
HASE
COULDN
’
T
believe Kai was really going to do it. Even after everything they’d discussed, this was Kai ultimately showing Chase he saw there was more to life than this damned competition. His actions affected Chase too—he would be lucky if he got second place and not in really big trouble for screwing with the system—but Kai. Man. He could have won. It was a lot of money to give up for integrity. Chase was sure he’d have done the same thing.

They got to the studio early in the morning for their last challenge. It was all decorated for the final three, the other cook stations had disappeared, and the whole place seemed like a ghost town. Just three brand-new extra-large cooking stations for him, Kai, and Polly. He didn’t know what they’d throw at them. It seemed like they’d done just about everything, but he was ready for it anyway. Didn’t matter. Whatever it was, he’d have to screw it up. Then again, screwing up convincingly might be just as hard as actually doing well. Chase hoped for the best. Er, worst.

They went through hair and makeup, and even that seemed really quiet. Polly and Kai and him just looked at each other and exchanged nervous smiles every once in a while, but other than that, just stared.

Chase ran through his ideas of how to screw up his dessert. His didn’t have to be as bad as Kai’s, but he wasn’t going to throw Kai under the bus by making something better. If they were going to do this, he’d go for it. He’d already decided on salt. And some weird color. That could probably be applied to anything they did. Kai had told him he’d add a ton of baking soda if it was a cake, and if it was something else, he might rely on color and weird flavors too. They’d stayed up really late the night before and talked about it all. It had to be bad, but not like obvious bad. Things that other people had done during the competition by accident. Things that could be done under stress. Chase was ready.

“Chefs, are you ready to get your challenge?” Diego said after he did the customary introductions.

Chase and the others nodded. Time to get it over with.

“Okay, this challenge is a simple one, but at the same time, it will be difficult to pull off.” Those ones were the hardest, typically. Simple ingredients, high standards. Chase hoped it wasn’t so simple that he’d have a hard time screwing it up.

“You’ll each have to produce four desserts, or should I say four variations on one type of dessert. The classic soufflé.”

Chase couldn’t help it. He grinned and looked at Kai. Soufflés. So easy to fuck up, so easy to ruin. It was like this challenge was made for them.

“You’ll each have five minutes at the ingredients table, and you’ll get two extra hours to complete this challenge. The judges expect taste, they expect beauty, they expect perfection.”

Or the biggest mess they’ve ever seen
, Chase thought with a grin. He didn’t mind taking third. Just the thought of how much he could screw up a soufflé made him grin. Piece of cake.

“Chefs, prepare yourselves, and go!”

The buzzer went off, and all three of them raced to the ingredients table.

Chase picked things that seemed innocuous: chocolate, fruit, vanilla beans, caramel sauce. He wasn’t going to try anything weird, just really bad variations of classic flavors. He saw Kai going for some more adventurous ingredients. He was interested to see what mess Kai came up with.

They were off to work. Soufflés were tricky at the best of times, so Chase wasn’t too worried. Even if he’d been playing it to win and things weren’t rigged, he doubted he’d have had a chance against the other two. It had never been his strong suit and it still wasn’t going to be. He mixed and beat and baked just like Kai until the very end when the timer counted down to zero.

They brought their soufflés to the judging tables. Chase saw the judges look at his soufflés, worried, and then they looked at Kai’s, lopsided, weird colors, strange smell coming out of them, and made another face. Chase had to keep from grinning. It had worked. Even if the judges pretended like hell that the damn things didn’t taste like a science experiment gone wrong, they looked so bad that there was no denying it. They’d have to refilm the damn thing if they wanted to declare anyone but Polly as the winner.

The judges tasted Polly’s soufflés and made notes. For the final, commentary would come after they’d tasted all three sets of desserts. They looked happy, pleased, impressed. Chase knew that was about to change.

When they got to his soufflés, they gingerly picked up their spoons and went for a taste as Chase explained that soufflés had never been his strength and that he’d gone for classic but strong flavors, just in more adventurous combinations. Basil out and out made a face; Nicolette looked like she wanted to spit it out. Emilio coughed. Their experiences weren’t any better for the second and third soufflés. Chase had done exactly what he’d meant to do.

Their faces grew even more disgusted and worried at Kai’s selections. They were adventurous, Dreya-style, weird, sort of lopsided, one an odd color of burnt beige-orange that didn’t look like anything anyone would eat. He explained that he was inspired by the unconventional ingredients challenge, and he’d wanted to try that again for himself with the final. The judges’ faces said just how unsuccessful that had been. Very.

W
HEN
THEY
were gathered up in front of the judges after the final discussion, Chase and Kai were given quite a few suspicious looks.

“It’s been weeks of hard work, fantastical creations, and ten contestants who have proved they don’t have what it takes to win
Burned
,” Diego said. Chase watched the judges, who were standing to one side, just behind the camera. Next to them stood Tommy, looking furious.

“The three of you have proved week after week that you are talented chefs,” Diego continued. “But after today’s challenge it’s clear that we have a winner. Congratulations to our
Burned
champion… Polly.”

Polly slapped her hand over her mouth in shock, then screamed, bouncing up and down on the spot. Chase and Kai both laughed, then moved in to hug her from either side as confetti and streamers fell from the ceiling.

“Congratulations,” Chase murmured, squeezing Polly lightly.

“You deserve this,” Kai said.

Tears were streaming down her cheeks when Polly broke away and went to Diego to claim her trophy and huge prize money check.

“Polly, do you know what you want to use this for?” Diego said. The judges and the producers were all looking around uncomfortably, and it was obvious to everyone that something was wrong. Polly was either oblivious, happy in her victory and happy with the check in her hand, or the best actress ever. The rest of the studio looked super uncomfortable. Chase had to hold in laughter again. It came at the worst times.