Soufflés at Sunrise by M.J. O'Shea and Anna Martin

it—he’d stuck to the brief and created something that was, for him, fairly conservative.
    The only problem was Chase’s effort was clearly better than his.
    Kai watched, jaw clenched, as all three judges sang Chase’s praises; his execution, flavor, and skill were all near perfect, and Kai wasn’t surprised when he was in the top two. He only lost out to Breon, who had delighted the judges with a line of perfect religieuse —pastries that were covered in chocolate, named after their resemblance to miniature nuns.
    Since he hadn’t driven into the studio that morning, Kai couldn’t hang back to talk to Chase before they got back to the apartment, and he was forced to listen to the others congratulate Chase over and over on the ride home. More than one of them clearly thought he should have won the challenge. Kai couldn’t help but feel a little stung.
    They had left Carson back at the studio to film his exit interview. Kai was more than a little shocked the French chef had gone out on what was, essentially, a French pastry challenge. Carson’s ambition had been his downfall. He’d totally overreached, considering the time limits of the challenge, and his barely finished dessert was just never going to impress. Kai guessed it would make great TV, though.
    When they got back to the building, Kai grabbed hold of Chase’s wrist.
    “You did great back there,” he said softly. Chase grinned.
    “Thanks.”
    “Do you want to go… I don’t know, grab a beer somewhere? Or some ice cream?”
    “Why don’t we go get some beers and bring them back?”
    Kai nodded. “Okay.”
    They made their way down to the parking lot in silence, only picking up the conversation again when they were enclosed in the safety of Kai’s car.
    “Shit.” Kai dropped his head back and laughed. “That was hard work.”
    “I can’t believe we picked the same dessert!”
    “I suppose there’s not actually that many traditional choux pastry things you can do,” Kai said. He sat up straight and turned the engine over, then pulled out of the space. “It was always going to be a possibility more than one of us would do the same thing.”
    “They didn’t tell you to do that, then?”
    “Nope. Though I was wondering what was going on when they split us all up.”
    Chase’s eyes lit up in understanding. “They didn’t want me to tell you what I was planning.”
    “Or vice versa,” Kai said in agreement. “You did so well today. That was incredible.”
    “Wanna know a secret?” Chase asked. He wound down the window and the breeze played with the edges of his blond hair. Kai forced his attention back to the road.
    “Sure.”
    “Choux pastry is my nemesis. My cheesecake.”
    Kai laughed. “Really?”
    “I’ve never once made it successfully.”
    “Today was the right day to pull it out of the bag, baby.”
    Baby? Where did that come from?
    “Tell me about it.”
    “Why pistachio?”
    “I dunno. It just seemed like a good idea.”
    “You need to stop having so many of those,” Kai teased as he signaled and turned into a gas station. “We might end up going against each other in the final.”
    “Jeez,” Chase muttered. “I’m not even thinking that far ahead. I’m happy when I survive every week.”
    “Maybe you should think that far. You blew nearly everyone else out of the water today.”
    They walked into the store close but not touching, and Kai let Chase pick out the beer while he grabbed a couple bags of chips. Tonight was not the night to watch what he was eating. However proud he was of Chase for his achievement, the reality that they were each other’s competition was starting to dawn on him now. Sooner or later, one of them was going to get knocked out, and Kai’s loyalties were still firmly with the Burned winner’s trophy rather than with Chase.
    For the moment, at least.
     
     
    T HAT NIGHT , someone had the bright idea to go out for dinner—all of them together. All Kai wanted was a hot shower,