by M. J. O'Shea
“You too,” Chase whispered back.
And then they were off. Kai ran back to his station, ready to kick some chocolate ass.
Chapter 8
Tickle my Tastebuds — The Sweet and Salty Challenge
Welcome to Burned, where we find fresh new cooking talent… and a few culinary disasters! Last week Aaron flamed out when his bourbon chocolate praline tart failed to wow our judges, while Breon came out on top with his decadent and gorgeous triple chocolate campfire fondue with caramel white chip brownies. We’re down to eight finalists, and they have a fun challenge this week! Our pastry chefs must work with sweet treats but find a way to incorporate a salty bite into it in this sweet and salty challenge.
Of course, the prizes are the same. 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?
Kai felt like he was ready for the final challenge of the week. He’d had a hell of a few days with the tasks they’d been given. First it was popcorn—popcorn!—and they’d been forced to come up with a snack bar using popcorn they popped themselves. In thirty minutes. It turned out popping the damn stuff was ominously difficult for some of the contestants, and Kai was still trying to wash the smell of burned, blackened corn out of his hair two days later. He thought they were over the literal burning stuff part of Burned after Aaron was gone. It did mean his bedroom contained only Chase and himself, which was a vast improvement on the situation they’d been in before.
The next test—which Kai had won—was to make a perfect salted caramel sauce. Kai guessed the simplicity of the challenge had thrown several people off, and they’d tried to do things that were far too fancy and convoluted. Making caramel sauce wasn’t that difficult. Any good chef should have a recipe in their arsenal. He’d seen Chase start to panic, looking over at Kai as if begging for help.
Kai had looked at him hard and mouthed “Salted. Caramel. Sauce.” very emphatically. He couldn’t say much more, not with the cameras on them, but Chase seemed to get it. Stick to the brief. Do what they’d been asked. Trying to be clever was what had gotten both Clarissa and Al in trouble.
His day off with Chase on Tuesday had been… damn. Everything he never knew he needed. They’d barely put clothes on all day. And Chase. Well, he’d taken his bedroom personality to a whole new level. Kai wanted to drool just thinking of the way Chase had told him what to do, how he wanted to be fucked, told Kai when he could come. It had been insanely good. He wanted more.
Diego came sliding in as usual like some sort of slimy douche on wheels. Kai liked him less and less each week even though he really didn’t do anything. There was just something about him. He was enough to make Kai’s skin crawl.
“We have a new challenge this week,” Diego started.
No shit. You think we were going to knit scarves? Kai wanted to roll his eyes.
“This week the chefs will work on combining the classic opposites of sweet and salty. Savory nuts and seasonings with delectable, luscious sweetness.”
Chase snorted at the way Diego said “nuts.” Or it might have been “luscious.” He wasn’t sure, but he found himself holding back a grin. Kai didn’t mean to react, but he couldn’t help it. He had Chase over there laughing, he was tired, it had been a long day. Sue him.
“Cut!” the director called. That rarely happened. Actually, as far as Kai could remember, it had never happened. If they didn’t like something, they cut it. Grinding everything to a halt was unheard of.
“Gentlemen, can I speak with you?” Tommy barked after they’d called cut. He glared hard at both of them. Kai had been chuckling with Chase, but he felt stupid being called aside like some little boy.
Chase and Kai made their way over to where Tommy was standing with a clipboard and a scowl.
“I don’t know what fucking universe you were brought up in, but rivalry doesn’t include giggling like twelve-year-olds because someone says ‘salty nuts.’”
Chase snorted again into his hand. Kai was embarrassed as fuck, but he still had to bite his lip. Tommy groaned.
“I think you two need to take a breather outside for a few minutes and then come back in when you remember exactly what’s at stake for you here. Capisce?”
“Yeah, Tommy. We got it.” Kai officially felt like an idiot. It was one thing to argue with Tommy about the fake rivalry, but to act like a baby just because he was near Chase, who obviously had some sort of effect on him, well, that was dumb.
He turned and stalked outside, not waiting to see if Chase was going to follow him or not.
“That was ridiculous,” Chase said quietly as soon as they were outside.
“Maybe you were being ridiculous,” Kai snapped. He didn’t even want to go back inside, he was so embarrassed.
“You’re seriously going to blame me? You laughed at the exact same time.” Chase glared at him. He stepped back from where it was obvious he had been about to put his arms around Kai. Kai found himself relaxing, and he stepped forward until Chase did put his arms around him—reluctantly, Kai had to admit.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to be a dick,” he said. “I’m just never unprofessional.”
Chase rolled his eyes. “I know. Please don’t tell me you take Diego seriously, though. He’s such an ass.”
Kai snickered. “I know. The way he said ‘nuts.’” He snorted.
“I’m sorry for laughing and getting you in trouble. I think this week just got to me.”
It had been a long week for everyone. Kai got it. “I know. Me too. Believe me. You ready to go back in?”
Chase grinned at him. “I don't know, are we ready to act like professionals and not twelve-year-olds?”
“I think I’m good,” Kai said.
They trailed back into the studio suitably chastened.
Filming started as soon as Kai and Chase were back in position. Diego reintroduced the challenge and everyone managed to make it to their workstations. Maturely.
The buzzer went off, loud and jarring as always, right over their heads. The two unfortunate low scores, Al and Clarissa, had to sit and wait for fifteen minutes while the rest of them went to the tables and took everything they thought they could possibly use for the challenge. Kai grabbed some almonds, macadamias, cashews, and some salty pretzels for good measure, then went about grabbing what he needed for the sweet part of his dessert. He hoped he had what he needed, but took a few more odds and ends just to be safe. He didn’t want to get screwed over by his poor choices.
They were back at their stations when he heard Chase muttering.
“Shit, I forgot cashews.” Once they were back at their stations, they couldn’t return to the supply tables. Rules were rules, and they’d cut him for sure if he broke them. Kai looked at his own pile. He had more than enough cashews for what he wanted to do. He glanced around, then slid a container full of them to Chase. Chase gave him a sweetly grateful look and then went back to his setup. Obviously he didn’t want to give it away too hard, but he mouthed, “Thank you,” anyway.
Kai felt pretty good about their subterfuge until he noticed Clarissa watching him measuredly. Fuck. He never knew what her deal was. It was typically something devious. That much was obvious.
* * *
Chase stood under the hot studio lights, sweating it out as usual. He’d taken a bit of a risk with his tart, seeing as how it was simple flavors and nothing super crazy. He was hoping that if it didn’t pay off with a high finish, at least he wouldn’t be totally screwed at the end. Or end up going home.
The judges went through and gave comments to everyone. Chase thought his were pretty good: nice mix of textures, delicious balance between the sweet and savory elements, beautiful seasoning on the fruit. He didn’t think he’d end up on the
bottom with those comments. He hoped not, at least. You couldn’t ever tell with the damn judges. It was practically impossible. They were always so unreadable during the comments unless they really hated something. In that case, well, let’s just say everyone knew it.
Basil, Nicolette, and Emilio finished debriefing the final contestant, and then Diego went into his big wrap-up of the episode. It was always pretty drama llama, but Chase was happy to be done with his comments and most likely in the clear as far as getting chopped would go, so he let his brain wander.
“This week’s winner, the master of salty and sweet, is… Chase!” Diego announced. Everyone looked at him and clapped. It took Chase a while to realize they were talking about him.
“Wait, I won?” he said quietly. He won a challenge? Chase was used to being firmly in the invisible middle, or sometimes in the not-so-invisible lower quadrant. He couldn’t believe he’d won. He was frozen in his spot.
“Yes, you won.” Polly laughed and pushed him toward the judges.
All three were smiling at him; he didn’t know what to say. Basil took that for him. “Chase, you did a lovely job on your tart. It had the perfect balance between the fruit and the cheese, a nice crunch from the macadamia crust, and the way you used French thyme to complement the fruit and cheese.”
“Um, thank you.” Chase had won a challenge. He never won challenges. It was just… damn.
“You did an amazing job this week,” Basil said. It was just about the nicest he’d ever looked. “You deserved it.”
Chase stood there awkwardly for another moment or two, then turned and went back to the crowd of chefs waiting for the low scores. Kai gave him a secret thumbs-up and pretended not to smile. Chase knew he was happy for him. He could feel it coming off of him. Hopefully the cameras didn’t pick it up too much. Chase didn’t feel like getting another lecture from Tommy. It would ruin his high.
“Can I have Jenna and Clarissa come forward, please.”
Bottom two. Chase felt awful for Jenna, but he really hoped she beat the hell out of Clarissa. He didn’t want to deal with Clarissa anymore. The thought of getting paired with her again was enough to make him break out in hives.
“Jenna, the judges found your cranberry and smoked almond pavlovas confusing. They weren’t particularly sweet or salty, and they were dry instead of chewy. Clarissa, your salted caramel cupcakes were delicious, but they were very safe, and the judges didn’t taste very much of the savory element in your dish either.” Diego paused dramatically like he always did. “I hate to send anyone home, but one of you must go, and the chef that’s going to get burned this week is Jenna.”
Damn. Chase should’ve known. Clarissa was like some post-apocalyptic cockroach. She’d probably end up outlasting them all and winning the whole damn thing. Clarissa returned to the chefs, and Jenna looked close to tears.
She made the rounds hugging everyone, passing out kisses on cheeks and good-byes. When she got to Chase, she got up on her tiptoes and gave him a huge hug and a kiss on his cheek. “I wanna see you in the final, okay?” she said. “You’re a fantastic chef. Don’t let Clarissa beat you.”
Chase chuckled and hugged her back hard. He liked Jenna. She was a little nosey but she seemed genuinely nice, and she really had supported him and Kai from the start. He’d miss her a lot.
“Keep in touch, okay?” he said.
“I will.”
She did her teary good-bye and went for the doors. They’d probably see her again that night at dinner before she packed and made her way home, but it was always so loud and busy when everyone was eating together. Nowhere near as loud as it had been at first—there weren’t many of them left—but still a lot of voices to talk over. Chase was glad he’d gotten to say something to Jenna when he had the chance.
They trailed out to the shuttle in a little mob.
Kai nudged Chase with his shoulder. “You were awesome in there today. I’m proud of you.”
Chase grinned. Hearing that from Kai was probably better than hearing he’d won in the first place. Yeah, he was in charge of Kai sometimes, but he needed praise too. Sometimes even more. It was hard to explain, but Kai seemed to get it. He nudged him again and gestured for him to get on the shuttle. Chase found his seat amidst claps on the shoulder and congratulatory smiles. He felt awesome. He didn’t want the day to end.
Of course, when he got back to the condo and was faced with the possibility of a whole night alone with Kai, he started to think he was more than happy for the day to end if that meant he got to get in bed. Alone. With Kai. Those three words were some of his favorite in the entire language. Alone with Kai. Chase hurried through his shower and offered to help make Jenna’s good-bye dinner. He wanted that alone time as soon as possible.
* * *
“I can’t believe I won,” Chase said when they were finally alone later. Jenna’s good-bye dinner had been suitably long; more than one bottle of wine had been shared, and everyone had talked late into the night. Chase felt bad for her, but he was still reeling a little bit over his success. He still felt a little mystified. “Before judging, I thought for sure I was going to be in the bottom two. It wasn’t anything that I’ve tried before.”
Kai leaned over from where he’d been undressing and kissed the top of Chase’s head. “I bet the judges appreciated that you tried something new for you instead of doing what was comfortable. It looked great. I was impressed. And we have our nice empty room to celebrate in,” Kai added.
It had been a blissful week without Aaron’s snores. Much to their surprise, nobody else had moved in from the much more crowded men’s bedroom. Perhaps they thought it was best to leave Chase and Kai alone. They probably weren’t wrong.
Chase pushed Kai down on their bed once the door was closed and locked.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hi, Mister Winner.”
Chase grinned. “You like saying that?”
“I do.”
“So what are you going to do for me since I was the winner?” He raised his eyebrow. It felt a little weird in the middle of the Burned condo and not in the privacy of Kai’s apartment. Obviously they were going to have to watch it a little with the other guys across the hallway, but Chase figured they could be creative.
“What do you want me to do?” Kai asked. He’d gone all quiet. Just like that. Chase didn’t know how it worked. He needed to find out more about it, though. It seemed like stumbling into Kai’s kinks by accident wasn’t the best way to go about it.
“I think I want you to prep yourself again. I got a little carried away last time and I didn’t get to watch for very long.”
“Yes. Of course.” Kai slid over and grabbed his little bottle of lube. Then he started working on himself, knee up over his elbow, one finger at a time until Chase thought he was going to drool.
“You want me to touch your cock?” Chase asked. They’d barely even kissed, but Kai didn’t seem to be in that space. He wanted Chase’s voice, not his lips. It was easy to tell.
“N-no. Don’t want to come for a while.”
Interesting.
Chase watched Kai for long minutes, moaning while he stretched himself around his fingers. Chase stroked his own cock lazily. He wasn’t really paying attention to it. His eyes were on Kai.
“Can I suck you?” Kai asked.
Chase thought about it for a second. “No. And keep going. I want you ready when it’s time to fuck.”
Jesus. Every time something like that came out of his mouth, Chase blushed a little. They’d only done it a handful of times. It was getting more and more natural, like something he craved during the day when he was stressed out. He thought about getting Kai in here and telling him what to do, taking care of him, making him feel good.
“Tell me when you’re ready. I’m going to go get myself ready.”
Kai had these moods when he wanted to be touched and petted and cuddled through sex. They’d done that too. But Chase was starting to get to know the look on his fa
ce when he didn’t want any of that. Whether he knew it or not, Kai’d had that look on his face all day long. Chase was very willing to oblige.
“I’m ready,” Kai said quietly.
“Hands and knees, please.” Chase figured after he said it that he probably shouldn’t have added the “please” at the end. He still had a lot to learn.
Kai still shuffled quickly onto his hands and knees and waited silently. Chase dealt with his condom and lube, then crawled into place between Kai’s spread knees.
“You look so pretty for me,” Chase said. “I love when I get your whole back to scratch up while I fuck you.”
He pushed in slowly, listening to Kai’s groans for anything other than pleasure. He didn’t hear it. Chase started to roll his hips, slowly at first, fucking in deep and lazy. Then he scratched his nails down Kai’s back. Not hard enough to leave marks for more than an hour or so, but enough that Kai arched his back and moaned hard.
“Shhh. Can you be quiet for me, babe?” Chase asked.
“Yeah. Fuck. Please.” Kai hung his head and panted. He tried to get closer to Chase’s hips, drive him deeper.
“I’ll give you what you want.” Chase knew Kai was done, anyway. He didn’t last long when he was in one of his moods.
Chase started pushing in, heavier strokes, harder, deeper until he was slapping his hips against Kai’s ass.
“Back. Please,” Kai muttered.
Chase knew he shouldn’t indulge him, but he did. He used his nails to give Kai one more long, deep scratch, one that would sting in the morning, probably. Kai shuddered and came hard onto the blankets. Chase barely even noticed when he followed soon after.
The cuddles after were expected, and Chase indulged Kai with something almost as intimate as what they’d just done. It seemed right, somehow, to take care of Kai while he came down from the high of sex, and Chase was happy to oblige.
After a few minutes, Kai fell asleep, his head still on Chase’s shoulder. Chase kissed his temple, sighed, and let his world fade to black.
