Soufflés at Sunrise

by M. J. O'Shea

  “I’m going to have such a hangover tomorrow,” Chase said, biting his lip as Kai signaled to the server for another bottle.

  “You’ll be fine,” Kai said and gave him what he hoped was a charming smile. “Drink plenty of water before you go to bed and take a couple of painkillers, you’ll be fine.”

  “Are you going to get dessert?” Chase asked. There seemed to be a pretty even split between the others; Jenna and Sylvia were already nursing coffees and had ordered from the very average dessert menu. The other guys were sitting back, seemingly content with whatever alcoholic drinks they were working on.

  “Do you want to share?”

  “Are you serious?” Kai didn’t know how public he was supposed to be with Chase in front of everyone. That group from the roof, fine. But Clarissa? He just didn’t know.

  “Yeah, why not?” Chase didn’t seem to care. Maybe Kai should take his cue from Chase.

  He shrugged. “Sure. Your choice.”

  “Cheesecake?” Chase teased.

  “Please.” Kai made a face.

  “I was kidding, don’t worry. They don’t even have it.” His bottom lip got tucked up under his front teeth as Chase looked down the menu again. “Pionono looks good.”

  “Sounds good to me.” Kai topped off both their glasses. “You know, in places like this, the desserts probably get made in a factory somewhere and get shipped in.”

  “Stop being such a party pooper.”

  Kai hooked his foot around Chase’s ankle and nudged the cuff of his jeans. “Does anyone say that after kindergarten? Besides, I am not a party pooper.”

  “Yes, you are. You’re all strong and silent and mysterious.” Chase made a face.

  “And you’re hilarious when you’re drunk.”

  “I am, aren’t I?” Chase said, pressing his fingers to his warm cheek. “Oh well.”

  To Kai’s right, Al elbowed Kai. “What are you doing to the boy?” he said in his familiar, rumbling tone. “He’s gone all red.”

  Most of the others knew there was something going on between the two of them, he guessed. It was hard to hide. Kai wasn’t used to having it out there in the open. He’d done it for years at home. LA had given him a new freedom, but he’d still never shared his private life much with the people he knew from work. The only person who was slightly weirded out was Aaron, and Kai understood that. If the situation were reversed, he wouldn’t want to stay in a room with a straight couple whose sexual tension was thick enough to cut with a Santoku knife.

  “Nothing,” Kai said to Al. “Not yet, anyway.”

  Chase blushed even harder.

  Kai kind of wanted to push Aaron to see if he could make him even more uncomfortable, but it wasn’t really his style. Besides, it wasn’t cool to get Chase all worked up when neither of them could do anything about it. So he didn’t lick the creamy dessert from the spoon like he’d been planning to. Next time.

  “See,” he said to Chase in a low voice. “I’m behaving.”

  “I still don’t trust you,” Chase whispered back.

  They shared a cab home with Sylvia and Jenna, who were gossiping in the front seat and didn’t mind that Chase and Kai were necking in the back. Out of everyone, Kai thought Sylvia would have been the one who had a problem with their relationship. She was like his grandmother—if his grandmother were a sweet-natured pastry chef instead of a tornado who blew around the house causing chaos wherever she went. Actually, she was nothing like his grandmother, but she was someone’s grandmother….

  Sylvia had surprised him with how laid-back she was. She told them they made a cute couple, and that seemed to be her final word on the matter.

  “What are you going to do when we get home?” Kai murmured, then licked Chase’s neck as his hand massaged Chase’s cock through his jeans. He glanced up front where Jenna and Sylvia were still chatting away. Good, they didn’t hear.

  Chase had his head thrown back, eyes closed and hands bunched into fists on his knees. “Jerk off in the shower,” he said breathlessly.

  Kai kissed him hard, then burst into laughter.

  CHAPTER SIX

  NOT TO BE TRIFLED WITH—

  THE LAYERED DESSERT CHALLENGE

  WELCOME TO Burned, where we find fresh new cooking talent… and a few culinary disasters!

  Last week Breon’s masterpiece reigned supreme, but Carson tangoed right out of the competition when his unfinished choux pastry didn’t pass muster.

  That’s three down and ten remaining chefs. After this it only gets harder. This week the chefs have to show our judges that they can think in layers and create the perfect trifle or parfait dessert. It might sound easy, but our judges are going to be picky, so the chefs’ concoctions better be delicious and show some out-of-the-box thinking. No pound cake and blueberries allowed here!

  Let’s get to the prizes! 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?

  “GOOD MORNING, gentlemen.” Chase eyed the producer Tommy Johnson with distaste. He’d been the one to hand them their contracts originally and the screen treatment that had them artificially at each other’s throats. Needless to say, he wasn’t one of Chase’s favorite people. He’d been wondering what the hell Tommy’s problem was when he called them into a meeting right before filming that morning. He and Kai had exchanged sighs and long looks when they’d been led back to Tommy’s office. They knew it couldn’t be good. Chase wasn’t feeling very patient. Maybe after a long night of Aaron’s snores, he was just tired.

  “What is it, Tommy?” Kai asked. He didn’t sound very patient either. Of course, he probably wasn’t any more impressed with Tommy than Chase was. If it was even Tommy’s fault. He might just be the messenger.

  “You two aren’t doing a very good job of ramping up your feud onscreen,” Tommy said.

  Of course. Why was he even remotely surprised that was the problem?

  “That’s because there isn’t a feud.” Chase was frustrated with the whole ruse. It seemed pointless. “Why don’t you do this with two people who really don’t get along? Or even better, let everyone just bake and win or lose? Isn’t that what this show is supposed to be about?”

  Tommy shot Chase a condescending look. Fantastic. Because he really felt like douchehead judging him for being naive. Which apparently he was.

  “I’m not a big fan of this either, Tommy,” Kai added. “It’s dumb.”

  “The viewers like drama. And drama between our two young, attractive contestants? Even better. They’ll like the tension between you two.”

  “Anger’s not the kind of tension they’ll be feeling from us,” Kai muttered. He was close enough that Chase could hear, far enough that Tommy could not. And he was definitely right.

  Chase, as annoyed as he was, nearly giggled at Kai’s innuendo. Not the kind of tension they had at all. They’d spent hours kissing on the roof on their time off, but their room was still a little too crowded for what Chase wanted. More touching, more kissing, skin, tasting. Everything. He assumed it was what Kai wanted too, by the way he’d groaned the night before when they were kissing on the chaise up on the roof when everyone else had gone to bed. It had been so tempting to do more, but they could never be sure there wasn’t someone else around. So no. That was a stupid idea.

  “Listen, you two can ‘find some common ground’ later in the show if you’re both still around, okay?” Tommy actually made air quotes with his fingers. What a dick. “But for now we need you to do what you signed off on and ramp up the tension between you.”

  “Good thing I went to acting school,” Kai said.

  “You did?” Tommy asked.

  “No.” He rolled his eyes. “And it’s really hard to act like rivals with someo
ne who I like a lot. Especially when I’m supposed to be concentrating on getting my challenges complete.”

  They were probably being really disrespectful to the person who would sign the big check if one of them won, but it was just so hard not to. All Chase wanted to do was be a chef. He’d never signed up for all this shit. Well, he had, technically, when he’d signed his contract. But he didn’t think they’d take it so seriously. Did people really care if there were spats on the show? Wasn’t it all about the cooking? Chase figured he already knew the answer to that question.

  “I need you to get in line. I expect to see it during filming all week. Ramp it up. Don’t just glare. Make comments. Start shit. I want drama, and I expect you to give it to me.” Tommy’s voice was hard. He wanted what he wanted, and that was the end of that.

  Chase felt sick. He’d never really fought with anyone before. Getting along with people was one of the things he’d always been good at, and there weren’t very many things he was good at, so he wasn’t exactly happy to lose one even if all the arguing wasn’t for real. Pretending to fight, even if he’d known he was supposed to be doing it all along, made his belly ache.

  “We got it, Tommy. You’ll have your fights.” Kai flipped Tommy a short glare and stood. “There isn’t anything else, is there? We have a challenge in a little bit.”

  Chase admired Kai’s intensity in that moment, the way he didn’t seem to give a shit if he pissed Tommy off. Chase had backed down when Tommy got all aggressive. He’d never been very good at confrontation—in hindsight, probably not the best idea to sign up for a competition show, was it?

  They left Tommy’s office, and Chase crumpled against the wall. He hadn’t liked any of that. Not a moment of it. He had no idea how he’d managed to make his own business happen. Or anything else for that matter. He felt like shit for letting Tommy get to him, and he didn’t want to fight with Kai.

  Kai cupped his face. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. I’m being stupid. I just don’t like the idea of what he wants us to do. It wasn’t bad when it was just a joke, but they’re taking it so seriously. It seems so pointless.”

  Kai shrugged. “I guess they see reasons for it. Keep people interested or whatever. For what it’s worth, I think it’s pointless too, and I don’t want to fight with you. I wanna kiss you.”

  Chase let a smile slip. “Yeah. Same here.”

  “So let’s get through today’s challenge, get back to the condo, take a shower, and chill tonight. We might even be alone since tomorrow’s our day off. Everyone else might go out.”

  “Yeah. Let me get through the challenge, and then we’ll have a good night.”

  LAST PLACE.

  He got the last goddamn place in the challenge and thirty minutes cut off of his final challenge. He’d better not screw up his challenge on Wednesday or he’d be royally fucked come Friday. Chase hadn’t felt like such a failure in a really long time.

  He just hadn’t been able to get his mind off the damn meeting. He’d snapped at Kai once or twice, hoping that was all that was required of him, but he hated the thought of people thinking he was a jerk. It had been a little funny at first to have his little fake rivalry going on. The joke was long over. It’d be even more over if he screwed up his final challenge for the week and got kicked off the damn show. Chase felt like punching something.

  “C’mon. Let’s go,” Kai said. He’d made sure not to touch Chase in front of the pro, but there was still something comforting about him.

  They got on the shuttle with the rest of the cast. Those who’d done well on their challenge—delicate flavored mousses—were jubilant and ready for a night out on the town. Those who hadn’t scored as well were a bit quieter. Despite the fact that his head hadn’t been in the game, Chase had thought his challenge was well executed. It had tasted delicious, looked beautiful, was more original than a lot of the others. But still, he’d had the lowest score. He’d seen Kai control a scowl. Chase wondered if he wasn’t alone thinking the results weren’t quite fair. It felt a little bit like punishment. You don’t want to play along with our fake fights? See how last place feels. He wondered if he was reading into things, or if it really was that shady. He didn’t want to think about it.

  There was a flurry of activity when they got back to the condo, other contestants showered and dressed for dinner at some ritzy restaurant they’d been talking about all week. Chase and Kai said multiple times they weren’t really into it, so nobody hassled them to get out the door. In fact, Jenna gave them a sly look, and Aaron looked a bit uncomfortable. Chase figured most of the cast thought they were staying back to have sex. He shrugged. Maybe another night, or if they’d been together for a long time. He didn’t want their first time with each other to come out of an awful day. He was definitely okay with cuddling and some kissing. They could have some wine, pop a movie in, and just hang out. That was really all he needed. Time alone with Kai. Time to relax.

  Just thinking about it made the long day and his last place challenge fade a little bit.

  CHASE WAS woken the next morning by a warm body crawling into his bed.

  “Kai?” He mumbled.

  He wasn’t coherent yet, probably wouldn’t be before an extra-large coffee or at least a few more hours of sleep, but Kai’s skin felt smooth and soft against his, he smelled good, and Chase liked the way Kai wrapped his muscly surfer arms around Chase’s chest and pulled him closer.

  “Who were you hoping for? Aaron?” Kai asked. He bit lightly at the curve of Chase’s ear. Chase was caught between a shiver and a moment of panic.

  “Where is Aaron?” He tried to sit up, but Kai held him down.

  “He and Jenna went to check out some farmers’ market outside of the city. They left hours ago. We’re alone, babe. Nobody’s going to come in here.” Kai dropped a warm kiss on Chase’s neck. Chase didn’t know if it mattered anymore, anyway. If there was a single contestant who hadn’t noticed what was happening between the two of them, well, they weren’t paying attention. They’d done only the most cursory job of trying to remain professional.

  “What time is it?” Chase asked. He didn’t want to open his eyes all the way or admit he was awake. Days off were precious, and they weren’t meant for getting up at the butt crack of dawn.

  They’d made it an early night. Chase was asleep by the time the others came home. He’d heard Aaron stumbling in but had rolled over and dropped straight back to sleep. Kai said he didn’t mind; after making out on the couch for a little while, Chase had drawn a bath while Kai had set some movie up on his laptop. He’d felt shitty about wasting their alone time, but after his disaster with the mousse, he was in no mood to be romantic.

  “After ten. You looked really tired, so I let you sleep. I’m okay with doing this for a little longer if you don’t want to get up yet.”

  Chase slowly realized he wasn’t sleepy anymore, which kind of sucked, but he finally had Kai alone in a bedroom, which really, really didn’t suck. The past few weeks with Carson and Aaron and the rest of the cast right up in their junk in the small condo hadn’t been easy for him. Chase hadn’t been with a ton of people, but when he was really into someone like he was with Kai, he liked to be able to show them. He hadn’t been so frustrated since he was a teenager.

  “I don’t want to go back to sleep, but can we stay here for a little while?” He must’ve had a hopeful look on his face. Or maybe he just looked horny.

  Kai grinned. “I’m pretty sure that won’t be a problem.”

  Kai leaned over and cupped Chase’s face in one of his wonderful, warm golden hands. Chase barely had time to appreciate how gorgeous Kai looked in the morning with his hair loose and his face soft before Kai’s lips were on his. He kissed so differently than he cooked. Where there was precision and determination in the kitchen, he was soft, gentle, exploratory. Like they had all morning to be lazy and just kiss each other. He rubbed a thumb across Chase’s cheekbone and nipped at his lip a little.

&nbs
p; “You’re a good kisser,” Kai whispered.

  Chase had thought he was barely awake, but maybe it was just how much they were attracted to each other. Kai could probably stand there and not do anything, and Chase would think it was hot. Kissing him, yeah, that got him going more than any kiss he could remember. Chase tugged gently at Kai’s loose hair.

  “I like it like this. How come you never wear your hair down?”

  Kai shrugged. “I do at home. I can’t when I’m in a kitchen, though, obviously, so it just got to be a habit to put it up.”

  Chase threaded his fingers through it. Kai’s scalp was warm, but his hair was silky and cool, heavy against Chase’s fingers. It had just a little bit of wave and it shone nearly blue-black in the bright morning light. Chase had a momentary vision of pulling on it. Hard. He checked his instincts and lifted his face for another kiss instead.

  “I like morning,” Kai whispered.

  Chase had to smile. “Sometimes it’s not so bad.”

  “WHAT BEACH are you taking me to? Other than that first weekend, I’ve never been to California, so I don’t know where anything is.”

  “Wait, you’ve never been here? Not even for vacation or anything?”

  Chase shook his head. Kai thought that was adorable. Of course, he’d never been to California either, but he hadn’t really needed it. He’d always had Hawaii. He couldn’t imagine surviving a winter somewhere like Wisconsin without hightailing it to the closest beach.

  “Never, never.” Chase pouted a tiny bit. Kai wasn’t sure he even knew he was doing it. It was annoyingly cute.

  “You’ll like the beach, then. Quintessential California. I don’t even think it has a name, at least not one that I know. I haven’t been on the mainland that long, but this was the first beach I really fell in love with. It’s way off the main drag, and you have to hike a little to get to it. I love it because it reminds me of home, even though it’s different.”