by Terra Kelly
“Are you sure you’re not following me?” I gathered up my stuff and walked over to a bench to put my shoes and belt back on.
“Still pleading the fifth on that question,” he winked and threw his phone into his bag.
“Don’t tell me, you’re heading to terminal C, too?”
He threw his bag over his shoulder. “Um…”
“Shut up, are you?” I started to head toward the terminal. He continued to follow beside me. “Okay, fine.” I stopped in the middle of the space and turned to face the mystery guy. “Where are you heading?”
He burst out laughing. “Am I creeping you out?”
“Maybe.” I shook my head. “No.” I felt confused. The man’s eyes were distracting me and his hand holding the strap of his bag had me curious. They looked like strong hands that could do amazing things. “Just tell me where you’re going?”
“Atlanta.” He finally said and started walking again.
“Seriously?” I increased my pace to catch up with him. “I am, too.”
He stopped and turned to face me. “Really?”
I turned my head to the side. “Wait, should we discuss what we’re doing in Atlanta?” A part of me wanted to know his plans. If we were heading to the same place that would be a crazy coincidence. “Nope, sorry. Not my business.” I increased my pace and stepped onto the escalator.
“It’s more fun keeping it like this.” He was laughing from behind me.
His voice was waking up my girl parts. Then my phone beeped with a new message. If it was my ex, I was going to turn the fucking phone off. I had more important things to pay attention to, like the hot guy with emerald eyes.
I looked down and silently screamed fuck about fifteen times. Then I hit the power button and threw the device in the front pocket of my bag. The message threw me off and I forgot about Mr. Sexy Pants for a moment. Until I turned to head to my terminal and noticed he was still behind me.
Last night I swore off all men. Well, all men was really a reference to my ex. He needed to disappear from my life and soon. Other men, like Mr. Sexy Pants could stay. Hell, my new stalker could follow me all the way to my destination…and that sounded weird.
The moment I stopped at my terminal, Mr. Sexy Pants stepped up beside me. He shrugged and sat his bag on the floor in between his legs.
“Should we finally confess where we’re heading?” He crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at me.
“Let’s say it at the same time.” I mirrored his movement and crossed my arms over my chest.
“Okay, on the count of three we’ll say it.”
“Count of three. Okay.” I nodded.
“One…two…three.”
Then at the same moment I said, “The Baker’s Network,” he said the exact same thing.
“What did you just say?”
“What did you just say?”
I rolled my eyes. “The Baker’s Network.”
“Yup, we said the same thing.” He laughed. “How is this seriously possible?” He dropped his arms and stuffed his hands in his pants pocket. “Are you a chef, too? I don’t think I’ve seen you around town.”
I didn’t want to tell him anything. “Um, yeah. I’m new to town.” Now I was telling lies. Good one, Millie.
“Are you working at a restaurant?”
“Not at the moment.” And now we were playing twenty questions. Just then the flight attendant started to call our rows for boarding. Saved by the very lovely woman with bright red lipstick. “Um, yeah, see you in a few hours.” I held up my ticket and moved forward to get checked in.
I was proud to be a firefighter. So why did I just freak out and lie to Mr. Sexy Pants about being a chef?
Five
Kris
First day on the set…
“So,” I sat down on the worn couch next to the beautiful woman from the airport. “Fancy meeting you here. I’m Kris.” I held out my hand.
After the flight landed, I lost track of where she ended up. I thought I would see her at baggage claim, but somehow we never met up again. Until now.
“Yeah, crazy, right?” She flashed that sexy smile and I felt my cock stir. “Millie.” She shook my hand and then pulled her hand away quickly.
“Five minutes.” A woman opened the green room door and yelled to everyone.
“Finally, we’ll find out what the word special really means for the competition.” I leaned back and pulled my phone out of my pocket. “I’m hoping they don’t expect something crazy from us.”
“What constitutes crazy?” She rested her hands on her thighs.
“A detailed recipe and only minimal time to complete it.” That was the first thing that popped in my mind.
She burst out laughing. “You do realize that’s the very definition of a timed competition?” I rolled my eyes and realized what I said sounded so stupid. She placed her hand on my forearm. “But seriously though, I’m curious, too.” Then she hopped up and walked toward the door.
I thought I would be all cool and hop up quickly to follow behind her. Instead, I hopped up, magically caught my toe on the edge of the coffee table, and fell forward. One of the other contestants grabbed my arm before I face-planted the carpet.
If this was how my day was going to go, I might as well turn in my man card and give up all together.
I pretended what just happened, never actually happened as all ten of us walked down a hallway together.
The moment I stepped into the studio, I let myself take in the moment. I was actually standing on the set of The Baker’s Network. Sure, I had competed before, but as an assistant. This time it was all me and I was competing for a twenty-five thousand dollar prize.
As I absorbed what was happening, the host of the show stepped in front of us. “Okay, is everyone ready?” He clapped his hands together once and made his way down the row to shake our hands. “We’ll be here for about ten hours today. The first person will be eliminated at the end of the day today.” He grabbed a water bottle on a table and took a drink. “One of you will get to rest tomorrow. The rest of you will do it all over again.”
The guy had a smile as he talked to us, but his eyes told us another story.
“He wants to be any place but here,” Millie, my airport buddy leaned over and whispered.
“You caught that, too?” I rolled my eyes.
“For the first challenge,” the host continued, “we’re going to see how you do pairing up flavors.”
Seemed easy enough. Was this the special portion of the championship?
I raised my hand because I didn’t want to interrupt the guy. He pointed at me. “Can you explain what special means for the competition?”
“That’s been a common question lately.” He nodded and sat some notecards he was holding on the table next to him. “Sure, let’s discuss what we expect for this competition. We’re going to have you do several different things to test your baking skills under pressure. I can’t discuss those things specifically, but they’ll take you out of your comfort zone.”
“Several different things?” The woman standing at the end of the row asked. “What if we don’t specialize in something that is part of the challenge?”
“Relax everyone.” The host smiled and waved his hand up and down. “I can see the looks on your faces.” He took a step forward. “We are not asking you do anything you cannot already do. That’s why we asked so many details when you signed up.” He walked back to the counter and grabbed the notecards. “Just trust me, it’ll be fun. One piece of advice, don’t hold back. Let those creative juices flow free.”
“He sounds like my yoga teacher,” Millie said and nudged her arm against my side. “Now take a few deep breath and become one with your soul.”
I covered my mouth and tried to hold in my laugh. To mask my amusement I coughed a few times. “I think we’re going to need all the positive energy for the next ten hours.”
When I said the words, I didn’t mean I would need all the pos
itive energy.
Little did I know, my day was about to get very interesting.
For the first challenge, we had to create twelve eclairs all the same size.
The special part. We were each given two flavors that had to be incorporated into the eclairs in some way.
The two flavors I received were, orange and chocolate.
Seemed easy enough. Those two flavors paired well together and screamed holiday.
My station was next to Millie. I didn’t have time to watch her. I had to get all my ingredients and start making the recipe. For the eclairs I had to make Pâte à Choux, a recipe I had made a thousand times before.
As I started to mix the ingredients together, the dough was loose and didn’t form into a ball. I did the mental note of all the ingredients needed and knew I had everything correct. Yet, I couldn’t get the dough to form into a ball in my sauce pot.
“Thirty-five minutes left, bakers.” The host yelled and my heart sank. “Hopefully you have your eclairs in the oven by now.”
“I would if my damn dough wanted to work with me,” I mumbled and threw the mixing bowl on the shelf below my work station. Then I went and grabbed everything again. I had to start over and with only half the amount of time. Before I mixed everything, I said a few positive thoughts to each ingredient.
“How are you doing over there, Kris?” Millie yelled from her station.
I finally took a moment and looked over at her. She was piping out the Pâte à Choux onto her baking sheet. Fuck. This dough had to work for me this time. “Fighting with my ingredients, but I always win.” I laughed and started to stir the dough in the warm pan. Suddenly, the dough formed into a ball and the sides of the pan were clean. “Win,” I whispered and quickly threw the dough into a pastry bag.
I started to lose track of time as I ran around my station.
“Five minutes bakers.” When the host yelled, I jumped. “And remember, plating matters.”
The start of the challenge was a shit show.
Thankfully the last thirty minutes were in my favor.
Now the real test, did my eclairs taste good?
Six
Millie
“Well, that was fun,” I grabbed my jacket in the green room.
“Fun is not the word I would use to describe today.” Kris threw his jacket on and followed me out of the room. “Being in the bottom two sucks.”
“But you survived.” I tried to sound positive.
For the first challenge we had to make eclairs. Kris won the challenge.
Then for our elimination challenge we had to make more eclairs, along with two other cookies. The two extra cookies we had to make also had to share a memory of our holidays when we were kids. He lost the challenge because his Pâte à Choux looked and tasted awful (that’s what a judge said word for word). Apparently the other two cookies he presented saved him from being eliminated.
I was focused during each challenge, but I did manage to look over a few times and watch him. The guy was easy on the eyes and those hands. They were gorgeous and made me think about things outside of the kitchen. What caught my attention though was that he was grumbling to himself during both challenges. It was obvious he had a rough day.
Somehow everything I made came together perfectly. I was waiting for the moment when one of my recipes would fail. It was bound to happen eventually.
“I need a few cocktails to help absorb this train wreck of a day.” He stuffed his hands in his pants pockets. “Want to join me when we get back to the hotel?”
His question threw me off. I should want to rest, but instead drinking bourbon with Kris sounded like more fun. “Do you think that’s a good idea?”
“Drinking my sorrows away? Yeah, it’s a very good idea.” He opened the taxi door and I slid into the seat. “Plus, we need to unwind. How do you usually unwind?”
In my mind I said, sex. Lots and lots of sex. I laced my fingers together and closed my eyes. “Yoga,” I blurted out and finally glanced over at him. “It seems to help.” The man didn’t need to know I hadn’t pulled out my yoga mat for almost six months. Those details were not important.
“Yeah,” he chuckled. “Drinking sounds like more fun at the moment.”
“Maybe.” I smiled and glanced out the window.
When I first met Kris, he felt mysterious. We even kept things interesting between us which was sexy as hell. Now that I knew him more after our ten-hour day together, he seemed real. He made mistakes, too. Something I could relate with all too well.
I watched as he typed something on his phone. The way he moved his fingers across the screen caused several inappropriate thoughts to enter my mind. Visuals of him tracing his finger over my breasts made my body react. I pushed my thighs together tighter and tried to switch my thoughts to something less sexual.
What was wrong with me? Fuck, I didn’t know the guy. I needed to get my head in a better space.
After ten long minutes in the taxi, we walked into hotel together and stepped onto the elevator. “Which floor is yours?” He had his finger hovering over the buttons. Again the visuals appeared.
I closed my eyes and took in a few deep breaths. “Ten.”
“It’s like the person who planned our literary wanted us together for the whole trip.” He pushed ten, then leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest. His one foot was resting against the wall of the elevator.
My eyes flew open and I looked over at him. “You’re on ten, too?”
“Yeah.” He flashed his sexy smile. “Now it’s time to find out where our rooms are located.” He stepped off the elevator and turned left. I stepped out and stayed rooted to my spot. “Is this where our journey ends?” He stopped just before he turned down another hallway.
My hallway.
“You have to admit, this is creepy.” I rolled my eyes and stepped around him.
“Potentially.” He stepped up beside me. “I’ll be in the bar in five minutes if you want to join me.” He stopped at a room and placed his key card over the sensor. “It’s more fun drinking with someone.” He winked and walked into his room.
“I need more than a drink,” I whispered and continued down the hall. My room was at the end, not far from Kris. The moment I stepped inside, my phone buzzed. It was my sister, I knew it before I even looked at the screen. We talked all the time. Except today, she was probably going crazy with our twelve-hour hiatus. “Hey.” I plopped down on the edge of the bed and let my back fall against the mattress. “Perfect timing.”
“How did it go?” My sister sounded so excited. “Tell me everything.”
I proceed to share my day for the next several minutes.
“So yeah, that’s my day.” I rested my arm over my eyes and suddenly had a vision of the hot chef only a few doors down.
“So, who is this Kris person?”
“What?” I sat up a little too quickly and dropped the phone out of my hand.
“I’m trying to figure out if the person is a man or a woman. Somehow you managed to keep that a secret when sharing the details of your day.” She was giggling as she asked the question.
“Really, that’s what you narrowed in on?” I moved my legs up higher on the mattress and crossed them in front of me. “You don’t want to know more about the first two challenges? Or how I did?”
“I’ll get to that later. First you need to tell me if this Kris is a man or a woman?”
“I hate you so much right now,” I grumbled. “A man,” I said in a really low voice.
“What?” she asked. “You need to speak up.”
“A man.” I groaned and waited for her to tease me. My sister loved to set me up with guys. She wasn’t always successful, but she tried.
“Oh my God. Tell me everything about him.” She actually squealed like a schoolgirl.
“Sarah, seriously?” If my eyes made a noise rolling them back, she would hear them loud and clear.
“Yes, seriously.” She let out a heavy si
gh. “You know I love to live vicariously through you. “Now spill woman.” I knew she wouldn’t let up until I told her something, so I finally gave in and shared every detail. “Wait, he’s sitting at the bar all alone and you’re in your room talking to me?”
“You called.”
“You could’ve called me back later.”
“Yeah, like that ever works.”
“True.” She giggled. “Well, hang up and get your ass down there. Don’t leave the poor man waiting.”
“Is that a good idea? I’m here to win a competition, not some random guys heart.”
“You can do both. Love you.” Then I heard the dial tone.
I pulled the phone away from ear. “She hung up on me.” I sat there for another five minutes trying to decide what I should do.
My phone buzzed. I looked down and noticed a text from my sister and burst out laughing. “Get your skinny ass off the bed and march those pretty legs down the stairs to what I assume is a hot guy waiting at the bar.”
“Fine,” I mumbled as I hopped off the bed.
I quickly changed and freshened up my makeup and hair. Right before I stepped out of my room I said a few positive thoughts. I was secretly hoping this was not a bad decision.
Then a visual of Kris’ fingers popped into my mind. I quickly closed the door and made my way downstairs to the bar.
Seven
Kris
“Is this seat taken?” I heard Millie say from behind me.
I don’t know what it was about this woman, but she had me curious. Plus, there were too many coincidences happening in a span of less than twenty-four hours. I had never met Millie before today. Now for some crazy reason we were experiencing the whole championship together.
“I believe the bartender told me he was holding it for you.” I smiled as I turned my body and leaned one elbow on the wood surface. “What can I get you?”