Romancing the Chef

by Robyn Amos

  Ronnie hugged LQ, relieved that, one way or another, it was over. “We made it to the end. Let’s just hope we’ve done enough to make it past this round.”

  * * *

  Ace clapped his assistant, Marcel, on the back. “It was touch-and-go there for a few minutes, buddy, but I think we did our thing.”

  Marcel slapped his hand, sliding his fingers back into a snap. “We’ve got this, Ace. I just know we’ve got this.”

  Ace was glad to be the first to present his dishes to the judges. Marcel went back to the holding room to watch everything on a big-screen TV with the other chefs, while Ace went to stand on his mark.

  The director gave him his cue to start.

  “Well, I’m known as the Sexy Chef, so I had to prepare some sexy dishes for you today. To start, I have oysters three ways. The first one is in a half shell flavored with yuzu juice, the second is fried crispy in brown butter and chives and the third is a sweet ceviche.”

  Ace was really pleased with the way his three courses had turned out, but it didn’t happen without a bit of Las Vegas’s Lady Luck on his side. A few ingredients were missing and the oven in his kitchen cooked unevenly, but improvisation saved the day.

  He hadn’t planned on serving a fried oyster, but when he couldn’t count on his oven to heat properly, he switched his game plan. The results turned out even better than he’d hoped.

  “For the entrée, I’ve given you a beautiful seared filet of beef with a trio of sauces to dip it in. My specialty is meals for two, but since there are three of you, I’ve made three the theme for the day.”

  Ace knew the judges didn’t give any points for charm, but he was hoping it wouldn’t hurt. Especially since he was afraid his dessert plate was looking a bit empty. It was supposed to be filled with a triple-layer chocolate cake, but again the oven had forced him to change things up.

  “And to finish this meal off, I’ve given you a trio of chocolate truffles. For a bit of variation on the signature cocktail, I decided to offer you a hot coffee shot with brandy and Kahlúa.”

  Ace kept a smile on his face as the judges sampled his offerings. “The truffles were delicious,” said Jean Paul Pelletier. “My only complaint is that I wish there had been more. Perhaps you could have added some coulis or sauce so the plate didn’t look so sparse.”

  The next judge, renowned pastry chef Kari Voegler, told him that his team did the best at regrouping from some major setbacks, and the final judge, Hawaiian restaurateur Sam Lomi, complimented Ace’s flavors and his creativity.

  Overall, Ace went back into the holding room feeling pretty good. But his heart went out to Ronnie when it was her turn to stand before the judges.

  She was his competition, and Ace should have been glad that they were a bit tougher on Ronnie, but he couldn’t help but hope she would make it past the first round.

  He watched the screen as the cameraman zoomed in on Ronnie’s face as Judge Lomi spoke. “I really enjoyed the flavors of your dish. But I can’t help thinking it lacked a bit of creativity to have the same flavors in both your appetizer and your entrée.”

  Ronnie simply nodded. “Yes, of course. I planned to flavor the entrée with an herb salad, but some of our herbs were missing.”

  “And I’m not sure what this dessert is supposed to be,” Judge Voegler said, dissecting the contents of the martini glass with her spoon. “Everything is mushy and running together.”

  “But you have to admit it does taste good,” Judge Pelletier chimed in.

  Minutes later, Ronnie walked back into the holding room looking a bit like a deflated balloon. Ace wanted to go over and comfort her, but he had a strong suspicion that any words from him wouldn’t be welcome.

  “This is BS,” Ann Le Marche shouted as she entered the room after her critique. “Did anyone else have supplies missing or appliances that didn’t work?”

  Everyone in the room raised their hands, which Ann followed with another string of expletives.

  “What kind of rinky-dink operation are they running here? This is my fifth Food Fight for GTV, and I’ve never had so many things go wrong.”

  Stewart shrugged. “Maybe they did it on purpose. You know, to see how we handle the pressure. We all showed up with prepared menus. Maybe they threw a monkey into the works to make the competition more exciting.”

  “I think the expression is monkey wrench, dear,” Etta offered.

  “Whatever. The point is, either you pulled it off or you didn’t. Since we all had some sort of trouble, it’s probably safe to assume it was part of the competition.”

  Ann glared at Stewart from across the room, then threw her hands up. From where he sat, Ace could still hear her cursing the air blue around her.

  After all the contestants received their critiques, they would normally line up for the presentation of the award check. But since this competition would continue for two more rounds, each chef was sent back to their kitchens to hear their scores. For the chef with the lowest score, their kitchen would go dark, and they’d be eliminated from the competition.

  As Ace stood next to Marcel in his kitchen, he felt pretty good about his chances. It surprised him how concerned he was that Ronnie might not continue to the next round.

  “With the highest score in the competition, earning a total of forty-four out of fifty, our round-one leader is Etta Foster.” The in-studio audience clapped and cheered.

  “Second, with a score of thirty-two out of fifty, is Ace Brown.”

  Ace felt Marcel patting him on the back, saying, “Hawaii, here we come!”

  Ace nodded absently. They were in a pretty good position heading into the next round, but he couldn’t keep himself from turning toward Ronnie’s kitchen on the other side of Stewart.

  The host was just awarding Stewart Compton third place. Suddenly the music in the studio got louder as the spotlights focused on Ronnie and Ann’s kitchens.

  “One of these remaining contestants will be moving on to the second round in Hawaii, and the other will be going home. The contestant coming in fourth, with a total score of twenty-six out of fifty is Veronica Howard. That means Ann Le Marche has been eliminated from the competition with a total score of twenty-two out of fifty.”

  Ace watched Ronnie hug LQ and felt more relieved than he should have. But the fact was, he and Ronnie had a lot of unfinished business.

  She’d been very tipsy when she’d kissed him last night, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t expressing all the feelings she kept on lockdown when she was sober. Now that she’d tipped her hand, Ace planned to press that advantage.

  Chapter 7

  For several minutes after the rankings were announced, Ronnie’s heart continued to pound in her chest. She’d been convinced that she and LQ were going home. The judges’ comments about her dishes had been disappointing at best. Sure, her dessert was mushy and the flavors in her entrée weren’t as unique as they should have been, but she stood behind the fact that everything tasted really good.

  “Cheer up,” LQ said. “We’ll do better next time. At least we made it through to the next round.”

  “Barely.”

  “I know you’re disappointed in our final score, but this is the All-Star Food Fight. It’s supposed to be more of a challenge.”

  “A challenge is one thing. Outright sabotage is another. Do you think the network screwed up our kitchens on purpose?”

  LQ shrugged. “Normally, I’d say no. But, since everyone had complaints, it’s starting to look that way.”

  Ronnie shook her head, uncertain what to believe. “Do we have any cocktails left? I could use one.”

  “Honey, I don’t know what you did last night, but judging from the way you were first moving when you got here this morning, you should probably lay off the cocktails.”

  “I was just kidding,” Ronnie said, then suddenly looked up as Ace entered the kitchen.

  “Congratulations, ladies.”

  Ronnie sighed. “Did you come over here to gloat?�
�

  Ace laughed. “It’s not time for that yet. I just wanted to invite you two to join Marcel and me for dinner tonight to celebrate.”

  Ronnie frowned. “You two have reason to celebrate. We don’t.”

  “Oh come on, you made it to Hawaii. That’s worth celebrating.”

  LQ stepped forward. “I can’t make it anyway. I have tickets to see the magician at the Monte Carlo tonight. It’s a VIP package that includes dinner and a backstage meet-and-greet.”

  “Then I guess it’s just you and me, Ronnie,” Ace said.

  “What about Marcel?”

  “I’d hate to make him feel like a third wheel. Besides, I have tickets to a show, too, and Marcel definitely won’t go with me.”

  Ronnie turned away to gather her things. “No, I think I’d better stay in tonight. I did enough celebrating last night to last me awhile.”

  “Come on, didn’t you say there were three things you wanted to do in Vegas before you left? Tonight is your chance.”

  “I don’t know,” she said, packing up her knives. “I’m really not in the mood.”

  “All the more reason to go. Don’t sit around in yourroom rehashing the competition. It’s over. There’s time to focus on what’s up ahead tomorrow. Tonight, enjoy Las Vegas.”

  Ronnie knew everything Ace was saying was true. But, going out on the town last night had made her lose focus for today’s competition. Maybe the best thing to do was keep a low profile and stay on track.

  “I’ve cleaned up everything, Ronnie. I’ll see you tomorrow,” LQ said, interrupting her thoughts. “And, for what it’s worth, you should go out tonight. Have a nice dinner and put today behind you.”

  “There it is,” Ace said. “LQ agrees with me. You’re outnumbered, two against one.”

  Ronnie threw her hands up in surrender. “Fine. I’ll have dinner with you tonight.”

  Chapter 8

  When Ace got back to his hotel room, he felt like he was on top of the world. Not only had he come in second in the All-Star Food Fight, he’d gotten Ronnie to agree to go out with him. Now he had just one more detail to take care of, he thought, picking up the phone. “Fontaine here,” Garett answered. “I need a huge favor.” “Ah, a favor. I love it when you owe me.” “Great, because I need you to get me two really good seats to a show for tonight.”

  Garett paused for a moment. “Short notice, great seats. This is going to cost you.”

  “I’m willing to pay. I just need to know if you can do it.”

  “Depends on the show. What do you want to see?” Ace shrugged, looking around his room as he tried to remember what was popular. “I don’t know. What’s hot?”

  “Hot? How about Le Nu?”

  “What’s that?”

  Garett chuckled. “It’s like a cross between a French revue and Cirque du Soleil.”

  “That sounds perfect. Get me the best seats you can.”

  “I’ll do my best, but first, can I ask just why you want me to bust my hump getting these tickets?”

  Ace smiled. “I have a date tonight.”

  “Let me guess. It’s with one Ms. Veronica Howard?”

  “That’s right.”

  “You should let me make the most of this occasion. You get to impress Ronnie with great seats to a hot show, and I can get a little free publicity to promote your new cookbook. It’s win-win.”

  Ace shook his head. “What are you talking about?”

  “I’ll tip off a couple of photographers and tomorrow on TMZ everyone will be talking about the celebrity chef who’s having a bit of a showmance on the set of GTV’s All-Star Food Fight.”

  “There you go again. What does ‘showmance’ even mean?”

  “Just what it sounds like. A romance on the set of a reality show.”

  Ace rolled his eyes. “I hardly think the press would take an interest in anything going on between a couple of chefs from Gourmet TV. It’s a bad idea on so many levels.”

  “Why don’t you let me be the judge of that?”

  Ace’s thoughts were already moving on to dinner reservations. “What I want you to do is get me those tickets. That’s all I need right now.”

  He hung up with Garett and, just as he’d hoped, twenty minutes later he received a text message confirming that the tickets would be waiting for him at the box office.

  Now he just had to confirm the evening’s plans with Ronnie, he thought, dialing her room number.

  “Why don’t we meet in the lobby at six so we can have dinner,” Ace suggested when Ronnie picked up the phone.

  “Actually, I think it might be best if I stay in tonight.”

  “Stay in? But I have front-row seats to one of the hottest shows in town.”

  Ronnie sighed. “Well, the problem is that I only brought one party dress, and I wore it last night. I’m not exaggerating when I say I have nothing to wear. Unless you want to set a new fashion trend of chefs’ jackets as evening wear.”

  “You don’t have anything to wear? Is that the only problem?”

  Ronnie hesitated. “Well, yeah …”

  “Fine, that’s easily remedied. Let’s go shopping at Caesars.”

  “Let’s? You actually want to go with me? I’m sure I could pick something out myself. I just don’t know if it’s worth the effort.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I hate shopping.”

  Ace laughed. “You’re the first woman I’ve ever heard say that.”

  “Well, it’s true. I think I would rather wear my chef’s jacket than skulk around a mall trying to find something to wear,” she said grimly.

  “Then consider me your personal shopper. I promise to make it fun.”

  “Thanks for the offer,” she said, and Ace could hear that he was losing her. “But, I really should stay in tonight.”

  “Come on. I’ll make the experience as painless aspossible,” he said, refusing to take no for an answer. “Meet me in the lobby in fifteen minutes.”

  Before Ronnie could protest again, Ace hung up the phone.

  As soon as she put down the phone, Ronnie began pacing her hotel room. Shopping? With Ace? She felt anxiety rising in her chest.

  Even though she no longer wore plus-size clothes, all the memories of fluorescent lights and unflattering mirror images came rushing back to her. She wouldn’t even have had her one party dress if Cara hadn’t insisted that she pick out a goal outfit that she wanted to fit into when she lost weight.

  Despite her worries over going shopping, there was one strong feeling overpowering that fear. And it was the desire to spend time with Ace.

  She was completely embarrassed by her behavior the night before, but Ace didn’t seem to be the least bit put off by it. In fact, now that she’d made a fool of herself gushing over him, he seemed even more determined to spend time with her.

  It would have been nice if Ace could have shown this kind of interest in her when she was overweight, but she wasn’t going to dwell on that now. She couldn’t blame him for preferring the skinnier Ronnie over the heavier version. After all, she had no trouble appreciating his buff physique then or now.

  Realizing that she would be running late if she continued to wallow in her emotions, she picked up her purse and headed to the lobby.

  Ace had been right about one thing. Sitting in her room fretting over all the things that had gone wrong that daywouldn’t do her any good. As she rode the elevator down to the lobby, she vowed to live in the moment and enjoy her night out. The shopping? That still remained to be seen.

  Ace and Ronnie walked over to the mall in Caesars Palace hotel, and he directed her to an upscale women’s clothing store.

  As soon as they crossed the threshold, Ronnie felt her heartbeat pick up speed. She took in all the skinny metallic mannequins and felt certain that nothing in the store would look good on her. How was she going to get out of this? But before she could make a break for the door, Ace had already motioned for a sales clerk to come over.

  “Ma
y I help you?”

  “Yes, this beautiful lady needs a dress for an evening on the town. Can you offer her some suggestions?”

  Immediately Ronnie felt like her cheeks were on fire. She expected the saleswoman to turn a disapproving look in her direction and laugh her out of the store. To make matters worse, the woman had the nerve to ask the dreaded question.

  “What size do you wear?”

  Ronnie swallowed hard. “Uh … I … um—” Her old dress size formed on her lips and she stumbled over the number as she realized she didn’t wear double digits anymore.

  “You look like a four. Let me pull some dresses for you.”

  “No, I don’t think … four?”

  “If the fours are too big, I’ll bring you a smaller size.”

  Ronnie was shaking her head as the saleswoman returned with three dresses and led her over to a dressing room. Taking the dresses Ronnie entered the room feeling like a caged animal. In a few minutes she’d have to come back out and admit that none of the dresses fit her. Worse yet, she’d have to admit this truth in front of Ace.

  At a loss for any other option, Ronnie took the first dress off the rack in the fitting room. It was a red sheath that made her cringe in anticipation. But because it didn’t have any belts and wasn’t cinched at the waist, she tried to pull it over her head.

  To her shock the dress slid over her figure with room to spare. Before Ronnie could turn to check the mirror, Ace’s voice came through the door.

  “Come out and let me see it.”

  Ronnie’s eyes went wide and she spun to look in the mirror. She blinked, not recognizing the thin but curvy woman looking back at her.

  A woman who wore a size four.

  The dress hung from a beaded halter at the neck to skim over her hips, ending just above her knees. Stepping forward, Ronnie opened the dressing-room door just enough for Ace to catch a glimpse of the dress.

  “I can’t see you. Step all the way out.”

  Tiptoeing forward, Ronnie watched his eyes light up as he took her in. He was already nodding as he motioned for her to spin around. Ronnie started to protest, but he looked so pleased by the sight of her, she couldn’t resist.