“Yeah,” I said, although I wasn’t sure what he meant by that, because yes, it was a competition, hence it was a game, and I wasn’t exactly a superstar. He must mean Brody.
“Room for one more?” Kristen asked as she sat on Ivan’s knee. I pushed myself as far as I could into the corner to give them space, but it seemed Ivan and Kristen were fine with their arrangement. “I used to sit in a space like this back on the sound stage in my season, the only quiet space with no cameras.”
Ivan laughed, and it was loud. Kristen bounced a little as she smiled with him.
“I tasted your cake,” Kristen said, leaning forward to share her confidence. “It wasn’t dry at all.”
I know they were just being kind, but it was nice to have the votes of confidence.
“Damn you found my hiding place,” Brody muttered from outside our cocoon of safety. “Can I squeeze in?” Ivan moved to the edge with Kristen holding on, and Brody slid in between me and Ivan. He was warm against me. His scent a mix of Christmas and citrus, but he leaned away from me and toward Ivan as if he didn’t want to touch me. Why would he, I’d implied we could have a fake flirtation and while that was in my arsenal to get likes, Brody was a straight-up guy. Well, not straight, but I knew what I meant. Feeling awkward with him next to me was just another down in my day because he was a nice guy.
I pressed an elbow against him, but he didn’t look at me, so I did it again.
Finally, he looked at me, but he was wary. I swear if he could have joined Kristen on Ivan’s lap, he would have.
“Sorry.”
His wariness was still there, but at least he gave me an understanding smile. “’S’okay.”
“Still on for coffee?”
“Maybe.”
We didn’t have a chance to say anything else because Shauna appeared at the opening to our space, her eyes bright, her smile tremulous. “I like it in here,” she announced. Ivan pushed up against Brody, who in turn was closer to me, but at least he was relaxed, and it was all one moment of fun as she perched on the end. That may have been the worst kind of slap from Brody, but I deserved every damn syllable of the word.
“So we all found this same kind of hiding hole on the sound stage in L.A.?” Brody asked.
“I was season one, so I found it first,” I joked, but everyone fell silent for a moment, and I began to squirm. It wouldn’t be the first time I’d misread an audience, but Shauna snorted a laugh.
“Me second, so surely I’m eligible for more chair space,” Shauna joked, and it was the first time I’d seen her laugh properly since we arrived. She was clutching her phone to her chest, and from the way she held it, I was convinced she’d been catching up with someone special to put that smile on her face.
“Third season, so I’m next, although I’m quite happy not having any space at all,” Kristen wrapped her arms around Ivan’s neck as the big man laughed.
“Fourth,” Brody pointed out. “So I get less room than you but more than Ivan, clearly.”
Ivan huffed. “Yet I’m the one with a lap full of giggling baker.”
“Not sure we could fit Clare in as well,” Shauna commented and shot a mischievous glance my way. God, how much I wanted to say that Clare was probably out there losing her temper with someone. I restrained myself.
“Selfie?” I asked, and we all peered up into the camera. I captured a cool picture of the five of us, posting it and hash tagging it with all kinds of nonsense but including a couple of new ones #WhereIsClare #ClareIsMissing. It was a bit like Where’s Wally, but Where’s Clare. I could make it run as long as I was in the competition. Which at the rate I was going might well be one freaking week.
“So who’s ready for the blind challenge?” Kristen addressed the elephant in the room with far too much brightness in her tone.
“It can’t be any worse than fondant volcanoes and popping candy,” Ivan muttered.
We all mumbled in agreement. The season five showcase had been a disaster of epic proportions for everyone who tried. The theme was Earth. Ivan had chosen to make a cake volcano, including a ton of thin blood-red icing, but it had ended up exploding all over Venetia and Lewis, which was hilarious.
“I remember that episode,” Brody snapped his fingers. “I couldn’t believe they didn’t cut and go to the next scene, and Venetia was wearing that white dress.”
“And her expression!” Kristen added, and we couldn’t stop laughing because this was gallows humor. All of us were facing the blind bake where we didn’t know what we were going to be given to make, and none of us were in a strong position yet because this was week one.
I just hoped it was something simple because I know I’ve forgotten more about baking than I cared to admit.
“I’ve been having nightmares about this,” Brody confessed. I was the only one to hear over the laughing, but then he was looking at me expectantly.
“Says the man who won every single one of their blind bake challenges.” I leaned in a little because I couldn’t knock elbows given we were packed in like sardines.
He sent me a soft smile and a shrug then dipped his gaze. I fought the desire to bury my hands in his soft silky hair and kiss him until neither of us could breathe.
I had one last thing to say as we stared at each other. “You’ll rock this.”
Chapter Ten
I bake because shouting at people is frowned upon
Brody
It didn’t matter what Justin said, I was nowhere near rocking this challenge.
They say pride comes before a fall and the blind bake was a simple chocolate wreath cake. Not difficult. Easy. Kids could make it. Kids wearing blindfolds and with one arm in a pocket could make it.
However, it seems as if I couldn’t bake to save my life today. I’d nearly burned cupcakes in round one, and now I was staring into the abyss of mess where there should be perfect cake.
I don’t know what went wrong. Pressure maybe? Or I’d spent too much time staring at the back of Justin’s head? Or was it the way the judges hovered at my bench just as I was taking my cake from the oven? Either way, the cake ended up cracking, and it wouldn’t come out of the cake pan the way I wanted it to.
I could make chocolate cake in my sleep.
Maybe that was it, maybe I should be asleep right now.
Okay, you’re losing it. Get this back.
“Oh no, what happened!” Courtney exclaimed in my ear. I jumped a mile. She stepped back in horror, and the cake tumbled sideways off the cooling tray and half fell into the sink. I managed to grab it. My fingers poked right through the cake, and Courtney squealed about how it was all her fault and how funny it was.
There’s nothing funny about losing the chance of getting past week one, receiving much-needed publicity and winning the prize money for my chosen charity.
“Backing away slowly,” she said with an innocent smile, and even though I wanted to throw the cake in her face, I gave her a smile back. Do not lose it now.
I was left staring down at the crumbled cake that was cracked and in pieces. How the hell was I going to create a circle from this mess? I couldn’t cut it into a rectangle smoothly. The buttercream might hide the mess but when they cut through the cream, they would see that it was only apricot jam holding it together.