For the Love of Cake (5 page)

When time expired and Eric called for them to stop their work, they stepped back and seemed to exhale as one. Eric invited the mentors to get a closer look. Maya filed in behind Wayne, both deferring to Jacques as a respected elder in their field. She didn’t listen to the comments from the two men, preferring to make her own assessment.

While she inspected the first cake, the corresponding decorator studied her with as much intensity. She could feel his eyes on her as she slowly turned the piece and looked closely at his piping.

“Nice ink.” He winked at her.

She glanced at the tattoos decorating his arms and emerging from his collar to cover his neck but didn’t comment. If he thought the shared bond of tattoos was enough to win her over, he was mistaken. She refused to respond as well to his quick head nod and flirtatious grin. He obviously believed he was the badass his appearance projected him to be. He’d completed most of the design in the time allotted, his lines smooth and clean. Apparently, he possessed the skills to back up his cockiness.

“Nicely done, Ned.” She didn’t wait for his response before taking two steps to her right and sizing up the next cake. “Alice, solid work.”

“Thank you, Chef. I didn’t have time to finish, but I did my best on what I got done.”

Maya nodded and moved on. “Sloppy, Damien.” She shook her head as she continued to move down the row. “Rushing won’t get you to the end of this competition.”

She stopped in front of Soccer Mom, recalling Wendy’s quick assessment and dismissal of her. Shannon’s chestnut hair was pinned into a smooth, secure bun, and despite Maya’s affinity for order, she suddenly found she wanted to pull it down. She imagined it falling against Shannon’s shoulders in shining waves. Shannon’s posture was tense and as buttoned-up as her charcoal chef coat bearing the show’s logo.

The honey-brown eyes that had nearly danced in her application photo were now sharply focused on her own cake, and somehow Maya knew from her expression that she judged herself harshly as well. The patterns she’d completed were flawless, but she’d finished only about three-quarters of the design.

“Middle of the pack? Is that good enough for you?” She purposely injected a bite into her tone to see how Shannon responded.

“No, Chef.”

Something flashed in her eyes, but her tone was flat and too accepting. Maya expected much more fire from the contestants when challenged. But more than that, she very much wanted to see if she could rile
this
chef. Typically, the meek didn’t last the first three eliminations on this show. She couldn’t waste a team pick on someone who might be the first to leave.

“So what are you going to do about it?” She waited only a beat, since Shannon obviously wasn’t going to rise up, and continued to the next contestant. “Mason, your piping is good, but you need to practice the more difficult techniques. You have stiff competition here and it’ll take all you have.”

After she’d evaluated the remaining chefs, Maya joined Jacques and Wayne at the front of the room. Eric lined the competitors up opposite them. He explained once again that the three mentors would select their teams. Going forward, they would work with those groups, coaching them through challenges that would pit them against the other teams and sometimes among each other.

Maya scanned the faces before her. Seven years after she’d stood in their place, she could clearly recall how nervous she’d been. Fresh off the high of rocking through culinary school, she’d projected an air of confidence in the face of some stiff competition. She’d used every bit of her training and natural talent to reach the finale. The final challenge that year had been a celebrity wedding cake and a groom’s cake. She’d nailed them, leaving no doubt she deserved to win.

Back then, she’d counted only on herself to succeed. Now, she wanted the bragging rights that went with coaching a winning team in her first attempt as a mentor. Her choices for her team would be instrumental in making that happen. Unfortunately, at best she would probably get her third-ranked competitor as both Jacques and Wayne got to choose before her.

Jacques took Ned and Wayne picked the young butch. Maya selected Lucia because her skills proved as solid as her training and extensive experience. After the guys chose again, Maya selected Alice, then smiled politely as Alice talked during the entire time it took to walk the length of the room and join her team. Hopefully she wouldn’t regret that decision.

Of the six remaining competitors, she needed to select two more. She wanted Shannon. She lacked experience, but her sample cake showed promise. Shannon hadn’t finished, but she had duplicated some of the more intricate patterns while some of the others had tackled only the easiest. Maya had been tough during her critique and mostly Shannon’s reaction disappointed her, but Maya had detected something—a spark just before Shannon seemed to shut it down that intrigued her. She wanted to know what it would take to bring out that fight.

When it was her turn, she called out Shannon’s name without hesitation. Shannon met her eyes with an expression of pure happiness, her broad smile lifting her cheeks and causing a slight crinkle at the corners of her eyes. As she passed Maya, she mouthed the words
thank you
, then took her place next to the other two team members. Maya tried to ignore the surge of pleasure at Shannon’s reaction; instead, she focused on Damien, her final competitor.

“Look at the other chefs in your group, because you’ll be spending a lot of time with them in the coming weeks, if you’re lucky,” Eric said with a wink. “You’ll be bunking according to your teams. The cars are waiting outside to take you to the hotel where you’ll be directed to your suites.”

As the larger cameras on set stopped rolling, the guys carrying the handhelds emerged and surrounded the chattering contestants. Before her team could head for the door, Maya called them together.

“Take a minute to enjoy your new accommodations, but then get settled and get some rest. Tomorrow will be another long day. Don’t let the excitement get the best of you, or you’ll find yourself out of the competition before you have time to shine.”

*

“One of us has to live with a guy?” Clearly, Alice couldn’t imagine anything more inappropriate.

The newly formed team stood just inside their hotel suite, all of them taking in the generous living room complete with a large flat-screen television and wet bar. A cameraman with a handheld circled, capturing their expressions. They’d been told that cameras would be allowed in their suites to film at various times, but they wouldn’t be under twenty-four-hour surveillance. Any phone calls they made would be monitored to ensure they didn’t discuss the progress of the show, but their conversations would not be used on air. They had all turned in their cell phones for the duration of filming.

“I’ll share with him.” Shannon figured bunking with Damien had to be more peaceful than with Alice. She saw a flicker of disappointment in Lucia’s expression. Ideally, she’d much rather share with Lucia and stick Alice with Damien, but she clearly couldn’t arrange that now.

In the modest kitchen, really no more than a kitchenette, Lucia opened cabinets and the refrigerator. “It’s stocked with the basics.”

They probably wouldn’t need much more. Though Shannon liked to cook, she couldn’t imagine any of them wanting to prepare a gourmet meal after spending all day in the kitchen.

“There’s always room service.” Alice indicated a menu on the counter.

The cameraman followed Alice as she walked into the next room, exclaiming aloud with every step about the plush surroundings. Shannon crossed the living area to the room she and Damien would share. She’d always wondered what the inside of this hotel looked like but had never had occasion to stay here. The only time she’d ever stayed in a local hotel had been with her husband for their five-year anniversary, and the chain establishment on West End Avenue hadn’t been anywhere near this nice.

The bedroom boasted a floor-to-ceiling window along one wall and a door leading to the en suite opposite it. The black-and-beige paisley-printed accent pillows on the two queen beds broke up the solid beige of the bedspreads and the walls. Identical black dressers faced the foot of each bed.

Damien had staked out the bed near the bathroom, leaving her next to the window. He’d already started putting his clothes into one of the dressers. She wheeled her suitcase close to her bed and left it to unpack later.

“I hope you don’t mind that we’ll be sharing a room,” she said.

He shrugged. “Like they said, we’ll be spending a lot of time together.”

Well, it wasn’t a ringing endorsement, but what did she expect from a man stuck on a team with all women? She went to the window to check out the view. To the left, between two buildings, she caught a glimpse of the river. Across the street, another high-rise blocked her view of anything south of Broadway, but she knew the converted warehouse where they would be working wasn’t far away. She couldn’t see Drake’s, but reminding herself that Jori and Sawyer believed in her helped ease her nerves.

*

“I wonder how Shannon’s first day went.” Jori leaned against her pillow and stretched her legs out on the king-sized bed. Usually, she’d already fallen asleep by the time Sawyer got home. But today, she’d stayed awake, nervous for Shannon. Though she might regret it when her alarm went off at four a.m., right now she very much enjoyed watching Sawyer go through her nightly ritual of readying for bed, especially when she stepped out of her pants and tossed them in the hamper. She stripped off her dress shirt and bra and pulled a T-shirt on. No matter how many times they went to bed together, the sight of Sawyer in a T-shirt and panties always made Jori’s heartbeat accelerate a little.

“Well, she hasn’t called yet asking for her job back, so that has to be a good sign.” Sawyer slipped between the sheets next to her and extended her arm, waiting for Jori to move closer.

“Very funny.” Jori set aside her book, curled against her side, and rested her head on her chest. “I can’t replace her.”

“You don’t have a choice.”

“I spoke with her friend from culinary school. She seems nice enough.”

“But she’s not Shannon. I know you connected with her right away, but you need to move forward as if she won’t be coming back. Even if she doesn’t win, this show will open new doors for her. What if she wants to pursue one of those leads?”

“I’ll be happy for her, of course.”

“You need to work on your sincerity before you try that one on Shannon.”

Jori sighed. “I know you think it’s silly. We’ve only worked together for a year, and—”

“And you so rarely let anyone close to you.”

“I was going to say, it typically takes me a while to warm up to new people.”

“Yeah, that too.” Sawyer kissed Jori’s temple.

“My point is, though I know it’s selfish, I’ll miss Shannon’s work. But I’ll miss her company as well. We’ve gotten to be friends.”

“Oh, honey, you two aren’t breaking up. You’ll still be friends. You just may have to work a little harder at keeping in touch.”

Jori smiled when Sawyer wrapped her other arm around her and held her close. She was overreacting to Shannon’s absence from the bakery. But knowing Sawyer understood why helped ease her anxiety. From the time Jori was young and in foster care, nearly everyone in her life had been transient. The families she was forced to live with never treated her like one of their own, so she became accustomed to being on the outside. Until she met Sawyer and the rest of the Drake family, Jori hadn’t known how warm and welcoming family could be. Though she’d opened up considerably since then, Shannon was still one of a handful of people she called a friend.

“Sweetheart, I know you don’t like change, but you took a chance leaving the restaurant and opening the bakery. Shannon needs to take her chance as well.” Sawyer lifted Jori’s chin with her fingers and kissed her softly on the mouth.

Jori melted into the kiss, immersing herself in the familiar feel of Sawyer’s lips caressing hers. When Sawyer shifted and moved over her, she embraced Sawyer’s hips with her legs. They’d been so busy lately, it had been longer than she wanted to admit since they’d made time for this intimacy. Just the feel of Sawyer’s weight against her was enough to arouse her. Sawyer kissed her neck, then nipped gently at her ear.

“It’s late,” Sawyer murmured. “Should I let you go to sleep?” Her warm breath against Jori’s neck and the rasp of need already coloring her voice made Jori’s response easy.

“I can be quick.”

Sawyer smiled and moved lower. She pushed up Jori’s shirt and closed her teeth on one nipple. Jori gasped at the spear of pleasure and lifted her hips. Knowing exactly what she needed, Sawyer slid inside her.

“I love you.” The truth of those words shone in Sawyer’s eyes as she stroked Jori in firm, deep strokes, filling her when she sank all the way in, then pulling back slowly.

Jori matched her, pressing against Sawyer’s hand in an increasing rhythm. “Oh, God, yes.”

Minutes later, as her orgasm swept over her in a deep, pulsing wave, she panted, emotion bringing her voice nearly to a sob. She wrapped her arms around Sawyer and held her tight until the sharp edge of pleasure smoothed.

“You always know just what I need.” She sighed and settled at Sawyer’s side, fully sated and pleasantly languid.

“And I always will.”

She trusted those words more than she ever had before. Her upbringing had taught her that change was a bad thing, but since meeting Sawyer, she’d learned to fear new things less.

*

The others had all gone to bed, but Shannon still felt too keyed up to sleep. She’d grabbed the throw from the foot of her bed, left Damien already snoring away, and headed for the living room. She pulled the sheer drapes across the big windows but left the heavier pair open, letting in enough light from the city outside that she didn’t need to turn on any lamps. She nestled into an armchair in the corner.

Though she’d spent the two weeks since getting her acceptance trying to mentally prepare for the experience, she couldn’t have anticipated just how overwhelming it would be. Today had been a whirlwind, and she still hadn’t fully sorted the events in her head. Meeting the mentors had been surreal—icons of the industry had evaluated her work—and found it lacking, she reminded herself, thinking of Maya’s comment about being in the middle of the pack. Wayne had offered an unconvincing “Well done.” Jacques hadn’t commented, merely nodding politely, which Shannon could only assume meant he hadn’t been impressed either.