Page 14 of My Irresistible Enemy

“What about the paper?” Nolan asked, and okay, fine, by this point, I actuallywastrying to listen, darting glances over my shoulder while trying to look like I was deeply engrossed in my baking.

I couldn’t help it. Nolan knew someone who worked on the show? Someone he was friendly with, judging by his tone? I hadn’t realized he wascapableof being friendly.

The camera guy—Em, I guessed his name was—made a face. “It folded. Really abruptly, too. Nora and I showed up for work one day and the building was shuttered. We didn’t even get our last paychecks.”

“Jesus. That’s awful.”

Huh—so Nolan was capable of being friendlyandsympathetic. Curiouser and curiouser.

“Tell me about it,” Em agreed. “At least I have my other clients, but Nora got royally screwed. She’s the one who got me on the show, actually. She got herself contracted as a freelance story producer, then pulled me along with her.”

Em pointed at someone standing at the front of the tent, and Nolan looked up. He made eye contact with me for a second before I turned around again. Shit. Knowing him, he’d probably think I was spying on him or something.

I looked back at my recipe. Time to actually start working again. I added in the brown sugar next, then found the two sticks of butter I needed, only to discover they were rock hard. How the hell was I supposed to cream or stir or do anything with them in this state? Growling under my breath, I found a small metal mixing bowl at the far corner of my workstation and dumped the butter into it, then put the bowl in the microwave.

How long did it take to soften butter? A minute? Two? I bit my lip—not even for show this time—and set it for sixty seconds, then walked back to where my recipe lay at the other end of the counter. I’d barely picked it up before I heard a pop and looked at the microwave to see sparks flying.

Triple fuck. That probablywasn’tsupposed to happen.

I dashed over and flung the door open, pulling the bowl out and cursing when it burned my fingers. I tossed it into the sink, which sent sugar flying everywhere, and brought my fingers to my mouth to suck on them.

Half the tent was looking at me by then, so I gave them my best giggle and rueful grin, wondering to myself why the hell I’d ever thought I could do this. Even Nolan was watching, but instead of the sympathy I saw on most people’s faces, he just arched a silent eyebrow before turning back to his work.

Fucker.

Of course, that was when Vivian decided to stop by my workstation, with a camerawoman trailing a few feet behind her, recording everything.

I took my fingers out of my mouth and endeavored to look like I had a clue what I was doing. I might be relying on voters to carry me through this thing, but I still wanted the judges to like me.

Tanner and Vivian were both new additions to the show this season. As far as I knew, Tanner didn’t know any more about baking than I did. He was a veteran reality TV host, though, and had worked on other shows on the same network. He was apparently executive producingA Piece of Cake, in addition to being a judge. And, perhaps most importantly, he was out and gay.

Vivian was new to TV, but she’d won awards for her cookbooks and baking. She was short and round and somewhere north of eighty years old, but she carried a long wooden spoon with her, and I’d already seen her rap it sharply against another contestant’s workstation when she thought they weren’t paying enough attention.

“So, Aiden, tell me about your recipe,” Vivian said, her brown eyes keen and sharp.

I put on my best smile. “Well, it’s something my nana used to make for me and my brother when we were really little. I think she just got it off the back of the bag of chocolate chips, but it was never really the recipe that mattered. It was spending time with her and my brother. That was my favorite part.”

Completely fictional, but hopefully, no one would call me on it.

“Ah. And would this be the brother who was a bit of an internet sensation last year?” Vivian asked.

My eyes widened. I hadn’t expected someone her age to even know about the internet, let alone know about the tiny corner of it where my brother had gotten popular. It was actually my fault he’d blown up like that, and Gabe hadn’t been thrilled when he’d first found out.

I blushed. “Yeah, that would be him. Gabe’s the best.”

“Well, maybe we’ll be able to bring him on the show sometime,” Vivian said with a smile. “Or even your grandmother.”

Good luck with that, considering my mom’s mother died before I was born and my dad’s parents hated children.

I gave her a toothy grin. “That’d be awesome.”

“I have to admit,” Vivian said, “it was a bit disconcerting to hear you say you’ve been watchingA Piece of Cakeyour whole life. I can remember the first season coming out, and I can’t believe it was so long ago. Did you come here specifically to make me feel ancient?”

I laughed and gestured to my bowl of still mostly solid butter. “No, actually, I came here specifically to try to blow things up by putting this in my microwave.”

“Yes, I’d noticed that.” Vivian winked. “Why don’t we try transferring that butter to a non-metallic bowl, hmm?” She tapped her spoon on my counter twice, then walked away

“Aye, aye, Captain,” I said with a little salute.

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