Page 49 of My Irresistible Enemy

“So, Aiden, it seems like you and Nolan are getting along a little better,” Nora said on Monday of the fourth week ofA Piece of Cake. “What changed?”

We were filming my confessional segment after completing the day’s bake—a tray of three types of petit fours that I’d managed to make mostly edible. Two-thirds of the tray, anyway.

“Arewe getting along better?” I made myself flush.

It wasn’t that hard. All I had to do was remember the last time I’d been alone with Nolan, and I turned beet red. Not from embarrassment exactly, or if it was embarrassment, it was mixed with a healthy dose of desire.

Mostly, I still couldn’t believe the way Nolan had bossed me around—and how much I’d liked it. It would be just perfect if I actuallydiddevelop a Daddy kink, focused on the one guy who couldn’t stand me.

“It certainly seems like it,” Nora pressed. “What do you think, are you growing on him?”

“I don’t know if I’m growing on him. Maybe I’m just wearing him down. You can only tell someone they’re an idiot so many times before your mouth gets tired, you know?”

“You’ve been at odds before. I don’t think anyone would deny that.”

“True,” I agreed. “Nolan and I have butted heads.”

“But he helped you prepare for your bake the past two weeks. And I think everyone’s noticed the way that you two support each other during the challenges. So what do you think has brought on this change? Is he just afraid of going home? Has he learned a lesson about cooperating in the tent?”

“I mean…” I paused, then gave a self-effacing grin to the guy holding the camera—not Em, this time. It was almost too easy. Nora was setting me up with the exact questions I needed, and not to toot my own horn, but I was a pretty decent actor. “I’m not sure that Nolan’s actually changed at all.”

“So you’re saying—”

“I think it’s possible that I judged Nolan a little quickly.” I bit my lower lip. “I think maybe we all did.”

“So Nolan’s a better guy than you thought?”

“I think Nolan…” I trailed off, then covered my face with one hand, laughing awkwardly. “I don’t know, this is weird!”

“What’s weird?”

“This! Talking about him like this, talking about how I fe—” I cut myself off abruptly, clapping a hand over my mouth.

“How you what?” Nora asked. “How you…feel about him?”

“Ahhh!” I squeezed my eyes shut and made a face. “I don’t know. Ask me something else.”

“Alright, how about this? How do you thinkNolanfeels aboutyou? There was a moment when he was helping you with the mirror glaze for your little chocolate petit fours today—”

“Ask me a question about baking!”

“Thatisa question about baking.”

“You know what I mean,” I protested. “Ask me a regular baking question. Something you’d ask someone else. That’s why we’re on the show, isn’t it?”

Nora laughed. “Pretty sure you yourself said that you’d be more than happy to lose the show if you ended up with a boyfriend. So, is that what you’re angling for now?”

“Oh my God,stahhhhp. This is embarrassing.”

“Just trying to find out if there’s more going on behind the scenes than what we saw in the tent today. I think viewers at home would love to know.”

“Nothing is going on,” I said, trying to appear as sincere as possible. “I swear. I’m pretty sure Nolan hates me.”

That much, at least, was true. Nolan might have started being nice to me on camera, but off-camera, he avoided me like the plague.

“I’m not so sure viewers would agree with that,” Nora said. “But if that’s the story you’re sticking to…well, maybe we’ll have more luck getting answers out of Nolan.”

“Oh my God, if you do, will you please tell me?” I leaned forward a bit. “Because honestly, the guy is so hard to read. One second he’s all quiet and mysterious, and the next, he’s being nice to me, and I don’t—” I broke off again and looked down at my lap.

---