Page 84 of I'll Carry You

She gave him a side-eye and reached for the melted butter he’d brought back from the microwave. “You’ll see.”

“What are you going to serve it on, a broken plate?” His mouth twitched in a smile.

“No.” She gave him a mock glare, trying to hide a smile. His ability to make her laugh wasn’t funny under these circumstances, but it was one of the things she liked about him the most.Sarcastic asshole. Maybe that was her problem. The asshole part. She’d fallen for him despite that.

She dumped chocolate into a double boiler. “Take this over to the stove and put this on medium heat, between four and six on the dial. Then stir the chocolate until it melts. I have to make these tart shells.” She found a heart-shaped mold that would work perfectly.

“Anyone ever told you you’re bossy?” He lifted a brow at her.

She smirked. “Only in the kitchen.”

He leaned closer to her and said in a voice only she could hear, “Notonly in the kitchen.” Then he turned toward the stove and started on the task she’d given him.

The feel of his breath near her ear made her shiver. She focused on her tart shells, feeling torn. She couldn’t control the response of her body toward him. Not unless she willed herself to hate him.

But she didn’t hate him.

She wasn’t even sure she should punish him like this.

Maybe she was just stupid. Dan had given her a lecture, warning her to watch herself around Jason and be smart about him. But they didn’t know him like she did either.

Wasn’t that what every woman in a bad relationship said?

The next two hours seemed to fly, with Peter coming by for a few interviews once again and the crew focusing more on what she was making. Everything she did seemed like it had to be perfect, as a cameraman followed her hands, focusing tightly on the food she was making.

What if people watching this on television thought she looked like an amateur? Or, worse still, a hack?

Her brain felt fuzzy, weary, but Jason was there each step beside her, charming the camera, joking with Peter as though they were old friends, easing the pressure she felt mounting on her shoulders. He was careful to maintain a distance that probably didn’t look awkward to others but felt like a chasm to her.

The timer ticked down toward the last minute, and Jen nodded toward Jason. “Fill that metal measuring cup with that spiced rum, will you?”

She’d pulled out the chocolate shell, shaped like a sphere, that she’d left in the blast chiller and set it on the ramekin she’d heated. The bottom of the sphere melted away and then she set the chocolate sphere over the plated chocolate tart covered with marshmallow whipped cream.

Just as she finished decorating with strawberries, the time was called and she stepped back.

Jason frowned at her. “I thought you said it was a chocolate tart,” he muttered in a low voice as they carried it to the judges’ table.

“It is.”

“All I see is a chocolate globe. A beautiful one, but—” He stopped talking abruptly as they reached the judges.

Jen snuck a glance at the desserts the other couples had made. One of them had made a sugar cookie house, complete with little cutout sugar cookie people.Why hadn’t she thought of something like that?It was cute and fit the Christmas season perfectly. Maybe it was because she hadn’t really felt in the Christmas spirit lately.

The other couple had made what appeared to be bread pudding with ice cream, which while it looked delicious, also looked homemade and messy. She bit her lip. She wasn’t in any position to be snarky, really. The judges might not appreciate the showy surprise she had for them.

One by one, they explained their desserts, and the judges tried them—and once again, Jen and Jason were last.

When it was their turn, they stepped in front of them. The judges stared at them with blank expressions, but it was hard for Jen to look at their faces. Even Peter, whom she’d known all her life. She’d gone on vacation with the Yardleys, for goodness’ sake. Lindsay had been her best friend since kindergarten.

Jen cleared her throat. “I—we made a chocolate tart with marshmallow whipped cream, because...even though our time together has been limited, every time we’re together, time is what we want s’more of.”

The audience chuckled. The cheesy line had sounded just as bad in her head, but whatever.Go with it.She should have told Jason to say it—he would have done a better job.

“But all I see is a chocolate ball,” Peter countered.

Jen nodded, then smiled.Please let this work.“It’s because there’s s’more to it. A visual depiction and surprise.” She pulled a lighter out of her apron, then lit the rum on fire. It lit into a brilliant blue. Tilting the flaming rum over the chocolate ball, she covered the outside of the chocolate with the fiery liquid. The chocolate sphere melted around the tart and coated the whole thing with chocolate.

The audience gasped, then burst into applause.

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