Page 8 of Sensuous

“That assumes I don’t have a restaurant that I’m going to get when my father and Kane retire.”

Another eye roll comes in response to that statement of fact. “Do you want to wait until they decide to quit working to have your own restaurant? Imagine it. No Kane hiring only people his age with a million years of experience. Running the entire place your way instead of their way. It would be great, wouldn’t it?”

It would be nice to work with someone close to my age. That will happen when I take over CK, though.

“I can see by the look on your face that you’re thinking about it,” Cade says with a knowing smile. He’s had to listen to me complain about how there’s no one even close to my age in the kitchen more than once.

“What’s the worst that can happen if you do this? You’re the best at what you do. Show it off and win some money.”

“Something tells me I’m going to regret it if I do this,” I say with a laugh.

“Don’t be ridiculous. The only time you regret things is when you don’t do them. That’s the hedonist in you. So go do it and have some fun.”

Maybe he’s right. What’s the worst that can happen? I can handle a little drama, I guess, and it’s a reality cooking show. I’ll do what I do best and win some good money.

“And regarding your inability to get a woman, you can just keep telling people you’re single because you like being a bachelor.”

I shake my head at his need to bust my balls. “Fuck you.”

Cade throws his head back and laughs. “That wouldn’t solve your problem.”

After I toss back the rest of my whiskey, I set the glass down on the bar to leave. “Thanks for the drinks. We should do this again sometime. You know, when you’re allowed to come out and play.”

Cade takes my less than subtle dig with the right attitude and rolls his eyes. “You’re just jealous. You wish you had someone like Hailey.”

I wave off his comment as I turn to head toward the door. He’s not entirely wrong, though. It would be nice to have someone who knows about my job to spend time with. Since I work with chefs who are all Kane’s age after he decided a minimum of ten years’ experience was absolutely necessary to work at CK, it’s not like I’m going to find anyone at work.

Then again, I’ve never met a woman who makes me want to settle down, and I work constantly, so finding the one like Cade, Liam, and Cash have seems unlikely.

CHAPTER FOUR

Kat

My hands trembleas the group of us wait for the last contestant to arrive on the set, so I hide them behind my back in the hope that no one will see how nervous I am. I don’t know what the stories of the rest of the people are, but mine includes being downright desperate to get enough money to move the hell out of my current position at the restaurant and out of the apartment Sadie and I share with nosy neighbors and creeps who watch us sunbathe.

I nervously glance around at the other people I’ll be competing against and have to stifle the urge to burst into tears. I can do this. Sadie’s right. I am a good cook. The producers of the show wouldn’t have approached me to audition if they didn’t think I had a chance to win the million-dollar prize.

All I need to do is believe in myself.

And thenhewalks in, and all my confidence evaporates into thin air.

Alex March. Head chef at CK, one of the premier restaurants in the entire Tampa area. Confident as all hell and for goodreason. He’s gorgeous, charming, and possibly the most talented chef I’ve ever heard of.

He has no idea, but I had the chance to experience his cooking one time my parents came to town to visit me. It was the best meal I’ve ever had, and my father, the man who’s been the head chef at some of the finest restaurants in New York City, couldn’t rave enough about the food. He even asked the chef to come out to see us to gush over his talent, but I hurried off to the ladies’ room because I couldn’t stand hearing my own father heap such praise on a perfect stranger while he's never said even a single word about anything I’ve ever made him.

And to think I had the nerve to say Sadie has daddy issues.

“Ladies and gentlemen, our final contestant has finally joined us, so come in close and we’ll get started,” the man named Jonathan says in that deep voice of his.

Alex flashes a sexy smile as he walks over toward where the rest of us have gathered. “Sorry about being late. I got tied up with someone at work and couldn’t get away.”

With one of his many admirers, for sure. Or maybe he had some woman servicing him and he didn’t want to leave before he finished.

The nicest of the three producers and the one I like most, Shane, smiles at me and begins giving us his pep talk. “Okay, we’ve got a great group here, so we’re looking forward to a fantastic time on Chef on Chef. You’ve all gotten contracts you’ve signed, so you know how this is going to go. You’ll get to know one another as time goes on, and in my opinion, that makes things more realistic.”

The third producer, Maria, lets out a tiny laugh and says with a smile, “As if that has anything to do with what we do.”

“Just a little refresher about how this is scripted. We’re going to watch you all this week and then see what kind of plotlines we can come up with. Reality shows have nothing to do with reality,so keep that in mind. We know how to make good TV, so you do what you do best, and let us do our thing. Okay, everyone has a station they’ve been assigned to, so head there now and let’s make some reality TV magic!”

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