Soufflés at Sunrise by M.J. O'Shea and Anna Martin Page A

you’re safe?” he asked.
    Chase nodded. “I don’t think I won, but they all seemed to like mine. I think if I were in the bottom three, I’d have gotten worse comments.”
    “Yeah, me too.”
    Kai wanted to lean into Chase and nuzzle his face into Chase’s neck. Not a familiar feeling, for sure. It wasn’t the time or place, though, with the others all crowded into a tiny room with them. Sure, some knew. And they seemed to be fine with it. But he didn’t put it past others, ahem , Clarissa, to use what they knew against him or Chase.
    They were called back into the main judging room with the typical drama and pomp. The judges looked at them.
    Diego spoke up. “There were some excellent cheesecakes today. For some of you, New York would be proud of how you represented their iconic dessert. But we can have only one winner, and that winner showed us a classic cheesecake with a literal rainbow of fresh, delicious flavors. Our cheesecake champion is Kai!”
    Kai couldn’t believe he’d won the challenge. He’d have thought this would be his worst. He went up and shook hands with the judges and then went back to the group of chefs.
    “Can I have Dreya, Louis, and Aaron come forward.”
    All three of them trudged to the judges’ table. They had to know they were the bottom—none of them had performed particularly well all week.
    “This week we had three low scores. Aaron, your cheesecake had good flavor and lovely texture, but we didn’t know where you were going with it. It had no identity, no unique qualities. Louis, your cheesecake was beautiful, but the flavor wasn’t there. You have to have both style and taste to avoid the flames. Dreya, we didn’t know what to make of your dessert. Sometimes taking a risk pays off, but your savory jalapeño cheddar cheesecake did not. The judges felt that it tasted like bad nachos. They didn’t know how to eat it or if they even wanted to. Dreya… I’m sorry. But you’ve been Burned .”

C HAPTER F IVE I F THE C HOUX F ITS— T HE P ASTRY C HALLENGE
     
     
    W ELCOME TO Burned , where we find fresh new cooking talent… and a few culinary disasters!
    Last week everyone adored Kai’s fresh and fruity tropical cheesecake, but we lost Dreya when her savory jalapeño cheesecake confused our judges more than wowed them. Sometimes creativity is a hit. In her case it was a miss, or should we say a burn? We’ll miss Dreya and her unique style, but there are fabulous prizes to be won and still eleven contestants left to win them!
    This week it’s about to get a bit more difficult…. Our chefs will be making a dessert featuring choux pastry. It’s tricky and finicky, but our chefs are up to the challenge. We know they’ll knock it out of the park. And if they don’t? Well, we all know what happens then….
    Remember, our grand prize winner gets a year of pastry training in Paris, a whole kitchen’s worth of top-of-the-line commercial tools and appliances, and a hundred thousand dollars for his or her own business.
    With stakes this big, we ask the one question on everyone’s mind: Do these chefs have what it takes to rise to the top? Or will they get Burned ?
     
     
    C HASE COULDN ’ T decide if he was sad to see Dreya go or not. Her crazy hippy attitude and style could be a little overwhelming, but she was a nice person. Unlike a few of the others. It was still early days of the competition, though it seemed that with each week that passed, the pressure got turned up a little higher.
    He didn’t have the final in his sights—not yet, at least. Chase was focusing on getting through one week at a time, taking each challenge as it came, and giving it his all. There were other distractions, of course; he missed his family, missed the home he’d made for himself and the comfortable life with his business and his friends and his cat. Then there was Kai. Kai who kissed him and laughed with him and, apparently, dated him—if going out a few times could really be called