The Billionaire’s Bun In Her Oven - Ellie Rowe Page 0,58

“We are about to roll on the ultimate episode of Into the Fire, are we excited?!” I give him a lame thumbs-up while Nadia blatantly ignores him.

“Good to hear. Big smiles! Stephen, we’ll start with you and we’re rolling in five, four, three, two…”

Stephen strides between us, taking the floor. I have an excellent view of his backside and realize too late the camera definitely could have caught me eyeing his ass. Oops. Focus, Cynthia.

“Welcome to a very special episode of Into the Fire. We’ve followed Cynthia these past few weeks as she worked to build her restaurant back up. For today’s live show, we’ve got a real treat for you. The chefs will be facing off, first preparing their entrée of choice, designed to be used at this very restaurant.”

I take a deep breath. Today is the day I get to prove what kind of chef I really am. Today’s the day I get to save my restaurant.

“Best of luck to you, chefs. You have one hour on the clock. Go!”

The timer dings, and Nadia and I both get to work. I’ve decided to make a seafood dish — seared salmon with a garlic honey glaze. I fell in love with this dish as a little kid, ordering it every time we went to the restaurant near my home.

Best of all, it’s fairly quick. I head to the fridge to grab my salmon when I hear Stephen’s voice.

“Nadia, I’d put that down if I were you, you don’t want to be disqualified.”

She scoffs and slams something down on the steel counter. “Are we not allowed to share ingredients?” she asks innocently.

“As a matter of fact, you are not, the rules were clearly stated not five minute ago. Or maybe you got a little too much hairspray stuck in your ear this morning. Let’s get to cooking, chop, chop.”

“Yes, chef,” she grumbles and bolts past me for whatever it was she tried to take. I smile warmly and look at Stephen. With his back to the camera, he gives me a wink as if to say, See? I told you, I’ve got you.

The hour flies by, I’ve got three out of four plated by the time the countdown starts. I’m really feeling the pressure now. It’s like some fucked up Happy New Year’s chant, only you don’t get to drink at the end or swap spit with a stranger. Depending on how this all goes, I could potentially be doing both.

“Six, five —” Stephen and the crew shout excitedly. I get my last plate finished and manage a quick garnish with the excess glaze before —

“One!” The timer buzzes. Nadia and I both shoot our arms up into the air. It’s done. The first challenge is done. I heave a sigh of relief.

I hadn’t been watching Nadia very closely during the countdown. All my ingredients and timers stayed put, so I didn’t feel the need to babysit.

I finally look over at her dish and am shocked. It looks fucking terrible. There’s barely any presentation, and the ribs look dry, but she’s covered them in some sort of bastardized version of my glaze.

Stephen steps between us and pats us on the back.

“Well done, chefs, there’s nothing like live television to spice things up, eh?” He gives Nadia a pointed smile that she does not return. “Ah, we’re having fun. Let’s get down to the dishes. Cynthia, you first.”

He wafts the scent of the dish and breathes deeply. Staring at the camera, he points to my plate, “That’s fantastic.”

Taking a fork, he breaks into the salmon. It flakes apart beautifully, just as I’d hoped, each piece kept together by the seared glaze at the bottom.

“Delightful. You see that flaky inside, perfectly pink, not overdone, we’ve got this glaze, seared to perfection, with the slightest hint of lemon to pull some of that oil away. It feels light, especially atop those greens. Perfect. Well done.”

“Thanks, chef,” I beam, looking away to stop myself from fawning over him like a fucking idiot.

“On to the next.” Stephen makes a face as he looks at Nadia’s dish.

“What the fuck is this?” he asks as he stabs a fork into the dry meat.

“Why don’t you taste it and find out,” Nadia smiles to the camera. Stephen raises an eyebrow and takes a bite.

“Hmm,” he makes a show of chewing, “bit dry, overdone it with the glaze, haven’t you? It’s too sweet, where’s the savory, Nadia? Mm, I’ll say this, the zucchini is crisp, delicious. Well done on