“Not too bad,” I replied. “I hope you like lemon meringue pie, because there’ll be plenty to go around after today’s episode.”
I’d gotten used to Grayson showing up on set throughout the day. We’d fallen back into an easy friendship, and I was enjoying it more than I should, considering once the show was over, I was fairly certain we’d go back to not speaking to each other.
And losing him again would hurt more than I cared to think about at that moment.
“Love it. But you haven’t ever made anything I haven’t liked.”
I concentrated on setting out all the ingredients and bowls I needed for today’s recipe, trying to hide the blush creeping over my face. We were only friends, after all, so his compliment shouldn’t make me feel as excited as it did.
Baking was my job, so if nobody liked what I made, I’d go out of business. But compliments seemed to sound even better coming from Grayson.
He leaned against my station, settling in.
“What are you doing tonight?” he asked suddenly.
I smiled when I spotted his relaxed stance. Whenever he talked to me, all his attention was only on me.
He’d always been like that. If you had him, you had all of him. And having his undivided attention was the best feeling in the world.
“Sleeping?” I phrased my answer as a question, since that was what I’d been planning on doing.
“You think you can put off sleep for a few hours and hang out with me instead?”
Romantic relationships between contestants, or contestants and staff, were grounds for termination. But since we were just friends, there was no rule in place that prohibited us from hanging out. It wasn’t encouraged, but as long as we both kept our hands to ourselves, there was nothing they could do about it.
And despite knowing what a bad idea it was to spend so much time with him, I couldn’t help but jump at the chance to do so. “Sure. Where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise. I’ll pick you up as soon as filming wraps.” He left after shooting me one more grin.
I couldn’t remember what I’d already put out on the bench and had to check my ingredients three times. Five minutes with Grayson and my brain refused to function.
The day went by faster than I thought it would. Unfortunately, we didn’t finish filming the segment, but we did wrap up while it was still light outside.
We had at least another eight hours of filming ahead of us, so the director made the call to shoot it all the next day.
At least the pie would have plenty of time to chill that way. Most recipes we’d had to bake so far were impossible to make in only two hours. The ‘reality’ in reality show was a farce, since ten hours of filming gave us only about twenty minutes of footage on some days.
I finished cleaning my station and put everything away in record time, excited to spend time with Grayson.
When he still hadn’t shown up, even after everyone had left, I pulled off my apron and made my way to his office.
He probably hadn’t expected us to finish for at least another hour. I wondered if I should make use of the extra time and go back to the hotel to freshen up.
But since this wasn’t an actual date, I didn’t have to put too much effort into my appearance. Or shave every inch of my body.
His office door was closed, so I knocked, then waited. We might be friends, but I knew better than to barge in.
“Come in,” he called out, and I stepped into his domain with a smile. A smile that slipped right off my face when I spotted Wynona sitting on the edge of his desk, facing Grayson, her back to the door.
She glanced over her shoulder and speared me with a scathing look before turning her attention back to him. She’d been great at dismissing me ever since we met, making me feel insignificant at every turn.
I didn’t know why the dismissal still affected me. It was something I should be used to by now from his girlfriends. It was the only reaction they ever had to me.
I stopped dead and stumbled over my words. “I can come back. Or you can pick me up at the hotel. If we’re still going, of course.”
I bit my lip to stop myself from rambling on. Not only was I once again reminded that he felt nothing but friendship for me, but I also felt out of place. Why did he ask me to hang out if he had a girlfriend anyway?
“Stay, please. I’m done for the day.” Grayson stood up, buttoning his jacket.
