Matt nudged me, grinning.
“Told you,” he whispered in my ear.
I shivered as the words caressed my neck.
The other team was sent home amid tears, then Anastasia told us that the challenge for this episode would be pudding.
“Pudding?” Matt asked in confusion as I began to assemble all my ingredients. “Like the pudding cups you give to children?”
“Sweet naive winter child. These are English puddings, which are more like bread.” I blew him a kiss.
Matt didn’t look convinced.
“I am going to make an assortment of puddings, sweet ones and savory ones. Did you know that originally Christmas pudding had ox tongue and dried fruits in it? We’re going to make a bacon pudding, a sausage and cheese pudding, a chocolate pudding, and a sticky toffee pudding cake. We’ll present the judges with tiers of pudding cakes.”
I jotted down the notes of what I needed then headed back into the pantry area to grab my ingredients. Pork, beef, bacon, and three kinds of cheese for my savory puddings went into my basket, along with heavy cream from the cold fridge. I also grabbed potatoes, onions, mushrooms, and other vegetables. Chocolate was a must. I also needed a variety of dried fruit and some apples. After I selected my spices, I almost bumped into someone trying to exit the pantry.
“Excuse me,” I said, the pile of ingredients partially blocking my view.
“You are pathetic.”
I peeked around the food.
Hensley.
“You’re so thirsty, flirting with Matt, putting yourself into danger so he can rescue you,” she sneered. “I saw you last night, how you practically threw yourself at him, begged him to let you stay in his house.”
“Actually, it was the other way around,” I said irritated. “I don’t even like Matt. I have better taste than that.”
“Liar! You can’t stop staring at him!”
“So what if I can’t?” I asked, shifting my basket. My arms were getting tired.
“He doesn’t want someone like you,” Hensley sneered. “You should see where he grew up. You would be an embarrassment.”
“More embarrassing than a fiancée who cheats on him?” I shot back.
Hensley clenched her fists. “You don’t understand what happened. I bet you’ve never even been in a relationship. You can’t possibly appreciate what we had. People make mistakes. He’s going to forgive me and take me back.” She looked down her nose at me. “Probably once he’s fucked you to try to make me jealous.”
“Never going to happen. Unlike you, I have good taste.” Geez, people were crazy during Christmas.
Matt took the heavy basket from me when I got back to our baking station. He had removed his jacket and tie and rolled up his sleeves.
I drooled as he flexed his forearms.
“You’re giving Brody a run for his money,” I joked. Three stations over, Brody was juicing oranges, his biceps bulging.
Matt glowered at him. “He’s so unnecessary.”
The audience seemed to like it. Brody’s fan club of drunk women, young and old, screamed when he looked up and winked at them.
I pulled out the meat-grinding attachment and fixed it to the stand mixer. “What do you say? You want to go toe-to-toe? I need someone to grind up this meat for sausage. Or are you going to sit on your phone the entire time then show up at the last minute?”
“Since you clearly need the help,” Matt said, rolling his sleeve up to above his elbow, neatly creasing the starched cotton fabric. “I suppose I’ll have to grind your meat.”
“Er, okay.” Was he flirting with me?
Surely not.
