“That was necessary.”
“You lectured about towels.”
“That was also necessary.”
“You lectured about the spiritual dangers of basil.”
“That was charity.”
I laughed, and his thumb brushed the tape roll once, restless and controlled. I wanted that thumb on my wrist again. I wanted it on my mouth. I wanted yesterday and tomorrow and the next quiet morning at his cabin, which was an extremely dangerous want for a woman with a tied score and no idea what the final challenge would be.
Flint stepped half a foot closer. “After today—”
My breath caught.
“Sunny!” Caprice called from the clearing. “I need you in two.”
I looked toward her, then back at Flint. “She has terrible timing.”
“She has a gift for it.”
“What were you going to say?”
His jaw worked once. He looked past me toward the meadow, then back to my face. “After today, we talk, but not on camera and not with Caprice timing us.”
My ribs felt too small. “Talk about what?”
“I mean us.”
The answer hit my ribs and stayed there. It wasn’t a full promise, but it wasn’t nothing.
I nodded, because if I opened my mouth too fast, I might say something reckless like yes, please, or I already want that.
Then I ruined the tenderness because I was still me. “Should I bring cue cards, or are you going to improvise?”
His expression warmed. “You’d hate my cue cards.”
“Would they say practical things?”
“They’d say direct things.”
My pulse kicked. “That’s worse.”
“Maybe it is.”
Caprice clapped twice. “Sunny!”
I grabbed towels from the table. “After the final round.”
“After the final round,” Flint said.
I walked back into the clearing with the towels held tight against my chest and my heart trying to beat its way out through my apron pocket.
The meadow had shifted into final-round prep. Ed moved the cable snake. Joelle marked boundaries with bright tape. Caprice paced near the camera, phone in hand, headset live, sunglasses sliding down her nose. Flint returned to his side, shovel propped nearby, pans set with old-school simplicity beside his fire ring.
My own table waited bright and ready under the Sunday sun.
Caprice stopped pacing and lifted her voice. “Everyone, reset. We’re shooting the final-round tease now. The actual reveal is at six, after wardrobe reset and one last station check. Competitors, get on your marks. No one opens the sealed card until I say so. Ed, I need Sunny and Flint in the same wide shot now, then tight reaction later. Joelle, confirm both setups are cold. Flint, do not glare at my camera angle unless something is actively unsafe. Sunny, give me face, fire, and food destiny.”
