Page 57 of The Baking Games

"I think so. I'm going to consider that a win."

Honestly, I can't tell her how much I've enjoyed this. I'm not exactly a people person. I don't open up well to others. I don't have a large circle of friends. I've always been a loner, all about business.

And being forced to have these small talk chats with someone seemed like it would be horrible. But with Savannah, it's been easy. I see why people like her, and I feel kind of bad about being such a jerk during our days at pastry chef school.

"Can I say something?"

"Well, I really can't get away from you, given that I'm chained to you right now," she says.

"I want to apologize."

“Rhett Jennings is about to apologize to me for something. Hang on, let me get settled." She sits up straight and turns her body toward mine, looking very interested in whatever it is I'm about to say.

Honestly, I don't know what I'm about to say, but for some reason, I love it when she says my full name. I sit up and face her. "I was horrible to you during school, and I just want to apologize for that. I didn't know you well, and I didn't make any kind of effort to get to know you better. I just judged you on surface-level stuff, so I just wanted to apologize.”

She smiles slightly and nods her head. "Thank you. You actually don't know how much I appreciate that. I never understood why you didn't like me, and unfortunately, I'm one of those people who cares if other people like me."

"Yeah, well, I'm one of those people who doesn't care if other people like me, as you can probably tell."

She reaches over and touches my knee, which shocks me and sends a bolt of electricity up my body. "Well, for what it's worth, I think you're actually a pretty nice guy sometimes.”

She pulls her hand back, and I instantly feel a void. Should I ask her to put it back on my knee? Would that be weird? Would that get me arrested? I decide not to say anything. "Don't tell anybody I'm a nice guy. It'll ruin my reputation."

She laughs, and then I feel this moment of chemistry between us. The smile goes away on her face, and suddenly, I can feel us leaning toward each other. What's happening? It's like some sort of magnetic attraction. Are we about to kiss? I don't understand. Just as I'm about to find out, the light flips on in the courtyard without warning.

“What's going on out here?"

Connor.

Connor is standing there ruining the moment, as usual.

"Are you trying to blind us?" I yell out.

"I was coming out here to play some pool. I can't sleep. I'm too excited about the upcoming challenge, but it seems like I may have interrupted a romantic interlude."

Savannah's face turns red, but I can’t tell if it’s due to embarrassment or anger.

"You're not interrupting anything, man. Except for us relaxing out here after a run. We're not exactly able to get away from each other."

"Yeah, I bet you'd love to get away from her. I remember that feeling all too well," he says, walking over to the pool table, oblivious to the fact that he actually did just interrupt something. What it was, I have no idea.

"Maybe we should head back upstairs," Savannah says.

"Yeah. Suddenly, the air down here has gotten very limited," I say, standing up.

"Good night, lovebirds," Connor says under his breath as we pass him. I've never wanted to punch somebody square in the nose as much as I want to punch him right now. He has the most punchable face I've ever seen. Instead, I follow Savannah through the kitchen and the foyer and up the stairs, wondering what that moment between us was. We're going to go lay in beds now, right next to each other, chained together, and I don't know if I just missed out on a kiss or if she was about to headbutt me or what was going on. I guess I'll never know.

CHAPTER 16

SAVANNAH

What in the heck just happened? I think I almost kissed Rhett. Was he leaning forward toward me, too? Why did I touch his knee? That was a strange thing to do. He probably thinks I'm some kind of a weirdo.

These are all the thoughts that I'm thinking as we walk back upstairs to go to bed. Now I have to lay next to him all night, him in his little twin bed and me in mine, with a chain draped between us. I'll be so glad when we can disconnect, and I can go back to my normal life of talking to Maggie about my problems and missing my sister. I don't know what's going on in my head. Maybe it's just because I need some companionship, and it feels good to have somebody talking to me and paying attention to me. Connor never really did very well at that. Maybe that's all it is.

Surely I'm not attracted to Rhett Jennings, of all people. He's my rival, isn't he? Is he still my rival? Have we become friends? I'm completely confused. My brain is just going round and round in circles, and I can't get the chatter to turn off.

We get back to the room, and Rhett asks one of the producers to disconnect us for a moment so he can remove the jacket that he’s given me. Neither one of us wants to sleep with a jacket on. I go to the bathroom, wash my face, use the restroom, and come back out. The producer chains us back up again. Thank goodness this will be over soon.