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I rolled my eyes at the old insult. “As I told him, it’s impossible to taste joy when his head is shoved so far up his ass.” I waved away the thought. “If you’re inclined to get revenge on my behalf, send him some of your Satan’s scrotum snickerdoodles or something.”

Adler howled with laughter, bringing tears to his eyes that he had to wipe away. “Oh, it would be my honor. Because if you think my desserts are war crimes? That man’s entire career is proof that not all villains wear capes—some wear aprons and make salmon foam.”

My interest in Adler spiked a little higher. “Exactly, you get me. Now, tell me about you.”

“Roland and I are competitive as hell and tend to take things too far sometimes. A few years ago, he dared me to eat a ghost pepper while he was filming me. My reaction went viral on social media, which was a shock.”

“Why am I not surprised it was a dare that started it all?”

“Probably because it’s a well-known fact I’m wildly competitive.” Adler chuckled as he continued browning the meat on each side. “Of course, I followed that up by making a ghost pepper caramel cake for his birthday, which I filmed him eating when he didn’t know it was secretly spicy. That went viral as well. I mostly did it as pranks on my friends in the beginning, but somehow, I lucked into Roland’s cousin’s neighbor’s wife’s sister’s best friend’s hairdresser knowing Kieran Aiello through his stylist.”

I raised my eyebrows at the long list of names and seven degrees of separation from the famous Hollywood actor. “It’s amazing you can remember everyone who was involved.”

“It’s easy when it was the best thing that could have happened. Nemia played him the video, and he thought it was the funniest shit he had ever seen. He reached out and asked if he could be in an episode with me. Once I realized it wasn’t Roland pranking me, I almost died of shock.”

“I’m not surprised. Kieran’s one of the rare, nice guys in Hollywood. My staff loves when he comes to my restaurants. He’s great about taking pictures with them, signing stuff, and talking to them. He always remembers the servers’ names.”

“That tracks with my experience with him. He was so genuinely enthusiastic, and it was his idea to do the spicy progression of desserts instead of just a single one, so I went all out for his video, which exploded my popularity. After that, his famous friends started asking to come on the channel, then their friends, and it sort of spiraled into the phenomenon that it turned into. I still have a hard time believing it’s real sometimes.”

“You’ve made something incredible. I feel bad for judging you without knowing much,” I admitted, which was rare for me to acknowledge I was in the wrong. “I’ve been in Michelin-star restaurants that have desserts that aren’t even half as good as yours.”

“Wow, I wish you had said that on camera,” he laughed, turning off the burner. He transferred the tenderloin back to the baking pan before putting it in the oven to finish roasting and set a timer. With that done, he turned his full attention to me, a sensual gleam in his eyes.

And damned if that didn’t make my dick harden with interest.

ChapterSix

Adler

“So, in the spirit of that boldly taking what you want thing we were discussing earlier,” I said, stepping closer to my perfect partner. “I’m going to be totally up-front and honest with you.”

It was interesting watching him smother the urge to grin. “Okay,” he agreed in a neutral tone.

I steeled my nerves to shoot my shot, praying it wouldn’t be in vain. “You’re the reason I figured out my dick was good for more than just taking a piss.”

Niccolò burst into laughter, covering his mouth to hold in more of his mirth. It was sweet he didn’t want to offend me, but I was trying to make the manbreak.

“My sexual awakening happened when I saw you berate a chef onUnder Pressureabout how his knife skills were so bad, you were amazed he still had all his fingers.”

Another chuckle escaped him. “Are you saying you grew up jerking off to my insults?”

“Have I come to a clip of you yelling, ‘I’ve seen more life in a cemetery than in this soulless trifle’ at a contestant? Absolutely.Repeatedly. Those compilation videos of your best insults are basically my porn.”

I was proud of myself for stunningtheNiccolò de Rosa into silence. That almost never happened. He narrowed his eyes as he studied me with curiosity. “Isthatwhy you blindfolded me during filming? So I wouldn’t notice you got aroused as I insulted you the entire time?”

There was no sense in being bashful now. “Not gonna lie, that was a big part of why I did that, because I filmed everything hard as a fucking rock. Especially because the only thing sexier than you insulting me was complimenting me.”

“What was the other part?”

“It felt kinky as fuck to do that to the man who has starred in all my wet dreams and fantasies since I was thirteen.”

He couldn’t stop himself from grinning despite his best efforts. “I love how you admit that with zero embarrassment.”

I shrugged. “What’s there to be embarrassed about? You’re hot as fuck, a Michelin-starred chef, my cooking idol, and you’re standing right in front of me. It would be weirder if Ididn’task to suck your dick.”

The corner of his mouth turned up in a grin as he closed the distance between us. He tilted my chin up to meet his gaze while lowering his voice. “Is that all you want to do?”

“Of course not, but that’s all we have time for before the tenderloin comes out of the oven.”