Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Travis
After Alexander and Kiana piled into a ranch vehicle and headed for the hospital, Jada considered canceling the riding competition altogether, but the contestants took a vote and wanted to continue tomorrow.
It wasn’t a surprise to anyone that Mia had the winning time the next day. She navigated the course like an expert. Apparently, she’d grown up on a ranch in Texas and used to barrel race.
For the last part of the three-part challenge, we gathered near one of the bunkhouses. Four tables were set up in front of the smoker with identical sets of ingredients, utensils, and pans, including a portable burner.
“Ladies,” Jada said, “in case you haven’t guessed it, this challenge involves food. Barbeque, to be exact. The thing about Travis that you may or may not know is that he loves barbeque.”
The women looked over at me for confirmation, and I nodded. “It’s true. I love a good ‘que.”
“Chicken, ribs, brisket, salmon,” Jada continued.
“You name it. If it can be grilled and Travis is in his human form, he’ll eat it.
In his wolf form, though, he prefers raw meat.
” She paused to give them a chance to laugh at her dumb joke, which a few of them did.
“So, for this part of the challenge, you’ll be making your own barbeque sauce from scratch.
Those of you who did the earlier challenges can give input to your teammate, but the measuring, mixing and cooking will be done by her alone.
The ribs are almost ready, so Travis will taste your sauces in a blind taste test and choose the winner.
Remember, the team with the highest overall score from all three of the challenges will be safe from elimination and go on a group date with Travis tomorrow night. ”
Jada handed out several Darkaway Ranch aprons, a different color for each team.
Daphne and the others took their places behind the tables.
“Ladies, are you ready?”
They nodded.
“Okay, go!”
There was a flurry of activity as the women started grabbing ingredients and dumping them into pans and bowls, while their teammates shouted instructions.
“Start with the ketchup!”
“Ack! That’s too much vinegar!”
“Turn on your portable burner!”
“Use more garlic! He’s not a vampire.”
Everyone went into a mixing and measuring frenzy. Everyone, that is, except Daphne.
Totally focused, she stood there and took stock of all the items in front of her.
She picked up a bottle of something, chewed on her lip as she read the label, then carefully set it back down.
Her teammates were yelling at her to get going, but Daphne seemed oblivious to them. She was in her own little world.
Intrigued, I kept watching as she sniffed a jar of spices and sprinkled a little on her hand.
Taking a taste, she looked over at me, cocked her head and narrowed her eyes, as if she were trying to figure out if this flavor was something I would like.
She did this with virtually every ingredient on her table.
Unconventional, yes, but the way she picked up each bottle with her pinkie finger extended was so fucking adorable.
And every time she looked at me, I felt the heat of her stare.
Unable to keep my eyes off of her, I barely watched the others.
"Come on," Mia screamed. “Get moving!” I thought the woman was going to pop a blood vessel.
But Daphne clearly wasn't one to be rushed. When she finally started mixing the ingredients she’d assembled, she did it slowly and methodically.
She put the pan on the burner, adjusted the heat, and took a taste.
Then her eyes locked on mine again, a thoughtful expression on her face.
She reached for a jar, hesitated, then grabbed another, sprinkling a little of whatever it was into the pan before stirring again.
This went on a few more times—taste, adjust, stir—until finally, Jada was counting down from ten to one.
“Time!”
The women threw their hands in the air and stepped away from their tables.
Jada made a show of shooing me away so that she could arrange the sauces into a blind taste test. As I walked off with a cameraman trailing behind, I overheard Mia berating Daphne for not listening to her—something about the wrong ratio of ketchup to vinegar.
I bristled at her caustic tone, but Daphne told the woman to zip it and held her ground.
Good girl. She wasn’t about to let someone else second guess her. Not even a vampire.
While I was sequestered on the far side of the barn, one of the producers asked for my opinion about what made the perfect barbeque sauce so they could get it on camera.
Honestly, I hadn’t given it much thought.
I just liked what I liked. So, I made up some bullshit about it having to be the perfect amount of tangy and sweet.
I returned to find a table covered in a red and white tablecloth, four plates of ribs slathered in sauce, each marked A, B, C and D.
“They all look delicious,” I said as I sat in the hot seat. “How am I going to pick just one?”
The women laughed, some a little too exuberantly.
I tucked a napkin into my shirt and began sampling the ribs. They were fall-off-the-bone tender, thanks to the ranch’s longtime cook, a bear shifter named Elvis Marsh.
“Elvis,” I called to the old man standing behind the grill. “You’ve outdone yourself again.”
He tipped his hat to me.
The barbeque sauces were all very different from each other.
One was cloyingly sweet with a gritty texture, like the sugar hadn’t completely dissolved.
Another was too tangy, almost sour, with an overpowering vinegar flavor.
The third? It was just plain odd. I couldn’t place why…
only that I didn’t like the taste. Too many strange, competing flavors. This sauce was probably Daphne’s.
Only one of them was a good combination of tangy, sweet and spicy. I took another bite. It was really delicious.
I filled out the form and handed it to Jada before I changed my mind. Part of me wanted to choose Daphne’s sauce so that I wouldn’t have to send her home tonight. Even though it was the right thing to do in the scheme of things, I still felt pretty shitty about it.
Jada looked at the form then shot me a withering glance.
“What?” I mouthed.
She gave her head a curt little shake then she held up the bullhorn. “The winner of the barbeque challenge and the overall Ranch Challenge is…”
When the show aired, this was the part where they’d cut to clips of the women waiting nervously for the results as tense, dramatic music played in the background.
The producers would draw it out, panning over each woman to catch every chewed lip and worried look on camera.
Maybe they’d even go to a commercial break first.
The only one who didn’t seem to be holding her breath was Daphne. She was licking her thumb, trying to clean off a splotch of barbeque sauce on her purple apron, as if that was her most pressing concern at the moment.
“…the purple team!” There were gasps and shrieks. “Congratulations, ladies. You’re safe from elimination and will go on a group date with our bachelor tomorrow.”
Daphne’s head jerked up in surprise. “We won?”
Mia pulled her into a bear hug. “I knew you could do it.”
“Good going, Travis,” Jada muttered under her breath as I studied the winning plate of ribs again. This one was Daphne’s? Given the unconventional way she’d made her sauce, I’d assumed the bizarre-tasting one was hers.
I’d geared myself up that I would be sending her home tonight, but now two other women would be leaving instead. The reality was she could be taking the place of someone who would’ve been my perfect temporary mate.
No wonder Jada was ticked off at me.
I glanced over to where Daphne stood with her teammates. Smashed against Mia’s chest, she was smiling awkwardly and giving Sarah a high-five. The other teams gathered around the three women to congratulate them.
When the camera focused on me again, I gave a thumb’s up, then took another bite…and another. These ribs really were delicious.
Although it made no sense, none whatsoever in the scheme of things, I was secretly relieved. This woman intrigued me on so many levels. And it wasn’t just because her barbeque sauce was the shit.
No, I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to Daphne yet. Even though a part of me knew I should.