Laurin Kelly

A magical interspecies short story. When Adam answers an ad for work at a local bakery, he has no idea what he's in for. Despite the storefront's dilapidated condition and isolated location, a steady stream of customers come through hoping to find what they're looking for from Jin, the mysterious owner.

Season three of TV's hottest cooking competition, Under the Knife, is gearing up, and Nate is equal parts excited and terrified that he's one of the twelve competitors. But the prize is a quarter of a million dollars, and that's worth a few weeks of being stressed and afraid. It may not, however, be worth weeks of putting up with Zachary, the cold, snotty competitor who definitely thinks he's better than everyone else. The man can cook, and he's the hottest man Nate has ever seen, but every time he opens his mouth Nate hates him all over again. He came here to be driven crazy trying to prove he's the best chef in the world, but if Nate can't learn to block Zachary out it won't be the competition that pushes him to the breaking point.