When they were lined up in the staging area again, Ashna could barely bring herself to care about what the judges thought. Then their plates were in front of the judges and adrenaline started to pump through her. Reaching for Rico’s hands, she pulled his arms around herself.

His heartbeat thudded against her back. They were up first.

“What on earth was that?” the food editor judge asked, mimicking (very exaggeratedly) Ashna’s knife move.

The rom-com director stood up and clapped, setting off another round of hooting applause. “That, my friend, was fabulous television.”

“Looks like we’re witnessing the beginning of something here.” The chef judge who had been most critical of their food threw a suggestive look between them.

“What gave us away?” Rico said lazily, and Ashna laughed.

“So, we’re not wrong, then?” the other chef judge asked.

Ashna shrugged at the camera.

“As a matter of fact . . .” Rico said, his tone insanely reckless.

Ashna’s heart started to hammer. Her entire family was in the audience. The entire world was watching.

His hands rubbed up and down her arms. “There is something I’ve been meaning to ask Chef Raje, and it makes sense that you’re all here to witness it.” His hand went to his pants pocket.

Every single person in the audience gasped.

Ashna thought she was going to faint.

“Ashna Raje, would you do me the honor of—” he said with far too much sincerity and anticipation as he reached into his pocket. He pulled out his phone. “—of giving me your number? Because it’s about damn time.”

Ashna pressed her face into her hands, her heart falling back in her chest. Laughter exploded in the room. Nisha and Trisha were on their feet whooping.

Instead of dying of mortification, Ashna burst into laughter—clean untainted laughter. “I thought you’d never ask,” she said, bringing the audience to their feet again. Then, taking Rico’s phone from him, she entered her number.

Finally, the judges tasted their dish, and loved it, but no one seemed to care.

The other two dishes were just as spectacular. Danny El had managed to make some sort of turducken, which was creepy and amazing at the same time.

When he won, Ashna could hardly begrudge him.

“I came here to prove something,” she said when they shot reactions to the results. She sought her mother out in the crowd. “And to get people to discover Curried Dreams. What I’m taking away from here is something I never thought I’d find again.”

If that wasn’t the understatement of her life, she didn’t know what was.

After a long few hours of celebrations and interviews, Ashna and Rico made their way back to Rico’s hotel.

They started kissing in the elevator and Ashna was convinced her life had turned into a movie. They stumbled into the suite, still kissing.