We arrived at the Santa Monica pier in no time at all. The truck helped to lower our fishing boat into the water. Chef Ramsay took the helm, steering us backward carefully until the boat was safely into the water.

Red peered carefully over the edge of the boat, "This is my first time being on a boat. Actually, this is my first time seeing the ocean, too." she nervously stated to no one in particular, eyes locked on the endlessly deep blue water.

Dave sauntered up to Red and tapped her shoulder, breaking her daze, "you know Red, I'm a really good swimmer. If you fall in, you'll be fine, I've got you!" Dave made a Superman pose and smiled at her.

She looked even more afraid, however, "I wasn't even thinking about falling in! Is that going to happen? Does that happen often? Oh God..." she started wringing her hands together.

Dave deflated, then sat down next to her, "aw Red, I didn't mean to scare you. I thought that's what you were worried about is all." he mumbled.

After that exchange, I knew that Red was probably going to be paralyzed for the remainder of however long we were going to be out fishing.

"(Y/N)?" came Chef Ramsay's voice from the cockpit of the boat. I quickly made my way to him.

"Yes, Chef?" I asked.

"Would you mind being a dear and grabbing the bait and tackle box from the cabin? We need to start getting everyone's lines baited." he requested, his blue eyes still steady on the ocean before him.

"Of course Chef, I'll go get it now," I responded, making my way below deck. The ship wasn't that large, and below deck, I couldn't make out any camera crew. This was my chance!

Hurriedly, I opened the note that Ramsay had secretly given me. On it was a single question,

"Are you single?" written in fine penmanship.

My eyes widened and my heart began to pound. Was this for real? It was such a small gesture and reminded me of being in middle school passing notes. Though, with all the cameras, this was probably the best way for him to ask. But why me? Wasn't he married, anyway? I had so many questions and no real way to answer them. Or answer him! How was I going to respond to this without drawing attention? Oh good God, my face is heating up.

Should I even answer him? What would he hope to get out of this anyways?

Pondering my options, I searched for the bait and tackle box.

After about a minute, I find the box and take hold of it. My heart is still pounding out of my chest.

I decided that I would respond to him. After all, he wouldn't have asked me if he didn't have a plan...

With new resolve, I made my way back to the cockpit of the ship. This time, Ramsay turned to look at me over his shoulder. When his eyes locked on mine, I slowly and purposefully shook my head 'yes'. Almost immediately, I could see a fire behind his eyes ignite. Walking towards him, I held out the tackle box.

"Thank you, darling." his voice purred. He took the box from my hands and gave me a knowing gaze before brushing past me to the deck of the ship.

"Everyone, please come grab some bait! We'll need to catch as many fish as possible so please don't be wasteful. Does everyone know how to hook a worm?" he asked.

There was a mixture of "Yes" and "No"s.

"Right, for those of you that don't know how to do this, it's really quite easy," Ramsay said as he grabbed a worm and threaded it through the hook cleanly.

Bella gasped, "but, that worm is alive!" she nearly shrieked.

"Well yes, that's what attracts the fish," Ramsay stated.

Bella looked almost green, "someone is going to have to hook my line for me."

Dylan, eager to help, made his way over to Bella and hooked a worm for her. Bella coquettishly looked at Dylan through her eyelashes,
"thank you, handsome. You'll help me hook each of these yucky worms, won't you?"

Entranced, Dylan nodded his head.

"Thank you baby." she smiled and blew a kiss to Dylan. He went red immediately and nodded, gulping.

Ramsay rolled his eyes,
"Right, now let's all cast our lines and get to catching tomorrow's fresh fish dinner!" he clapped his hands together.

Throughout the entire time we were fishing, I kept stealing glances at Ramsay. Usually, he was nonchalantly steering the boat through the ocean waters. But once or twice our eyes locked, and I could feel an intensity in his gaze that I'd never felt before from anyone.

Occasionally he'd make his way out onto the deck with us to examine the fish we caught and name the species. Each time one of us would catch a fish, we'd cheer for each other.

Bella was making herself known, carousing among the men and flirting up a storm. She especially seems to have Dylan and Dave worked up over her. Jay also watched Bella closely, but I wasn't sure if it was because he desired her attention as well, or because he was enjoying the spectacle that is Bella's non-stop toying with the other men.

She walked over to Dave and stood next to him, watching him fish and completely ignoring her own pole. She touched his arm and Dave leaned against the side of the boat in an effort to look cool, which was immediately thwarted by his line reeling out of control. He raced to his fishing rod, but it was too late- the line snapped as soon as he took the pole in his hand.

"Oh, come on..." Ramsay groaned as he turned to see a bewildered Dave holding a pole with no fishing line.

"Sorry Chef..." Dave responded, defeated.

Bella laughed haughtily and sauntered over to Dylan and whispered something in his ear. They both began to laugh. Dave looked hurt.

"Well, go on and get a new fishing line. You don't get a free pass for being lazy watching your rod," Gordon pointed to the tackle box, which Dave then went to retrieve a new line from.

"And you, Bella, I wouldn't have expected you to be one to ignore a pole. Get on it, right?" he motioned for her to return to her fishing rod while she bowed her head in embarrassment.

"Yes Chef..." she quietly mumbled.

Shortly thereafter, my line started tugging wildly. I tried to reel it in, but it was tugging so viciously it was all I could do to keep the line from reeling further out. After a bit of a struggle, I had everyone's eyes on me. The fish still wouldn't reel in, and I worried about snapping the line. Suddenly, I felt a warm torso behind me.

"Here, love, let me." Ramsay's breath tickled my neck and sent shivers down my spine. He reached for the fishing rod and I was nearly squeezed between his arms.

"Y-yes Chef." I managed to say, scooting out of the way just in the nick of time before he would have surely enveloped me.

Expertly, Chef Ramsay reeled in the fish and caught it in a net.

"My my, (Y/N)! This is a delicious white sea bass. Absolutely excellent!" he beamed at me.

Everyone else came up to inspect the fish and cheered. Ramsay then took the fish to the coolers below deck.

"Nice work, (Y/N)!" Taylor popped up next to me, startling me a bit.

"Thanks, Taylor," I responded a bit out of breath from my close encounter with Ramsay's embrace.

The rest of the fishing trip went by swiftly. Red managed to pull in a fish even larger than my white sea bass with the help of Dave, who proudly showed the fish off as "Red's catch-o-the-day" (too much blushing from Red) before taking it below deck to the coolers.

When the sun got to about 3/4s across the sky, Ramsay pulled our fishing boat into port.

"Well done everyone, I hope you all are ready for the upcoming cleaning, gutting and filleting challenge." he mischievously grinned as the boat was reeled onto the transport truck. Already sore from pulling in fish all day, pretty much everyone groaned at the realization that the work was only halfway done.

I, on the other hand, was unable to feel anything but elation and anticipation. Ramsay's eyes passed over me once again, and I felt as if a hot poker had been driven into my chest.

This was going to be a very interesting next few weeks in Hell.