Under the Table (Hotel Bombshell #2)

Chapter 1

Chapter

One

The text was clear. Josef didn’t mince words. Angelica should be elated, but instead she was sitting in a pool of sweat and heartache, of fear that chained her to her desk and refused to let her move, speak, or even think.

Josef: We got the green light.

Because a season two of Hotel Bombshell meant a lot more than just a second season.

It meant Hope.

Her phone blinked on and then off again as another text came in, no doubt from Josef or one of the other producers.

It was a group text that he’d sent. They were probably celebrating, and she was going to be hiding out in this office for as long as she could because what could she do? What could she say?

Then her phone rang.

With trembling fingers, Angelica reached forward and picked up the phone. She pressed her lips together, sucking them into her mouth before swallowing and preparing herself for the exact phone call she knew she was going to take.

Josef.

Calling to yell at her.

Again.

“I assume you saw my text,” he said before she could even greet him.

“I did,” Angelica answered slowly, clenching her fingers tightly into a fist until her dull nails bit at her palm.

“I offered Hope an increase, to keep her on.” Josef paused, but only briefly. “I don’t need you to fuck this up, Ange. I’m serious.”

“Do you think I hurt our chances at renewal of the first season?” Angelica clenched her jaw and stared at the far wall.

She was going on the attack this time around.

She was tired of being treated as if the downfall of the entire series was on her shoulders.

“Perhaps you have something more specific you can point to in terms of my performance both on and off camera that needs improvement.”

“You know what I’m talking about,” Josef growled.

“You’re talking about Hope Lawrence.”

“And you.”

Angelica’s heart sank. Neither one of them had anticipated the show being renewed when they’d kissed in her office, when she’d given in to all the temptation and arousal and just taken a taste of what Hope seemed willing to offer. And God had she been willing.

“Hope and I have had limited contact since we finished filming.” That was the most she could say on that, because not only had they talked since filming had ended, they had kissed.

In her office. In Hope’s office at the restaurant.

Very nearly kissed again in San Francisco when Angelica had been there courting some investors.

And Angelica had certainly dreamed about it more often than that.

But she wouldn’t ever dare to tell Josef about that.

“What does limited mean?” Josef prodded.

She was going to have to walk this line very carefully.

“We had press, Josef, and then we had the premier and the photo shoot that you arranged with Wade. What did you expect from me? To not show up after you yelled at me to be there? I can’t win with you.

It’s damned if I do and damned if I don’t!

Play nice with her, Ange, you’re a brute.

Don’t talk to her, Ange, you’re a perv. Well, really, Josef, which is it? ”

He stayed silent, and rightfully so. She’d laid into him for the first time in months, and he deserved it.

“Well?” Angelica asked, following up on her question, because she did actually want some sort of answer from him. “Am I to talk to her or not? Are you going to monitor every conversation and communication she and I have?”

“You know I won’t do that,” Josef said.

“Fine. Then you either trust me to do my job, or you don’t. But I’m not going to have another season with you hovering over my shoulder because you think I’m going to make one wrong step.”

Josef sighed heavily. “Fine.”

Angelica nearly stuttered, but she held back. She hadn’t expected him to actually agree with her on that, and it was taking longer than it should for her brain to catch back up with her mouth. “We’ve proven that we can work together, isn’t that enough for you?”

“No. But it’ll have to be.”

“Why do you say that?”

“I won’t be around as much this season.” Josef sighed again. “Simone is having some medical issues. I need to be home with her more.”

“Oh.” Angelica’s heart fluttered. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

Lyric stepped into the room and raised her eyebrows at Angelica in question. Angelica waved her in, and Lyric sat down across from her and waited dutifully. She should have given Lyric more responsibility before now.

“We’ll talk soon. There’s a meeting being scheduled for later this week so we can discuss the details of what we want to accomplish in this upcoming season.”

“All right.” Angelica would rearrange her schedule if she had to, but she’d be there. She couldn’t let that control and influence slip through her fingers any longer. Now she knew what to expect, and she had to let them know she was in this show a hundred percent.

“Kyle has parted ways with us.”

Angelica stilled. “Oh?” She wasn’t surprised about that one, honestly. She was more curious as to why she was left out of that decision-making process and the conversation surrounding it. Also parting ways meant he was fired, there was no doubt about that in her mind.

“Rex will be taking over as director—or he will be as soon as I talk to him.”

Angelica’s heart pattered. This really was happening, wasn’t it?

There was no hiding from it. She glanced over at Lyric and shook her head, mouthing Sorry.

Lyric waved her off. She clearly wasn’t concerned about the fact that Angelica was busy.

Then again, she was often busy when Lyric came to find her.

“I’m sure he’ll agree. He’s been positioning himself for a promotion.”

“He’s very good at what he does,” Angelica commented. She much preferred to work with him over Kyle anyway, so that wouldn’t be a problem. “The conflict of interest might be—”

“He’ll still work with you. But I’ll let him hire a second.”

“All right.” Angelica pressed her lips together in a thin line.

“Also, one more thing before I let you go.”

Angelica held her breath, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

“You really need to figure out your own social media. The fans are eating it up and I need your face on their screens more often.”

She sighed. “I’ll look into it.”

“Good.” He hung up.

Angelica set her phone down and raised her eyebrows at Lyric. “Apparently my social media needs an upgrade.”

“Upgrade?” Lyric frowned, her face paling. “I thought you liked what I was doing.”

“I do.” Angelica nodded slowly. “Josef would like more of my face on it.”

“Face…?”

“You can still run it. Please.” Angelica rolled her eyes. “Just… tell me what to do and I’ll do it, then you go from there.”

“Really?” Lyric’s eyes lit up.

“Yes.” She’d thought she had her feet under her after season one, but it seemed as though season two was going to throw new problems into her life. She was going to need to figure out what exactly was so important about social media and why Josef was insistent that she figure it out.

“Oh, I have so many plans.”

Angelica held back a small laugh and glanced down at her vibrating phone.

Hope.

She flicked her gaze to Lyric and nodded toward the door. “I need to take this. Shut the door on your way out.”

“Yes, Ms. Shields.”

When the door clicked shut, Angelica immediately pressed her thumb to the phone to answer the call. She didn’t want to miss this. They were finally allowed to talk again, and it wouldn’t seem suspicious anymore.

“I was wondering if you’d call,” Angelica said, her voice lower.

She couldn’t keep the smile off her lips, even knowing this was going to be difficult for both of them.

Still, this was so hard. To be in such close proximity to Hope after everything they’d gone through, after those forbidden kisses.

Angelica’s cheeks warmed at the memory of them.

“We were renewed.” Hope’s voice cracked on the last word.

Was she just as worried about what would happen next as Angelica was?

About how they would interact and work together after everything…

Angelica had to stop that thought. Hope and Rex were still married, and she’d made it very clear that she wouldn’t fight for Hope.

This wasn’t a battle to be won, Hope wasn’t some prize trophy to be had.

She was human—a woman—someone who could make up her own damn mind about what she wanted.

“Yeah,” Angelica said, keeping her answers as short and simple as possible. They were likely going to need to talk in more depth at some point about how they were going to manage this. But that was also the last thing that Angelica wanted to do.

“You said we wouldn’t be,” Hope whispered the words.

Was Rex close by? Was she trying to hide this call from him?

Angelica frowned at those thoughts, hating that she was even having them.

This wasn’t her business, and she needed to keep herself out of it.

She’d worked so damn hard at that in the off-season months, but now that they were going to be thrown together again…

“No one thought we would be.” Angelica sighed heavily, licking her lips.

She stood up and moved to the serving table and poured herself a whiskey.

It was late enough, and it wasn’t like she had to drive anywhere.

She needed this. She deserved it after the phone call.

Plopping a few ice cubes into the glass, she sipped.

What the hell else was she supposed to say?

Surely Hope would know how she felt, right?

“Did you tell them no?”

Angelica tensed, every muscle from her shoulders right down her back tightening uncomfortably. What the hell was Hope on about now? “No?”

“To releasing me from the contract.”

“No, I didn’t. I was the only one who was willing to release you.

” She’d fought for it as much as she felt comfortable, but ultimately, she hadn’t wanted to put herself more on the outs than she already was.

She needed to make sure that she kept what control and power she had in her hand. In case she needed it in the future.

“Really?” Hope seemed surprised by that.

Angelica had told her that she wouldn’t fight it, that she wouldn’t keep Hope there if she wanted to leave, and she’d held that. She never went back on her word—never. And she wouldn’t make promises lightly. But she also wasn’t the only one with power, and she’d been outvoted.

“Which put me in a bad spot.” Angelica sighed heavily, remembering the way the emails had flown that day, the text messages.

It’d been chaotic. But that had been nearly a week ago now.

Had Hope only just now found out about it?

And how much more money had she been willing to take because of it?

Angelica would have taken them for every dime they had.

“Because now they don’t think I’m willing to work with you. ”

That was the truth of what the problem was. It’d given Josef more ammo to fire in her direction about his suspicions last season, and she’d have to navigate even more of that as time wore on. But Angelica would hold that information as tightly to herself as possible.

“Angel…”

Oh the way Hope said that, the way she called her by that nickname as if she was the only one in the world allowed to do it.

She was one of the rare few that Angelica hadn’t corrected repeatedly.

Only once. When she’d been upset, and Hope had held back on it, but Angelica had melted when she’d heard it again.

And she wanted to hear it.

Repeatedly.

“Why is this so complicated?” Hope sounded so small and worried, as if this one decision from others was going to break her in two. But she wasn’t weak, and she could handle the truth—at least when it was masked in politeness. But could she handle it with honesty?

“Feelings are complicated,” Angelica answered, putting as much of that honesty into her words as she possibly could.

She didn’t want Hope to forget that she was here, or that they were in this together.

They’d found a rhythm toward the end of filming, hadn’t they?

Perhaps they could find that connection once more.

Hope scoffed lightly. “You’re so cold sometimes.”

There it was. The rejection that Angelica had been waiting for, the slight put-down because the honesty had been square on the head but a little too hard to face. She experienced that often, most commonly when in the presence of men. But she’d expect nothing less from Hope.

“You’d do best to remember that,” Angelica answered, taking another sip from her whiskey. She savored the flavor on the tip of her tongue as she swallowed. This was going to be a long season of filming. But she’d come out the other end. She was sure of it and of herself.

“So what now?”

“Did Rex get his call yet?” Angelica set the glass down a little more heavily than she expected and the sound ricocheted through the room like a gunshot.

“He’s on the phone with Josef now.” Hope suddenly sounded far more alert than before. Reminding her of Rex had been a good idea then. Angelica would have to keep that one in her pocket in the future.

“I’ll let him share the happy news with you then.” Angelica rolled her shoulders and walked toward the window. Los Angeles was lit up at night, hardly darker than it was during the day. She stared out across the city and frowned.

Hope wasn’t that far away from her, and yet it felt like they were worlds apart.

“Happy?” Hope sounded confused now.

But Angelica wasn’t going to put her out of her misery.

They needed to keep whatever was between them as professional as possible, even if Angelica had to be the one to put those boundaries into place.

She’d made a mistake when she’d let her guard down all those months ago, and now they were thrown back in a situation they never thought they’d be in.

Those kisses hadn’t been for a relationship, and Angelica had touched Hope with the full understanding that they would never see each other again and never work together again.

And yet…

“I’ll see you soon, Hope.”

Here they were.

Hotel Bombshell season two loomed at their fingertips.

With that Angelica hung up.