Chapter 35
Chapter
Thirty-Five
“Thank you so much, Officer Cohen.” Angelica pressed her hands into the desk as she pushed herself to stand. Two hours in this tiny room with the reporting officer and Hope, along with two cameras and Rex. It was a tight squeeze, but they’d made it work for what they’d wanted to get.
As soon as the officer was gone, Angelica sat in the abandoned chair across from Hope.
She hated this. The waiting. The uncertainty.
The lack of answers. Flicking her gaze down Hope’s body, Angelica simply breathed.
That had been her life so often lately. She’d been unable to have any of the answers.
Not about Hotel Bombshell and not about Hope.
“Ange?” Hope raised an eyebrow in her direction, clearly looking for a response to something. But Angelica had no idea what she’d missed.
“Yes?” Angelica pursed her lips, canting her head to the side.
“What happens next?” Hope asked, clearly repeating the question.
That was the same question she’d been asking herself, wasn’t it?
Angelica brushed the pad of her thumb over her fingers.
She looked around the small office they were in.
This was just the two of them on camera.
No one else. Josef wasn’t here to bother them—in fact, he’d been scarce since the incident in the hallway. Just what exactly had Logan done?
“We wait.” Angelica stretched her broken leg out in front of her, longing for the day that she could take the cast off and walk without it being so cumbersome, when she could go out for one of her evening runs again.
“We don’t have any answers,” Hope protested.
“Some things take time.” Angelica’s lips quirked slightly.
Since when did Hope share her thoughts? The only problem being that Angelica was having two conversations at the same time.
This week had been a blessing in disguise, and while they’d started the conversations about what would become of them, they were nowhere near done.
“Yeah, but what about Raina in the meantime?” Hope put her hands out to her sides. “What about the others who want out?”
Angelica shook her head and sighed. “We can help them get out as much as they’ll let us, but often, these things just need to play themselves out.”
Hope scowled. “I don’t like it.”
“Neither do I,” Angelica agreed. “But it’s the way of things.”
Hope narrowed her gaze, her lips twitching slightly. Perhaps she did know that Angelica was talking about two things at once. Angelica folded her hands together in her lap and breathed out slowly.
“You know the report we just made will be the end of this hotel,” Angelica said. “So either way, Raina and the others are going to have to scramble for something new.”
“I just wish there was more we could do for them.”
Angelica admired that about Hope. She was always wanting to help someone, always wanting to give them the easy way out.
And unfortunately, it got her into trouble sometimes.
But still, Angelica admired the trait. She’d experienced it several times since they’d met already.
“I think we’ve done everything we can, except find my iPad. ”
Hope snorted. “I’m fairly certain it’s long gone now.”
Angelica hummed and nodded. “Unfortunately.”
“But you will work on actually backing up your files now, won’t you?” Hope looked at her directly, a tease in her gaze that Angelica had come to expect.
“I will.” Angelica smiled, a flush rising to her cheeks. Only Hope was able to pull that from her. She laughed lightly and shook her head. “I promise.”
Surely Rex would call cut soon, wouldn’t he? This scene they were filming, while nice and calm, wasn’t going anywhere any time soon. But the heat in the room from the cameras and people still sat oppressively on Angelica’s chest.
“So, we solved a couple problems here, I think.” Hope rubbed her hands together. “The menu has been updated.”
Angelica grimaced. “That’s not a huge accomplishment considering.”
“Well, normally we’d be having this conversation with our lovely owners, but once again, we can’t find them. It’s as if they don’t exist in this hotel unless they want to be here for their own divine purposes.”
“I think you’re not wrong about that.” Angelica sighed.
She shifted slightly in the chair and continued talking, recognizing the shift of conversation for what it was.
“We can retrain, we can implement, but we always tell every owner and manager that unless the conversations and trainings continue beyond our week here, then nothing will ultimately change in the long run.”
“That’s a bleak outlook.” Hope wrinkled her nose.
“It’s reality.” Angelica blinked widely at Hope. “If things aren’t consistently worked on, then they will fail or be pushed so far into the background that they don’t matter anymore.”
Hope’s lips parted in surprise. “I suppose you’re right.”
“Are we finished here?” Angelica turned sharply toward Rex.
She was tired of filming this episode. Hell, she was exhausted from this season.
It had started out in such a difficult way, and she was barely managing to keep her head afloat.
All they had left was Chicago, and then she could be done and go home and rest for the foreseeable future.
“Uh… sure.” Rex frowned at her. “Everything okay?”
“Yes.” Angelica slid out of the chair and walked away. She needed to breathe, to have cool air enter her lungs and refresh her. She didn’t hesitate or wait to see what Hope was doing as she walked directly outside into the sunlight.
Tilting her face up toward the sky, she closed her eyes and breathed in deeply.
What was this mood? Melancholy? And where the hell had Josef and Logan gotten off to?
She hadn’t seen them all day, and neither one of them seemed to be around—the entire feel of the set was different that morning.
Crossing her arms, she relaxed her shoulders as best as she could.
“What was all that about?” Hope asked, startling her.
Angelica said nothing. Instead, she turned her cheek and looked toward Hope, locking their gazes together as she just breathed in the moment between them, unfettered for the first time in as long as Angelica could remember.
“Go to dinner with me tonight.” Angelica tightened her arms across her chest.
“We’re done filming for the day already.” Hope furrowed her brow. “Why don’t we go now?”
Angelica toyed with that thought. She’d love to head up to her room and change into something more comfortable than these clothes, something that was also less attention grabbing.
But the thought of walking all the way to her room and back down was just as unappetizing.
Nodding, Angelica started to pull at the mic pack on her waist band.
Hope mimicked her, and then returned them.
When she came back, she no longer had her chef’s coat on, and instead just sported the white T-shirt she must have had under it, one that was tight to her skin.
Angelica breathed in that image—Hope dressed down, calm and easy and in her element.
Angelica’s lips quirked up slightly as they started down the street to find someplace to eat.
When they were seated, Angelica put her hands in her lap and stared at Hope.
She had so many emotions running through her, so many thoughts, that it was damn near impossible to sort them all out and know where to even begin.
Finally, as the waiter filled their water glasses, Angelica picked a point to start.
“I need to take this slow,” Angelica said, her voice calm and a bit quieter than she expected it to be.
“What do you mean by this and what do you mean by slow?” Hope took a sip of water.
Angelica wrinkled her nose and pursed her lips. “I mean us, as a couple. I mean that I don’t want the world to know, not yet. I want us to figure out us first. We didn’t exactly have an easygoing start that put us at an advantage.”
Hope snorted lightly at that. “Sometimes I wish I could go back in time and redo all of it.”
“But then we wouldn’t be here.”
“Exactly.” Hope’s face dropped. “And I like where we’ve ended up.”
Angelica nodded, not quite sure what to say other than that. “I need to trust you more than I did last year, and that’s going to take time.”
“I understand.” Hope rubbed her fingers over the edge of the menu. “So we keep it to ourselves and then what?”
“We go from there.” Angelica’s stomach tightened with anxiety. She’d just honestly thought that Hope would fall in line on this one, that she wouldn’t push back, but the longer she sat here, the harder it was to keep that line. “When we get back to Los Angeles, I think it’ll be easier.”
“Because the crew won’t be around?”
Angelica nodded. “And we’ll have a bit more free time.”
Hope narrowed her gaze. “I don’t think that you have free time that you don’t try to fill with more work.”
Humming, Angelica took that note. “I will if I’m in a relationship, to an extent. We’re really going to make this work, I’ll have to. It’s not just about you sacrificing for it. I also have to give.”
Hope’s lips pulled into a brilliant smile, one that warmed Angelica’s heart. “But you still don’t want the world to know.”
“No, not yet.” Angelica sighed. “I’m too old to be playing games when it comes to what the world knows and doesn’t know. I want simple as I can get. And then there’s Eva to consider.”
Hope nodded and swallowed, her entire face pinching in discomfort.
“Rex, unfortunately, put her through a bit of the ringer in the last year with relationships. I don’t want to do the same thing to her.
So I do agree that I’d like to keep this as hidden as possible for now, until I’m ready to tell her. ”
Angelica would love to know more about that, because Rex had seemed so calm during filming so far.
Perhaps it had just been fling after fling and he’d stopped it because he’d lost his taste for it already.
She was sure she’d find out more as the months went on, but now wasn’t the time to dig deeper into that.
“I think that’s the right decision.” Angelica sipped her water.
“Did you see Josef at all today?” Hope asked, changing the subject suddenly.
Angelica paused, her heart racing in an instant before she could calm it down. “No.”
“Me either.” Hope frowned. “Do you think something happened?”
“I don’t know.” Angelica breathed slowly. “Logan is aware of everything, not with us, but in my past, and he… he didn’t seem very happy when he caught Josef and me the other night. I wouldn’t be surprised if he sent Josef home early or told him to steer clear for a day or two.”
Hope hummed. “I can’t believe Josef accused you of that.”
“I can. It’s not the first time. You were there the other day when he did it.”
“I was, but I thought he’d drop it.”
“Josef doesn’t drop things, and the fact that social media has seemed to pick up on our…
chemistry… only irks him even more. Because it’s in his face and he has to pay attention to it anytime he’s working on the show.
” Angelica smiled at the waiter as she ordered her food.
Easing up from the personal side of the conversation made this easier and harder at the same time.
Because she wanted Hope to understand very clearly why she was holding off on diving deep into this relationship they were starting again.
“I bet the paparazzi are going to continue after this season.” Hope spun her drink in her fingers.
“Oh?” Angelica frowned. “Why do you think that?”
“Because it’ll be out there that Rex and I are divorced, and there will be a load of questions as to why, and when they see us on their screens…” Hope trailed off. But she didn’t need to draw the conclusion. Angelica was already there.
She nodded her understanding and then sat back in her chair. “It won’t help that we’re supposed to shoot some promotional videos with Cadence during break either, assuming we’re up for renewal.”
“Stop kidding yourself, Angel. We’re going to be renewed.”
Angelica’s stomach clenched tightly. Hope was always the more positive one, so it shouldn’t surprise her as much that she’d see the renewal already in hand.
But Angelica still had concerns, and she wasn’t going to let go of those lightly.
But she chose the path of least resistance and didn’t comment on it.
“She wants to work on some short YouTube videos where you teach me to cook.” Angelica raised an eyebrow at Hope. “Apparently I’m inept.”
Hope chuckled lightly, her lips curling upward. “She wants that tension and it’s a very easy way to get it.”
“I suppose,” Angelica agreed. “I still don’t like it.”
“You don’t have to like it. You just have to see it as marketing and as the fact that it actually requires very little from you. You just have to show up and do what you’re told.”
A shiver raced down Angelica’s spine and settled right between her legs. That thought did sound pleasant, in more ways than one. She bit her lip, her cheeks heating with just that thought, and when she looked up at Hope, she was surprised to see the same look reflected in her gaze.
“We can try that, if you want,” Hope lowered her voice to a whisper and leaned over the table slightly. “We can try anything you want.”
Angelica flicked her gaze all over Hope’s face, lingering on her full lips and the way they were slightly parted as her breathing increased, the way her breasts pushed against her T-shirt with each breath. Angelica finally looked back into Hope’s crystalline eyes and smiled.
“I’d like that. Perhaps we can start that tonight.”
Hope chuckled. “I thought you didn’t want me to stay in your room all week, and here we are, the last night in Saint Paul, and I’ve literally spent every single night in your room.”
Angelica canted her head to the side with a smile playing at her lips. “Oh, I wanted you to stay with me. I also wanted to be very clear that just because you don’t have Eva this week, doesn’t mean it’s the only time you get with me.”
Hope’s jaw dropped. “I didn’t—“ then she stopped. “I can see how you’d draw that conclusion. I just wanted more free time, and it’s easier when she’s not with me to have that.”
Angelica hummed. “Then, the point was made. We’re not jumping into anything without thinking, and we’re not going to let the world know just yet.”
“No, not yet.” Hope winked at her. “But eventually.”
Angelica couldn’t stop the gentle laugh that burbled up inside her. “Eventually,” she agreed.