Chapter 2
Chapter
Two
“Hope, love, it’s time to wake up.”
Angelica stood at the edge of the bed, watching as Hope continued to gently sleep.
Angelica had barely slept that night, but she’d woken before Hope and snuck out to make them each some coffee before their day began.
Every muscle on her body was sore from exertion and the long day of travel before, but she wouldn’t have had it any other way.
Breathing deeply, Angelica sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed her fingers over Hope’s bare shoulder. She just wanted to tease her into awareness. “Hope, it’s time to wake up.”
Hope barely moved.
“Come on, we have work to do today.”
“I don’t start filming until ten,” Hope mumbled, her face buried in the pillow.
“Remember, I told you yesterday that Cadence worked out filming one more cooking short with the two of us before we leave.”
“What?” Hope flipped over onto her back, her nipples soft and oh so tempting.
Angelica dragged her gaze from Hope’s chest to her lips, her red cheeks, and finally her crystalline eyes. “Cadence booked you in to film this morning. Didn’t you see the email?”
Hope groaned and rubbed her hands over her face. “I saw something about you and me and her today. But I didn’t think…” Hope sighed heavily. “I smell coffee.”
“Nightstand.”
Hope shifted, turning to look at the nightstand and then at Angelica with a glower. “How are you even awake after last night?”
Angelica’s lips curled upward as she bent down to kiss Hope quickly. “She’s going to be here in thirty minutes. I suggest you get up and get dressed.”
Hope seemed to clock what Angelica had said, her gaze dropping down Angelica’s body to the fact that she was already dressed in a light sweatery shirt that was the same baby blue as her eyes, and her hair was around her shoulders.
“How long have you been awake?” Hope pulled herself to sit up, pressing her back against the headboard as she reached for the coffee.
“About an hour. I wanted to let you sleep.”
“I swear you’re a vampire sometimes.”
Angelica chuckled lightly and stood up. “Time to get up and get ready for the day, Hope. We have a lot of work to get done and a very limited amount of time to do it.”
She left Hope in the bed and made her way back to the kitchen.
The silence in the house was comforting.
The more time she spent at Hope’s house, the more comfortable she felt there.
But she still wasn’t ready to make the leap that Hope wanted her to.
And it was next to impossible to explain why.
No matter how many times she’d tried, Hope hadn’t understood—not that she’d done a good job of it either.
But they had a whole lot more they needed to talk about when it came to their relationship before Angelica was ready to fully take that leap.
She was on her second cup of coffee when Hope finally emerged, dressed and staring at Angelica like she wanted a reprise of the night before.
She moved in for a kiss and smiled until the doorbell rang.
“I’m not enjoying being on camera every five seconds, I’m just saying,” Hope muttered as she walked toward the front door.
Angelica couldn’t stop the smile from reaching her lips. “You’re the one who added a third show to your repertoire.”
“You let Cadence talk you into the shorts!” Hope yelled back as she opened the door. “Hey!”
Angelica hid her laugh in her coffee cup.
It’d take at least an hour for everything to be set up in the kitchen, and she wasn’t involved in any of that.
She’d sit at the dining room table and get work done, or better yet, she’d sit in Hope’s office and work from there until they needed her for filming.
She did agree though. Arriving back in Los Angeles the night before she had to get up early and film wasn’t ideal. An extra day would have been welcome, but they just didn’t have it this time. And the rhythm of the new season was taking everyone a bit off guard and making them out of sorts.
Instead, she found herself leaning over the kitchen counter as Hope started cooking the first batch of food to make the entire morning go more quickly, and Cadence set up everything else.
Angelica sipped her coffee, staring directly at Hope over the rim of the glass, wondering if she had put two and two together yet or if her brain was still sluggish.
“What are we cooking this morning, Hope?” Angelica asked, taking another long sip of her coffee.
Hope looked up, then flicked her gaze down to the hot skillet on the stove and back to Angelica, her cheeks bright-ass red. Oh, she knew now. And Angelica was going to enjoy toying with this.
“Um…something I have to modify for you.”
“You like doing that, don’t you?”
Hope’s cheeks turned an even brighter shade of red, though Angelica hadn’t expected that. Straightening her shoulders, she stood upright and continued to watch as Hope moved through the kitchen deftly. Why would that embarrass her?
“Ange…” Cadence’s voice reached her ears.
“Yeah?”
“You’re going to tone down the flirt this time, right?” Cadence stared at her directly, as if reading straight through the bullshit right down to everything that Angelica had been thinking in that particular moment in time.
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
“Bullshit.” Cadence’s lips thinned, and she crossed arms over her chest, flicking her gaze from Angelica to Hope and back again. “Whatever I just witnessed wasn’t nothing, and unless you want the world to know—”
Angelica threw her hands up in the air. “Yeah, I get it. But doesn’t it play up for ratings?” She was only throwing that out there because she knew it was true, and because she knew it was partly why they were filming these shorts.
Cadence just raised an eyebrow at her. “I’m fairly certain you know how to walk that line.”
Having Cadence be one of the few people who knew about them wasn’t helping the situation any. Angelica would much prefer if no one knew, then she couldn’t be called out like this. “I hear you.”
“Good. But a little flirt is welcome.” Cadence’s lips morphed into a grin as she stepped behind the camera and started futzing with something.
Angelica sighed and took another long sip of her drink. “Hope, be honest with me about something.”
“What?” Hope threw the word over her shoulder without looking in Angelica’s direction. And based on the last time Hope had looked at her, Angelica could understand why she restrained herself.
“Do you actually enjoy cooking like this all day?”
Hope turned slowly, a deep line in the center of her brow and a look that said offended in more ways than one.
“You just strike me as someone who always needs something new, something engaging to keep yourself entertained and happy. I can’t imagine cooking the same meal multiple times a day is going to do that for you.” Angelica sipped her coffee and threw a look at Cadence. Was she wrong about this?
“I can’t believe you just asked that.”
Angelica waited Hope out, needing the answer for some reason.
Hope turned the steak on the grill and eyed her carefully. “Yes, I like to be creative in what I cook and the modifications that I make to the recipes—that’s the creative part.”
“And the rest?” Angelica finished her coffee and debated whether or not to get herself a third cup or if that’d be too much.
“The rest is mindless. Chopping a hundred onions for dinner prep calms my mind and soul.”
Angelica hadn’t ever thought of it like that before.
“The repetition is exactly what I need most days.”
“So… then why don’t you spend more time in your restaurants?”
“Maybe that’s why I want to open a new one.” Hope threw that look at her as though she knew exactly what wasn’t being said.
And Angelica did. Ever since she’d signed the paperwork to purchase Mountain View West from Tatum, she’d been trying to find a way to avoid the idea that Hope had planted in her head—Hope running the restaurant and Angelica the hotel.
Why not? They did it every season on Hotel Bombshell so surely it couldn’t be any different in practice, right?
Except it would make them co-owners of sorts, which added a level of complication that Angelica wasn’t sure she wanted in their relationship. At least not yet. They had enough complications as they began. Why add more to it now?
“I think we’re ready.” Hope put her hands on her hips and eyed Angelica over. “Are you?”
So much for getting work done. Angelica nodded and stepped around the kitchen counter to face Cadence’s camera. “Just tell me what to do.” Angelica looked up and met Hope’s eyes. Hope’s lips parted, her gaze falling down Angelica’s body and moving right back up to her eyes.
“That! That right there!” Cadence clapped her hands to get their attention. “None of that.”
Hope’s cheeks were bright red, but Angelica simply smiled at her and turned toward Cadence. “That wasn’t on me.”
“I’m always going to blame you.” Cadence pointed at her. “I think you should get the blame more often than you do.”
“And are you ready?” Angelica asked her directly, trying to change the topic.
Cadence frowned but waved her hand at them. Angelica moved to stand next to Hope like she’d done dozens of times before. They had this one down now.
“I’m Chef Hope Lawrence.”
“And I’m Angelica Shields.”
“And we’re the hosts of Hotel Bombshell, here to bring you some after-hours recipes.” Hope clasped her hands together and grinned at the camera as she stared into it. “And to teach Ange here how to cook herself a meal.”
“You enjoy feeding me, don’t lie.” Angelica grinned brightly as she turned to the side and focused fully on Hope. She didn’t want to see Cadence’s look of disappointment or annoyance.
“I won’t lie about that. Today we’re making lemongrass and coconut steak with roasted red potatoes, or if you’re in Ange’s boat, we’ll make roasted patty pan squash.”
Angelica hummed, not exactly happy about that.
The couple of times Hope had made the pattypan squash instead of potatoes, she hadn’t enjoyed it.
When it was mixed in with another food, she was fine, but something about the texture made her stomach churn.
And unfortunately, she was going to be on camera, so she was going to have to eat it.
“This is a dish you can start the night before and then just throw it on the grill whenever you’re ready to cook it up. And it’s a super simple recipe. Remember, to make anything look upscale, it’s all in the plating. Let’s start with the sauce.”
Angelica pressed her palm against the counter as she listened to Hope rattle off the ingredients and pop them into the blender. She was just about to frown when Hope said, “Ange, would you blend this up until it’s smooth? I’m going to get started on dicing the potatoes.”
The kitchen was filled with the sound of the blender, which meant that neither Angelica nor Hope could actually speak.
“Let’s just taste this and see what we’ve got going on.” Hope lifted the lid on the blender and dipped her finger in, popping it in her mouth. “Mmm… delicious.”
Angelica’s tongue peeked out against her lips, and she couldn’t drag her gaze away from Hope’s fingers, remembering the exact way Hope had said that after tongue fucking her to giddy delight. Angelica’s jaw dropped, and her breath came in short as she stared directly into Hope’s amused gaze.
“What do you think, Ange?”
“Uh… I…” Angelica turned to the blender and dipped her finger in like Hope had done, pressing it between her lips. She wrinkled her nose immediately and had to catch her breath from the flavor. This absolutely wasn’t something she was used to eating. “It’s good,” she choked out the words.
Hope barely hid the amused smirk on her lips. “We’ll let this sit for at least an hour before we pour it over the steaks that we’re going to grill. I already have one in the fridge that I made up last night. You can let this sit in the fridge for up to twelve hours if you want.”
When the hell had Hope made the extra one?
Hope handed the bowl to Angelica, who pulled off the plastic wrap.
“I’m going to have Angelica deal with the steak since she’s allergic to the potatoes and I’d rather not send my boss into anaphylaxis before we start filming season four. I don’t think she’d like that very much.” Hope leaned in and whisper-spoke that last sentence, as if it was a big secret.
“It wouldn’t be the first time you tried to poison me,” Angelica said, keeping her tone light and teasing. “And I’m sure it won’t be the last when it accidentally happens.”
“It won’t accidentally happen in my kitchen again.
” Hope stilled, the seriousness in her tone hitting Angelica hard.
She meant that, truly, and Angelica wasn’t going to fight her on it.
“Ange, I want you to dip the steak into the sauce and then put it on the griddle. We have the griddle superhot so that we can get a good sear. Then we’ll put it on a pan and finish it off in the oven. ”
Angelica did as she was told, following Hope’s directions as best she could.
When Hope pulled out the already finished steak and wrapped the short episode, Angelica took only a small bite of food.
This wasn’t something she’d choose to eat again, at least not willingly.
But since they were filming, she’d suffer through it.
“You hate it, don’t you?” Hope asked as soon as Cadence called cut.
“It’s not…” Angelica sighed and frowned. “I don’t like it.”
Hope’s lips curled upward. “You don’t have to like every single thing I cook, you know. People have preferences.”
Angelica flicked her eyebrows up and down again, reaching for the coffee pot to pour herself a third cup for the morning. Not only did she need the caffeine, but the coffee would kill the flavor lingering on her tongue. That would be the best option this morning, wouldn’t it?
“When does the rest of your crew show up?” Angelica asked.
Hope glanced at the clock on the stove. “In an hour.”
Angelica sighed heavily and nodded. “See you at the meeting tomorrow?”
“Not tonight?” Hope reached for Angelica’s hands and threaded their fingers.
Discomfort settled in Angelica’s chest as she stared down at the touch. Why did this feel so right and so wrong at the same time? Angelica set her coffee mug down, raising her gaze to meet Hope’s. “No, not tonight.”
Hope sighed heavily. “Then yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow at the production meeting. I’m going to have to leave before the end of it, though. I only have an hour before I have to get back here to film even more recipes.”
Angelica looked around the messy kitchen. “Do you need help cleaning this up?”
“I’d appreciate it, yeah.” Hope squeezed Angelica’s hand and stepped to the side, the awkward tension that had been there moments before only intensifying.
Angelica sighed heavily and started cleaning immediately.