Chapter 11
Chapter
Eleven
“I’m shocked they started to listen,” Hope commented as she stepped into the conference room that had been their headquarters for the last week.
Angelica was still packing up the majority of her belongings in there to take them back to her room while the crew broke down the rest of the equipment they’d brought.
The crew would leave tonight after the party with everything packed on the truck, and Angelica and Hope were due to leave for Los Angeles in the morning to wine and dine a potential new investor.
“I am a bit as well.” Angelica raised her eyebrows before dropping them and sighing. “The real question will be if they can keep it up when we leave.”
“You know, had you asked me that two days ago, I would have said no. But today?” Hope grinned broadly as she sat down on the table and curled her fingers around the edge. “Today I’m feeling optimistic.”
God, how much Angelica wanted to step into that optimism with her. But that wasn’t her style. She was always a realist—preparing for the worst and being ready for the best. It was what made her so good at her job and absolute shit at relationships.
Angelica smiled, sliding her iPad into her bag and putting her hands on her hips. “I’ll let you have this one. We can check back when we’re done filming and see who was right.”
“Do you want to wager a bet on it?” Hope leaned back slightly, wiggling her fingers in Angelica’s direction.
Angelica had no idea what the hell she was doing that for, but it caused her to laugh a little. “No bets, boss.”
“Boss? Oh, I like the sound of that.”
“Don’t get used to it.” Angelica took the laptop she brought with her and added that to the bag. “But I do think we managed to at least bring to light what the actual problem is here.”
“Agreed.” Hope smiled.
Angelica’s attention was caught by Lyric’s head popping in the door. “What is it?”
“They want you to check on the room for the wrap party, make sure everything is set.” Lyric lifted her phone up and snapped a quick picture.
Angelica frowned at that. Couldn’t they honestly set up a room without her?
Yes, she was detailed about everything, but when it came to these small parties, she didn’t have a lot of weight in caring for them.
It was far more for the hotel staff to celebrate getting rid of Angelica and her crew—well, Angelica and Hope’s crew.
When had she started thinking about the show like that?
“I’ll be there in a minute.”
And then Lyric was gone. Angelica zipped up her bag and slung it over her shoulder before straightening. “Join me?”
“Well, I already know the food is delicious.” Hope laughed as she stood up.
Angelica took a step in front of her but stopped when Hope’s hand landed on her wrist and pulled her back slightly.
She looked directly into Hope’s crystalline eyes and stilled.
A gentle swell of calm filled her each and every time she looked at Hope like this, just a quiet moment of ease shared between them when nothing was intense or wrong or needed to be done.
Then her gaze dropped.
Hope’s lips parted, her teeth showing just barely.
Angelica held her breath, remembering the way those lips would feel pressed against hers, the pressure, the temerity of a kiss she was willing to bet neither one of them had ever experienced before.
Angelica hummed slightly, barely catching the noise before she managed to stop it.
“When uh…” Hope started, her voice breathy and distracted. “When did Lyric become your personal social media expert?”
“A while ago,” Angelica answered, then she shook her head. “She’s my filming personal assistant this season. I realized last season that I was going to need an extra hand with everything I’m juggling, and she was the perfect fit for the position.”
Hope hummed her nod, and that sound went straight in Angelica’s ears and between her legs. She pressed her thighs together to try and stop it from going any further, but she wasn’t entirely sure that she was successful on that front.
“And how many personal assistants does it take to keep the busy Angelica Shield’s life up and running properly?”
Angelica paused at that. Hope was flirting with her, flat out.
And despite how many times it had happened in the past year, she always found a little thrill in it.
Not many people were willing to talk to her like that—like she was human.
But Hope had never had an issue with it.
That’s what had caught her attention when they’d met last year, and that was exactly what Angelica didn’t want to lose.
Her humanity.
“Three,” Angelica said with a wink before stepping back.
“Wait. Really?” Hope skipped a step to catch up with her. “Are you serious?”
They walked side-by-side through the conference room doors and down the hall to the bigger room where they had set up for the wrap party. Angelica pressed her lips together to keep herself from smiling, but it was damn near impossible. Hope just brought that out in her so easily.
“Angel, really? Three?”
She laughed. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“I do want to know!” Hope’s voice rose. “Tell me.”
“Maybe someday I will.”
Angelica walked around the room, checking that the small tables were set up so people could stand and talk and have somewhere to put their food and drinks. She checked that the buffet area was set up, and it was. Which she suspected was all Hope’s doing.
“The food’s ready to go, right?”
“Yes. Angel, answer me. Three?” Hope snagged Angelica’s wrist again and pulled her to a stop.
“Why do you want to know so badly?” Angelica paused, the weight of her bag making her shoulder droop and her fingers go numb. If she didn’t drop this thing in her room soon, then she was going to have to put it down to finish her walk-around.
“I’m curious about you.”
“Me?” Angelica gave Hope a suspicious look. “There’s nothing interesting about me, Hope.”
“Sure there is.” Hope laughed lightly and followed Angelica to the next station. “I’ve never been more interested in something in my life.”
Really? Had Hope actually just said that? Did she even realize the words that came out of her mouth?
“You mean I’m the most interesting thing lately. Surely, you’ve had other hyperfocused obsessions to follow.” Angelica stepped toward the dishware and napkins.
“Well, yeah. Why are you double-checking my work?”
“Because it’s my job.” Angelica sighed and put her bag down on the floor next to the wall. “You didn’t run the menu by me for tonight.”
Hope’s brow drew together. “No, I didn’t.”
Angelica shook her head slightly. When that didn’t get a response from Hope, she crossed her arms and popped her hip out a little bit as if to make her point.
She wasn’t going to use more words than necessary for this game.
It was definitely a game that she wanted to play, but only if Hope was involved.
“What?” Hope asked, laughing nervously. “I made sure there’s food you can eat. I’m not going to poison you again. Trust me. Once was enough.”
Giggling, Angelica rolled her eyes and loosened her stance. “You always run the menu by me.”
Hope paused, stepping in close to Angelica.
Too close. No one else ever dared to be this close to her.
They always kept their distance as if she was the enemy, the pariah.
But Hope had never had that problem before.
She wanted to be this close to her, to the point that she’d not only accidentally but purposely started touching her in new and different ways in the last week.
“You always run the menu by me.” Angelica inched her way closer.
They were nearly nose-to-nose, but this was the least confrontational that Angelica had ever been when she was this close to someone. In fact, unless she was making love to someone else, she never—
“Are you… angry with me for not doing it?” The tease in Hope’s tone shot straight through Angelica, but it didn’t go beyond her heart this time. She was enjoying this. So much. And she didn’t want it to ever end.
“I’m meticulous, Hope.” Angelica dropped her gaze, purposefully this time, straight to Hope’s mouth. She let it linger there for the count of five before looking back up at her. “And I am the boss.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Hope shifted her weight from one leg to the other, but it wasn’t because of nerves. This was a challenge. “But I thought you trusted me. That I was trained to perfection.”
“I don’t think I ever said that.”
“You implied it.”
Angelica dropped her voice down to a whisper, forcing Hope to lean in as she spoke. “I think your ego is larger than I anticipated.”
Laughing, Hope threw her head back. Joy rang through the room, and Angelica never wanted to have it any other way. It was so freeing just to hear that sound. Angelica loved it.
When Hope finally settled, Angelica calmed herself down and then reached down for her bag.
“Don’t you want to go through the menu for tonight, boss?”
Oh that last little word was adding so much weight to that sentence. Angelica froze. She looked up into Hope’s eyes, testing where she was at. Then she shook her head. “No.”
“What? Why not?”
“Unlike most people in this hotel, Hope, I do trust you.” Angelica picked up her bag and slid it onto her shoulder. “And I have some business I need to take care of with Lyric before the party tonight. I think you can handle it from here on out. Yes?”
“I-I can,” Hope stuttered.
“Good.” Angelica nodded at her and immediately walked away.
She needed to put some distance between them, separation that might save her sanity in the long run.
But she wasn’t sure that anything would be able to do that now.
Because all she could think of, all she could get her mind to focus on, was Chef Hope Lawrence, and the ridiculous, joyful nature that she brought out in her.
“Walk with me,” Angelica said to Lyric as she passed.
“Sure, Ms. Shields.” Lyric had her phone at the ready as if she was going to take notes.
Angelica liked that about her. She might be slow to show her ambition and figure out exactly where she should be, but there was nothing wrong with that. Lyric just had to figure out exactly who she was and what her passions were, and for that, she needed to test as much as she could.
“I need to talk to you about my social media.”
“Oh! I took some more photos today.”
Angelica paused at that as she waited by the elevator.
“Want to see them?”
She almost said no, but at the last minute, she changed her mind. “Yes.”
Lyric switched apps on her phone and then handed it over to Angelica just as the elevator door opened to admit them. Stepping inside, Angelica hit the button for their floor and then stared down at the phone.
Photos littered the screen, some of them fresh from five minutes ago when she and Hope had been talking in the conference room. Angelica pressed her fingers to the screen, expanding the pictures. They were standing so damn close—closer than she’d initially thought they had been.
And the way she was looking at Hope?
The way Hope was staring back at her?
Fuck.
Hope had every right to be pissed off about these photos.
And the posts from before. They couldn’t deny what was between them despite how much they both might want to.
Angelica trembled as she slid back further, finding photo after photo of the two of them, side by side, or heads bent.
There were a few with Eva in there, running around and playing whenever she could get in the way.
“Lyric…” Angelica started, not exactly sure how she wanted to have this conversation. “Two things, I’m fairly certain that Hope and Rex don’t want Eva in any of the photos.”
“Oh! Yeah, I was going to ask them before posting any of those, but I didn’t intend those for social media. I thought you might like to have them.”
Angelica looked at Lyric’s deep brown eyes and saw the truth in them. “Why would you think I’d want them?”
“Because you seem to enjoy Eva so much, ma’am. And mom always tells me that she never had enough photos of her and the kids. I take them for Hope too and text them to her.”
What the hell was Lyric implying by that comment?
Angelica swallowed a lump that formed in her throat, still struggling to find the right words for this type of conversation.
“Lyric, I need you to run the photos by me and Hope… or Hope’s press manager, I’m sure she has one… before you post them. Hope’s trying to tighten up what ends up on her socials.”
Lyric winced. “Is there something wrong with what I’ve been posting?”
Angelica pursed her lips. The elevator stopped at their floor, and she stepped out, but before she could say saved by the bell, Lyric asked again.
“Did I do something wrong?”
“I just need you to double check before you post anything. We’re trying to create an image about the two of us, and we need to make sure everything falls under that branding.” Angelica crossed her arms, the weight of her bag feeling heavier by the second.
“So I did something wrong,” Lyric asked, but it was far more a statement.
“No, because I never told you not to post those photos. I didn’t realize how much the fan base of this show would do with them.
Just check first, a quick text ought to do.
I need to get ready for the party tonight.
” Angelica pointed down the hall toward her room and immediately started walking in that direction, leaving Lyric behind her.
As soon as she was in the safety of her room, she collapsed onto her bed and stared up at the ceiling.
“Holy fuck,” she said out loud.
Covering her face with her hand she closed her eyes and groaned.
She couldn’t deny her attraction to Hope.
Not after those photos. Not after seeing what was reflected in her gaze, the desire and the longing, the blatant fucking flirting that had been captured digitally and potentially for all the world to see.
Groaning, Angelica kicked off those fucking four-inch heels she was coming to hate and pulled the rest of her body into the center of her bed.
What the fuck was she going to do about this?
Because policing Lyric’s every post wasn’t the right answer.
It was a short-term solution that needed a long-term fix.
And the fix was to get Hope Lawrence out of her head.
And her heart.