Chapter 12
Chapter
Twelve
Hope stepped out of her hotel room all dressed up with her hair pulled back and pinned in place with a clip. She’d sent Rex and Eva off nearly thirty minutes ago to get things started, but she’d just wanted thirty minutes to herself to think.
She was in over her head with Angelica.
Their conversation in the party room earlier that night told her that, but she’d thought about it, just about every single moment since they’d gotten to Houston told her that.
She was still very much attracted to her.
And despite trying to convince herself otherwise, to stop herself from that, she couldn’t.
And the more she got to know Angelica the worse that crush got.
Breathing slowly, Hope slid her hands down her black waist-high slacks and then smoothed down the sides of her pink billowing shirt.
She’d wanted to dress up a bit for this wrap party.
Robin and Johnny really had kept true to their word and made far more of a turnaround than she’d thought they would.
So they deserved her best. She’d even put in a nice pair of earrings for the occasion.
She arrived at the elevator and nearly stumbled.
Angelica stood there, arms crossed, staring down at her toes.
Hope’s gaze dropped to her toes, showing in her peep-toed heels that made her calves look fantastic.
Smooth skin up to the hemline of her dress, which was just at her knees.
The black dress formed to her body, following along each of her curves to her shoulders with peep holes just on the upper parts of her arm.
Hope drew in a staggering breath, nearly frozen to the spot as she stared.
She’d forgotten that Angelica usually showed up late to these things, that she always came down on her own with no one else, always wanting to make sure that she was there the shortest amount of time possible.
But what the hell was she going to say to her?
Because she’d just been telling herself that her crush was getting out of control, and now she was being confronted with Angelica right there.
Close enough to touch. Yet far enough away that perhaps Hope could fake forgetting something in her room and run back to hide for a few more minutes. But she couldn’t make herself do that.
Instead, when the elevator doors opened and Angelica stepped onto the lift, Hope followed her.
Like the dumb lost and horny little puppy she was.
Perhaps that’s all this was. Horniness. She and Rex hadn’t slept together much in the last year, not since she’d told him about kissing Angelica, and when they had, it had been tense, and not in a good way.
Like he was constantly judging whether or not she actually wanted to be there.
“You look nice,” Hope murmured as she leaned against the back of the elevator, her palms pressing into the wall in a feeble attempt to center herself.
“You too,” Angelica said, not lifting her gaze toward Hope.
Had she even looked? Did she even know?
The elevator stopped at the floor just below theirs. The doors slid open and Sy and, Abbi and Maddy, two other crew members, stepped on, both smiling and nodding at them. Hope nodded back, but she was completely at a loss for words. The next floor more crew stepped on.
Why the hell was everyone so late to this party tonight?
Hope had to step closer to Angelica, their shoulders brushing.
Then the next floor, and even more people.
She breathed deeply, closing her eyes. Her mind was a mess, her body was going haywire.
Every place that Angelica pressed against her was on fire.
Ripples of pleasure turned into a torrent of arousal, and it rolled through her and back again getting bigger each and every damn time it did.
She turned closer into Angelica, breathing in her scent and getting swept up in it.
Biting her lip, Hope tried to keep herself centered on what they were here for, what they were doing, the fact that they were standing in an elevator and surrounded by crew. But she had to know. She needed to see.
Was Angelica struggling the same way?
Hope swallowed, raising her chin up just enough to see if Angelica was even looking in her direction. Damn it, she was. Hope filled her lungs with the hot air. This entire box of an elevator was filled with way too many people. She needed more space. She needed to not be pushed up against Angelica.
Looking up again, she caught Angelica’s gaze.
Those baby blue eyes were locked on her face, Angelica’s lips parted as if she was going to say something.
No. As if she was going to kiss something.
Hope’s entire being depended on what that something was.
On the heat of this moment, on the intensity of it.
Her breathing increased, her chest rising and falling uncontrollably as she reached between them and hooked her pinky finger around Angelica’s.
That simple touch was the only thing keeping her from having an all-out horny panic attack in the middle of this elevator that was filled to the brim with the crew. This moment of touch was everything that was keeping her sane, and she didn’t want to break it. She couldn’t break it.
Hope dropped her gaze from Angelica’s stunning eyes to her mouth.
Oh, if they weren’t in an elevator filled with crew, she would absolutely lean in and kiss her.
That impulse hadn’t stopped after the first time they’d done it, and certainly not the third.
She bit the inside of her cheek as she caught herself leaning forward a little too eagerly.
Nope. Couldn’t do that either.
The elevator jerked to a stop. The doors swished open. People stepped out and cold air rushed in. Hope had to untangle her finger from Angelica’s and step back immediately, but it was so damn hard, and she felt drunk, her knees weak, her entire body not ready to hold her up as she went.
They moved together, step by step, as they walked off the elevator. Angelica turned to the side, toward the conference room, saying absolutely nothing to Hope as she went. And Hope followed her, unable to tear her gaze away.
“Hope!” Rex’s voice shattered her trance.
She shook her head, a cold bucket of ice water dumped on her in an instant.
“What the hell are you doing?” Rex towered over her, anger in the deep line in his forehead and the wideness of his eyes.
“I-I’m doing nothing,” Hope stuttered.
Rex snagged her arm and dragged her down the opposite hall from the one the crew was going to.
She could barely catch her footing, but that wasn’t because of the force he pulled her with.
In fact, if she thought about it, he wasn’t actually dragging her.
He was guiding her in one direction and she was stumbling along like a dumb idiot next to him. He halfway held her up.
“Hope, I know you, and that wasn’t nothing.” Rex hissed the words at her, his voice low and quiet.
They were surrounded by crew and hotel staff, shoved into the back maintenance room. If they talked loud enough, someone would overhear them. Hope’s heart fluttered. She shook her head, just trying to catch her bearings, but it was damn near impossible.
She and Angelica had been so close in that elevator, smooshed against the wall as they rode it down. Hope could have touched her. Their bodies were pressed against each other, but that wasn't deliberate touch, not like what Hope actually wanted to do. Her cheeks heated.
They could have kissed.
“Hope! Snap out of it!”
She shook her head, cold rushing through her before the heat of embarrassment followed.
God, had she been transported back to the tenth grade when she’d had a massive crush on her math teacher and no matter what she did, she couldn’t find it in herself to actually talk to him?
She breathed through her distraction to try and find her center before looking deep into Rex’s concerned, worried, and still ticked-off eyes.
“What’s wrong?”
“What were you doing?” he repeated, his hands on her shoulders as if he was going to shake her, but he wasn’t. He was holding her steady.
“I’m going to the wrap party.”
“Hope!” The exasperation in his tone was so evident that anyone would be able to hear it. “You know what I’m talking about.”
“I don’t know.”
But she did. At least to an extent. But the embarrassment at having been caught up in the fantasy raged through her and was making it next to impossible to breathe. Her cheeks burned. Her entire body was on fire. And here was Rex, still insisting on throwing a cold bucket of ice water on her.
Rex sighed heavily, pulling at his hair as he took a step back. “I see the way you look at her. Hell, the way she looks at you. I’ve never seen Ange look at someone like that before.”
Was he serious?
Angelica was hot as hell, and surely other people leered at her.
And she was a woman with desires and physical needs.
Surely, she looked at other women like that.
Right? Hope furrowed her brow and crossed her arms, her brain starting to disassociate from her body to the point that she might be able to actually form a sentence.
“Don’t deny that the two of you are doing something behind my back.”
“Rex!” Hope sighed. “We’re not. I’m not.
” She blinked wildly at him. Sure, she’d thought about what it’d be like to kiss Angelica again, to touch her, but she’d never actually thought about taking that final step to actually doing it.
Fantasy was one thing. Actually doing it? That was something else entirely.
Rex clenched his jaw, giving her a hard look. “What I just witnessed…”
“Was nothing. What do you think, we’re having quickies in the elevator? Hell, that elevator was jam packed with people.”
“Hope!” Rex nearly whined out her name. He came close to her again, touching her shoulders, imploring her with his gaze. He desperately needed her to understand this, and she could see that. “We’ve done that.”
“Oh. Right.” Hope frowned. They had done that.
Not in years, but in the past, they used to have sex whenever and wherever they could, which sometimes meant in public spaces where other people were present, sometimes it meant in janitor closets—kind of like the one they were in now.
She had a healthy libido and a strong desire for sex, and she wasn’t ever going to deny herself something that felt good.
“And you…” Rex stopped, pressing his lips together hard before he continued “…you have impulse problems. And I don’t…”
“Trust me?” Hope’s heart raced. “Is that what you’re going to say? You don’t trust me to keep it in my pants?”
He shook his head, the look of defeat taking over him. “You kissed her.”
“I did! Almost a year ago, and we haven’t talked since, not really. Not about anything not work related.” Hope sighed, pressing her lips together tightly. “You’re being paranoid, Rex. I’m not going to find a closet and fuck her in between filming scenes.”
Rex’s face fell. “Then tell me what that was all about.” He pointed back the way they had come. “Because the two of you looked…”
“Looked what?”
“Like you like her,” he finally said.
“I am attracted to her, Rex.” Hope frowned.
“I told you that. She’s a very attractive woman.
But she and I aren’t doing anything. We’re not kissing behind closed doors, we’re not fucking in closets, we’re not even talking about anything unless it relates to the job.
You need to trust me, otherwise these are going to be the longest twelve weeks of our life. ”
“It’s hard,” he whispered.
“Yeah, I know.” She sighed again, brushing her fingers through her hair and closing her eyes. “And it doesn’t feel good.”
“No, it doesn’t.” He took her hand in his, lacing their fingers together.
That was as much of a sign as Hope needed that he was finally hearing what she was saying. She’d held to her promise so far that she was keeping everything as professional as possible between her and Angelica.
“Nothing’s happening between Ange and me, all right?”
“Okay,” he murmured.
Hope leaned in, pressing their mouths together in a tight kiss.
But she didn’t move to deepen it, and neither did he.
When was the last time she’d kissed him without being distracted?
She frowned at that thought. This jealousy of his wasn’t coming out of nowhere.
She was the cause of it, and the need to put more effort into her relationship with him was there.
Keeping their fingers laced, Hope stepped back and nodded. “You ready for this wrap party?”
He gave her a small smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I don’t think we have a choice.”
“We don’t, but we can wait a few more minutes if you want.”
“No, let’s go.” He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles.
There. That was a good start. Wasn’t it? Hope kept her hand in his as she stepped out of the maintenance closet and towed him behind her. She walked slower than she normally would, but they needed all the extra seconds they could find.
Voices echoed down the hall, getting louder with each step she took toward the party.
The room must already be filled to the brim.
As soon as they stepped inside, her eyes locked on Angelica—shoved away in a corner with only Lyric to talk to.
Hope hated that she always seemed the outcast, just a step outside of the group. She deserved better.
Rex stepped in closer, his arm brushing against her back. Hope gasped and turned toward the table of food she’d set out earlier before she’d gone upstairs to change. She needed to watch herself. She needed to get herself under control and put as much space between her and Angelica as possible.
Which was going to be damn hard to accomplish.
Because she hadn’t lied to Rex. That inkling of attraction she’d had last season hadn’t gone away in the intervening months.
If anything, it’d gotten stronger.