Page 42 of Culinary Chaos

Josef clicked his tongue at her. “You’re having a relationship with Hope Lawerence? Does Rex know?”

“No, I’m not. There’s nothing going on between Hope and me.” Angelica sighed heavily. “And there won’t ever be anything.”

Because Hope was married.

Straight.

She had to be.

And God, Angelica didn’t want to like her at all.

“There better not be,” Josef warned. “I told you when I offered you this position that there couldn’t be any dramatics. Not like that. I won’t have you take this show down because you can’t keep it in your pants.”

Angelica snorted, shaking her head again. “You wouldn’t have a show without me. And don’t you forget it.”

That was a confidence grab if she had one. Josef certainly could have found someone else for the show, but Angelica wasn’t about to discount her own value, not when she knew she was damn good at what she did. She might not fully understand the show business side of things, but when it came to her role as a producer, she was damn sure that she was adding value every second that she was on set.

“Don’t make accusations that you know nothing about,” Angelica added. She stood up, snagging her iPad and walking out of the room. She had nothing else to say, and she needed tocool down before she had an actual conversation with him. They all needed a night to let everything just settle and then come back to it tomorrow.

She took the elevator up to her floor and stopped.

Hope.

They were staying on the same floor. Why hadn’t it occurred to her until that moment that they’d been put in neighboring rooms? Angelica clenched her teeth, that anger rising in her chest. Hope was just out to start even more problems for Angelica, wasn’t she? Surely she wasn’t aware of the situation with Leanne, but that didn’t mean that Hope couldn’t be more careful.

“What the hell is your problem with me?” Angelica asked, the words spitting out of her mouth before she could stop them. She pushed her way off the elevator, letting the doors close behind her. Hope could wait for it to come back for all she cared. She wanted to have this out.

“My problem?” Hope asked, shaking her head.

“Yeah,yourproblem. You come in here, and make wild accusations, and then you run out without even explaining what the hell is going on.”

“Me?” Hope slapped her hand across her chest, the white tank top she wore sliding under her hand slightly. “Do you get off on pissing people off? Seriously. What the hell were you thinking with John?”

“I was thinking that I could get exactly what we needed, and I did. I got him to bow to what we’re demanding.” Angelica clenched her fist against her side, holding her iPad tightly in her other hand. “I got everything that we needed.”

“By trampling over every other person in that room.” Hope shook her head, eyes wide. “I thought you were better than that.”

“Better?” Angelica’s voice cracked. “What the hell do you mean by better? I’ve never done anything to you. I’ve never oncetold you that you weren’t worthy of this job.” She may have thought it, but she hadn’t actually said it to Hope’s face.

“You just don’t get it, do you?” Hope stepped even closer, the space between them minimizing to the point that Angelica could barely breathe even though Hope wasn’t touching her.

“Get what?”

“You’re my fucking problem.” Hope leaned in, her added height making Angelica feel as though she was backed against the wall.

“Me?” Angelica shook her head. “What have I ever done to you?”

The silence was deafening. Angelica’s heart raced so loudly that she swore Hope would be able to hear it if she could stop thinking whatever had just gone through her head and focus on Angelica. But she definitely didn’t want that either. Hope leaned in slightly, then pulled back. Angelica furrowed her brow in confusion. What the hell was?—?

Angelica froze.

Hope’s lips pressed against hers, heat searing through the touch. Their breath mingled. Angelica dropped the iPad, and it clattered to the ground next to her foot so loudly that it sounded like a gunshot had just gone off. But Hope still didn’t move back.

Panic swelled in Angelica’s chest, coming up from her belly and grasping onto her neck, surrounding it in a tight grasp and squeezing so tightly that she swore she’d have a bruise mark in the morning. She trembled, her entire body shaking as she raised her hands, slapping them against Hope’s shoulders and pushing her back immediately.

She hyperventilated. Hope just stared at her, wide-eyed and as confused as Angelica was.

Angelica’s lips parted, but no words would leave her mouth. Words were completely gone. Nothing made sense. Not thismoment. Not the last five minutes. Not the last four weeks since they’d started on this hotel hell journey.