Page 45 of Culinary Chaos

Angelica stared at her, lips slightly parted, fear in her eyes. But she didn’t back away. She didn’t exactly move forward either. Instead, they just looked at each other. All those nerves that Hope had been avoiding came tumbling up into her stomach and her heart raced.

What the fuck was happening to her?

Finally, Angelica stepped inside and turned to face the door, staring directly forward. Were they really not going to talk about it at all? Were they going to pretend like nothing had happened? Because the memory of that kiss had been plaguing her all night, and Hope didn’t know where to turn.

“We should probably talk about last night,” she said, her voice low and quiet, nearly a whisper. Which was stupid, there was no one else in the elevator with them.

“There’s nothing to talk about.” Angelica folded her hands in front of her, her jaw clenched tight.

Hope couldn’t drag her gaze away from her, from the lines of her features, the way her nose had a slight bump in it that indicated she’d broken it at some point, the way her lips were positioned, the top one so thin and the bottom one so full.

“There’s absolutely something to talk about, and I have no idea who to talk to.”

“Not me,” Angelica answered.

It was as if there were visible walls crashing down around Angelica, walls of steel that Hope would never be able to crack and break her way through.

“Why not?” Hope asked, turning to face Angelica now. She needed to see every part of her to know exactly what was going on. Why was Angelica so resistant to any kind of conversation now? She hadn’t been before, not since they’d met. She’d avoided emotional and personal topics, but she’d never avoided Hope entirely before. Not like this.

Angelica continued to stare forward. “Nothing happened last night.”

Hope scoffed. “Of course it did. We kissed.”

“Wedidn’t kiss.” Angelica’s eyes widened, and she faced Hope down. “Wedidn’t.Youcouldn’t control yourself and went too far.”

Cold washed through Hope, racing through her entire body and taking control of her. How much had she offended Angelica? How much damage had she done to their relationship? She hadn’t thought of that. All night, all her concerns had been focused on her and Rex and Eva. She’d never once considered what she’d done to Angelica.

Dashing her tongue out against her lips, Hope breathed in deeply. But that was a mistake. Because that only forced her to smell Angelica’s subtle perfume. It was so light that Hopehad barely managed to catch a whiff of it before, but this was undoubtedly Angelica.

“We should talk about it.”

“No,” Angelica answered firmly. “Like I said, there’s nothing to talk about.”

“Ineed someone to talk to about it.” Hope leaned in a little closer, trying to make her point. She was so confused, and surely Angelica had some experience in this, didn’t she?

Angelica shook her head, crossed her arms, and flicked her gaze toward the elevator door. Suddenly, she jerked forward and hit the button for the first floor. Fuck, Hope hadn’t even realized she hadn’t done that yet. They were just standing in an elevator that was never going to move, keeping them locked in this hell of a non-conversation that she’d been so inept to start in the first place.

“Ican’t be that person for you. I won’t.” Angelica’s voice was low, deadly.

“Why not?” Hope asked, desperation hitting her hard. Confessing to anyone else what she’d done would be disastrous. But Angelica already knew.

“Because I’m not who you think I am.”

That statement confused Hope even more than anything else they’d been discussing up until that point and even more than whatever had happened last night. How was Angelica not being truthful? How was she hiding?

“Who are you then?”

Angelica paused, looking Hope over. Her eyes seemed haunted almost, as if there were terrors too deep for Hope to dare dream up, but then that look was gone in a flash, almost as if it hadn’t ever been there to begin with and Hope had just made it all up.

Hope stepped closer, reaching out on instinct for Angelica’s arm. Angelica jerked back, pulling away and pushing her backfarther against the elevator wall. Hope froze. This was deeper than she knew. There was something else going on that she wasn’t aware of, which if she wasn’t so clouded with her own problems, she should have figured out.

They barely knew each other.

One dinner together and a couple weeks as coworkers didn’t make them friends, and it certainly didn’t make them lovers. Hope put her hand up and then to the side before dropping it back down. “I’m sorry.”

“For what, exactly?” Angelica stared at her directly, an eyebrow raised. She wasn’t going to back down, and she wasn’t going to give any indication of what Hope should really be apologizing for.

Hope bit her lower lip, her gaze dropping to Angelica’s. Her mouth had been warm. Not inviting, and Hope certainly had taken liberties as they’d been presented. Angelica’s lips parted, and Hope swore she could feel her breath as it left her mouth.