Page 71 of Culinary Chaos

Intentional.

Intense.

Hope stepped closer, her fingers tightening on Angelica’s hands. Angelica turned, her eyes locking on Hope’s in the dark. Angelica didn’t look like an angel in this light, with her eyes so dark that they were almost black, but her hair still golden and haloed around her shoulders. Hope took in a staggering breath, still wanting to lean in closer.

Angelica blinked and stepped back. Sexual tension snapped into fearful tension. Hope breathed the cold air and let it hurt her lungs as she held it tightly in her chest. What the hell was she thinking? What was she doing? She let go of Angelica’s hands and forcefully made herself take a step away. She turned aroundand clapped along with the crowd as the band officially ended the song.

Turning to Angelica, Hope was at a loss of words.

Angelica pointed over her shoulder, a sad look on her face. “We should head back.”

“Yeah,” Hope said on a sigh. That was all she needed to hear to break the spell. “Yeah, we should.”

Chapter

Twenty-Four

“Hope?” Angelica stepped into the kitchen, instantly at ease aside from the heat in there and the cameras that all suddenly turned toward her.

They weren’t expecting this, but Rex had thought it’d be a good idea not to tell them.

“Yeah?” Hope looked up from whatever she was doing at one of the counters. When her eyes locked on Angelica’s, her face fell. “What’s wrong?”

“I need you.” Angelica didn’t wait. She turned around on her toes and walked out of the kitchen. She could hear the small kerfuffle in the kitchen as Hope prepared to be gone, but this wasn’t something that Angelica wanted to get out beyond the few people who knew already.

She waited in the hallway. Hope walked quickly until she saw Angelica and then she nearly stumbled as she raced to keep pace with Angelica.

“Seriously, what’s wrong?” Hope repeated. “I was in the middle of a tutorial.”

“It’ll have to wait.” Angelica turned again, walking the way she had come. She’d been off her game since that night a few days ago, since they’d danced under the moonlight and laughedas if they had not a care in the world. Angelica hadn’t been able to catch her footing.

They made their way into the small office that they’d taken over. Angelica sat on one side of the small table and put her hand out for Hope to join next to her. She pulled over a few sheets of paper and her iPad, turning it on so that the camera crew could see it if they angled everything correctly. She was getting better at doing that.

Hope slid into the chair, the heat from her body so close to Angelica’s that it was nearly as distracting as it had been that night downtown. Angelica hadn’t been able to head back that way on her nightly walks since then. The intensity, the tension, the almost-kiss—because yes, that had been exactly what Hope had been thinking about—was too much of a memory. Which was exactly where it needed to stay.

“What am I doing here, Angelica?” Hope asked, leaning forward slightly as she squinted at the papers. “I’ve been through these before.”

“I know.” Angelica rearranged them in the correct order. “Remember when you said nothing would reconcile in the accounts correctly?”

“Yes.” Hope picked up one of the papers. “It gave me a good headache or two.” She chuckled lightly, looking at Angelica instead of the paper.

Angelica’s lips pulled into a smile that she couldn’t stop before she took the paper Hope was holding and set it back down onto the table. She pointed to one of the lines. “What did you attribute this one to?”

“It’s marketing.” Hope furrowed her brow, the deep line in the center of her forehead absolutely adorable.

“It’s labeled that, yes.” Angelica pulled over another pile of papers. “And this one too. All made out to the same marketing company.”

“Correct.” Hope pulled her lower lip between her teeth, popping it out when she looked up to meet Angelica’s eyes again. “Where are you going with this?”

“We’re in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, in small town America. Where do you think you’re going to find an advertisement for thirty thousand dollars?”

Angelica sat back in the chair, not taking her eyes off Hope as the gears turned in her mind, as she made the connections that Angelica had already made.

“Wait…” Hope riffled through the papers again. “I mean, I didn’t think twice about that.”

“Because we live in LA, where it’s not uncommon to spend that much. We also run larger businesses. But Mountain View isn’t large. It’s a small, family owned and operated business. They wouldn’t just drop thirty thousand dollars four times this year on advertising.” Angelica held her breath, watching the information pile up in Hope’s brain. “Which made me ask the question—where did that money actually go?”

“Angel…” Hope murmured, her voice so quiet.