Page 80 of Culinary Chaos

Except she was damn sure this was Hope.

Which was either going to make this worse or make it better.

Brushing her hair behind her ear and smoothing her hands over her stomach and pants, Angelica walked barefoot to thedoor. She didn’t have time to put her shoes on or even double check the mirror to make sure that she was presentable.

She opened the door and was greeted by none other than the focal point of her sexual fantasies—at least that day. She said nothing as she stared with anticipation at whatever it was Hope needed from her.

And Hope just stared.

Her gaze dropped from Angelica’s eyes to her mouth, all over her face and hair to her body. Angelica resisted the urge to reach up and triple check that she hadn’t left a button undone on her shirt. Then again, she hadn’t undone those, had she?

Hope’s mouth closed, and she breathed in deeply, her lips curling up to one side as her face softened and her cheeks tinged pink. “I didn’t mean to interrupt?—”

“What do you need, Hope?” Angelica asked, her tone far sharper than she’d intended. But it was damn hard to embarrass her, and she probably wouldn’t be except that Hope had been at the center of all of it.

“I uh…” Hope’s smile faltered for a second before she shook her head and stepped a little closer, dropping her voice to a near whisper. “I wanted to wish you well.”

“Wish me well?” Angelica raised an eyebrow at her, trying to calm her racing heart, trying to stop the fact that Hope standing this close to her was still doing crazy things to her body especially after that spectacular orgasm that she wanted to linger in.

“On your interviews.” Hope smiled again. “I can’t imagine being on the other side of an interview with you. You must be terrifying.”

“Do you really think I’m terrifying?”

“Oh, I think you want to be perceived that way, especially with new people.” Hope pulled her lip between her teeth, tryingto stop the smile from reaching her mouth. “Too bad most people don’t know how sweet you can be.”

“What?” Angelica’s jaw dropped.

“I talked to Tatum,” Hope whispered. “Next time, if you don’t want that information to get out, you might want to tell him to keep it to himself.”

“He didn’t.”

“Just with me.” Hope’s gaze dropped to Angelica’s lips again, this time lingering far longer than was appropriate. She didn’t look up as she said, “I think it’s very sweet, too, for the record.”

“I don’t care about the record.”

“I know you don’t.” Hope flicked her gaze back up to Angelica’s. “But most people do.”

Angelica swallowed, at a complete loss for words.

“And if you really don’t want people to think you’re going soft in your…oldage…then it’ll probably be better to try and keep those things a secret as much as possible.”

“Ms. Shields? Your car is here.”

“Oh thank God.” Angelica snapped out of whatever spell Hope had woven and stepped back.

“I’ll see you in a few days, Angel.” Hope smiled at her again, winked, and then walked off as though Angelica hadn’t just begged Hope to fuck her against the wall.

Wait.

She hadn’t done that.

She did manage to have some kind of self-control still.

But fuck.

“Ms. Shields?”

“Yeah, just a minute.” Angelica walked back inside and straight to the bathroom. She ran the water in the sink and washed her hands, staring at her disheveled appearance in the mirror. Fuck, there was really no denying what she’d been doing.