Page 12 of Culinary Chaos (Hotel Bombshell #1)

Chapter

Nine

“ I didn’t realize just how much work there is in being a producer.” Hope sent a smile in her husband’s direction as he set out the platter of food she’d made up earlier that day.

“Are you interested in becoming a producer?” he asked with a furrowed brow.

“No.” Hope laughed loudly. “Never.” She busied herself with work.

They’d spent the evening before shooting the final scene for the episode, and this morning doing some final wrap-up moments.

She was ready for a break from being in front of the camera, and so glad that the mic pack wasn’t strapped to her body anymore.

Rex slid a hand along her arm. “If you wanted to produce, I wouldn’t tell you no.”

“I know you wouldn’t.” Hope winked at him. “But I have no desire to do it. At least not at this point. Definitely not producing a show that I’m starring in. That’d be way too much. Maybe when Eva is out of the house.”

“Out of the house? Jesus, Hope, she’s six.”

“Yeah?” Hope shook her head at him. “I didn’t mean tomorrow, but I do want to have a life when she’s grown up and living her own life. I told you from the beginning that I never wanted to make my life all about our kids.”

“Kid,” he corrected.

Were they going down that argument road again? They’d agreed to only have one kid. Granted, Hope was the one who really pushed that conversation, but still, it was something they’d both agreed to.

“Yeah, kid .” Hope looked at him directly. “And I love her no matter what. I just said that I don’t want to sacrifice any more time with her. Having her here while filming has been amazing. I get to put her to bed every night and wake up with her nearby every morning.”

“You still wake up too early and don’t stay in bed when I need to snuggle.”

Oh, Rex was pulling out all the stops today, wasn’t he? Hope put down the platter of food and moved closer to him. She wrapped her arms around his torso and pulled him into a hug. She leaned up on her toes and kissed him soundly. “I love you.”

“I know you do.”

“Good.” She smiled and kissed him again.

“Don’t you forget it, either.” She stepped away from him, startled when she turned to find Angelica standing in the doorway of the floor at the restaurant.

The party wasn’t for another hour, so why was she there?

Surely she didn’t have any more work for the two of them, did she?

Hope just wanted to focus on cooking and eating for once. Not on management. Not on the next episode. Not on what they had to fix. They’d done good work here, and that was something they should celebrate.

Eva skirted around Angelica, bursting into the room with a squeal as she ran straight for Rex. Angelica watched with rapt attention as Eva moved and hugged him. Hope kept their eyes locked, saying nothing. Her curiosity was piqued for sure.

“She couldn’t find you,” Angelica finally said quietly.

Hope wasn’t even sure that Rex had heard her.

Hope stepped away from her family and toward Angelica, her body being pulled to this woman she shouldn’t want to have any part of.

Angelica was cold and icy—Rex’s little nickname for her was adequate.

Though Hope still believed that Angelica lived into that nickname more than she had to, that she found some sort of sick pleasure in it.

“Did you bring her to us?” Hope asked, her voice quiet enough that the exchange was only between the two of them.

“Naturally.” Angelica flicked her gaze from Hope to Eva and Rex and then back again. When she met Hope’s gaze, her lips quirked up and her eyebrows rose, as if a tease was on the tip of her tongue. But would she commit to it? “What else would I do?”

Guess she wouldn’t. Hope’s eyes crinkled in the corners. “Are you more comfortable with my six-year-old than you are with grown adults?”

“What?” Angelica jerked her head back slightly at that. “Why would you say that?”

“Because you’re smiling at her, and I’ve rarely seen you smile this week.

” Hope crossed her arms and lifted up on her toes.

Angelica was still dressed impeccably, as if there was no difference today from yesterday in terms of work.

Hope, however, had dressed down in a tight green tank top and worn jeans that she probably shouldn’t be wearing any longer since they were about to rip.

Angelica pursed her lips, but it didn’t last long before she broke into a smile.

“Ah, see? There we go. That’s a little better.”

“You’re incorrigible.”

“Sometimes,” Hope whispered. “But if you are more comfortable with kids, I can understand why. They’re more innocent.”

“They don’t have agendas,” Angelica interrupted. “Well, aside from what they can get themselves. Kids are actually rather narcissistic, but in a good way. They’re still teachable.”

Hope’s lips parted in surprise before she closed her mouth to think about that. “I suppose you could say that.”

“I have a meeting to get to. I just wanted to make sure that she found you.” Angelica turned slightly, her gaze locking back on Hope. “Don’t forget about our meeting tomorrow before we leave.”

“I won’t.” Hope nearly reached out to grab Angelica’s hand as she walked away, but she managed to stop herself.

What the hell was that about? Her fingertips tingled from the lack of contact.

She couldn’t tear her gaze away as Angelica walked swiftly and confidently out of the dining room, heeled shoes clicking on the hard tiled floor.

The rest of the setup moved quickly. Eva laughed and helped, knowing exactly how both her parents functioned in order to get things done, and Hope honestly loved having her there. People began to file in early, which was a sure sign that they were all at least somewhat happy with each other still.

“Are we going to do a mini–wrap party for every episode?” Hope whispered to Rex as she sipped the champagne they’d popped.

“Probably. It’s good to wrap up with the owners and staff we’ve just brutalized for the last week.”

“Me? Brutalized? Shame on you.” Hope covered her heart with her hand and stared at him with mock indignation. “How dare you say something like that?”

“Not you.” Rex looked directly at Angelica. “Her.”

Hope hummed. Was there really something that wrong with Angelica that she just wasn’t seeing? So many people on the crew seemed to have this standoffish attitude with her, where they included her when they had to but never quite made the effort to get friendly with her.

Then again, it wasn’t like Angelica was really working on that either.

She’d flat-out told Hope several times that she wasn’t there to make friends.

Hope took another sip of the champagne, the bubbly going down smoothly.

But she watched Angelica closely. She would talk to people, but it wasn’t for any great length of time.

And more often than not, she was standing alone as if she was still holding court and waiting for people to come join her.

Hope could fix that.

Easily.

The question was whether or not she wanted to, and definitely whether or not Angelica would allow her to do it. Would it be worth the risk? Hope was about to find out.

She walked her way carefully through the throng of people and moved to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Angelica, the woman who was now eyeing her suspiciously.

“Yes?”

“Oh, nothing,” Hope said, sipping her champagne again.

“Nothing?”

“Nothing.” Hope could barely contain her smile this time. She loved flirting, and she’d flirt with just about anyone and anything that would let her. She shifted her stance, bumping gently into Angelica’s shoulder before backing off. “You don’t want to be here, do you?”

“Do you?” Angelica asked, genuine curiosity in the question.

“Yeah. Of course I do. I think getting together to converse and learn and celebrate is always needed. We should do more of it.”

Angelica just hummed a short response before looking out at the people again. “While I do think celebrating is important, I have work that needs to be done.”

“What work could be more important than celebrating?”

“Hiring a new hotel manager. My last one resigned, and her last day is today.” Angelica stared down into her own glass of champagne.

Hope would dare to bet that the look crossing her face was one of pain. She could definitely detect the notes of it in her voice. “Was she good at her job?”

“One of the best,” Angelica answered, raising her chin back up as if she finally had herself under control.

“Then why is she leaving?” Hope canted her head to the side, making eye contact with Angelica. For some reason, she just couldn’t stop looking at her, couldn’t stop wanting to be in this woman’s presence. At least when she was acting like this.

“Believe it or not, Hope, I’m not the easiest person to work for.”

Hope nodded, sipping her drink. “So you’re the reason she’s leaving.”

“Yes,” Angelica answered on a whisper, and there was that pain again, right back where Hope had discovered it before.

Pursing her lips into a tight little O, Hope blew out slowly. “That’s hard.”

Angelica didn’t answer. But she did cross her arms and close in on herself even more. Hope bumped her again, this time more obviously. “Come on, we should play the dutiful hosts of this party.”

“Are we?”

“The hosts?” Hope asked, confused more than ever now. “Of course.”

“I didn’t realize.” Angelica blinked slowly, holding Hope’s gaze. “I thought this was your idea.”

“No. Not at all. Josef asked me to make some food for it.”

“So it was his idea?” Angelica asked.

“Beats me.” Hope couldn’t tear her gaze away.

Someone was laughing loudly on the other side of the room, but even that couldn’t pull her attention.

Just what was Angelica thinking? What was she feeling?

Because this was so vastly different than anything Hope had seen in her before.

It was as if she was vulnerable here, as if the curtain obscuring who she actually was and what she actually thought was so sheer that Hope might actually be able to see underneath all her bravado and control. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah.” Angelica forced her lips to move into a smile. Their gazes locked, time seemed to stop. Hope felt the pull again, the desire to lean in and do something radical and different. Angelica’s voice snapped that tension. “Of course.”

“I don’t buy that.” Hope put her hand on Angelica’s wrist, her fingers circling the thin bones under the silver chain bracelet that Angelica had worn every day they’d filmed.

The metal was warm under her touch, but the look in Angelica’s eyes was anything but.

Hope wanted to approach this with as much compassion as she possibly could. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong.” Angelica shook her head. “I’m here to do my job, Mrs. Lawrence. Nothing else.”

“Right. No friends, no comrades in arms, no bonding time. I get it.” Hope dropped Angelica’s wrist and shoved her hand against her body as she crossed her arms. That had been the scolding she needed in order to remember who they were to each other.

They were thrown into this show to work together, and that was it.

They had no other reason for being here.

Hope would do well to remember that, because if she got distracted by holding a torch to what they could potentially find in each other, she would be disappointed.

Wouldn’t she?

“I’ll see you in the morning,” Angelica said, stepping away and setting her half-drunk glass of champagne down on a tray.

She said nothing else as she walked out of the dining area and back into the main part of the hotel.

What had that been about? Hope wanted to follow her to find out, but she stayed still, frozen on the spot as she continued to stare at the empty space where Angelica had once been.

Angelica had retreated, and oftentimes following someone who retreated wasn’t the way to come out unscathed.

Though Hope had doubts she’d come out unscathed anyway.

Something about the way Angelica pushed against her said that they were going to face battles together. Against each other for sure, but maybe they could find a few that they could fight alongside one another.

“Something wrong?” Rex asked, coming up next to her.

“Uh, no.” Hope immediately shifted from her curiosity about Angelica to focusing on the family and friends she did have here.

This was what she needed, nothing else. And if Angelica was going to hold herself completely separate from the rest of them, then that was her choice.

She’d be lonelier for it, but it wasn’t Hope’s job to humanize her for everyone else.

But still…

That was exactly what she wanted to do.

“The Matlocks seem to be enjoying themselves,” Hope commented, leaving the thoughts of Angelica behind—hopefully.

“They do,” Rex said. “I’m glad, because they were tough nuggets to crack in the beginning. Angelica had so many meetings with them to try and convince them that this was in their best interest.”

“Really?” Hope was surprised by that.

“Yeah.”

“They applied for the program though.”

“They did. That doesn’t mean people are willing to take the line of you’re wrong, and I’m right which is the only line that Angelica will be delivering during the course of the show. You too, for that matter. It’s just easier to prove that you’re right than it is for her.”

“Why’s that?” Hope hadn’t thought of it like that before.

“Your product is tangible.” Rex slid his arm around Hope’s waist and tugged her in to kiss her cheek. “You definitely have the easier, and sexier job.” He laughed as he said the last part. “I wouldn’t have you any other way.”

Hope smiled at him. But now she had even more to think about than before. Just what had she missed in the last two weeks? She was willing to bet it was a whole lot more than she thought possible.