Page 55 of Culinary Chaos (Hotel Bombshell #1)

Chapter

Forty-Three

“ E verything almost set up?”

Hope spun around, a grin on her face, as she finally saw Angelica for the first time since she’d gotten there that day. She’d been waiting for Angelica to come and check that everything was ready for the party starting in a few hours, but she hadn’t thought she’d wait that long.

“Yeah.” Hope stood up straight, wiping her hands on a towel to make sure they were clean.

“Food’s all here.” She’d stashed the stuff that needed to be kept warm in the kitchens under the warmers.

But everything else she’d already put out.

The waitstaff was well trained—not that she’d expect anything less from Angelica.

“Good, because we have thirty minutes.” Angelica smiled at her. “It feels good to be done.”

“Like this is what you’ve been waiting for to feel like the season ended?”

“Yeah,” Angelica answered. “And I finally watched the full first episode late last night.”

“Did you?” Hope had snuck a watch with Rex when he’d come home the night before too. “What’d you think?”

“It wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be.”

Hope laughed, her entire body shaking. “You always say the most expected and unexpected things.”

“What do you mean?”

“I fully expected you to say that. It’s good, Ange. I watched it with Rex last night, too.”

“Well, ratings on it still aren’t the greatest. At least from the initial views, but who knows what’ll happen when it hits television? Some things just take off in ways we don’t expect.”

“Are you wanting it to take off?” Hope raised an eyebrow at her.

“Of course.” Angelica stepped away. “I need to check a few more things. I’ll be back.”

“See you.” Hope went back to work, finishing her setup and also putting out the gifts they’d gotten for everyone in the crew. She’d have to be a whole lot more creative next season, but with only two days to think and prep, she thought they’d done a fairly decent job.

It wasn’t long before the salon started to fill up with crew.

Angelica ditched the dish towel and let the wait staff take over.

They had everything they needed. She kept her eye out, waiting for Angelica to get back.

Rex showed up, a sports jacket on. It was nice to see the whole crew dressed up for once instead of just her and Angelica.

Hope was talking with a cameraman when she caught sight of Angelica out of the corner of her eye. And her breath was gone. She couldn’t even bring herself to pay attention to what the poor man was saying to her. Her heart hammered.

Angelica was dressed in a simple black dress, one that formed to her body, but had cuffed sleeves with a peekaboo right at the top of her arm before the sleeve continued to just above her elbow.

Hope’s mouth was dry as she dragged her gaze down Angelica’s body, the smooth black material, to the edge where it ended just at her knees, to the high heels she wore that added at least four inches to her height.

They’d stand almost even now if Hope got any closer, which she sure as hell was going to do.

She didn’t even finish the conversation or say goodbye.

She simply walked away and grabbed a bottle of beer and a glass of wine for herself.

She walked straight toward Angelica, her gaze never wavering as she went.

She had her mark, and she was going to make sure that she was there for it.

Hope stepped next to Angelica and immediately put the cold bottle of beer in Angelica’s hand.

Angelica looked at her curiously before looking down at the bottle. “What? No small nibblings tonight?”

Hope giggled. “I can get you some if you want.”

“No, I’m good for now. Thank you.” Angelica smiled at her before putting the bottle to her lips and taking a swig. She raised her eyebrows as she pulled the bottle away. “Mmm, it’s good.”

“Well, you figured out the alcohol, so I figured you’d like this one.”

Angelica chuckled. “You know me so well.”

“I like to think I know you a little better than most.” And that was the truth. Hope had no doubts that she didn’t actually understand who Angelica was underneath everything, but that she did want to get to know her better. “Does it really feel like a good end to you?”

“You know, it does.” Angelica nodded toward the room of people. “They all seem happy, don’t you think?”

“They do. I think they all enjoyed their jobs as much as could be expected.”

“And did you?” Angelica looked at her directly.

“I did.” Hope grinned. “But I’m not going to lie, the break last week has been a bit nice in that regard. At least way less complicated.”

“And no mean hotel manager poking around in your business.”

Hope gave a fake scoff. “How dare you think I don’t like that! I, in fact, love when the hotel manager comes down to ruffle my feathers.”

“Do you?” Angelica’s eyes were alight with amusement. She lifted the beer back to her lips, covering the bottle with them. Hope couldn’t tear her gaze away.

“There you are,” Rex said, coming to stand in front of them.

In an instant, everything shifted. The flirtatious tones ended, and Hope’s mood dropped from the tingling that she felt to something more akin to annoyance.

And she hated that. But why had she even done that?

She wasn’t embarrassed by the fact that she had a good relationship with Angelica.

In fact, wasn’t that what everyone had wanted on some level, for the two of them to get along well so the show could continue?

“The party is going great, I think.” Rex kept his gaze forward, observing everyone around him.

“Agreed,” Angelica said, sliding a look at Hope, one that was full of curiosity and more. Had she sensed the shift too?

It was probably just because Hope had been enjoying herself, and she knew that as soon as Rex came over Angelica would act different. That little insight that she was so used to getting wouldn’t be a thing anymore, and she wanted that.

Because she liked Angelica.

And the issue wasn’t that she thought Rex was going to affect Angelica, it was that she didn’t want Rex to know that she had a crush.

And normally, she and Rex would talk about those things.

They’d talk openly about physical attraction to other people, emotional attraction. They always came back to each other.

But this time Hope hadn’t.

She’d kept it to herself, not just their first awkward kiss that Hope had initiated, but the tension and desire and longing that she’d felt for the last three months. What the hell was she doing?

“Hope?” Rex asked, his voice rumbling. “What do you think?”

“Sorry.” She shook her head, looking into his eyes and smiling. “I got distracted. What was the question?”

“How do you think the show will do? After watching the first episode.” He clutched the bottle of beer in his hand and stared directly at her.

Could he tell?

Did he know what she was hiding?

“Oh, I don’t know.” She gave a nervous chuckle and finished off her drink. “I’m really not a good judge of that. I’m going to get another one, do you want one?” She pointed at Angelica’s since Rex’s was full.

Angelica glanced down at her drink. “Yes. Thank you.”

Hope took the empty bottle, clutching it in her hand as she walked away.

Fear grasped her, fear and confusion and desire.

It’d been a long time since a simple crush had taken such a hold on her.

In fact, it’d been since before she met Rex, and she’d thought that he’d be the last one.

But Angelica had come out of the blue, hadn’t she?

She picked up a new drink for each of them and then grabbed a small plate to fill it with nibblings as Angelica had called them. She’d nearly forgotten she’d used that tease. She picked what she knew Angelica could eat and snagged a small napkin.

When she returned, Rex and Angelica were still talking shop. It really shouldn’t surprise Hope. Angelica seemed to always turn to work when she didn’t have anything else to discuss and wanted to keep everything as calm as she possibly could.

Handing over the drink and the plate, she stole a small treat off it for herself and popped it in her mouth. When she looked up, both Rex and Angelica were staring at her oddly. “What?”

“Nothing,” Rex said, shaking his head.

Hope looked at Angelica who seemed a bit more curious than offended, which was probably a good thing.

But she did take the same small treat and pop it in her mouth, humming as it hit her tongue.

Hope couldn’t stop herself from listing toward Angelica, getting even closer to her in the sea of people.

“It’s good,” Angelica whispered, her lips quirking slightly.

Hope wanted to see that again. In fact, she wanted to see it as often as possible. She looked up at Rex who stared at her curiously now, and a little suspiciously. She needed to stop whatever infatuation this was. It needed to stop immediately.

“When does press start?” Rex asked, flicking his gaze between them.

“In a few months. The bulk of it anyway.” Angelica dashed her tongue across her lips, and Hope couldn’t stop staring at it. “We’re starting about two months before the first episode airs. I already sent Hope and her agent the itinerary. Did you get a chance to look at it?”

Hope’s mouth went dry. “Uh… I skimmed it.”

“Hope is a last-minute planner. She’ll look at it when Mary tells her to look at it.” Rex chuckled, still grasping tightly onto his beer bottle. Had he even drunk anything from it since coming over?

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Angelica said, glancing at Hope. “I don’t believe she did much looking at anything before she arrived for filming in Dallas.”