Page 103 of No Holds Barred

“Well, then. Who do you want to start with?” Hope bumped her shoulder into Angelica’s in a hint of a flirt before she faltered. Rex was right there. What the hell was she thinking?

Angelica’s lips thinned into a line. No doubt she’d had the same thought. “I’ll take management. They tend to be my forte.”

“Deal.” Hope stepped away, putting space between herself and Angelica if only to keep the reminder that they needed to be professional. “I’ll start with the kitchen and move my way to the front-end staff.”

“Sounds—”

“You two shouldn’t be chummy. You promised me disagreement!” Josef barged into the conversation, pointing his finger at both of them. “This isn’t going to get those ratings up.”

Hope’s jaw dropped, but she immediately shifted to put herself slightly between Josef and Angelica. “We can create argument.”

“Can you?” Josef glared, his beady eyes boring straight into Hope. “Because after three years of this, I’m not sure that you can.”

“Josef.” Logan’s voice cut through the din. “Remember what we talked about.”

Talked about? Had Logan actually stood up and had a conversation with Josef? That was only going to set him off even more than usual. Hope stayed put, keeping herself right between Angelica and Josef because if he was going to take his anger out on someone, it was going to be Angelica. She was always at the center of his ire.

Josef growled and spun around. “You can try to put a stranglehold on me, Logan, but I know what’s best for the show.”

“You might.” Logan put his hands out to his side. “But you don’t know what’s best for our stars.” Logan looked directly at Hope.

This was why she’d called him in here. This was why he’d needed to come all this way, because if anyone was going to tame Josef, then it was going to be Logan.

Rex stepped into view and held his hand out as if to guide Angelica in a certain direction. “Ange, why there’s Maggie, why don’t we go film that scene with her?”

Angelica looked at the plate of food in front of her and then Hope. “Yes, before we lose her again.”

Rex put his hand against the small of Angelica’s back as he moved her from Josef’s immediate line of sight and into the back office. A flare of jealousy panged in Hope’s heart. Rex would have done that for her at one point, but not now. But she was glad he was doing it for Angelica at least. She needed someone on set other than Hope to protect her from all of this drama.

“You promised me drama, Hope. I’m going to hold you to that.” Josef pointed at her. “You and Ange agreed.”

“We did agree.” Hope bit the inside of her cheek. “I’ll talk to her again and find something we can argue about this episode. All right? But if we’re doing this, then it’ll be consensual on all sides.”

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she halted. Nothing up until now had been fully consensual, had it? That first kiss in New Orleans? The stolen kisses in Angelica’s office in Los Angeles? The first time they’d had sex in Kansas City? None of it.

It couldn’t be.

Too many lies were shared, too many times they’d each held back from actually talking about what the problems were and what they were feeling and what they struggled with. But now… God, it had to be different this time, right? Hope bit her lip and locked her eyes on Josef.

“Yeah, I’ll talk to her. But first I have some interviews to get done.”

“Interviews?” Josef said confused.

“Uh… yeah. Just to check in with the staff.” Hope flashed him the most brilliant smile that she could manage. If there was one thing for certain, she wanted to keep Josef off his game, and she wasn’t going to share anything with him that she didn’t have to. Hope smiled at Logan as she stepped to the side, snagging the untouched plate of food and taking it with her.

She’d have to try harder next time.

Scurrying, Hope made her way back to the kitchen. This was her place of safety. This was her place to hide away from the world out there, the world that was filled with chaos and hardship and questions she wasn’t sure she wanted to ask. Because she’d almost outed herself and Angelica. She’d almost let the world know everything that they were trying to keep hidden.

And Angelica was right.

They’d barely just started a true consensual relationship.

“Hey, Patrick, got a second?” Hope waved down one of the sous chefs as she stepped into the kitchen and nodded toward Cadence so she’d know that she’d want to get this on camera.

“Yes, Chef?”

She smiled at that. There was nothing like being in the kitchen and having “yes, chef” called to her. It was exactly what she needed in order to remember who she was, and how damn hard she’d worked to get to where she was now.