Page 137 of No Holds Barred

“Oh, that’s good. Okay. Sure. I’ll pick her up when I’m done here.” Rex hung up and slid the phone into his pocket, making eye contact with Angelica. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude.”

Angelica waved off the apology. “I need to talk to you before we go back in there.”

She held her breath. It was now or never.

“Sure.” A line formed in the center of Rex’s forehead. “What’s wrong?”

“I, uh…” Angelica looked up and down the hallway. She steadied herself as best as she could and rolled her shoulders. “Has Hope talked to you about what happened in Vermont?”

“With Josef?” Rex looked even more concerned now. “Was there something else with him that we had to talk about?”

Angelica swallowed the lump in her throat, or at least she tried, but it kept moving back into place. “I mean, yes, we’ll need to talk about him today, more in depth than we have already. But I’m talking about Hope… and me.”

Rex dragged in a deep breath and let it out slowly, his cheeks reddening. He turned his chin up and stared at the ceiling before he looked back at her. “No, she hasn’t.”

“We—”

“I suspected.” Rex stared at her.

“You did?” Angelica stopped short of having to say the words out loud. This was hard enough as it was, and if he was going to take that burden from her, she’d let him.

Rex nodded. “Hope loves you.”

“She loves you,” Angelica responded, knowing for a fact that she was speaking the truth.

“I know she does.” Rex’s lips pulled tight and then he sighed heavily. “Why are you telling me?”

“Because it’s going to come up today. It’s part of why we’re having this discussion, and I’m fairly certain that this meeting will determine my future on the show. It’s why Hope wasn’t invited. She needs to have her own inquiry where I’m not present.”

“Ah.” Rex sighed again. “I’d wondered that, but it worked to our advantage with Eva.”

Angelica nodded and crossed her arms. “I wanted to tell you privately.”

“Just in case I didn’t take it well?” Rex let out a loud guffaw. “Do you ever stop playing political games?”

“Strategy does come in handy most days.” Angelica’s cheeks heated with the unintended compliment. She’d take it and keep it. “I felt it would be right for you to find out separately, and I wasn’t sure if Hope had spoken with you yet. She and I haven’t exactly had a moment to lay down a strategy either.”

“You might want to do that when we leave here.”

“I will, as soon as I get a chance.” Angelica caught his gaze and held it, looking intently at him to judge whether or not he truly was okay with this news. And when he locked his eyes on her and nodded, she smiled at him.

“Believe it?” Rex asked.

“Believe what?”

“That I’m happy for you.”

“I wouldn’t go that far.” Angelica tightened her grasp around herself and shifted her weight off her still booted foot. She was tired of that thing and couldn’t be more ready to have it off.

“Well, I am.” Rex bent his head and whispered, “And I wish you the best of luck with the lack of impulse control.”

Angelica laughed. Rex reached an arm out and pulled her into his side in a hug that she never expected from him. She rested her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes for a brief moment. Maybe she had more here than she’d thought. When he released her, Logan appeared in the doorway to the conference room.

“Break’s over,” Logan said.

“Yeah.” Angelica tossed a look at Rex. “Into the fray we go.”

“This isn’t a battle, Ange. Trust me.”