Page 139 of No Holds Barred

With her phone pressed to her ear, she slid into the front seat of the car, with Lyric behind the wheel. But Hope didn’t answer.

“How’d it go?” Lyric asked.

“It went.” Angelica bit her lip and stared out the front windshield as Lyric drove out of the parking garage. “I’m not entirely sure what the result will be.”

“Do you think they’ll fire him?”

God, she’d almost forgotten that Lyric would only know about Josef and his drama. She hadn’t been in on anything else. Angelica played with her phone in her lap and held her breath. “I think they might.”

“Good. He creeps me out.” Lyric laughed lightly. “I haven’t liked him since you started working with him.”

“Really?” Angelica looked to Lyric curiously. “Why didn’t you say something?”

“It’s not my job to judge who you choose to work with or not.” Lyric sighed. “And at the time, I didn’t exactly have the confidence in our relationship to say one way or the other, and after that it was way too late to actually say something.”

“Did Logan interview you as well?” Angelica asked.

“He did. And I told him exactly what I think of Josef.”

“Good.” Angelica relaxed into the seat and closed her eyes. This had been one of the most exhausting days she’d endured in a long time. “Take me home, Lyric. I need to take the rest of the day and give myself a break.”

“You, a break?” Lyric looked over at her in surprise. “Who are you and what have you done with my boss?”

Angelica laughed. “She fell in love.”

Chapter

Forty-Four

“Eva’s still really sick,” Hope said, glancing toward the video call as she washed dishes.

“She got hit hard then.” Angelica had her phone set up against something and all Hope could see was the flipping of papers on her desk. While she’d much rather have seen Angelica’s face, she didn’t think asking Angelica to change the angle of the camera was going to go over smoothly.

“She did.”

“The wrap party is next week. What do you want to do for the meal?”

Hope wrinkled her nose. While talking about the wrap party was fun, the last thing she wanted to do was talk about work. They hadn’t had a moment to get together since they’d returned, and Hope was longing for that one-on-one time, which she’d thought they’d get back in California. Apparently, they’d both been wrong about that.

“Angel?” Hope hung her hands over the edge of the sink and looked at her phone, just waiting for Angelica to look at her.

It took longer than Hope had wanted for the silence to catch Angelica’s attention, but she was distracted and working, so that didn’t surprise her.

“Hope?” Angelica paused, looking down her nose and over the rim of her reading glasses at Hope.

“It’s good to see you,” Hope answered, her cheeks flushing.

Angelica’s responding smile was exactly what Hope had wanted to see.

“When can I actually see you?” Hope bit the inside of her cheek and held her breath. She wanted it to be right now, even though she knew it couldn’t be.

“Probably at the party itself.”

Hope frowned. “I wish it were sooner.”

Angelica hummed, but she didn’t say anything. Instead, she went back to whatever she was doing before. Hope dried her hands on a dishtowel and snagged her phone, walking toward her office so they could have more of a private conversation.

“Angel?”