Page 23 of No Holds Barred

“I’m not.” Josef’s face was still bright red. “Did you two talk about how you’re going to create some drama? We need to keep the ratings up.”

Hope glanced at Angelica, who seemed to suddenly cower. That was so unlike her. She usually stood up to Josef, or at least held her own against him. Hope wanted the old Angelica back, not this demure woman she’d found in Maine.

“I don’t really want any more drama in my life.” Hope shrugged. “So no, we didn’t talk about it. If you’ll excuse me.” She started to walk toward the restaurant.

Josef’s voice called her back. “Don’t walk away, Hope! Or I’ll throw something in your direction that you won’t be expecting. And then whose fault will it be?”

She clenched her jaw. Looking up, her gaze locked on Rex and Cadence, who were standing next to reception but staring at them. Everyone was going to witness this disaster, weren’t they? Hope wasn’t going to deny what she’d told Angelica and Cadence earlier though. She would always have Angelica’s back, especially when it came to this man.

“Yours, presumably. Since you didn’t properly communicate with either Ange or myself.” Hope shifted her stance, taking a small step closer to Angelica.

“We did discuss creating a more open space between the restaurant and hotel.” Angelica looked over her shoulder into Hope’s eyes.

“We did.” Hope nodded, though she wasn’t entirely sure this was where she wanted to have an argument, but at least it was something to throw at Josef. “So we can argue over how to do that.”

They hadn’t talked about specifics, but now she supposed they would have to.

“You better make sure the conflict is good.” Josef lowered his voice and stepped closer, as if threatening them. “Because if you don’t get the ratings we need for a renewal, I’ll blame both of you for this one.”

Hope slid her gaze to Angelica, the words she’d thrown at Hope earlier coming back to haunt her. This wasn’t what Angelica wanted. She wanted an end to either the show or her relationship with Hope, or perhaps both. Which perhaps meantthat Angelica would be the one to not put in the effort for renewal.

“I think the tension they have is fine.” Cadence slipped in between Josef and them. “When they were arguing over management… that was perfect. Exactly what we need.”

Josef glared at her. Hope was about to jump in between them because Cadence had no idea what she was up against, but Rex stepped in next.

“Yes. That worked very well.” He put on his angry dad face and stared directly at Josef.

What exactly was happening? Because any time Hope had tried to get Rex to step in to defend Angelica before, he hadn’t wanted to do it, and he’d never done it without her pushing him to.

“Find something else to fight about,” Josef reiterated before he stalked away.

Hope blew out a breath, a smile curling at her lips until she saw Rex put a hand against Angelica’s shoulders and pull her away from them all. Her heart clenched hard at the sight. Angelica hadn’t lied when she’d said that the two of them had found some sort of common ground. They were working together far better than they had in the previous two years.

Perhaps it was simply having a common enemy.

Which unfortunately was her.

“I don’t remember him being this much of an asshole during my interviews,” Cadence muttered under her breath.

Hope snorted. “He’s really good at hiding it.”

“Most men are.” Cadence walked away, leaving Hope standing in the middle of the reception area.

How many other people had witnessed that standoff? Hope wasn’t sure she wanted to know. Heading back to the dining room, she sat back down with Dawn and prepared the pop quiz she was about to give over food safety. She would need to hire aproper chef quickly in order to make the restaurant viable, but that was a problem for later in the afternoon. Right now, she needed to focus on what was in front of her and the problems she could solve.

Angelica and whatever was going on with her needed to fade into the background.

Immediately.

Chapter

Nine

“Ifeel like you need a break.” Cadence jiggled a keychain in front of her.

“Excuse me?” Angelica furrowed her brow as she turned in Cadence’s direction.

“A break. Come on. You’ve been working nonstop since three this morning—don’t deny it, I talked to Lyric, and it’s about damn time that you had a break.” Cadence jiggled the keys again. “My treat.”