Page 68 of No Holds Barred

“No. Not yet.” Angelica’s cheeks still burned. She’d been far too close to saying something that she’d regret. If it hadn’t been for Ansel interrupting them, she absolutely would have. “But at least for half of the day.”

“You better save those hours for actual filming.” Hope winked at her as she settled into the chair while Ansel started to set up for them. “I know Rex will want to use it to his advantage.”

“True.” Angelica lowered herself into the chair next to Hope. “Leanne’s trying to make her move.”

Hope nodded. “I could tell.”

“She’s desperate.” Angelica looked directly at Hope. She was just as desperate, though for something else entirely. She leaned onto the arm of the chair and grinned at Hope. “Are you worried you’ll have to work with her when I’m replaced by someone younger and far more stunning?”

Hope nearly choked, but she shook her head with amusement in her gaze. “Not a chance.”

“That you’re worried?”

“That she’s more stunning than you,” Hope whispered, her grin getting bigger when Angelica’s cheeks pinked.

Oh, they were back to playing with fire, weren’t they?

And Angelica was enjoying every second of it.

Chapter

Twenty-Two

Afine sheen of sweat covered Hope’s back and face as she stood and looked at the dishes in front of her, grinning like a fool. It felt so damn good to finally spend hours in the kitchen. This staff worked together horribly, but she’d kept her mouth shut as Katherine put the finishing touches on her dishes. They did look decent and at least cooked correctly.

Hope bit her lip and stared at them.

The menu had exactly six items on it. And Katherine had made all six items for this little test. Hope had told her to make six of her best dishes, and she’d made the menu. Hope wasn’t ready to ask the question out loud, but she was seriously doubting whether Katherine knew how to make anything else that wasn’t on the menu.

“Are you ready?” Hope asked, pressing her hands into her hips as she looked Katherine over.

“Yeah.” Katherine gave her a nervous smile.

Hope almost asked then, but she didn’t want to make Katherine feel any worse than she did. Scratching the back of her neck, she looked around the kitchen. They’d shut everything down for the day but would open again for the dinner rush.Everyone else was going back to prep, which Hope was glad to see, but they were silent.

Way too silent.

Kitchens were supposed to be loud, with yelling back and forth in order to communicate effectively, and in this kitchen, not one talked. Except when they were being yelled at and corrected by either Katherine—who hadn’t given clear directions to begin with—or by the owners.

Whom Hope was about to have a sit-down conversation with.

“Great.” Hope pulled a rolling cart over and started to put the dishes onto it.

It’d be a pain in the ass to get it to the small conference room—if it could even be called that—so Hope had insisted they do this taste test in the dining room. She was pleased when she walked out to find the owners, Mel and Jess, already there. They were sitting at a table as Hope started to set up another table.

The crash was loud and startled Hope.

She looked over toward the door, finding Angelica rolling her eyes as she cringed. She pushed the wheels of her knee scooter again, harder this time, and another echoing crash resounded through the room. Mel and Jess sat in hushed silence as they stared awkwardly at Angelica.

Hope bit back an angry retort and immediately walked over toward Angelica to lift up the front wheels of her scooter.

“There you go,” Hope whispered.

“Thanks,” Angelica answered with a small wink.

Had she really just done that? Hope’s entire body warmed as Angelica scooted on by her, their shoulders brushing. It was then that she noticed the camera where Angelica had just left and Rex staring at her with wide eyes that had a sheen of hurt in them. Hope frowned instantly and turned around to move away from him. She didn’t want to touch that one with a ten-foot pole.

She moved to stand by Angelica and the owners, wincing when Leanne sidled right on up. Cadence wiggled her eyebrows in Hope’s direction, which told her that they all knew exactly what Leanne was doing there. Hope wasn’t going to say a damn thing though. She was going to let Leanne dig her own grave.