Page 1 of Under the Table

Pre-Season

Chapter

One

The text was clear. Josef didn’t mince words. Angelica should be elated, but instead she was sitting in a pool of sweat and heartache, of fear that chained her to her desk and refused to let her move, speak, or even think.

Josef: We got the green light.

Because a season two ofHotel Bombshellmeant a lot more than just a second season.

It meant Hope.

Her phone blinked on and then off again as another text came in, no doubt from Josef or one of the other producers. It was a group text that he’d sent. They were probably celebrating, and she was going to be hiding out in this office for as long as she could because what could she do? What could she say?

Then her phone rang.

With trembling fingers, Angelica reached forward and picked up the phone. She pressed her lips together, sucking them into her mouth before swallowing and preparing herself for the exact phone call she knew she was going to take.

Josef.

Calling to yell at her.

Again.

“I assume you saw my text,” he said before she could even greet him.

“I did,” Angelica answered slowly, clenching her fingers tightly into a fist until her dull nails bit at her palm.

“I offered Hope an increase, to keep her on.” Josef paused, but only briefly. “I don’t need you to fuck this up, Ange. I’m serious.”

“Do you think I hurt our chances at renewal of the first season?” Angelica clenched her jaw and stared at the far wall. She was going on the attack this time around. She was tired of being treated as if the downfall of the entire series was on her shoulders. “Perhaps you have something more specific you can point to in terms of my performance both on and off camera that needs improvement.”

“You know what I’m talking about,” Josef growled.

“You’re talking about Hope Lawrence.”

“And you.”

Angelica’s heart sank. Neither one of them had anticipated the show being renewed when they’d kissed in her office, when she’d given in to all the temptation and arousal and just taken a taste of what Hope seemed willing to offer. And God had she been willing.

“Hope and I have had limited contact since we finished filming.” That was the most she could say on that, because not only had they talked since filming had ended, they had kissed. In her office. In Hope’s office at the restaurant. Very nearly kissed again in San Francisco when Angelica had been there courting some investors.

And Angelica had certainly dreamed about it more often than that.

But she wouldn’t ever dare to tell Josef about that.

“What does limited mean?” Josef prodded.

She was going to have to walk this line very carefully. “We had press, Josef, and then we had the premier and the photo shoot thatyouarranged with Wade. What did you expect from me? To not show up after you yelled at me to be there? I can’t win with you. It’s damned if I do and damned if I don’t! Play nice with her, Ange, you’re a brute. Don’t talk to her, Ange, you’re a perv. Well, really, Josef, which is it?”

He stayed silent, and rightfully so. She’d laid into him for the first time in months, and he deserved it.

“Well?” Angelica asked, following up on her question, because she did actually want some sort of answer from him. “Am I to talk to her or not? Are you going to monitor every conversation and communication she and I have?”

“You know I won’t do that,” Josef said.

“Fine. Then you either trust me to do my job, or you don’t. But I’m not going to have another season with you hovering over my shoulder because you think I’m going to make one wrong step.”