Page 10 of Under the Table

“Perfect,” Angelica parroted and moved to stand back where she’d been before.

Hope followed her, stepping up next to Angelica but not looking at her. Whatever had happened had been for the best. They weren’t fighting each other anymore, trying to keep themselves in place and avoiding the tension. They’d acknowledged it and dealt with it as much as they could.

Now they could finish out this photo shoot and be done with it all.

And Angelica would have the time she needed to figure out what the hell she was going to say.

Because Hope would want answers.

And Angelica needed to have them.

Chapter

Four

At 3:59, Hope held her breath as she knocked on Angelica’s office door. The last time she’d been here had been mind blowing. They’d kissed. And not like they’d done in New Orleans, which could hardly be called a kiss. This time they’d meant it. Hope had anyway, and she’d poured every pent-up feeling and all her curiosity into those touches.

She shivered at the memory.

“Come in!”

Hope hesitated for only one more second as she pushed open the door and stepped inside. Angelica sat primly at her desk, the world her queendom in here no doubt. Hope shut the door behind her, moving to sit in the chair immediately across from Angelica.

Yes, it was a good thing to keep some space between them.

That would help.

Hopefully.

She raised her eyebrows at Angelica and pressed her lips together in a thin line. Then she sighed. Who was she kidding? She couldn’t come in here calm and collected like Angelica did. That wasn’t who she was.

“Are you ready to talk now?” Hope asked, folding her hands together in her lap to try and keep her nerves contained.

“No,” Angelica answered with a sigh and a flick of her hair over her shoulder. “But we can’t hold it off any longer.”

Hope hadn’t been the one pushing it off, but that was semantics, and she didn’t need to bring it up. She tensed her shoulders and waited for Angelica to speak. Instead, they both just ended up staring at each other in silence.

“Angel,” Hope started, her tone far sharper than she’d anticipated it being. But she was frustrated. They needed to talk about this, and it’d been long enough already.

“I know.” Angelica stood up and walked to the table near her desk and snagged herself a glass. “Drink?”

“I’m pretty sure that’s what got us into this situation.”

Angelica shot Hope a look over her shoulder, one that Hope was struggling to read. Was that annoyance, frustration, or surprise? Definitely surprise in there. Disbelief?

“If you want to think that’s what got us here, then you can. But I don’t believe that for a second.” Angelica turned back around and shifted her weight from one foot to the other, popping her hip out in the process and making the lines of her body shift. Hope’s heart skipped a beat as she raked her gaze over Angelica’s body from her shoulders to her ass and back up again.

“You didn’t answer me,” Angelica said. “Do you want a drink?”

“Y-yes,” Hope whispered. She’d need it to get the words out.

Angelica came over with two glasses. She stood right next to Hope and handed one over. Hope reached up, taking the glass. Their fingers brushed. Both of them gasped and tensed. Their gazes locked, and Hope had to fight her body, which was telling her to stand up and do something about this feeling.

Angelica cleared her throat and moved to sit at one of the lounger chairs next to the drinks table. She slid into the seat and stared at Hope curiously. “Come sit here.”

“All right.” Hope wasn’t sure why she had to move, and sitting even closer to Angelica seemed like the perfect idea and the worst idea all wrapped up in one. She’d spent the entire day trying to focus on her family and instead she’d been consumed by what this conversation was going to mean. It hadn’t been easy to sneak away from Rex and Eva, and she wasn’t going to tell him what she was going to do. Not a damn chance.

Hope plopped down, crossing her ankle over her knee, and keeping the glass between her fingers. Angelica sipped hers, setting it down on the small table between the chairs. God, this was so awkward between them. One of them just needed to break the ice.