Page 33 of Under the Table

“I don’t think I ever said that.”

“You implied it.”

Angelica dropped her voice down to a whisper, forcing Hope to lean in as she spoke. “I think your ego is larger than I anticipated.”

Laughing, Hope threw her head back. Joy rang through the room, and Angelica never wanted to have it any other way. It was so freeing just to hear that sound. Angelica loved it.

When Hope finally settled, Angelica calmed herself down and then reached down for her bag.

“Don’t you want to go through the menu for tonight,boss?”

Oh that last little word was adding so much weight to that sentence. Angelica froze. She looked up into Hope’s eyes, testing where she was at. Then she shook her head. “No.”

“What? Why not?”

“Unlike most people in this hotel, Hope, I do trust you.” Angelica picked up her bag and slid it onto her shoulder. “And I have some business I need to take care of with Lyric before the party tonight. I think you can handle it from here on out. Yes?”

“I-I can,” Hope stuttered.

“Good.” Angelica nodded at her and immediately walked away.

She needed to put some distance between them, separation that might save her sanity in the long run. But she wasn’t sure that anything would be able to do that now. Because all she could think of, all she could get her mind to focus on, was Chef Hope Lawrence, and the ridiculous, joyful nature that she brought out in her.

“Walk with me,” Angelica said to Lyric as she passed.

“Sure, Ms. Shields.” Lyric had her phone at the ready as if she was going to take notes.

Angelica liked that about her. She might be slow to show her ambition and figure out exactly where she should be, but there was nothing wrong with that. Lyric just had to figure out exactly who she was and what her passions were, and for that, she needed to test as much as she could.

“I need to talk to you about my social media.”

“Oh! I took some more photos today.”

Angelica paused at that as she waited by the elevator.

“Want to see them?”

She almost said no, but at the last minute, she changed her mind. “Yes.”

Lyric switched apps on her phone and then handed it over to Angelica just as the elevator door opened to admit them. Stepping inside, Angelica hit the button for their floor and then stared down at the phone.

Photos littered the screen, some of them fresh from five minutes ago when she and Hope had been talking in the conference room. Angelica pressed her fingers to the screen, expanding the pictures. They were standing so damn close—closer than she’d initially thought they had been.

And the way she was looking at Hope?

The way Hope was staring back at her?

Fuck.

Hope had every right to be pissed off about these photos. And the posts from before. They couldn’t deny what was between them despite how much they both might want to. Angelica trembled as she slid back further, finding photo after photo of the two of them, side by side, or heads bent. There were a few with Eva in there, running around and playing whenever she could get in the way.

“Lyric…” Angelica started, not exactly sure how she wanted to have this conversation. “Two things, I’m fairly certain that Hope and Rex don’t want Eva in any of the photos.”

“Oh! Yeah, I was going to ask them before posting any of those, but I didn’t intend those for social media. I thought you might like to have them.”

Angelica looked at Lyric’s deep brown eyes and saw the truth in them. “Why would you think I’d want them?”

“Because you seem to enjoy Eva so much, ma’am. And mom always tells me that she never had enough photos of her and the kids. I take them for Hope too and text them to her.”