Page 35 of Under the Table

Had she even looked? Did she even know?

The elevator stopped at the floor just below theirs. The doors slid open and Sy and, Abbi and Maddy, two other crew members, stepped on, both smiling and nodding at them. Hope nodded back, but she was completely at a loss for words. The next floor more crew stepped on.

Why the hell was everyone so late to this party tonight?

Hope had to step closer to Angelica, their shoulders brushing.

Then the next floor, and even more people.

She breathed deeply, closing her eyes. Her mind was a mess, her body was going haywire. Every place that Angelica pressed against her was on fire. Ripples of pleasure turned into a torrent of arousal, and it rolled through her and back again getting bigger each and every damn time it did. She turned closer into Angelica, breathing in her scent and getting swept up in it.

Biting her lip, Hope tried to keep herself centered on what they were here for, what they were doing, the fact that they were standing in an elevator and surrounded by crew. But she had to know. She needed to see.

Was Angelica struggling the same way?

Hope swallowed, raising her chin up just enough to see if Angelica was even looking in her direction. Damn it, she was. Hope filled her lungs with the hot air. This entire box of an elevator was filled with way too many people. She needed more space. She needed to not be pushed up against Angelica.

Looking up again, she caught Angelica’s gaze.

Those baby blue eyes were locked on her face, Angelica’s lips parted as if she was going to say something. No. As if she was going to kiss something. Hope’s entire being depended on what that something was. On the heat of this moment, on the intensity of it. Her breathing increased, her chest rising and falling uncontrollably as she reached between them and hooked her pinky finger around Angelica’s.

That simple touch was the only thing keeping her from having an all-out horny panic attack in the middle of this elevator that was filled to the brim with the crew. This moment of touch was everything that was keeping her sane, and she didn’t want to break it. Shecouldn’tbreak it.

Hope dropped her gaze from Angelica’s stunning eyes to her mouth. Oh, if they weren’t in an elevator filled with crew, she would absolutely lean in and kiss her. That impulse hadn’t stopped after the first time they’d done it, and certainly not the third. She bit the inside of her cheek as she caught herself leaning forward a little too eagerly.

Nope. Couldn’t do that either.

The elevator jerked to a stop. The doors swished open. People stepped out and cold air rushed in. Hope had to untangle her finger from Angelica’s and step back immediately, but it was so damn hard, and she felt drunk, her knees weak, her entire body not ready to hold her up as she went.

They moved together, step by step, as they walked off the elevator. Angelica turned to the side, toward the conference room, saying absolutely nothing to Hope as she went. And Hope followed her, unable to tear her gaze away.

“Hope!” Rex’s voice shattered her trance.

She shook her head, a cold bucket of ice water dumped on her in an instant.

“What the hell are you doing?” Rex towered over her, anger in the deep line in his forehead and the wideness of his eyes.

“I-I’m doing nothing,” Hope stuttered.

Rex snagged her arm and dragged her down the opposite hall from the one the crew was going to. She could barely catch her footing, but that wasn’t because of the force he pulled her with. In fact, if she thought about it, he wasn’t actually dragging her. He was guiding her in one direction and she was stumbling along like a dumb idiot next to him. He halfway held her up.

“Hope, I know you, andthatwasn’t nothing.” Rex hissed the words at her, his voice low and quiet.

They were surrounded by crew and hotel staff, shoved into the back maintenance room. If they talked loud enough, someone would overhear them. Hope’s heart fluttered. She shook her head, just trying to catch her bearings, but it was damn near impossible.

She and Angelica had been so close in that elevator, smooshed against the wall as they rode it down. Hope could have touched her. Their bodies were pressed against each other, but that wasn't deliberate touch, not like what Hope actually wanted to do. Her cheeks heated.

They could have kissed.

“Hope! Snap out of it!”

She shook her head, cold rushing through her before the heat of embarrassment followed. God, had she been transported back to the tenth grade when she’d had a massive crush on her math teacher and no matter what she did, she couldn’t find it in herself to actually talk to him? She breathed through her distraction to try and find her center before looking deep into Rex’s concerned, worried, and still ticked-off eyes.

“What’s wrong?”

“What were you doing?” he repeated, his hands on her shoulders as if he was going to shake her, but he wasn’t. He was holding her steady.

“I’m going to the wrap party.”