But all Hope could wonder was what would Angelica’s ass look like with those? Or better yet… would they finally be an equal height?
Ansel stepped away, and Angelica moved to lean over. She lowered her voice and cocked her head to the side as she stared directly into Hope’s eyes.
“You can stop drooling now.”
Hope’s heart raced. Not only had it been at least five minutes since she’d spoken last, but Angelica had literally just called her out on it. Her cheeks burned, the heat eating away at what was left of her embarrassment before she swooped in and leaned down onto the arm rest.
Breathing slowly, Hope made eye contact and shook her head. “No, I can’t.”
Angelica snorted lightly, her own cheeks turning a fine rosy color.
“And while I agree with your… objections to the outfit, I’m not going to lie to you and say you don’t look damn sexy in that.” The words fell from her lips before she could stop them. Before Angelica could respond, Hope stood up and smoothed her hands down her black chef’s coat. “I’ll see you in a few minutes.”
“F-for what?” Angelica stuttered.
Hope gave her a curious look, searching deep within what she could see to figure out if Angelica truly had forgotten just what they were doing that day or if she was just confused by the comment. “We’re filming the episode introduction.”
“Yes, we are.” Angelica’s mask immediately slid into place, full of competence and assurance.
But Hope knew better.
Angelica had been so distracted by Hope’s comment that everything about what they were doing that morning had flown out of her brain in an instant. Laughing to herself, Hope sauntered out of the hair and makeup area with a grin on herface and an extra lightness to her step. She wasn’t sure anyone else had ever gotten one over on Angelica Shields—not like that anyway.
She’d take this one to her grave.
Hope was running late, so she jogged through the hall until she skidded to a halt in the same room that she and Rex and Angelica had their come to Jesus moment in. Angelica looked up, annoyance flashing through her gaze before she focused back down on her iPad.
“Sorry.” Hope moved into the room and shut the door behind her since she was the last one inside. She walked directly to the chair next to Angelica and sat. She leaned over and whispered, “Eva was throwing a tantrum about not getting private math instructions today.”
Angelica’s lips twitched up at that, which had been the exact reaction Hope had been looking for. But she didn’t verbally respond to it. Instead, she looked at the two men sitting across from them and plastered on her work face.
“Chef Lawrence and I are going to go through what we see as some of the issues, and then we’ll let you comment on them. But we’ve come up with a plan to tackle each of these throughout the week, and then we’ll leave you with a plan to continue to work on them after we’re gone.”
Robin and Johnny nodded at her, seemingly captivated by what she was saying. Hope folded her hands together. She and Angelica had spent hours after they’d finished filming the day before hashing out what they needed to talk to the owners about and how exactly they wanted to shift into the new business plan they had created.
Which was such a vast change from last season.
And Hope honestly loved it.
They were working together as a team in a way they hadn’t before. Last season they’d been pitted against each other constantly, Kyle and Josef pushing them to make enemies of each other, but with those two basically out of the picture, that left them to actually do the work they needed to do.
Which was…honestly amazing.
“We’re going to start with the kitchens and modifying the menus and training and shifts that you have for staff.” Hope leaned against the table. Unlike Angelica, she felt it was better to come at these conversations organically, without numbers, and more with a heart. Angelica was pure information when it came to business plans, which was good—especially where her area of expertise was—but that wasn’t how Hope approached people.
Robin and Johnny narrowed their gazes. “There’s nothing wrong with our menus.”
Hope’s spine stiffened. She glanced at Angelica and ignored the cameras that were in the corners of the room, with crew behind each of them. The microphone strapped to her waistband and taped against her skin made her want to crawl out of her clothes, but even now, she couldn’t deny that the way Robin spoke to her was far more obstinate than she’d anticipated.
“We can talk about that, and I’m not changing everything, I promise. We need to tighten up the profit and loss on cost and items, which will mean changing some of the ingredients and tightening down exactly what’s being served”
Robin shook his head again. “No.”
Angelica jumped in. “I have the numbers and projections for you.” She slid them across the table. “You can see here that Chef Lawrence’s plan will put you at the top of your game and will be saving you five figures a month.”
“I don’t see how this will work,” Johnny jumped in.
“It’ll work. Trust us.” Angelica slid another packet of paper across the table. “I also want to streamline training for staff in the hotel itself, and I want to find ways to cut time. Right now they’re spending way too much time cleaning rooms and they’re taking advantage of the situation.”
