“Ange…” Cadence’s voice reached her ears.
“Yeah?”
“You’re going to tone down the flirt this time, right?” Cadence stared at her directly, as if reading straight through the bullshit right down to everything that Angelica had been thinking in that particular moment in time.
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
“Bullshit.” Cadence’s lips thinned, and she crossed arms over her chest, flicking her gaze from Angelica to Hope and back again. “Whatever I just witnessed wasn’t nothing, and unless you want the world to know?—”
Angelica threw her hands up in the air. “Yeah, I get it. But doesn’t it play up for ratings?” She was only throwing that out there because she knew it was true, and because she knew it was partly why they were filming these shorts.
Cadence just raised an eyebrow at her. “I’m fairly certain you know how to walk that line.”
Having Cadence be one of the few people who knew about them wasn’t helping the situation any. Angelica would much prefer if no one knew, then she couldn’t be called out like this. “I hear you.”
“Good. But a little flirt is welcome.” Cadence’s lips morphed into a grin as she stepped behind the camera and started futzing with something.
Angelica sighed and took another long sip of her drink. “Hope, be honest with me about something.”
“What?” Hope threw the word over her shoulder without looking in Angelica’s direction. And based on the last time Hope had looked at her, Angelica could understand why she restrained herself.
“Do you actually enjoy cooking like this all day?”
Hope turned slowly, a deep line in the center of her brow and a look that saidoffendedin more ways than one.
“You just strike me as someone who always needs something new, something engaging to keep yourself entertained and happy. I can’t imagine cooking the same meal multiple times a day is going to do that for you.” Angelica sipped her coffee and threw a look at Cadence. Was she wrong about this?
“I can’t believe you just asked that.”
Angelica waited Hope out, needing the answer for some reason.
Hope turned the steak on the grill and eyed her carefully. “Yes, I like to be creative in what I cook and the modifications that I make to the recipes—that’s the creative part.”
“And the rest?” Angelica finished her coffee and debated whether or not to get herself a third cup or if that’d be too much.
“The rest is mindless. Chopping a hundred onions for dinner prep calms my mind and soul.”
Angelica hadn’t ever thought of it like that before.
“The repetition is exactly what I need most days.”
“So… then why don’t you spend more time in your restaurants?”
“Maybe that’s why I want to open a new one.” Hope threw that look at her as though she knew exactly what wasn’t being said.
And Angelica did. Ever since she’d signed the paperwork to purchase Mountain View West from Tatum, she’d been trying tofind a way to avoid the idea that Hope had planted in her head—Hope running the restaurant and Angelica the hotel. Why not? They did it every season onHotel Bombshellso surely it couldn’t be any different in practice, right?
Except it would make them co-owners of sorts, which added a level of complication that Angelica wasn’t sure she wanted in their relationship. At least not yet. They had enough complications as they began. Why add more to it now?
“I think we’re ready.” Hope put her hands on her hips and eyed Angelica over. “Are you?”
So much for getting work done. Angelica nodded and stepped around the kitchen counter to face Cadence’s camera. “Just tell me what to do.” Angelica looked up and met Hope’s eyes. Hope’s lips parted, her gaze falling down Angelica’s body and moving right back up to her eyes.
“That! That right there!” Cadence clapped her hands to get their attention. “None of that.”
Hope’s cheeks were bright red, but Angelica simply smiled at her and turned toward Cadence. “That wasn’t on me.”
“I’m always going to blame you.” Cadence pointed at her. “I think you should get the blame more often than you do.”
