No Holds Barred (Hotel Bombshell Book 3), page 28
Bending down, Hope kissed her again. She melded lips and tongue. Angelica held onto her sides, keeping them locked together in passion. Hope couldn’t think of a time when she’d felt this connected with someone before, this bare and soul-joined. She closed her eyes as she came to completion, as she felt Angelica shudder under her touch.
They kissed again. Hope buried her face in Angelica’s neck, sliding down to the bed and cradling Angelica in her arms. The silence was so comforting. Hope just smiled as the sun’s rays brushed Angelica’s golden locks, giving her what looked like a halo. She was anything but an angel—harsh and cold on the outside. But deep down, Angelica’s motives always came from a place of truth and dedication.
“I hate to leave,” Hope whispered.
“So don’t.” Angelica smiled at her, eyes crinkling in the corners. “Stay in bed with me all day.”
Hope chuckled lightly. “I always figured I’d be the one trying to convince you to stay with me in bed, not the other way around.”
Angelica sighed heavily. “Maybe my old age is betraying me.”
“Hardly. Just exhaustion from idiots.”
“From the patriarchy,” Angelica corrected. “Only from that.”
“Then I think some exhaustion is owed.” Hope kissed Angelica’s lips again. “It’s been a long battle.”
Laughing, Angelica shook her head. “I suppose you’re right.”
“Of course I’m right.” Hope kissed her loudly. “And it’s morning, and I need coffee. I’m sure you do too.” Moving to the edge of the bed, Hope sat on it and looked over her shoulder at Angelica’s still resting form. “I’ve got more interviews to do today. I think I’m close to solving your little problem.”
“My little problem?” Angelica raised an eyebrow at her.
“I think I might have found your iPad.”
Hope pressed her elbows into the table as she leaned over it, staring directly into Raina’s eyes. “I’m sure there’s been gossip about what I’ve been doing.”
Raina nodded and bit her lip, keeping her gaze downcast.
“So, do you want to tell me what’s going on here?” Hope was going to get an answer one way or the other. She was tired of this line of questioning. She wasn’t a detective. She was a chef and restaurant owner and reality show star—nothing more. And this was way more politics and understanding than she usually delved into.
“I don’t want to,” Raina whispered. “But I’ve never been okay with it.”
Hope paused. She’d never gotten this far with someone before. They’d all shut down and refused to talk to her.
“I don’t care if I go to jail,” Raina continued.
“Jail?” Hope shook her head confused. “Why would you go to jail?”
“Wylde, Maggie, and Kaidee… they’d turn me in if they found out I’m the one who told you.”
“I’m fairly certain there’s some sort of immunity for whistleblowers.” Hope folded her hands together. “But that also probably depends on the severity of what you’re about to tell me is going on.”
“We steal.” Raina sighed heavily, not looking at Hope directly. “From anyone who seems to not know that things will go missing.”
Hope’s heart hammered. “What do you steal?”
“Anything of value.” Raina pressed her lips together. “Electronics, watches, jewelry. Then we bring it to Wylde or Maggie or Kaidee, whoever is nearest, and they give us part of the money they get for selling it.”
Sitting back into the chair, Hope stared at Raina with wide eyes. “How many people are involved?”
“Just a handful.” Raina bit her lip and shook her head. “Those of us who have been around a while.”
“Those who can be trusted,” Hope surmised.
Raina nodded her agreement, but she didn’t add anything. “It never sat well with me, but they threatened that I wouldn’t find another job if I told anyone, and well, I need the job.”
“Everyone needs to work,” Hope answered. She pressed her lips together hard and debated where to go with this. “Tell me how it started, for you at least.”
Raina looked around furtively, like someone was going to walk in on them and take her away any second. Hope wasn’t sure who she was looking out for, but she needed all of the information that she could get.
“After I’d worked here for about six months, Maggie approached me after my shift and took me to a bar just down the street.” Raina gnawed on her lip. “We, uh… we had some drinks.”
Of course they would. This wasn’t the kind of conversation they would have sober. Hope kept her mouth shut, letting Raina talk and share what she needed to get off her chest.
“She said that she wanted me to join a special crew at the hotel and that it’d increase my pay. Double it.”
“And did it?” Hope asked.
Raina lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Not really. But it was an increase.”
So they weren’t even holding up their end of the bargain. Hope clenched her jaw, mentally taking notes of everything and glad it was being recorded so she could listen back later to the insanity that was this plot.
“She asked, but it didn’t really start for another month.” Raina sighed heavily. “And even then, it was slow, like it was a test of loyalty. They don’t let many people into the circle, but when they do, they don’t let you go. I tried to quit once—they wouldn’t let me.”
Hope bit her tongue. Because if Raina really wanted to quit, she could have found a way. No one could force her to stay there, even if it felt that way.
“So I did it, but I didn’t like it.” Raina lifted her hands up and brushed away the tears on her cheeks. “I hate myself for it.”
Reaching forward, Hope covered Raina’s hand with her own and squeezed. “You know what we have to do, right?”
Raina nodded.
“Good. Then, let’s figure this out. Together.” Hope sighed heavily. She spent the next hour scheming with Raina to get the owners to admit what was going on, but ultimately, none of the plans they came up with sat right with Hope.
Eventually, she sent Raina on her way. She needed to clear from the table soon so that service could start, but she couldn’t force her legs to move. Cadence eventually slipped into the chair Raina had vacated.
“Well?” Cadence asked.
“Fuck,” Hope said with a laugh. “I don’t think this is what any of us expected.”
“No, it’s not.” Cadence ran her fingers through her hair. “What should we do about it?”
“I need to talk to Ange.” Hope rubbed her hands together and then checked the time on her phone. She bit her lip and shook her head. “She’s not going to like it.”
“No, she won’t.”
“But she’ll know what to do.” Hope looked at Cadence. “Well, I know what to do, but it’ll be easier if she’s doing it with me.”
Were they really that much of a team now? That they did everything like this together? Hope flushed at that thought. They hadn’t seemed like much of a team this week, not like Hope had initially thought they would be, anyway.
“I don’t suppose there’s any hope of getting Ange’s iPad back now, is there?” Cadence’s lips quirked up into a half smile.
Hope snorted. “No, it’s probably long gone by now.”
And God, that was going to be the worst part of this conversation, wasn’t it? Hope leaned back in her chair and shook her head, still half laughing at the thought. Angelica and her iPad. Whatever last night had been, and this morning, between them, Hope wasn’t quite ready to see it end yet. Though the doubts were certainly there.
Could they maintain this?
Could they find a way to be together through everything that was still being thrown at them?
Perhaps if Angelica could get over her obsession with her iPad, they might have some luck on their side.
Maybe.
Chapter
Thirty-Five
“Thank you so much, Officer Cohen.” Angelica pressed her hands into the desk as she pushed herself to stand. Two hours in this tiny room with the reporting officer and Hope, along with two cameras and Rex. It was a tight squeeze, but they’d made it work for what they’d wanted to get.
As soon as the officer was gone, Angelica sat in the abandoned chair across from Hope. She hated this. The waiting. The uncertainty. The lack of answers. Flicking her gaze down Hope’s body, Angelica simply breathed. That had been her life so often lately. She’d been unable to have any of the answers. Not about Hotel Bombshell and not about Hope.
“Ange?” Hope raised an eyebrow in her direction, clearly looking for a response to something. But Angelica had no idea what she’d missed.
“Yes?” Angelica pursed her lips, canting her head to the side.
“What happens next?” Hope asked, clearly repeating the question.
That was the same question she’d been asking herself, wasn’t it? Angelica brushed the pad of her thumb over her fingers. She looked around the small office they were in. This was just the two of them on camera. No one else. Josef wasn’t here to bother them—in fact, he’d been scarce since the incident in the hallway. Just what exactly had Logan done?
“We wait.” Angelica stretched her broken leg out in front of her, longing for the day that she could take the cast off and walk without it being so cumbersome, when she could go out for one of her evening runs again.
“We don’t have any answers,” Hope protested.
“Some things take time.” Angelica’s lips quirked slightly. Since when did Hope share her thoughts? The only problem being that Angelica was having two conversations at the same time. This week had been a blessing in disguise, and while they’d started the conversations about what would become of them, they were nowhere near done.
“Yeah, but what about Raina in the meantime?” Hope put her hands out to her sides. “What about the others who want out?”
Angelica shook her head and sighed. “We can help them get out as much as they’ll let us, but often, these things just need to play themselves out.”
Hope scowled. “I don’t like it.”
“Neither do I,” Angelica agreed. “But it’s the way of things.”
Hope narrowed her gaze, her lips twitching slightly. Perhaps she did know that Angelica was talking about two things at once. Angelica folded her hands together in her lap and breathed out slowly.
“You know the report we just made will be the end of this hotel,” Angelica said. “So either way, Raina and the others are going to have to scramble for something new.”
“I just wish there was more we could do for them.”
Angelica admired that about Hope. She was always wanting to help someone, always wanting to give them the easy way out. And unfortunately, it got her into trouble sometimes. But still, Angelica admired the trait. She’d experienced it several times since they’d met already. “I think we’ve done everything we can, except find my iPad.”
Hope snorted. “I’m fairly certain it’s long gone now.”
Angelica hummed and nodded. “Unfortunately.”
“But you will work on actually backing up your files now, won’t you?” Hope looked at her directly, a tease in her gaze that Angelica had come to expect.
“I will.” Angelica smiled, a flush rising to her cheeks. Only Hope was able to pull that from her. She laughed lightly and shook her head. “I promise.”
Surely Rex would call cut soon, wouldn’t he? This scene they were filming, while nice and calm, wasn’t going anywhere any time soon. But the heat in the room from the cameras and people still sat oppressively on Angelica’s chest.
“So, we solved a couple problems here, I think.” Hope rubbed her hands together. “The menu has been updated.”
Angelica grimaced. “That’s not a huge accomplishment considering.”
“Well, normally we’d be having this conversation with our lovely owners, but once again, we can’t find them. It’s as if they don’t exist in this hotel unless they want to be here for their own divine purposes.”
“I think you’re not wrong about that.” Angelica sighed. She shifted slightly in the chair and continued talking, recognizing the shift of conversation for what it was. “We can retrain, we can implement, but we always tell every owner and manager that unless the conversations and trainings continue beyond our week here, then nothing will ultimately change in the long run.”
“That’s a bleak outlook.” Hope wrinkled her nose.
“It’s reality.” Angelica blinked widely at Hope. “If things aren’t consistently worked on, then they will fail or be pushed so far into the background that they don’t matter anymore.”
Hope’s lips parted in surprise. “I suppose you’re right.”
“Are we finished here?” Angelica turned sharply toward Rex. She was tired of filming this episode. Hell, she was exhausted from this season. It had started out in such a difficult way, and she was barely managing to keep her head afloat. All they had left was Chicago, and then she could be done and go home and rest for the foreseeable future.
“Uh… sure.” Rex frowned at her. “Everything okay?”
“Yes.” Angelica slid out of the chair and walked away. She needed to breathe, to have cool air enter her lungs and refresh her. She didn’t hesitate or wait to see what Hope was doing as she walked directly outside into the sunlight.
Tilting her face up toward the sky, she closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. What was this mood? Melancholy? And where the hell had Josef and Logan gotten off to? She hadn’t seen them all day, and neither one of them seemed to be around—the entire feel of the set was different that morning. Crossing her arms, she relaxed her shoulders as best as she could.
“What was all that about?” Hope asked, startling her.
Angelica said nothing. Instead, she turned her cheek and looked toward Hope, locking their gazes together as she just breathed in the moment between them, unfettered for the first time in as long as Angelica could remember.
“Go to dinner with me tonight.” Angelica tightened her arms across her chest.
“We’re done filming for the day already.” Hope furrowed her brow. “Why don’t we go now?”
Angelica toyed with that thought. She’d love to head up to her room and change into something more comfortable than these clothes, something that was also less attention grabbing. But the thought of walking all the way to her room and back down was just as unappetizing. Nodding, Angelica started to pull at the mic pack on her waist band.
Hope mimicked her, and then returned them. When she came back, she no longer had her chef’s coat on, and instead just sported the white T-shirt she must have had under it, one that was tight to her skin. Angelica breathed in that image—Hope dressed down, calm and easy and in her element. Angelica’s lips quirked up slightly as they started down the street to find someplace to eat.
When they were seated, Angelica put her hands in her lap and stared at Hope. She had so many emotions running through her, so many thoughts, that it was damn near impossible to sort them all out and know where to even begin. Finally, as the waiter filled their water glasses, Angelica picked a point to start.
“I need to take this slow,” Angelica said, her voice calm and a bit quieter than she expected it to be.
“What do you mean by this and what do you mean by slow?” Hope took a sip of water.
Angelica wrinkled her nose and pursed her lips. “I mean us, as a couple. I mean that I don’t want the world to know, not yet. I want us to figure out us first. We didn’t exactly have an easygoing start that put us at an advantage.”
Hope snorted lightly at that. “Sometimes I wish I could go back in time and redo all of it.”
“But then we wouldn’t be here.”
“Exactly.” Hope’s face dropped. “And I like where we’ve ended up.”
Angelica nodded, not quite sure what to say other than that. “I need to trust you more than I did last year, and that’s going to take time.”
“I understand.” Hope rubbed her fingers over the edge of the menu. “So we keep it to ourselves and then what?”
“We go from there.” Angelica’s stomach tightened with anxiety. She’d just honestly thought that Hope would fall in line on this one, that she wouldn’t push back, but the longer she sat here, the harder it was to keep that line. “When we get back to Los Angeles, I think it’ll be easier.”
“Because the crew won’t be around?”
Angelica nodded. “And we’ll have a bit more free time.”
Hope narrowed her gaze. “I don’t think that you have free time that you don’t try to fill with more work.”
Humming, Angelica took that note. “I will if I’m in a relationship, to an extent. We’re really going to make this work, I’ll have to. It’s not just about you sacrificing for it. I also have to give.”
Hope’s lips pulled into a brilliant smile, one that warmed Angelica’s heart. “But you still don’t want the world to know.”
“No, not yet.” Angelica sighed. “I’m too old to be playing games when it comes to what the world knows and doesn’t know. I want simple as I can get. And then there’s Eva to consider.”
Hope nodded and swallowed, her entire face pinching in discomfort. “Rex, unfortunately, put her through a bit of the ringer in the last year with relationships. I don’t want to do the same thing to her. So I do agree that I’d like to keep this as hidden as possible for now, until I’m ready to tell her.”
Angelica would love to know more about that, because Rex had seemed so calm during filming so far. Perhaps it had just been fling after fling and he’d stopped it because he’d lost his taste for it already. She was sure she’d find out more as the months went on, but now wasn’t the time to dig deeper into that.
“I think that’s the right decision.” Angelica sipped her water.
“Did you see Josef at all today?” Hope asked, changing the subject suddenly.
Angelica paused, her heart racing in an instant before she could calm it down. “No.”
“Me either.” Hope frowned. “Do you think something happened?”
