“Oh, well, I just wanted to say that if you needed support to get sober that you should do it. It’s really good for you, and it helps with all of your relationships.”

  Angelica’s lips parted in shock. Did Kayla honestly think that she’d been drunk driving and had caused the accident herself? It was sweet of her to call and offer the encouragement, but holy fuck, was that what everyone thought about her now? Angelica pinched the bridge of her nose.

  “Kayla… I didn’t get arrested because I wasn’t driving drunk.” She was drunk though, but she wasn’t going to mention that. It really wouldn’t help her case with Kayla in the end. “I was in the car, parked, and a drunk driver ran into my car.”

  “Oh.” Kayla’s voice dropped in disappointment. “You weren’t drinking?”

  Fuck.

  “I was drinking that night, Kayla. But I wasn’t driving a vehicle.”

  “Oh! Well, if you need help getting sober, I think you should do it.”

  “Thank you,” Angelica said, nodding, not quite sure what else to say to that. “I’m, uh… filming this week, so I need to get back. But thank you for your call. I appreciate it.”

  “Okay. Bye!” Kayla hung up, that same nervous energy left in her wake that she’d entered with.

  Angelica stared around the lobby with wide eyes, her mind completely boggled by that conversation. She took another minute to herself before she pulled herself up out of the chair and made her way down toward the kitchens, dragging her knee scooter with her. She couldn’t wait until she got rid of that thing. Though she knew she’d have to go through an entire week of a new kind of soreness when she did.

  Stepping into the kitchen, Angelica caught Hope’s eye and crooked a finger at her. There had been an awkward tension between them the last day while they’d been shooting, and Angelica hated it. She wanted it to be gone, but she hadn’t figured out the cause of it yet. Hope had been stiff with her, pushing her away like she hadn’t done before.

  When Hope stepped close to her, Angelica lowered her voice. “You’ll never guess who just called me.”

  Hope kept her lips closed and said nothing. Another sign that the tension was still strong between them. But Angelica wanted to share this with her because no one else would understand what she’d gone through to save Desert Paradise from Kayla and her alcoholism.

  “Kayla. Remember her? From Tucson?”

  “Yeah. You fired her in front of the entire staff in the main lobby.”

  Cold washed through Angelica. She had done that, and it’d been brutal and harsh, but she hadn’t managed to get Kayla into a room where no one else could watch. She’d tried and failed. Not to mention, the rest of the staff needed to know that someone was going to take a stand against the bullshit that Kayla had been getting away with. They needed to see justice served.

  “I did,” Angelica agreed. All the wind had been taken out of her sails, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to continue. She paused, looking directly into Hope’s crystalline eyes, the way her full lips pulled tighter than they normally would, the tension in her gaze, her guardedness.

  Reaching forward, Angelica snagged Hope’s fingers again. She was struggling with not touching her, with not being in Hope’s presence constantly. That brief kiss they’d shared in Maine had flared up desire in her again, and she wanted nothing but to have a taste again.

  But that would be heartache.

  “Hope…” Angelica started, not sure what to say next. She was never at a loss for words, but right now, she couldn’t find them no matter how hard she tried. “Hope, how do I make this better, between us?”

  Hope jerked her head back slightly, as if taken by surprise. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “What happened the other day?” Angelica curled their fingers together, flicking her gaze down to their joined hands. Anyone could walk in and see them like this. Anyone could think things that they shouldn’t, that Angelica really didn’t want them to. But she couldn’t bring herself to break the physical contact.

  “Ah, the two lovebirds are at it again.”

  Angelica instantly broke the physical contact, her cheeks burning. She glanced over her shoulder to find Leanne standing in the doorway to the dining room. Why the hell did Leanne have to ruin everything? Angelica squared her shoulders and turned to face Leanne fully.

  “I see we’re all gathering for our trial run of room service.” Angelica turned back to Hope, seeing the sadness sweeping through Hope’s gaze before she managed to hide it. “Where are we setting up?”

  “In the kitchen,” Hope answered, her voice thick with emotion.

  Angelica wheeled herself into the kitchen, leaving Leanne and Hope behind her. The two of them could duel out whatever they wanted without Angelica in the room. But when Hope entered, she stood right next to Angelica, closer than she had in the last two days. The side of Angelica’s back pressed into Hope’s arm, and just that touch was enough to tell Angelica that perhaps she wasn’t the only one struggling with this.

  “Are we ready?” Ashlee squeaked out.

  “Yes, we are.” Angelica nodded at her.

  Cadence called the shot, and everything was going smoothly, from the call down for room service, to cooking and preparing the meal. The server took the food up, and then nothing. Angelica checked her phone several times to keep an eye on the time, but longer and longer passed from when the server left to them not coming back.

  “Hope?” Angelica asked, keeping her voice quiet so Ashlee couldn’t hear. “How long was this supposed to take?”

  “Ten minutes from the time Cheyenne left the kitchen until she returned.”

  “It’s been twenty,” Angelica whispered.

  “Yeah.” Hope brushed her fingers along Angelica’s back.

  Five more minutes passed before Cheyenne finally showed up with an empty cart like nothing had happened. Ashlee had a grin on her face like they’d done everything right. Angelica held her breath, waiting for the realization to dawn on Ashlee, but it didn’t. Instead, she grimaced and rolled her neck. Glancing to Hope, Angelica pursed her lips and raised her eyebrows.

  “Yours or mine?” Angelica asked.

  “Yours,” Hope answered. “I could use the break tonight.”

  “All right.” Angelica turned toward Ashlee and leaned on the prep counter that they were all waiting by. “Ashlee, that took Cheyenne twice as long as it should have.”

  “Oh, did it?” Ashlee’s glee fell from her cheeks. “I didn’t realize.”

  Angelica hummed. “You need to correct her on that. First ask her how she thinks that service went. Then ask her what she thinks she could improve on.”

  “Okay.”

  “Think you can handle that?”

  “Yeah.” Ashlee drew in a deep breath and then walked over to Cheyenne.

  Sy and Cadence followed Ashlee and put the focus on her and Cheyenne instead of Angelica, Leanne, and Hope. Angelica gripped onto the counter, pushing most of her weight into her hands as she tried her best to keep upright, but as the day wore on, it was getting harder and harder.

  “Do you need to sit down?” Hope asked, her hand pressing firmly into Angelica’s back.

  “I don’t want to.” Angelica clenched her jaw and focused as much of her energy as possible on staying upright, but the knee that was holding her entire body weight trembled, and her skin was clammy.

  “Ange, I think you need to sit. Leanne, go get a chair.” Hope snagged Angelica’s arms and held her close while Leanne stared at them. “Leanne. Chair. Now.”

  Leanne finally walked away, disappearing into the dining area. Angelica’s cheeks burned, and sweat formed along the small of her back and chest. When Leanne finally came back and put the chair behind her, Angelica plopped down into it unceremoniously.

  She barely kept herself together. Before she could do anything, Leanne was already walking away. Angelica could hear her voice grating on her nerves as she corrected Ashlee’s conversation with Cheyenne and then pushed her to get more information.

  Angelica shook her head and sighed heavily. She just wanted to be back to working again like she was before, and it was damn near impossible. Hope brought over a cold glass of water and handed it to her.

  “Drink.”

  Angelica complied, only because the cold sounded really good right about now. She tried to focus on Leanne and make sure that she was doing exactly as Angelica had taught her all those years ago. This would only add fuel to the flame that Josef was trying to fan. She needed to prove that she could do this, that she wasn’t useless.

  Hope bent squatted down, hand on Angelica’s knee as she looked up into Angelica’s eyes. “You do exactly what you need to do so that tomorrow we won’t have this problem. But tonight, don’t beat yourself up over it, all right?”

  Angelica’s lips parted with an objection already on them.

  “No, don’t say anything. Just do what I tell you for once in your life. No one wants to see you suffer, Angel. No one but yourself.” And with that Hope stood up and joined Leanne in controlling the situation and correcting Cheyenne. Biting her tongue, Angelica drank the water and looked on at the nightmare in front of her.

  Chapter

  Eighteen

  “Hope.” Rex’s call was sharp and to the point, but it wasn’t filled with anger.

  When Hope managed to skid to a stop, he waved her toward him. They stood near the elevator, and he had his phone out in front of him.

  “What’s up?”

  “You need to hear this.” He popped an AirPod into her ear and hit play on his phone.

  Hope furrowed her brow as Josef’s voice filled her head. “She can’t keep up with the job.”

  “She can’t?” That was Leanne. “She seems to be doing fine with healing from what I can see.”

  “She’s not.” Josef laughed a little. “We’re going to need you to stay on through the rest of the season filming, and then next season, when we get renewed, you can take over her role officially.”

  Shivers ran down Hope’s spine. She looked directly into Rex’s eyes, her lips parted in absolute shock.

  “We can’t afford to have more drama like we’ve had this season with her not being healthy enough to work. You’re young, and you can certainly step into her position.” Josef again with that condescending tone that Hope despised. “You’re perfect for the job. You have the energy, the skills, and you know how to turn around hotels. Your CV tells me everything I need to know. And you and Hope have amazing chemistry.”

  “No, we don’t,” Hope muttered under her breath.

  “You’ll be perfect. You are perfect. I already know that.” Josef chuckled again. “Just stick with it while we have this awkward transition time, all right?”

  “Okay,” Leanne answered. “Thank you.”

  Hope ripped the AirPod from her ear and clenched it in her first. “You’re fucking kidding me.”

  Rex shook his head, a frown forming on his lips. “Look, I don’t know what’s going on between you and Ange, but you need to tell her what’s going on.”

  “She already knows.” Hope sighed heavily. “Josef’s had it out for her from the beginning, but this season it’s picked up way worse than it was before. And Leanne…”

  “Leanne what?” Rex asked, a deep line forming in the center of his brow.

  “Leanne and Ange have history, Rex. Josef knows that, and he brought her in here to stir the pot. He wants Ange gone, and he’s willing to do anything he can to make that happen.” Hope bit her lip. “Like not dealing with the gossip about her being arrested for drunk driving.”

  “I wondered why no one had put out a statement yet.” Rex took the AirPod from her. “I already sent this over to Logan.”

  “You did?” Hope asked, genuinely surprised by that. Rex hadn’t seemed particularly keen on keeping Angelica around if he had a choice in the matter, but he also hadn’t been trying to force her out either.

  “Yeah. There’s something about Leanne that I just don’t like.”

  “You’re not the only one.” Hope blew out a breath, her lips buzzing from the move. “Thanks for letting me know.”

  “Tell Ange that most of the crew have her back on this one. They don’t like how Josef has been treating her since the accident.” Rex cupped Hope’s arm and squeezed lightly. “And you can tell her that includes me.”

  “I will.” Hope walked away awkwardly. She’d never expected her ex-husband and her ex-girlfriend to get along so well, but since all the relationships had ended that’s where they’d landed. She brushed her fingers through her short hair and walked toward the staging area. She was hoping to find Angelica there anyway.

  She’d wanted to check in before they officially wrapped everything up tomorrow and had the party with the staff and crew. She knocked on the doorway as she stepped inside. Angelica had her fingers deep in her hair as she scratched hard at her scalp. Hope paused. Angelica stopped. They stared at each other before Angelica sighed and scratched her head again before groaning.

  “What’s wrong?” Hope asked, plopping down next to Angelica.

  “Nothing’s wrong,” Angelica mumbled. “What did you need?”

  “How often are people asking you that question?” Hope crossed her arms and sent Angelica a square look. She wasn’t going to let Angelica get out of this one.

  Angelica sent her a scathing look in response, which only made Hope laugh even more.

  “Be honest, Ange.”

  “It’s hard to move,” Angelica started. “And it’s hard to stand for long periods of time.”

  Hope narrowed her eyes, trying to figure out exactly where Angelica was going with this.

  “I haven’t able to take a proper shower since before the accident, and while Ansel is brilliant, he doesn’t compare.” Angelica’s cheeks were bright red.

  Hope’s heart sank. She immediately softened and leaned forward, pressing her hand to Angelica’s knee just at the edge of her skirt.

  “So my head itches like I have a bad case of lice, and my body feels caked with makeup and grime, and I just want to curl up in bed and fall asleep but also soak under the hot spray of a shower for hours, and I don’t have the energy to figure out what I need to do.”

  “Ange,” Hope said a bit more forcefully than she normally would, but she needed to put an end to Angelica’s rant. “Since I know you’d never in a million years ask this but also since I’m probably the only one here that you’d ever allow… would you like me to help you?”

  “I…” Angelica’s jaw dropped. “No.”

  “Ange…” Hope tightened her grip on Angelica’s knee. “I promise you that I don’t mean anything by it, but I will help you.”

  “No,” Angelica answered, but she was already reaching up to scratch her head again. “No, I couldn’t⁠—”

  “You could. And frankly, I’m the one offering. You’re not asking.” Hope dropped her gaze down to Angelica’s mouth. It was going to be pure torture for both of them, but she’d be damned if she was going to let Angelica suffer. She’d been there before, and she knew how good it could feel just to be clean. “Please, let me help you with this.”

  Angelica breathed in slowly, silence filling the space between them. Hope trusted it this time, unlike so many other times. She let it just be, maintaining the physical connection between them and keeping their gazes locked.

  “Hope… I couldn’t ask you to do this.”

  “You don’t have to,” Hope whispered back, leaning in closer. “It’ll be my pleasure.”

  Angelica’s lips quirked up into that smile that Hope longed to see more of. She held Hope’s gaze, time ceasing to exist as they simply looked deeply into each other’s eyes and souls. Angelica’s lips parted, her gaze dropping down to Hope’s mouth before suddenly flicking back up as if she’d been caught red-handed.

  “It’d be entirely inappropriate,” Angelica murmured.

  “I’m fairly certain we crossed that line in New Orleans. And there’s no taking it back.” Hope brushed her thumb against Angelica’s skin, the softness and warmth mesmerizing.

  Angelica hummed and nodded. “Yes, I suppose you’re right.”

  “Then… will you let me help you?”

  “Just this once?”

  “Of course. Don’t want anyone thinking the great Ice Fairy couldn’t do something on her own.” Hope smiled, her eyes crinkling at the corners. She breathed deeply and stood up, holding out her hand for Angelica to take it. “Come on. Let’s get you upstairs.”

  Angelica stood up and leaned into Hope slightly as she reached for her knee scooter. “Definitely not how I thought you’d say that to me again.”

  They both froze. This flirting was getting a little too intense. And it was as though they’d both had that realization at exactly the same time. Hope nodded and said nothing as she stepped away slightly and started for the door. This was going to be a long night, and the next twenty minutes were going to try what little patience she had. That was for damn sure.

  When they reached Angelica’s room, Hope’s stomach swirled with nervous energy. She shut and locked the door behind her and pressed her back into it as Angelica stopped. They were probably both struggling with this. Hope needed to be the bigger person right now. She touched Angelica’s arm lightly to get her attention, staring down into those baby blues and nearly losing her will to speak.

  “Just…do you want a shirt or something?”

  “Sports bra?” Angelica asked.

  “What drawer?”

  “Top left.”

  Hope bypassed Angelica and made her way into the room. Everything smelled like Angelica. She was surrounded by her in here. Her fingers trembled as she reached for the drawer and pulled out the royal-blue sports bra and the tank top that she found just in case Angelica wanted that as well.

  She handed them over and bit her lip.

  “Is that for you?” Angelica asked, pointing at the tank top.

  “Oh, yeah, if you don’t mind.” Hope hadn’t even thought about that small problem. If she was going to help Angelica wash her hair, then she was going to get wet herself. “Just, uh… let me know when you’re ready.”