Chapter Six
Why the hell had she said so much in such a short car ride with Chase? That was not like her.
But then again, there were a lot of things that weren't like her.
She had been staying at a hotel near Nana's house for the past few nights before packing up this morning.
She thought about maybe staying somewhere closer to Chase's place tonight since she figured it was going to be a late night.
Then her plan was to surf her friend Molly's couch for at least a week, which would make things easy since Molly was the next one to host book club.
There were just a few flaws to this plan.
First, she hadn't thought ahead to book a hotel room for tonight.
Second, living with Molly meant she would probably have to tell Molly what was going on, and Emma wasn't ready to do that either.
Third, she didn't expect to be driving Chase Warwick back to his house tonight.
Emma would blame the expensive dress and the five-thousand-dollar burger. Neither of those things was typical for her and it was throwing her all off.
Or she could blame the stupid movie star in her front seat who had gone quiet.
She had just done what Chase had told her to do — turn right at this light — but he was quiet and contemplative as he stared out the passenger window of her Toyota.
He was probably wondering what the hell he had gotten himself into.
And to be fair, she was still thinking the same thing herself.
Emma started to wind up a curving road as it climbed the side of a hill before he finally spoke up again.
"Do you see that black fence with the bushes in front?"
On the left-hand side of the road was a house with a huge privacy fence and a gate. "Yep. Is that you?"
"That's me," he said with a bit of enthusiasm. "If you pull up in front of the gate, I can jump out and punch the code in."
She did as he directed and pulled up, watching as he jumped out and trotted over with the bottle of wine in his hand to a box near her driver's side window.
He turned and flashed her that killer smile of his — "No peeking!
" — and punched in some numbers. The gate slid open revealing a modern-looking house beyond the gate with a small driveway in front.
Chase pointed to a spot next to a two-car garage. "You can park right there."
Park right there? Was he actually inviting her in? It felt a little weird, but Chase invited her in and she frankly had nowhere else to be right now.
Emma pulled in and cut the engine, opening the car door to find Chase already standing there and the gate gliding closed behind him. He offered her a hand, and Emma felt rude about turning him down. It was just a polite gesture.
"You're not going to kill me now or something, are you?" she asked sarcastically.
Chase's whole body shook with laughter. "Definitely not! I don't need Nana haunting me from the grave."
"You know she would do that too."
"Oh, I know."
He probably did. But it still felt strange hearing someone else talk about Nana like that and knowing that Nana had friendships and connections outside of their little house in Torrance.
Chase reached around her to open the back door and grab the bag of desserts from the backseat. "Alright, I've been thinking about that chocolate cake since we saw it on the dessert cart, and I'm determined to have some. Come on."
He extended his elbow for her to take and led her to his front door. There was another keypad there with another code that he punched in. Emma could hear the door unlock beside them.
He put his hand on the small of her back and gently led her into his home.
The walls were gray with dark wood accents everywhere and dark, wide-planked floors.
A small hallway from the front door led into a huge area with a living room, dining room, and kitchen all together.
Beyond that was another small hallway that Emma assumed led to the garage and an open stairway going up to a landing on the second floor and a hallway she couldn't see.
"Are you one of those people who is picky about having their own plate or can we eat from the box with two forks?"
"Um, box with two forks I guess."
Chase's shoulders relaxed a bit. "Oh, good. I really hate doing dishes."
He put the bag from the restaurant on the counter and opened up his fancy stainless steel fridge. Then he slipped the boxes of desserts inside except for the large one that someone at The Fish Fry had written "cake" on.
She watched as he moved around his kitchen with determination. First, a drawer for two forks. Then a cupboard for...
"Uh, I'm not really a wine glasses person. Are lowballs OK?"
"I guess?"
"Cool." Chase gave her a warm smile. "Lucy!"
"Hello, handsome."
What the hell? Emma started looking around, waiting for a woman to come out from somewhere. Then she saw the glowing green puck-like speaker on Chase's counter.
"Lucy, can you tell Marcus to buy wine glasses?"
"Sure thing, handsome."
And then there was a small bloop and the green glowing speaker went dark.
"You have a virtual assistant who calls you 'handsome'?"
Chase looked a bit sheepish as he handed the two lowballs glasses to Emma. "My assistant did that. He thought it would be funny, and he knows I have no clue how to change it. Can we pretend you didn't hear it?"
"Sure thing, handsome."
There was a low growl from Chase that made the hairs on the back of Emma's neck stand up. Damn, that sound from him was amazing. But there was no way she was going to tell him that.
Instead, she followed him to a set of sliding doors along the wall of his living room that opened out on to a patio with a pool surrounded by grass and a small building in the far corner.
Well, not really a small building per se.
It was more like a guest house with the curtains drawn over the windows so Emma couldn't tell what was inside.
Maybe it was Chase's yoga studio or something.
He seemed like someone who would have a yoga studio in their backyard.
Emma walked out and looked down at the water below.
She loved the beach, sure, but there was something about having a pool in a backyard that just seemed so decadent.
Her feet were hurting in these stupid expensive shoes already, so she figured she would just slip one off and dip her toe in. Who cared what Chase thought?
The water was the perfect temperature, of course, and she wondered what it would be like to live in a place like this. Maybe she could buy a house with a pool if she was ever able to get Nana's inheritance.
"You like that?"
Chase came sauntering up with the cake in one hand and the bottle of wine in the other. Emma hadn't really noticed how big his hands were until now, and she was going to try her best to forget that.
Instead, she just gave him a flippant smile. "It's a nice pool."
"Right?" he said with a huge smile.
She watched as Chase put the cake box and bottle down on a table and pulled two cushions off the chairs sitting there. Then he walked over to the edge of the pool where she was standing and put them down.
"Here, sit down."
"What?"
"Sit down. Put your feet in."
She wasn't going to object to someone inviting her to sit on the edge of his pool, although she was a little worried about getting this dress wet.
It wasn't cheap after all. But she decided to be a trooper and hiked up as much of the tulle as she could.
Surprisingly, it was pretty easy to mash all of it down around her and let her legs dangle over the edge.
She looked around to see the fabric pooled in a circle around her spot on the edge of the pool while her legs were sticking out, dipping into the warm water.
She had to admit the night wasn't turning out so bad.
She felt like Cinderella, but she had to remind herself that even Cinderella had an expiration date.
At midnight, Emma's coach was going to turn back into an old Toyota Corolla and she was going to have to find an attic to sleep in for the night.
But she wasn't going to worry about that now. Because now, a gorgeous man named Chase Warwick was sitting down next to her with wine and cake.
"Lucy! Can you play my Lyonheart Part Two playlist on the speakers by the pool?"
"Sure thing, handsome."
The opening bars of "Under the Milky Way" by The Church came filtering through speakers that Emma couldn't see. It was the perfect song for winding down outside by a pool at night.
"I like your taste in music."
"I'm impressed." He smiled as he carefully set down the cake and forks to avoid all the tulle from her dress. "Not many people know this song, but I've been trying to get it added to the soundtrack to one of the next Project Lyonheart movies."
"Oh, Nana would've loved that. It was one of her favorites," she said quietly.
Sometimes these little moments when she could remember happier times with her grandmother would help soothe her soul. Although right now, she also wondered what Nana would think about her sitting on the side of Chase Warwick's pool in an expensive dress.
"So you ready for this 'famous' chocolate cake or whatever?" he asked as he handed Emma a lowball glass filled with wine.
"Ready as I'll ever be I guess."
She was trying to be blasé about this and not act like it was a big deal, especially not in front of Chase, but she was really excited about this.
The slice on the dessert cart at the restaurant didn't seem like that big of a deal, but it was twenty dollars!
So there had to be something fancy about it that she missed, right?
Chase handed her a fork with a dramatic flair, and then he started to slowly open the top of the box.
"Holy shit," he muttered. "This thing is huge."
"That's what she said."
Chase's laughter was so loud that some dog started barking in the distance, and it made Emma feel a weird sort of warmth because she was able to make him happy like that. "You're the best."