Chapter Seven #2
"Chase, I'll call your lawyer and find out about a basic rental agreement," Marcus said. "And Emma, it was nice meeting you."
"You too."
Chase shouldn't feel jealous. There was nothing to be jealous about. But the way she had smiled at Marcus made him feel a little jealous. He wished she would look at him that way.
He led her down the hallway to his office tucked behind his stairway.
When he bought the house, he thought having an office was a little excessive.
He was an actor after all. But now he realized that since he didn't work in an actual office building with an actual desk, he liked having this space to separate his work stuff from his life stuff.
He let Emma walk in first, gesturing towards one of the chairs he bought from his interior designer that sat on the other side of his desk and rarely got used.
Then he sat down across from her and grabbed a coaster for her coffee cup, placing it on the desk in front of her.
She gave him a skeptical look in exchange.
"Blame Marcus. He's domesticated me or something."
"He worked a damn miracle," she said as she put her mug down.
"Wait until you see my hair after it's properly coiffed."
Emma gave him a small smile and ducked her head, tucking her hair behind her ear. Did she like his joke? Or was she nervous about this call and didn't even care a bit about Chase's hair? It was probably the last one.
"OK, you ready to talk to Charles?"
"Not really, but I don't think I have a choice."
He felt the same way.
Chase dialed the phone number he had saved for the financial guy's office and put it on speaker phone. When he told the administrative assistant who he was, he heard her get a little flustered on the other end of the line.
"Sure, Mr. Warwick. Right away."
Emma rolled her eyes and he gave her his huge Hollywood smile in reply.
"Chase!" Charles's very professional voice said. "I wasn't expecting to hear from you."
"Well, I'm actually here with Emma—"
"Hi, Mr. Dickson."
"I know we're both supposed to check in with you today, so I figured we would do it together."
He heard Charles clear his throat on the other end of the line. "That's fine. Let me get the file pulled up." There was some rustling of papers and clicking of a mouse. "So let's check the charge card balance first."
Charles started to run down the costs of their dinner the night before, and Chase could tell that this was going to be a tough slog.
"Why was this dinner so expensive?" he asked.
"I got a fancy hamburger," Emma replied.
"You also had an expensive dress, and there are charges on here for some sort of services."
"I paid extra to have my hair and make-up done."
Charles made some dismissive sound on the other end of the line, which Chase did not care for. At all.
"And I will tell you that Emma was absolutely stunning last night," Chase said. "It was nice to see her put an effort into her look for the dinner we shared as part of our time together."
He tried to emphasize the "together" part for Charles, but when he looked across the desk at Emma, he realized that he was really saying all of that for her.
He was rewarded by the slight flush in Emma's cheeks as she gave him a small smile and looked away.
Yeah, those compliments landed exactly where he wanted them to land.
"Well, I guess that's fine."
Charles didn't sound convinced, which made Chase a little nervous about what he was going to say next.
"So listen, Emma and I came up with a plan to spend some more money, but I'm assuming we'll need your approval.
" Chase looked up to see Emma's brown eyes of hers stared back at him with concern.
He was honestly a little worried too. "I have a guest house on my property that I've been thinking about renting out, and I feel that Emma would make a wonderful tenant. "
"No."
Emma took a deep breath and stared down at the speaker phone. "Mr. Dickson, all of my possessions are either in a storage locker or my car because the house I was living in was put up for sale after you and that lawyer gave it to my father."
"If I recall correctly, your grandmother gave it to your father, which she had to do as part of her divorce settlement."
"Irregardless." Chase scrunched up his face in frustration. That wasn't a real word, but he would have to roll with it. "Emma is in need of housing, and I have available housing. So I can provide her this housing for the next month at a market rate that I'm sure you will find suitable."
Apparently, playing a real estate agent a few years ago in that horrible movie that shall not be named still paid off when Chase needed to sound like a professional businessman.
It also seemed to have impressed Emma, who was staring at him with a look that was both bemusement and bewilderment. He could tell that she still wasn't sure of this plan, but it was the best offer she had for now and it would help her reach her goal. But he needed her to play along.
Chase gestured to the phone, wordlessly pleading for her to come along with him, and she got the hint.
"Uh, yes," she stammered. "This would solve my housing issue, and I'm sure Chase's rate for the rent will be acceptable to you."
Charles was silent on the other end of the line, and Chase was starting to get worried that the stupid finance guy wouldn't agree to any of this.
"It would also help Emma and I be closer for this project."
He watched as Emma shifted a bit uncomfortably in the chair, and he couldn't blame her.
Because yes, it would be easier to coordinate things with her to help her spend this money if they were around each other more.
But that also meant they would be around each other more.
Emma had finally started to warm up to him a little last night, but he could tell she still saw him as the enemy.
But it was also the whole physically having her that close to him that could cause issues. Either they would work together in close physical proximity and get Emma this money, or she would freak out and push herself away from him even more.
He watched Emma fidget with her hands clasped in her lap and wonder if it was going to be the latter that would happen. Would Emma push away from him at a time when she needed to work together with him?
"Alright, fine."
Charles's voice broke through the quiet tension that had started to engulf the room, and Chase let go of a breath that he didn't realize he had been holding.
"Great!" Chase replied a little too enthusiastically. "I'll have my assistant send over the rental agreement in the next day or so for your records."
"Yeah," the finance guy muttered. "Anything else?"
"Nothing I can think of," Chase said in his super cheerful Hollywood voice.
"No, that's it for now," Emma said.
"Let's check in again in a few days. Thanks."
The click as Charles hung up the phone echoed through Chase's office, and he pressed the button on his own phone to end the speaker call. The room had become eerily quiet and he could practically hear Emma thinking even though he couldn't actually hear her thoughts.
"So."
She took a deep breath and gave him an awkward look. "So."
Chase leaned forward on the desk, crossing his arms in front of him. "What's going on in that head of yours?"
"I'm just overthinking things."
"Like what?"
He hoped she wasn't going to say something like she was overthinking him or she was overthinking their relationship. He wasn't kidding when he said the physical proximity would help them plan how to spend the rest of this money. Plus, having her stay there would mean he wouldn't worry about her.
He was still concerned about how she was holding up with all these changes, of course.
But last night, when he put his head down on his pillow, he had no concerns about where Emma was sleeping.
She wasn't in some hotel room somewhere in the city.
She was in his backyard in his guest house. He knew she would be safe there.
"I'm honestly getting worried, Chase."
"About what?"
Please don't say you're worried about me. Please don't.
"We got a late start on spending this money."
Chase tried to calm his heart from racing. His relationship with Emma was starting to become murky for him. But spending the money? That was easy.
"Do you trust me?"
She stared at him. "Definitely not."
Well, at least she was fair and honest.
"Listen, I have some ideas on how we can spend lots of money. We can do this. Together."
He made sure to emphasize the "together" part, and Emma gave him a curious look in return. She wasn't running from him, so at least he had that going for him.
"How?" she asked skeptically.
"Let me put some potential plans together, and then we can meet for dinner," he said with a smile. "Kitchen counter, my place, seven o'clock. You're buying, of course."
"Of course," Emma lamented. "See you then."
Chase watched as she gave him a small wave and walked out of his office, headed to the guest house she was renting to get ready for her job as a librarian.
He wished he could see her doing that today.
It would actually be fun seeing Emma out in her natural habitat.
But he had his own office to go to, or rather the costume department at the studio to get fitted for some stuff for Project Lyonheart.
He would've rather been able to spend time with Emma, but that had to be a thought he pushed aside. Whatever his relationship currently was with Emma, and whatever he wanted it to be, was too much for him to handle just yet.