Chapter Thirteen
The drive back from Palm Springs was fine. Pleasant. Whatever.
Chase watched as the palm trees went by, trying to talk to Emma about what she thought about that day at the Comic Con while avoiding the topic that he wanted to talk to her about the most.
Did she have fun at the cast Q&A?
"It was cool, although some of those questions were weird, right? But Hunter was hilarious."
Yes, Hunter was hilarious. Did you have a good time?
"I understand now why Nana loved coming to these things."
Yes, Nana always had a good time when he saw her there. And what about the photos?
"I can't believe fans pay that much to get a photo with you."
Sometimes, he couldn't believe it either.
But Chase also knew something else. He knew that this time around, fans actually didn't pay to get photos with him. In fact, a few of them thanked him for paying for the photos when they came up to pose with him. They had never heard of an actor doing that before.
Chase hadn't heard of it either and he was just as surprised as they were.
It didn't take him long, however, to figure out what was happening.
He saw Emma sitting at the table as fans were checking in for the photo call with her credit card in her hand, and he watched Emma's card get swiped over and over as each fan came through.
Once again, Emma proved she was capable of spending money to reach her goal and get her inheritance. He had to give her credit for her ingenuity, but he wasn't sure Nana's finance guy would deem this an activity they were doing together. Of course, he also would never tell that to Charles.
"Oh, we're driving through San Dimas? You know this is where Bill and Ted are from."
Emma tried to say casually, as if this was just another conversation they were having. But there was something bubbling beneath the surface that Chase didn't want to deal with in the confined space of his BMW. Better to just go along with things.
"It is. Great movie."
"Yep."
And then the awkward silence really descended on them.
Because what Chase wanted to talk about wasn't some eighties movie or photos with fans.
What he wanted to talk about was that kiss last night that set him on fire.
What he wanted to talk about was that it was really good and he wanted to do that again.
The real question he wanted to ask is if it meant something to her the way it meant something to him.
And he wanted to ask if she remembered anything about this morning.
He knew it was a bad idea to share that stupid bed as soon as he climbed in last night to go to sleep. Emma was right — he did have a long day today so it was better for him to sleep in the bed rather than trying to squeeze himself on to that little sofa.
Then he woke up with Emma's hand on his chest and a raging hard-on in his pants.
Extracting yourself from a gorgeous woman was usually a good way to start the day — except the gorgeous woman was Emma.
He felt like they were both walking on eggshells in the hotel room trying to avoid each other.
And when she came out of the bathroom dressed in a pair of black leggings and an oversized Project Lyonheart t-shirt with his character on it, he just wanted to forget the eggshells and have his way with Emma right there.
Instead, he stuck to casual questions. Safe questions. Questions that wouldn't make his dick start thinking for itself again.
"I like the shirt," he said politely. "Where did you get it?"
"Nana."
Right. Nana. Her grandmother who set them up on this stupid challenge.
And now they were somewhere east of Los Angeles heading back to his house after another successful weekend of spending Nana's money.
Chase was driving his car with Emma in his passenger seat wearing her big t-shirt that was sliding off her shoulder and accidentally exposing her lacy black bra strap.
"What should we do for dinner tonight?"
Dinner? Seriously? He had so many questions that he wished he could ask her and all she wanted to know was what their plans were for dinner.
There was a little part of him that hoped she was trying to avoid the same questions that he was. But for now, they would still avoid them and talk about dinner instead.
"I don't know. Whatever you want," he said, desperately keeping his eyes on the road and not Emma.
"I guess I get to decide since I'm buying."
He couldn't forget and she obviously hadn't either by the way she reminded him that she would be using her credit card again. After all, this was part of the challenge. Just like paying for the hotel room and drinks last night. Just like everything else in their relationship so far.
He had to remind himself that the whole money thing between them was all transactional. But that kiss last night? And waking up with Emma this morning? There was nothing transactional about any of that.
Chase was spending way too much time sitting on his couch staring out at his pool. If he moved just a little bit to the left, he could see Emma's house — or rather his guest house that Emma was staying in.
But he didn't want to do that. He would be creepy if she caught staring out to see what she was doing or to see if the lights were on or to see if she had hung up the fancy dress she hauled out of his trunk when they got back.
That stupid dress was just another reason why he kissed her in that hotel room and why he was regretting it now.
Every time he let his mind wander to that stupid kiss, he thought of Emma wrapped around him this morning in bed and that would just give him more thoughts he shouldn't think about her.
Chase heard the chime from his security system as his assistant let himself in the front door.
"Good evening, Marcus," came the soothing voice of Lucy.
"Hey, Marcus."
"Lucy seems much more enthusiastic about seeing me than you do.
" Chase turned around to see Marcus heading into his kitchen with a take-out bag of sushi and some more gross smoothies that Chase had to drink.
"I charged your dinner on Emma's credit card and there should be a receipt in there for her. "
Marcus moved around Chase's kitchen almost as if it was his own, putting those dumb smoothies in the door of his kitchen fridge and heading back to the counter where he left dinner for tonight.
"Sushi in the fridge or you eating now?"
"Fridge, I guess," Chase muttered.
Marcus stopped and stared. He had been Chase's assistant long enough to know when something wasn't right even if Chase thought he was pulling off "normal" well. Although to be fair, Chase was definitely not pulling of "normal" well right now.
"Comic Con was that bad?"
Chase shook his head. "No, it was good."
"Cool. I'll check your account on Monday to make sure they deposited your fees."
Marcus continued to stare at him though, sushi still sitting on the counter, waiting for Chase to explain why he seemed off. It was one of Marcus's stares that Chase knew wouldn't stop unless he said something. It was always like that with Marcus.
"Fine."
Marcus smiled in triumph. "So who do I need to call to yell at for some reason?"
"Can you call me and yell at me?"
Marcus's smile faded. "Oh no. What did you do?"
Well, there was story time at the library and the martinis at the bar and the one bed and—
"I kissed Emma."
Marcus gasped. Literally gasped. "You did what now?"
"Please don't make me repeat it," Chase lamented.
"Oh, yeah, this is not good."
"Actually, it was really good. That's my problem."
His assistant grabbed the take-out bag of sushi and tossed it in the fridge before walking over to the sliding glass doors to check out the guest house on the other side of his pool.
"Well, it looks like the lights are on," Marcus murmured before turning to his boss. "You need to talk to her."
Chase's head fell back, hitting the back of the couch. "And say what?"
"I have no idea, but you have two weeks to fix this and get back on track so the woman that we've both become smitten with can get her grandmother's inheritance."
Chase's head snapped up. "Both?"
"My smitten and your smitten are not the same thing, asshole," Marcus said with a scathing look. "Sorry, I didn't mean to call you that."
Chase just wordlessly hand waved the comment away. He deserved it. He was being an asshole. What kind of person kisses someone and then tries to pretend like it never happened? Just ignores kissing a beautiful woman who was wrapped around him in bed?
"You need to talk to her," Marcus said seriously.
"I know."
Chase stood up and walked over to where Marcus was standing at the sliding door so they could look out at the guest house on the other side of the yard together.
"You'll be here when I get back?"
"Hell no. Some of us have actual plans with people that don't involve women they just kissed." Marcus dramatically paused. "Or maybe some of us do."
Chase rolled his eyes and turned to see Marcus with a big grin on his face.
He wasn't sure if this was about Emma or another woman Marcus knew, and he frankly didn't have the bandwidth to deal with more than one woman at a time.
So if Marcus had a mystery woman, she would just have to stay a mystery for now. Chase had other issues.
"Remember that sushi is in the fridge," Marcus said. "Take it over and talk to her."
"Fine."
Marcus clapped him on the back and gave him a small smile before walking out, the little ding of the door letting Chase know that he was alone again.
The light was still on in the guest house, the sushi was in the fridge, his assistant was gone, and Chase knew he had no excuses left.