"And you didn't want that?"
Emma shook her head. "I wanted to be a librarian. I told my parents I wanted to get a degree in library sciences and move to Los Angeles and live near the ocean by my grandmother."
"They didn't want you to be a librarian?" Chase asked incredulously.
"Not really." She shrugged. "And they really didn't want me living near a bad influence like Nana."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Chase's hand went up and the piece of cake he had on the end of his fork went flying backwards and hit one of his huge picture windows. He sighed. "Lucy?"
"Take My Breath Away" by Berlin stopped playing from Chase's playlist, replaced by a digitalwoman's voice. "Yes, handsome?"
"Marcus needs to clean my living room window."
"Sure thing, handsome."
The soft playlist came back on as Chase took a deep breath and stabbed another piece of cake. "Please explain to me how an actual human being could hate Nana."
He called her grandmother "Nana" again, but for some reason, it didn't bug Emma as much, and she didn't feel like correcting him this time.
"My grandparents got divorced in the eighties, and that's how Nana got the money she gave to the finance guy. It was a lump sum. She also got to keep the small bungalow here. So my dad grew up here, but he spent the summers with his father in Dallas. His dad went off on his own, free from taking care of his family every day, and became successful after the divorce. Made a ton of money that he didn't have to share with his ex-wife. All she had left was what he had given her as part of the divorce settlement before he left town."
"So what was your grandfather like in person?" Chase asked.
"I don't know honestly. He died before I was born, but his legacy lived on!" she said sarcastically. "My dad was enamored with his business stuff and his flashy life. You know, the whole J.R. Ewing of it all."
"And Nana was his down-to-earth hippie mom in California."
"Bingo." She took a big stab at the cake. "So when I told them I didn't want the mansion and the business degree, and I just wanted to be a librarian in a bungalow with grandma in California, well..."
He gave her a sad smile. "Your brother became the favorite?"
"He was always the favorite. This just solidified it for them."
Chase looked out at the pool as he took in all this new information from Emma. "What do you think they'll say when you inherit all this money?"
Emma looked down and started poking at the cake with her fork. It was a question she had been thinking about a lot these past few days. What would they think about it? Would they be happy she was rich now? Would they welcome her back with open arms? Maybe, maybe not. But the fact that Emma would even assume that they would treat her differently — better or worse — when they found out how much money she inherited from Nana was the only answer she needed.
"I meant what I said in the car. Not just that they can never find out about this challenge, but they can never find out about the inheritance, not even after I inherit it." Emma paused, wondering how far she could push this new relationship and the secret they shared. "You have to promise me, Chase. I know we're part of this weird pact or whatever that my grandmother created, and I know there's no reason for you to ever havecontact with my parents, so there's no reason for me to be paranoid—"
He turned and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, which quieted her. "I promise. Really, I do." Then he gave her that teasing Hollywood smile of his that she was getting used to. "Besides, they sound like assholes, and I hate talking to assholes."
See? There was no reason for her to worry. Her parents and her brother were living their lives in Dallas, and she was thousands of miles away from them and living her best life here. Or at least, she would be living her best life here once she finished spending all this money with a millionaire movie star.
She was still a little bitter about that. Still bitter about this whole stupid setup. No matter how much chocolate cake or good wine she shared with the gorgeous Chase Warwick, she had to remind herself that he was just a means to an end. It would be easier for both of them if she didn't get attached for the next few weeks. Spend the money and move on.
Speaking of which, she had to move on tonight as well. Her bed for the night wasn't just going to materialize in Chase's backyard.
"So, next question," she said as she set her fork in the cake box. "Can you recommend a hotel around here?"
He gave her a quirked eyebrow. "A hotel?"
"Yeah, I'm going to splurge tonight and sleep ina Bel Air hotel," she announced. "But like I said, I'm putting it on my personal card that I plan to pay off later, so Charles won't give us crap about it."
"Right."
"So any good places around here?"
Chase wordlessly pointed... somewhere?
