"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. Pleasedon'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 hepushed aside. Whatever his relationship currently was with Emma, and whatever he wanted it to be, was too much for him to handle just yet.
