Chase instinctively reached out and put his hand over Emma's. His heart broke for her and her grandmother. He was a stranger to Emma before that will was read, but he wished he could've at least been there for her before that. By the time he found out that Nana had passed away, the funeral was already over. He thought he maybe would've wanted to been there for Emma, even if he hadn't met her before, especially if he had known all of these things were going to come up with her inheritance.
"I'm sorry I wasn't able to go to the funeral," he told her. "I hope you weren't alone."
Emma gave him a sad smile but a smile none the less. "I wasn't. Nana had plenty of friends that showed up, especially after living in the area for so long. She had her garden club friends and almost our whole block went. There were also some of her convention friends from the area that came, which was really nice. You would like them."
"Probably because they like me."
He flashed that Hollywood smile at her to ease the tension and it worked like a charm. Emma's smile grew and he could see her cheeks flush, and not just because of her drink.
"Anyways, I hope she was happy with the way we celebrated her."
"I'm sure she was."
Emma gave him an awkward smile and pulled her hand away to reach for her drink, leaving Chase's skin cold. He wished she would've held on to him, but that fleeting moment was gone. He had to remind himself that this wasn't a date, just two people remembering someone they cared about. To Chase, Nana was a friendly face. But to Emma, it was her grandmother and there were feelings Emma had for her that Chase would never understand.
Instead, they sat quietly for a bit taking sips from their martinis as Frank Sinatra's voice came out of the speakers into the bar to fill the void.
"So." Emma cleared her throat and put on a big smile again. "Tell me about tomorrow."
"You know how a bunch of fans fawned all over me earlier? It's going to be more of that."
He watched Emma roll her eyes before she lifted her martini to her lips and quickly downed the rest of it. "Can I get another one of these?" she asked quickly.
"You're paying, right?"
"That's what Nana wanted."
He gave her a sly smile. "Just checking."
Chapter Twelve
Emma was smart enough to wear flats with her dress tonight — something she learned after her grandmother always packed those ugly orthopedic shoes for her conventions because of all the walking. It didn't help that much though as her feet were still aching as she headed into the hotel with Chase after their martinis.
A few fans were in the lobby who recognized him so Chase stopped to take some selfies. Emma wished he would hurry up as she really wanted to get her shoes off, but he looked like he enjoyed talking to the fans so she wasn't going to push him to leave. He just seemed so at ease with them and after all the time Emma had spent with him, she could tell that he was genuinely happy to be around them. She wondered if that was the same smile he would give Nana when he saw her at these things.
"Excuse me, are you Emma?"
She turned to see two women around her age staring at her. "Um, hi?"
"We're so excited you're here!" one of them said. "I'm Holly."
"I'm Krista." She smiled and gave Emma a small wave. "We just wanted to tell you that yourgrandmother was so awesome and was such an amazing Lyonheart."
"A what?"
She could see the teasing smile on Chase's face. "Ladies, you're going to have to forgive Emma. She isn't as cool as Nana."
The women laughed at Chase's joke and he rewarded them with the flash of a smile that made Emma think thoughts she shouldn't be thinking about a man she had to share a hotel room with.
"We call ourselves that," Krista explained. "We're fans of the Project Lyonheart movies so we're Lyonhearts."
"We're also LyonSmiths because we love Chase's character," Holly explained.
Emma gave a quick glance over to Chase to see him smiling a little too much at the fact that these werehisfans.
"Nana was one of the best Lyonhearts," Krista said. "Oh, and her chocolate chip cookies were amazing!"
Emma couldn't help but smile. Nana always made a point of baking up several dozen of her famous chocolate chip cookies for these conventions to pass around once she set aside a specific allotment for Chase.
