Chase seemed resigned to agree, turning to look at her with a tight smile on his face. "I'm going to get ready then."
He moved to walk by her but paused for just a moment as he got closer, as if he wanted to say something to her or reach for her or something. Emma wasn't exactly sure what it was and by the time she even thought about why he had stopped, he was already moving away from her.
She climbed into bed, set the alarm on her phone, and put it on the nightstand on her side of the bed. Then she tucked the blankets tight around her and settled in as close to the edge of the mattress as she could.
By the time Chase finally got out of the bathroom and turned off the lights, Emma was settled enough to pretend she was asleep. But when the other side of the bed moved with Chase'sweight, it sent a shiver down her spine that she had to deftly hide from him.
It kept her up for another hour, but she didn't dare move in her spot or do anything that would cause her to confront her feelings for Chase and what she really wanted to do with him.
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 wasjust 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 ifit 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.
