"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 LosAngeles 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 timesitting 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 smoothiesin 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?"
