Emma didn't realize her grandmother had a superstar's phone number.
And then things started to go bad quickly and her grandmother was too weak to fight off the infection. She called her dad to come in, but he wasn't able to make it until after the funeral. They visited the cemetery together, just the two of them, and had lunch afterward before he left again.
Now things were even more confusing, and the one person she wanted to talk to who could sort all of this out was gone.
Emma was going to be back at the library on Monday, back to her normal life while still living in Chase Warwick's guest house. The action hero who was way out of her league.
The action hero who kissed her.
The action hero she ended up wrapped around this morning pretending to be asleep until he slipped out of her grasp, leaving her alone in bed to sort out her feelings and then barely saying anything more than polite conversation.
Chase used to have drinks with Nana. That didn't mean he was interested in Emma.
There was a soft knock at the door of her guest house, but it still felt jolting with Emma wallowing in her feelings. She knew there wasonly one person who would be knocking, and he was a man she both wanted to look at some more and couldn't get away from fast enough.
Emma pulled herself out of bed and walked over to find Chase on the other side of the door when she opened it.
"Hi," she tried to say casually.
"Good evening," Chase replied with a small smile. "I brought dinner."
Emma moved out of the way and gestured for him to come in. He had changed into a black t-shirt and a pair of those slim-cut sweatpants that made him look amazing and probably cost more than all the clothes she had in the guest house closet. He wore the hell out of those pants, which just infuriated Emma more. He looked amazing and had a bazillion dollars and he was stuck with Emma until she spent enough money for him to run out.
But the way Chase stood in that space, staring at the bed as if he wasn't sure what to do or how to act, felt different now after their weekend at the convention.
"So... the bed?"
He raised a teasing eyebrow in her direction, back to his cocky self, which just made Emma wonder if there was a reason her mind chose the word "cocky" to describe him.
Rather than dwelling on that any longer, she just waved her hand towards the rumpled sheets, welcoming him in as she sat down on her sidewhile Chase started unpacking the bag.
"I think Marcus just got the same order as last time for us."
Chase pulled the containers out with a flourish while Emma wondered how much Marcus knew about her favorite foods — and how much he knew about her night with Chase. Sure, Marcus was Chase's assistant, but they were friends too. Marcus knew about this challenge and about Emma before she had even met him. So what else would Chase tell him?
"Also, he said don't worry because he put this on your card and added the receipt to the envelope in the kitchen."
"Thanks," she replied quietly.
That only brought up another thing that Emma had never thought about until this stupid challenge. A receipt envelope. She and Nana had a take-out menu drawer that also had a screwdriver and a bunch of notes on scrap paper. The envelope of receipts was a temporary Marcus thing.
They ate in silence for a bit with Emma holding on to her small sushi tray to avoid looking at Chase. He had decided to prop himself up with the other pillow on the bed, his lanky legs in his slim-cut sweatpants stretched out on her bed. She knew if she looked, she would just end up staring.
"So can we talk about last night?"
He said it without looking at her, keeping his eyes on his sushi as he picked at it with his chopsticks. It seemed like he was trying to benonchalant about it, like it was no big deal, but there was something about the way he said it that made Emma think there was more there. She couldn't give herself that hope though. It would be too much.
"Do we have to talk about it?"
She looked over to see a sly smile spread across Chase's face. "You're starting to sound like me," he said teasingly.
"Perhaps spending all that cash on you is wearing off on me."
She was trying to match his teasing, but there was something bitter about the way she said it that she couldn't help creeping into her voice. But she could see on Chase's face that he noticed it too, and perhaps even stung him a bit.
He sat up and quickly ate the last piece of sushi out of its container before getting up and tossing it in the trash can in the kitchen. Then he turned back and leaned over the bed, his lanky frame bent over as he looked down at her in a way that made her feel hot.
"Are you done with that?"
