"Uh, I just wanted to walk you to your car and make sure you were OK."
She took a deep breath. "I'm fine," she huffed.
They walked past a few more cars in the parking lot until they reached an expensive-looking black BMW that she assumed belonged to Chase.
"So I think I have your number in my folder, but it would probably be good to get it from you again just in case." He pulled out a sleek new phone with one of those fancy expensive phone cases. "OK, ready when you are."
She rattled off her digits and waited until she heard her distinctive ringtone in her pocket. Chase smiled as he pressed some buttons on his phone.
"OK, I'm saving your number, and the fact that you have the Knight Rider theme song as your ring tone will be our secret."
Emma rolled her eyes. "It's not a secret.Everyone knows I have it."
"Really?" Chase said with a questioning eyebrow raised. "You're a big Knight Rider fan?"
She took a deep breath. There were moments like this that would sneak up on her at the worst times in the past month, and she would have to swallow down whatever emotions were trying to escape. Again.
"Nana was a big Knight Rider fan," she said quietly. "If it was from the nineteen-eighties, she liked it."
"I remember."
Emma looked up to see Chase staring down at her with... what? Sympathy? Pity? It was disconcerting whatever it was. She hated seeing this kind of reaction from people whenever she told them Nana had passed away. It just made things worse. But with Chase? It felt comforting. He remembered what she liked, because that included him. And while that should've made him sound more self-centered, the way he said it to her was just different. She couldn't put her finger on it, but she also didn't want to linger on it.
"Uh, yeah. So I should probably let you go."
"I can stay," he quickly replied. "I think I saw a coffee shop a block away if you wanted to get a drink. Your treat."
That movie star smile was back, but it just wasn't enough for her right now. "I just want to go for a walk and get some fresh air."
"Well, uh, let's talk soon and come up with aplan to spend lots of money. Maybe dinner this week?"
"Yeah, sure."
He reached out and grabbed her hand, his palm warming her entire body in a way that she didn't expect. "I'm really sorry about your grandmother, and I promise I will do what I can to get you this money."
Emma swallowed down the lump in her throat and nodded. She couldn't say anything because that would only make her cry, and she didn't want him to see her cry.
So instead, she gave his hand a small squeeze, slipped out of his grasp, and left him standing in the parking lot alone.
Chapter Four
Chase watched the beach come into view as the black Town Car he had reserved pulled onto Pacific Coast Highway. He loved growing up in Wisconsin along the shoreline of Lake Michigan, but the beach there was nothing like California. That's why he always tried to enjoy these moments by the ocean.
Tonight, he was going to be eating at a fancy restaurant right on the beachfront. A few of his co-stars had recommended The Fish Fry, which had become huge among the elite in Los Angeles. It was hard to get a reservation — well, hard to get if you weren't a big-name movie star.
Luckily, Chase wastheChase Warwick. His assistant, Marcus, called up two days ago and secured a reservation with no issues by dropping Chase's name. Yeah, even Chase thought it was a dick move sometimes to drop his name for reservations, but he wanted tonight's dinner to be special so he was doing what he had to do.
And by special, he didn't mean special for him. He meant special for Emma. He honestly felt bad for her. This inheritance would be life-changing money for her, but it was locked up and sitting in an account behind this challenge from Nana.
Chase remembered coming to Los Angeles a decade ago with a few hundred dollars in his pocket from his parents and a dream to make it big. He remembered the crap jobs he took just to make connections in the industry before he finally got his big break and a check with a few extra zeroes at the end of it.
Now, Emma was close to having that same experience, staring down at a check with extra zeroes in it that could change her life, and he would do what he could to give that to her. It was only a month of his time, but it would make a big difference for her. It was the least he could do.
"We're almost there, Mr. Warwick," his driver said from the front seat. "I've heard this place just introduced a really expensive burger, so make sure you hold on to your wallet just in case."
Chase laughed from his spot in the back seat. "Thanks for the warning."
But what he didn't feel like telling the driver was that he wasn't paying for tonight. Emma was. Sure, the dinner would only be a few hundred dollars if they really splurged so they were starting off slow. Hopefully, he could use the time tonight with Emma to brainstorm some other ideas that would cost more than that and get both of them a little closer to her goal of spending all that cash to get her inheritance.
