Page 44 of A New Chapter

Emma left the convention center around four thirty and was heading back toward the hotel when she felt the vibration of her cell phone in her purse. She stepped out of the flow of foot traffic and hurriedly extracted her phone. She hadn’t expected to hear from Zack until later, so she was surprised to see his name on the display.

“Hi,” she answered and slipped back into the stream of people leaving the convention.

“Hey. Are you still book shopping?”

“No. I’m on my way back to the hotel.”

“How did it go today?”

Wherever Zack was calling from, there was a lot of background noise, and it dawned on Emma that he might have gone to the country concert after all.

“Good. Where are you? It sounds noisy.”

“Huh? I can’t hear you. It’s really loud here.”

Emma giggled. She had just entered the lobby of the hotel, and she stopped to catch her breath. She set down her heavy tote bags and fanned her face to cool off.

“Where are you?” she repeated, louder this time to make sure that he heard her.

“I like your dress.”

Wait, what? She must have misunderstood him, or maybe he had said it to someone else. “What did you just say?”

“I said I like your dress.”

Emma looked around wildly but didn’t see any sign of Zack. How ridiculous of her to think that he might be there! “How do you know that I’m wearing a dress?”

“Look over your right shoulder.”

Emma’s heart leapt to her throat as she did what he had asked. She swung around and almost dropped the phone onto the gleaming white tile floor. There in front of her, not ten steps away, stood Zack, phone to his ear, with a smug smile plastered across his gorgeous face.

“Surprise,” he said unnecessarily.

Emma wished that she had something to hold on to, because she suddenly felt light-headed. Luckily, Zack reached her in a few long strides and wrapped her in a tight hug. She gripped his forearms, looked into his eyes, and sputtered, “But how, when, why…?”

Zack tipped his head back and laughed. “Slow down, Em. I’ll explain everything, but first tell me that you’re happy to see me.”

Like he has to ask! “Yes, of course I’m happy to see you! I’m just shocked.”

“Well, why don’t we drop those bags off in your room, and then I’ll explain over dinner.”

Emma was about to open her mouth to ask more questions but decided it was probably better not to. She had already made quite a spectacle of herself in the middle of a crowded hotel lobby. She could at least wait to quiz him when they had more privacy.

Zack effortlessly hefted the tote bags over his shoulder and led her to the bank of elevators. “Which floor?’ he asked while they waited among a throng of people.

“Fifteen,” she croaked. On the ride up to her floor, Emma kept sneaking glances at Zack. She still couldn’t believe that he was there, and she was almost afraid to take her eyes off of him in case it was all an illusion. He caught her looking a few times and just gave her that devilish grin that she had come to know and… love?

“Which way?” Zack asked when they stepped off the elevator.

Emma pointed down the hall and stopped in front of her door. “Right here,” she said and extracted the room key from her purse. Zack followed her inside, set the tote bags on the king-sized bed, and sauntered over to the window to take in the view of Lake Michigan.

“Wow. Gorgeous,” he commented with his back to her.

“I agree,” she said, although she was referring to him rather than the view.

He slowly turned around, and she felt dizzy all over again. “Are you ready for dinner?”

“Not until you answer my questions. Tell me why you’re here, Zack.”