Page 112 of The Nanny and the Nerd
“Indeed, I will! And I’m glad you mentioned it, Rowen,” Auguste remarked as they passed through the gate and continued on toward the circle drive. “I could use your help. We’re stuck on level seventeen. We can’t manage to kill the Alien Serpent King.”
“That’s a tricky level.” Rowen waved the man in. “Check the green shack with the door slightly off its hinges. Then look under the tarp. You’ll see a glowing emerald stone. Try throwing that at the Alien Serpent King and see what happens.”
Auguste pressed his hand to his heart. “Dear Mr. Gale, I am forever in your debt,” the man said, then clapped Rowen on the shoulder. “You don’t mind if I pretend that I figured that out on my own. It will give me, what do the grandkids say, street cred?”
“My lips are sealed,” Rowen answered.
“Thank you, Auguste. This night has meant the world to me,” she said as he kissed her cheek.
“Don’t thank me. Thank him,” he replied, nodding toward Rowen. “He truly accomplished the impossible for you, my dear. You’re the first writer we’ve had to the house.”
She nodded, her heart quadrupling in size. If she spoke, she might break out into tears or laughter or simply explode like a lit firecracker.
Rowen opened the car door for her, and before she knew it, they were headed down the desolate road toward the bright lights that lit the coastline in a shimmer of white. Neither of them said a word as the sports car hugged the curves and dips of the narrow island road. She could barely recall what life was like before she’d agreed to what seemed like the craziest of propositions. And then Madelyn’s red scarf flashed in her mind.
Become a nanny for sixty days and see where it takes you.
And boy, oh boy, look where it had taken her!
She stared at the man sitting next to her—this beautiful enigma of a hot nerd! The tech genius who’d used every resource available to him to give her the experience of a lifetime. And on that stretch of road, traveling along the tropical coastline, her head and heart came to an understanding.
She had to tell Rowen she loved him.
The headlights illuminated a sign for a place called Shell Beach, and she couldn’t stay quiet one minute longer. “Stop! Pull over! Right here!”
“Are you okay? Do you feel sick?” he asked, worry coating the words.
“No, no, I’m fine. I’m better than fine. Please, pull over at this beach,” she answered, trembling with emotion.
Rowen turned into the empty parking lot and cut the engine. “Shell Beach,” he said, reading a sign. “Did you want to find a shell for Phoebe here?”
Her thoughts were bombarding her mind faster than she could process them. Joy and trepidation coursed through her veins.
“Come on!” she cried, throwing open the door. She needed to move, to work out the energy from this night and her revelation.
“What are you doing?” he called.
She took his hand, and as if he needed it as well, they ran down to the beach. The shells blanketing the ground cracked and popped beneath their feet until they made it to the water’s edge. Breathless, they stared up at the moon as a swath of clouds blew in, obscuring the bright orb’s light.
“This is the happiest I’ve ever been,” she confessed, wrapped in the heady darkness with the sound of the ocean, caressing the sandy beach like a quiet promise. The air hung heavy and fragrant. A storm was coming—a storm as powerful as the emotions welling in her chest.
“The Caribbean can do that,” he answered with a shake to his voice as thunder rumbled in the distance.
Was he nervous? Did this night do to him what it had done to her?
Storm or no storm, this was their sink or float moment.
Heart pounding, she took his face into her hands. “I have something I have to tell you, Rowen Gale. And I can’t keep it to myself for one second longer.”
Twenty-Three
Rowen
He gazeddown at Penelope as thunder rumbled in the distance, and the air grew more charged, more electric by the second. This woman was an angel, a goddess, his Princess Amelia, come to life. With her hair blowing in the breeze and her dress floating around her legs, it was enough to bring a man to his knees. There was no stopping the dizzying current of energy. She pulled him in and mesmerized him with her very being. A glance, a smile—that’s all it took. He could spend the rest of his life wrapped in the invisible warmth he felt when she was near, that unyielding goodness that made him think anything was possible.
This night, this trip, these last few weeks—they’d changed him. They’d revealed a part of him he didn’t know was there—a man who was more than the companies he’d built.
“What do you need to tell me, Penny?” he rasped, drawing her in. And God help him! Each time he touched her, the immediacy and totality of his need to possess her only grew stronger.
