Page 32 of The Nanny and the Nerd
She reared back. “You’re keeping track of how I leave buildings?”
“No, I told you. I’m merely making an observation.”
“What did I say,Penny, Penny, Penny, Penny,” Harper sang from her spot on the sidewalk.
Penny hung her head. She couldn’t blame her gal pal. Rowen wasn’t doing himself any favors on thenot appearing to be a weirdofront. It was time to go for the most direct route.
“What are you doing here, Rowen?” she questioned, hating how just saying the guy’s name ignited another round of tingle city.
He held her gaze. “I could ask you the same question, Penelope.”
This man was infuriating!
“I told you,” she began, recycling his words. “I had plans with my friends tonight,” she answered, then gestured toward Libby, Harper, and Charlotte, who, from the way they had cemented their mouths shut, were trying not to laugh.
“We agreed that you’d start working for me after that,” Rowen answered smoothly, taking no notice of her friends.
“That’s right,” she answered.
He took a step toward her. “It’s ten thirty on a Friday night.”
Was she missing something? She glanced at her girls for a little help. But the beet-red color of their cheeks as the group held back what seemed to be one hell of a roar of laughter clued her in on the fact that this was an insanely crazy conversation. She huffed an irritated breath at her squad, which appeared to amplify their amusement.
“I don’t know why you’re here, Rowen,” she said bluntly, turning her attention to the part robot part man standing in front of her.
He glanced from her to her friends and then to the bar. “I assumed that you’ve had ample time to socialize.”
“What?” she shot back as Harper coughed something that sounded a lot like the wordsso weird.
But before she could tell her friends to behave, Rowen continued. “You’ve been here for one hour and eleven minutes,” he answered. He glanced at his phone. “No, one hour and twelve minutes.”
“How do you know that?” she shrieked, her voice shooting up an octave. This weirdo act was bordering on super-creeper.
Confusion marred his features. “I explained this in the car, Penelope. The phone, as well as the other tech items I provided, are equipped with GPS tracking.”
Wide-eyed, with her jaw slamming to the ground, she pressed her hand to her chest. “You’ve been tracking me?”
Despite her outrage, his perplexed expression remained intact. “Right now, billions of people are being tracked by their cell phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches, and even by their vehicles, not to mention a myriad of applications. Essentially, we’re all being tracked. On the highway alone, navigation apps on people’s devices are pinging with satellites and processing the information of their whereabouts at one thousand times per second.”
“No shit?” Harper said in a shocked gasp.
“No shit,” Rowen replied, still seemingly unbothered that her girl squad was standing behind her observing this bizarro encounter.
Penny scoffed. “Haveyoubeen specifically watching my movements?”
“Sure, me and about fifty other tracking applications. Are you ready?” he replied, then checked his watch.
“Ready for what?” she shot back.
“To care for Phoebe,” he answered as if it wasn’t insane for him to be here in the first place.
Then it hit her. A surge of adrenaline tore through her body, and she took off like a shot.
“Phoebe!” she exclaimed, sprinting down the sidewalk as she searched for the child. It was late, and this bar wasn’t in the best of neighborhoods. But the girl was nowhere to be found. She hustled back and poked Rowen in the chest. “Where is she?” she asked, wild-eyed. Andboom,pow,bang! Just touching—well, angrily poking this man—sent another thunderbolt of adrenaline through her.
He peered at her hand, then inhaled a tight breath.
What was going on between them?
