Page 35 of The Nanny and the Nerd
Rowen cocked his head to the side. “What kind of person accepts brownies from a stranger?”
“Oh, I don’t know! The same kind who engages in criminal behavior bonding experiences,” she murmured under her breath, then threw her hands into the air. “I guess we can go. I’m parked—” She glanced down the street, but her teal beauty was nowhere to be found. “Where’s my car?” she shrieked.
“I had it towed,” Rowen replied.
Towed?
She turned to her girls, who were munching away as they watched her exchange with Rowen like it was must-see TV. At some point in the insanity, one of them must have retrieved the bowl of tortilla chips. Char held out the bowl, offering her one, but she shooed off the woman.
“Where is my Jeep?” she said, lowering her voice. He needed to know that she wasn’t messing around when it came to that car.
“At a garage.”
“Why?” she pressed. It was like pulling teeth to get information out of him.
“There are at least thirty-seven things wrong with it,” he answered coolly.
“And how do you know that?” she shot back.
Rowen shifted his stance. “Before becoming a chef, Mitch acquired the skill of starting a car without the necessity of a key,” he replied without a shred of shame. “From there, we used our joint automotive knowledge and assessed the vehicle before relocating it to my garage.”
Her eyes nearly popped out of her head. “You hot-wired my Jeep!”
“To transport it to my home. That’s when we took a second look with proper lighting and noticed eight more issues. We noted a total of thirty-seven issues. That’s a lot of issues.”
“Believe me, buddy, I’m not the one with the most issues here,” she said under her breath.
“It’s not safe for you to drive,” he chided—actually chided, as if she purposely chose not to make the costly repairs out of spite or ignorance.
She glanced back at her girls, who shrugged in unison.
Welp, they weren’t any help!
She pegged her car thief employer with her gaze. “What am I supposed to drive?”
“Nothing, you’ve been drinking,” he answered, which was true. And it wasn’t like she was going to drive anywhere tonight. The benefit of this hole-in-the-wall bar was that it was close enough for her to walk home, and she could get her car in the morning.
She stared at the concrete. “How will I get my car back? How am I going to drive anywhere?”
“You’ll drive this,” he answered, reaching into his pocket, then handing her a key fob.
“Penn, a credit card and a car!” Harper whisper-shouted as Penny stared at the familiar key fob—the same key fob Rowen had pulled out earlier today.
“It’s for the Lamborghini,” he said, confirming what she already knew. “I remember how much you seemed to enjoy that car from our earlier outing,” Rowen supplied. She stared at the man. Was that irony in his voice, or was that another strange robotic quirk? It didn’t matter. She’d thought things were nuts before, but they’d officially entered Bonkersville!
“You’re giving Penny a Lamborghini?” Libby asked.
Penny ran her thumb across the shiny fob. “If I’m driving the Lamborghini, what will you drive?”
That hint of a grin pulled at the corners of his hot nerd lips. “I have a few other cars to choose from.”
“Try six other cars. Now, come on, man! I have to drive these jokers home, then get back to the restaurant. Are we done?” Mitch Elliott barked from the truck.
Penny gestured for Rowen to wait a sec as she joined her girls. “Should I go with him?” she asked, searching their faces.
“If you’re having second thoughts, I’d be happy to take that Lamborghini and one hundred thousand limit credit card off your hands, girl,” Harper teased.
“This is either going to be really good for you, Penn, or tremendously awful,” Libby offered, going all maddeningly vague philosopher.
