Page 44 of The Nanny and the Nerd
“Don’t worry about those. I’ll pick them up later. Now, what’s the code?” she asked, pencil poised on a fresh page.
His gaze ping-ponged from her to the rainbow-colored mess on the floor. “It’s your birthday backward followed by the current year, and then the number twenty-seven with every other letter capitalized and an underscore between each letter of your birthday.”
“The backward number is my birthday?” she asked, frowning as she wrote.
“Yes, there’s more information in your Gale email. Your temporary password is your last name spelled backward with an exclamation point between the second and fifth letters followed by a set of underscore lines and then an exclamation point.”
She wrote a bit, then scribbled over what she’d previously written, then wrote a few numbers again before closing the notebook. “You know what? I don’t plan on messing with your security, and I’m pretty tired. I’ll figure it out tomorrow.”
“You should learn your password,” he cautioned.
“I will. Tomorrow,” she replied.
He schooled his features—because if he didn’t, his jaw might drop to the floor again. How could a person go to bed without knowing pertinent security information? It boggled the mind!
“And my things? I don’t see any boxes,” she remarked, walking farther into the room.
“I put them away. The guys helped. Madelyn Malone suggested we do this to make you feel welcome,” he reported.
“Even my underwear?” she asked sharply.
He glanced at the shower—a bad call. Now, he pictured himself peeling off her lacy underclothes as a little pre-game foreplay.
He swallowed hard. “Yes, Erasmus, Raz, was in charge of that. For a big guy, he’s got decent fashion sense when it comes to women. I believe he color-coordinated everything. Check the top drawer.”
She sauntered over and took a look. “Wow! This is super organized. He’s good.”
“Madelyn suggested we each take ownership of a task. I put away your shoes. They’re in the closet—not color-coordinated.”
He sounded like an idiot for what must be the millionth time in the last hour.
“I’ll leave you to settle in,” he offered. “Unless you have any questions?”
“I’ll probably take a shower, then hit the sack,” she replied, and dammit, he’d almost forgotten about the shower. His treacherous eyes flicked toward the adjoining bathroom with the oversized steam shower featured prominently in the center of the space.
“It sure is big. You could fit a few people in there, couldn’t you?” Penelope remarked, and he had to get the hell out. His addled mind, and not to mention his rock-hard cock, couldn’t take much more of this.
“Good night, Penelope,” he mumbled as he headed out the door and escaped to the refuge of his study. He entered the spacious room, closed the doors, then sank into his desk chair like a sack of exhausted potatoes. He needed to work. AI-77 was a damned mess, and he should check in with his team. He’d lost precious hours dealing with the nanny situation. Had his life not gotten turned upside down, he would have stayed at work. His office had a sleeper couch and even a mini gym with a treadmill and weights. He’d spent more nights on the sleeper couch in his office than he had in his old penthouse. But he wasn’t living the life of a bachelor anymore.
He flipped on the bank of monitors, about to message his team, when a sharp, punctuated siren blared.
The security system!
He bolted toward the door, then observed a red light on the monitor above the keypad, alerting him to where the security breach occurred.
The light flashed on Penelope’s room. Anxiety flooded his system at the thought of some jackass breaking in. He threw open the door and tore out of the room as the siren blared. That alone should scare off a burglar or a peeping Tom, but he had to make sure she was safe.
Light from Penelope’s room seeped out into the hall.
“No, no, no! Please, no!” she cried.
Wild-eyed, he burst into her room, ready to kick some ass. “Where is he?” he yelled.
Penelope gasped. “What are you talking about?”
“Is someone in the house?” he asked, then spied the point of entry. “Why is the window open?”
“I opened it. I wanted a little air! Now, help me turn off this alarm! I keep getting an error message!” she said over the blaring sound.
