Page 74 of The Nanny and the Nerd
Honestly, a girl could get whiplash from the man’s mood shifts!
Penny cleared her throat. “It’s a story game we play each night. I start it off, and Phoebe keeps it going. It’s another suggestion from her teacher. And Phoebe’s good at it!”
“If you’d been here this week, Uncle Row, you’d know about the notorious FPP,” Phoebe deadpanned.
Rowen’s personality pendulum swung back to the actual-human-being setting, and his muted expression cracked as he smiled. “The notorious FPP, you say?” With awhoosh, he scooped Phoebe into his arms. He carried her to her bed as the hot dog headband fell onto the floor, and the little girl dissolved into laughter.
He didn’t know how good he was with Phoebe, but it came naturally—in his oddly adorable way. Rowen pulled up the covers as Phoebe snuggled into a sea of puffy white pillows, then yawned, her eyes growing heavy.
She joined them, coming to sit on the edge of the bed opposite Rowen. “It’s been a long day. How about you tell your uncle about Fairy Princess Phoebe’s last adventure, and then we’ll make up a new story tomorrow night?”
Phoebe yawned again. “The notorious FPP saved a rabbit from a fox, then tied a rocket to the fox and shot him up to Saturn.”
Rowen’s expression hardened, and he shook his head. “Saturn is a gas planet. The fox would fall through it if he even made it there. And what kind of rocket were you thinking of using? Did you consider the fuel requirements?”
“You’re so funny, Uncle Row,” the little girl said, reaching out to tap his arm.
Penny stared at the man. “It’s make-believe.”
The guy couldn’t really be critiquing a child’s made-up story, could he?
Rowen held her gaze. And dammit, there it was again—the electric current that sparked with one glance.
The hint of a grin pulled at the corners of his mouth. “I know. I was kidding.”
And enter the flutter, the buzz, and the zing—the belly butterfly trifecta.
“Penelope,” he whispered.
“Yes?”
“She’s out, like a light.”
In a dizzying haze, Penny blinked. “What?”
“Phoebe—she’s asleep. Are you okay?” he asked, narrowing his gaze.
“Yes, I’m good,” she whispered back, resisting the urge to jump into this man’s lap. She steadied herself.Phoebe! Phoebe! Think of Phoebe.She gently brushed a lock of hair from the girl’s face, then waited. She waited for Rowen to get up, but neither of them moved. Did he feel it, too—the safe comfort of Phoebe’s pink perfection surrounding them? Here, among her dolls and collection of miniature horses with the gentle murmur of the child’s sleeping breath floating in the climate-controlled air, it was safe and peaceful. She exhaled a slow breath and closed her eyes, comforted by…by what? Rowen? The three of them together again? Living in a house that wasn’t populated with pothead college students?
“If you’re too tired to work, we can start tomorrow,” he said softly from across the bed.
Her eyelids fluttered open. “No, I’m not tired. I was simply soaking in the moment,” she answered with a touch—no, a boatload of gusto.
And she needed to dial back the awkward meter! Did she say that she was soaking in the moment? How totally lame!
“Let’s get started. I’m all set up,” she continued, easing off the bed while trying to appear professional andnotto look as loopy as she most likely sounded.
“Set up?” Rowen whispered in reply as he followed her out of the child’s room.
She pointed to her door, half askew with a triangle of light warming the marble. “Yeah, in my room. That’s where I have everything. I worked a little more on the narrative while the first batch of cookies was baking.”
He stared at the patch of light.
And…oh no! She was an idiot!
Her room was enormous. Akin to a luxury hotel room, it offered a comfortable sitting area and an expansive writing desk. But it also held a bed—a big-ass, modern, four-poster canopy bed. A big-ass canopy bed where she could grip the cool metal frame while Rowen rocked her world. The night he kissed her, she’d felt him between her thighs. The man was hung like a—
“Penelope?” he purred in the darkness.
