Page 80 of The Nanny and the Nerd
“It’s not one of mine,” she said, looking as if she’d awoken from a dream.
He felt the same way.
“Rowen?” she said as the chime continued. Her gaze dropped. “Your crotch is vibrating.” She shook her head and waved her hands as if she were trying to erase the words. “Your pocket! It’s your pocket.”
Jesus! They were quite a pair, but she wasn’t off base. Things were more than vibrating for him below the belt. The majority of his blood supply had been diverted there. The caveman part of him was ready to swipe every piece of tech off the worktable, spread Penelope out like a Thanksgiving feast, and devour the woman. With a minute shake of the head, he pulled his cell from his pocket, and his stomach dropped.
“Who is it?” she asked nervously, reading his expression.
He stared at the phone and willed his raging hard-on to disappear. “It’s Madelyn Malone.”
“You should answer it. We wouldn’t want her to think something was wrong,” Penelope replied, with a note of urgency in her voice.
“Did you mention I’ve been gone all week?”
He felt like a juvenile delinquent!
“I haven’t spoken to her since she gave me the address for Gale Gaming. It could be a check-in call—a hello and how’s it going call. Easy-peasy super-breezy,” she offered before nibbling her lip.
Okay, clearly, they were a wee bit anxious.
And how was it going?
Well, he’d kissed the nanny like a dying man on his last breath and was seconds away from doing it again.
His finger hovered over the answer call icon. “I’ll put it on speaker.”
“Perfect!” Penelope answered in a tone that conveyed the opposite.
He tapped the screen. “Hello, Madelyn! It’s Rowen Gale along with Penelope Fennimore.”
A pause.
“Yes, Rowen, I know it’s you. I called you,” the woman purred through her thick accent.
Dammit! His mind could work out complex computing issues with intricate precision. Why did it have to turn to mush the moment he needed to be firing on all cylinders?
“Hi, Madelyn, it’s Penny! Rowen and I put Phoebe down. And now we’re gearing up to get it on.”
She gasped and slapped her hand over her mouth.
They madeoh-shiteyes at each other for what seemed like an eternity before Madelyn’s rich voice cut through the room. “Hello? Penny, Rowen?”
“Yes, we’re here,” he answered, going for responsible and working to sound like a man who absolutely didn’t want to do the nanny six ways from Sunday. “We’re prepping toget onwith the work portion of the evening. Penelope has offered her private services to me,” he answered, then cringed. Dammit! Screw going for prim and proper! He blew out a tight breath. He could use some of that blood supply back in his brain. “Penelope has offered her creative writing services to Gale Gaming. She’s tasked with rewriting portions of the narrative for my upcoming video game.”
Penelope gave him two thumbs-up. Okay, maybe that verbal vomit of a word salad made sense.
“I’m glad I have you both on the line. I should have done this sooner,” Madelyn continued.
“Is there a problem?” Penelope asked as the two of them returned to giving each other theoh shiteyes.
“Perhaps, one of you can answer that question.”
Penelope turned as white as a ghost.
“With every new nanny placement,” Madelyn continued, “there’s a period of adjustment. Are there any issues or concerns? I find it helpful to have this conversation with the three of us.”
He wondered what the woman would say about the issue of not being able to keep his hands off the nanny.
