Page 96 of The Nanny and the Nerd
“It would be PILF. Amelia’s a princess,” she answered as her eyes fluttered closed.
“I wonder if we could work that into the game,” he teased, and skippity, skip, a-do, that heart of hers skipped another beat just as a flippity-flop of sound pulled her back to reality. She took a step back as Phoebe stopped outside the bedroom door.
“Penny, come see the pretty things!” the girl called from the hallway, then booked it back down the hall.
Pretty things?
She glanced down at her super-not-sexy robe and pajama bottoms. “What’s going on out there? And should I get dressed?”
“I think you’re perfect the way you are,” he said, then gestured to the door.
“Okay,” she answered skeptically as the voices coming from the living room amplified.
Who had Phoebe welcomed into the house?
They continued down the hallway as two men pushing a rolling garment rack chock-full of bathing suits whizzed by.
“You had clothes sent to the house?” she asked, taking in the living room that had been transformed into a pop-up clothing boutique. Shoes, bags, and accessories lined every flat surface while another young man buzzed by with a rack of gorgeous maxi dresses. She caught a glimpse of one of the price tags.
Carolina Herrera. $2460.
Holy high-end fashion!
She waved Rowen down. “Is this for me?”
He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “I told you. Mr. NILF helped me out in the personal shopper department.”
“This is quite something,” she replied, wide-eyed. She was the youngest in her family. She’d never had new clothes, not with a steady stream of hand-me-downs from her sisters available. And as an adult, she’d barely made enough to scrape by, let alone blow a week’s wages on a beautiful dress. “Rowen, it’s too much.”
He observed the bustling room. Phoebe sat on the floor, trying on shoes several sizes too big, while a bevy of men and women dressed in black attended to the clothing racks, pulling out pieces and pairing them with accessories.
No one had noticed them yet.
His hand brushed against hers. It was a slight move—an innocent move. Had anyone caught their brief touch, they wouldn’t have given it a second thought. People bump into one another all the time, and it meant nothing. But not this touch. His thumb grazed her palm, and the fleeting contact sent a tingle through her body along with a message.
You are mine.
“I want to do this for you, Penelope,” he said, lowering his voice.
She closed her eyes, then opened them to the same scene—a room jam-packed with beautiful things. “But the cost must be—”
“Is nothing to me,” he interrupted.
But the gesture meant everything to her. He and Phoebe meant everything to her.
The thought floated in her mind, but she couldn’t say it—not yet. She was still overcome with the elaborate surprise. She stared into his eyes, those sea glass green eyes that had drawn her in from the very beginning.
“I don’t know what to say,” she whispered.
“Say you’ll pick out everything you love, and for me, you’ll choose the tiniest bikini,” he added with a twinkle in his eyes. He enjoyed this. The muted tech mogul disappeared, and the smiling, sexy nerd she’d met before she knew she was sparring with her future boss smiled at her as if she made up the sun, moon, and stars above.
She turned her attention to the rack, teeming with tiny triangle tops and barely-there bottoms. “The tiniest bikini, you say?” she purred.
He stroked her palm as his little finger locked with hers. “On second thought, pick whatever you like. You’re beautiful no matter what you wear—no matter what you do. Do you know how sexy it is to watch you take out your retainer?”
She dropped her head and laughed as a rush of pure euphoria took over. It was like living in a dream. She met Rowen’s gaze when Phoebe’s voice rang out.
“Look at this stuff, Penny!” she said, teetering over in a pair of high heels.
