Page 98 of The Nanny and the Nerd
“Who’s here now?” she asked.
“Hi, Jerome! Hi, David,” Phoebe called, her excited voice floating from the foyer.
“I told Jerome and David to meet us here. We’ll head to the airport together.”
Penny turned away from the French woman, who’d begun taking her measurements. “Do we even have time to do this?” she asked, gesturing to the mountain of clothing. “What time does our flight leave?”
“Whatever time we want,” he replied as a slim man dressed in black plopped a wide-brimmed hat on her head, frowned, then removed the hat and headed over to a table littered with accessories.
It was a little discombobulating.
“That’s not usually how commercial aviation works,” she replied, then gasped as another person dressed in black slipped a sandal onto her foot.
These people came out of nowhere! They were like fashion ninjas!
“We’re not flying commercial, Penelope,” Rowen purred.
She raised an eyebrow. “You rented a plane?”
“I own a plane. Well, three.”
“You own three planes?” she shot back as a tape measure encircled her bust. She glanced down, then looked up to find Rowen checking her out.
“Eyes up here, nerd!” she teased.
He cocked his head to the side, with his gaze still trained on her chest. “I had no idea I’d enjoy having a private shopper so much.”
“Rowen!” she chided as the accessories guy plopped another wide-brimmed hat onto her head.
“Take as much time as you need. I’ll go say hello to David and Jerome and leave you with the fashion experts,” he added with a nod to the French lady in charge.
“Hey,” she called as he started toward the kitchen. He turned and met her gaze as more fashion ninjas surrounded her, like bees around a hive. She observed him closely. He was saying and doing all the right things, but a little voice inside her head wasn’t convinced he was truly on board with this getaway.
“You’re sure you’re okay with this trip?” she asked. She needed to hear him say it again.
“Phoebe earned it.”
She detected a touch of reluctance in his voice, or was it just her writer’s brain, overthinking, overanalyzing, and always seeking out the conflict? “The E3 Expo is a few weeks away,” she said. She might as well get it out now. God knows she’d keep replaying it in her head if she didn’t.
“You sound like me, Penelope,” he answered, but she still sensed his hesitation.
“I want to be sure you’re okay with this—that this trip is something you want, too. That it’s something you can handle,” she finished. But there was more to it than simply asking if he could give her a week away on a boat.
Was she getting ahead of herself?
It was one trip. Her heart wanted to believe that this was a fork in the road. One direction pointed to Nannyville, where they’d maintain the status quo, while the other led to the town of Happily Ever After, population three. But her head still wasn’t sure which path they were on. Yes, she’d peeled back the layers on Rowen Gale, and yes, he’d told her about his father and his life before the Gales adopted him. But something deep within her couldn’t fall under the spell of this fairy tale.
Not yet.
He strode toward her. “Can we have a minute, please?” he said to the swarm of fashionistas. The stylists dispersed, leaving her in a sunhat. He tilted the brim so she could see him.
“Do you remember the first day we met,” he asked, allowing his hands to linger near her face.
She closed her eyes, recalling the electricity that pulsed between them from the first moment she’d laid eyes on him. “Of course, I do.”
“And do you recall what I said to you after we left Phoebe’s school that day?”
Penelope Fennimore, for the next sixty days, you’re mine.
