Page 178 of The Nanny and the Beefcake
Raz didn’t need him to go on. “And Mitch and Rowen told you? It’s like a sewing circle.”
“I’m surprised you’re down with it. I could see the way you were looking at Libby the night she became your nanny.”
Was he that easy to read?
“What are you going to do about Libby?” Landon pressed.
Libby.
“I don’t know,” he answered as a fresh surge of anxiety coursed through him. “This is my doing. I suggested this bloke as the benchmark guy. And just now, when you saw us talking, I couldn’t tell her that I needed her, but I do. I don’t want to be without her. Mate, this isn’t me. I haven’t been the hearts and roses type since…”
Since Meredith died.
Landon’s features softened. “You want to get the girl?”
“Yes.”
“We’ve got to accentuate the positives.” The former teen dream pursed his lips. “What does she like about you, specifically?”
Raz ran his hands through his hair, thinking. “She likes my cock, of course.”
Landon glared at him. “For Christ’s sake, Raz!”
“Sorry, I’m not thinking straight. I’m not myself. This town has a bloody vortex that scrambles people’s brains and makes wildlife extra wild. I saw a butterfly tornado on the trail.”
Landon looked at him like he was the sort of bloke who got lost crossing the street.
“Concentrate, Raz. What makes her heart sing? And do not say your cock.”
Raz paced along the side of the food tent. It was like he couldn’t put together one blooming cohesive thought. The image of Libby and Doug together made him want to lose his lunch.
Focus.
“She loves yoga and Sebastian, and then there’s this blue-violet color. It’s our thing.”
“A color is your thing?” Landon pressed.
“Yes, I know it sounds weird, but it is.”
“Get her something that color,” Landon offered.
Like a car? Dammit! Her Lamborghini is already that color.
“What about flowers?” Landon tossed out.
This teen dream was a bloody genius.
“We’ve got wildflowers that grow near the barn that match the shade exactly.”
“There you go. Pick the flowers, find the girl, ditch the benchmark dude, then sweep her off her feet. That’s how it works in songs. But nothing is guaranteed in real life,” the man said, glancing away.
Something was up with Landon. He’d gotten moody, or maybe that was the broody quality his fans adored. But he didn’t have time to dwell on the guy—not with precious minutes ticking away.
“It’s got to be more than flowers. I need to make a statement.”
He stopped pacing and spied Sebastian and his friends, pumping their legs as they swung back and forth on a row of swings the organizers had brought in for the kids’ activities. “That’s it,” he whispered.
“What’s it, Raz?” Landon asked, following his line of sight.
