Page 113 of The Nanny and the Nerd
She smiled up at him. “Oh my gosh!”
Shit! With so many competing emotions vying to ignite inside him, there was a good chance he’d gone blank. “Am I making a face? I don’t mean to appear aloof.”
“No, you’re not doing anything wrong. It’s not your expression. It’s what you said.”
“What do you need to tell me, Penny?” he repeated.
“You called me Penny. You’ve never done that before,” she answered gently.
“I did, didn’t I?” he replied. Every nerve in his body came alive as his heart did a crazy flip-flop in his chest over two syllables.
“Why did you always call me Penelope? I never understood that?” she pressed.
“I don’t know exactly. Maybe it was because calling you Penny would mean…” He inhaled a shaky breath as the reason became clear.
She caressed his cheek. “Would mean what, Rowen?”
“That you were mine. That I didn’t have to rely on barriers or formalities to be with you. I called you Penelope because, for me, it added a layer between us. A wall I needed in place to survive—a way to contain everything I felt for you from the first moment I heard your voice.”
“And now?” she whispered into the warm ocean air. Her question swirled around them like butterflies floating in the breeze.
“I don’t want there to be any walls, Penny. None,” he answered. Euphoria mixed with trepidation washed over him. He swallowed past the emotion. He could do it, right? This was his chance to have it all.
“I don’t want anything between us either. And that’s why I’m going to say it.” She stroked his cheek again, her eyes welling with tenderness. “I love you, Rowen Gale. I love you, and I love Phoebe. And I don’t ever want to be without either of you.”
He stared into her eyes. She meant every word of it. He knew that for certain. How he admired her ability to take what was in her heart and express it so clearly and so succinctly. There was no doubting her, no second-guessing. She led with her heart. She loved with her entire soul.
She was the sun, and he ached for her light, a light that opened his eyes to a life he’d never expected, a love he’d never allowed himself to dream possible.
A life for not only him but for his niece.
Until Penny, he and Phoebe had simply co-existed. Now they lived. They laughed. They sang. They played. And like a grand crescendo, each day built on the next. And he didn’t want it to stop. From the ring of their voices floating through the house to watching Penny braid Phoebe’s hair, this was his life—their life. And it was more than he’d imagined for himself.
“Don’t say anything, Rowen. This is a lot to take in. And I know you well enough to see that you’re in your head, combing through our moments, dissecting every conversation. Each touch. Every glance. Each kiss. Every time I’ve poked you in the chest,” she said, her voice shaking, ripe with emotion.
He pressed his forehead to hers. “Penny, you know me better than anyone.”
“I know your heart, Rowen. And more than that, I know you’re a good man.”
She’d done it again. She’d taken away the pressure to do the right thing, to say the right thing. Yes, yes, he loved her! But what he felt transcended words. Or maybe that was him, his mind unable to piece it together, to form a response to communicate what she meant to him. The drive to hold her and Phoebe in his arms and never let go was almost too much to bear. This fierce need to protect had to be love. This feeling was strong enough to knock him to the ground, to bring him to his knees. He racked his brain, and still, he couldn’t find the words to tell her. He could write thousands upon thousands of lines of complex code. But these emotions transcended speech. They went beyond mere words and required a response he wasn’t sure how to craft.
“You don’t have to say it back to me,” she whispered against his lips. “Just say, Penny, I want to kiss you and never stop. And I’ll know, Rowen. I’ll know.”
How had he gotten so lucky? He’d been so close to telling his mother he didn’t want to work with Madelyn Malone. The whole premise had set off alarm bells in his socially awkward head. Join a group of men who happen to be single parents, then see if the Nanny Match maven, Madelyn Malone, could find the right nanny for him and Phoebe. He’d acquiesced to get his mom to stop harping on him. At the time, he’d put no stock into it. He’d honestly written it off until the moment he saw Penny. The lightning-fast attraction had been there from the second she’d called him a nerd. And it hadn’t waned a fraction. In fact, it had grown exponentially.
“Rowen, come back to me,” she coaxed, searching his face.
That’s what he wanted—to come back to her, to be with her, to know she was his. And then her words came to him. The dialogue she’d written for herself, then gifted to AI-77.
This arrow might have pierced my heart, but you’re the one who’s stolen it.
He grinned. That’s what he would say. He was AI-77, and like the character, a princess had saved him with love. But as the thought came to him, the sky ripped open and unleashed a curtain of rain.
Penny gasped and snuggled into him.
“Let’s get back to the car!” he called, taking her hand.
“Wait!” She reached down and plucked a few shells from the ground. “For Phoebe.”
