Bluey?
Rowen stared at the youngster. Jesus! This kid was downright annoying. Still, bluey wasn’t that bad of a description, and he couldn’t deny that there was something familiar about Chuck’s eyes. He pushed the thought aside when Teddy started digging for gold in his nose again.Oh, hell no!He was about to suggest that booger boy get his ass back to the swing set when a middle-aged woman dressed in beige called out. “Teddy! It’s time to go!”
Rowen pointed toward the lady. “Your mom is calling.”
The boy scrunched up his little face. “Lois isn’t my mom. She’s my nanny,” he replied, then ran off toward the woman as another woman came into view. And this woman was no dowdy Lois. No, this woman was a stunner. Wearing a jean skirt and boots with her long, blond hair brushing past her shoulders, she glanced around as if she were trying to get her bearings—or find something.
Was she lost?
And why did he care? Sure, she was gorgeous, but this magnetic pull toward her was like nothing he’d ever experienced. Unable to look away, he watched as she reached into her tote bag and…
What the actual fuck?
He nearly fell off his damn seat when she pulled a flip phone out of her bag—a freaking flip phone—from the dawn of cellular service. She held the relic to her ear. “Hey! I’m here, Charlotte. What do you know about video game people? The guy I’m supposed to meet owns Gale Gaming. I’m guessing he’s going to be a total nerd.”
A total nerd?
Rowen’s jaw dropped. Holy hell! This could not be the nanny.
Four
Rowen
“Do you know her?”Chuck asked with a wry twist to his lips.
They stared as the leggy blonde passed by, chatting away on the oldest cell phone known to mankind. Seriously, that phone should be on display at the Smithsonian! Still, it wasn’t the low-tech that had him captivated. He couldn’t tear his gaze away from her.
“No, not yet,” he replied, unsure of what the hell was going on.
Another sensory overload episode?
Yes and no.
He couldn’t understand what he was feeling.
This woman was a total mess. She kept the phone in place with her shoulder as she reached into her bag and pulled out a notebook crammed with papers.
Good God! The waste!
Nobody needed to traipse around like a walking recycling bin anymore!
Didn’t she know there were apps to streamline her life? Christ! He’d invented the most popular one! She clearly hadn’t gotten the update. And why would she? He wasn’t even sure her phone had texting capabilities. Phoebe’s toys were more hi-tech.
But it wasn’t just that. Despite the total lack of organization, she mesmerized him. The way she chewed her lip while she listened to whoever was on the other end of the call. Charlotte! That’s what she’d said. Yes, that was it! So…she wasn’t talking to her boyfriend. And why was that where his mind had gone? Who cares if she has a boyfriend! Did he? He didn’t even know her. But if she was the nanny candidate, her bedroom would be one door down from his. He swallowed hard, imagining her unzipping those boots before stepping into the steam shower in her adjoining bath.
Hot, foggy glass.
Long, toned legs.
Smooth, slick skin.
Chuck banged the cup on the table, and the sharp clank yanked him from his dirty nanny fantasy—which he could never,neverallow himself to imagine again.
“Hey, lover boy, you’re free to go chase that beautyafteryou pay,” the man said, shaking the can as the coins in the bottom clinked and rattled.
Rowen shook the sexy thoughts out of his mind and did his best to center himself. “She’s not that beautiful,” he lied, mindlessly slipping a bill from his wallet, then jamming it into the can before coming to his feet.
“This is a fifty, not a fiver,” Chuck said, holding the bill between his fingers.
