Rubi laughed. “Oh, I couldn’t even fathom. There would be an initial purchase, then typically royalties based on the number of units sold. We’re talking multimillions. ”
Wes was imagining the look on his cousins’ pompous faces when Whitney spewed beer across his shirt. He jumped back. “What the—?”
He caught himself before he roared Fuck across the house, brushing at his now wet shirt. Whitney choked on a laugh, one hand covering her mouth.
“I’m fine. ” She put up a hand to the observers. “Sorry. Wes just made me squirt beer from my nose laughing. Nothing new. ”
Wes glanced over his shoulder and caught Rubi’s eye. The sparkle there sent the message that she knew he was listening and she was having fun.
When she turned away, Wes glanced down at his shirt, then back at Whitney. “What was that about?”
She took a step closer, her eyes watery from holding back laughter. “You should have seen their faces when she said millions. They both went as white as fish bellies. ” She pulled herself together, wiping at her eyes, then sobered suddenly and pinned him with a gaze that had a way of being so intense. “Wait, is that true?”
He lifted a shoulder, glanced down at his beer. “She knows better than I do, and she knows her father’s business. But she’s the brilliant one, not me. ”
“Not crazy at all,” Rubi was saying. “Wes doesn’t need the work, the money, or the fame. He’s already at the top of the stunt game, getting the best, highest-paying jobs in the indus
try, working with the top stars. I mean, he got that black eye while he was out with Jason Bolton last week. He works side by side with Jax Chamberlin every day. Tom Cruise, Jason Statham, Bruce Willis, Vin Diesel, you name a big star, Wes knows them all. He taught freaking Angelina Jolie how to fall off a building and not kill herself.
“Really, how much higher could he go in his chosen field? I mean, he’s working the latest Bond movie now. And we all know only the best of the best are chosen for a Bond film,” she said with authority. “In fact, he’s been asked to act on several occasions—by Daniel Craig himself—but Wes loves the thrill of the stunt more. I really admire that. ”
Whitney’s big blue eyes lifted to Wes. “Fuuuuuck,” she whispered. “She’s good. Did you coach her?”
“Oh no. That is all Rubi. ”
“Is it true?”
He shrugged, grinned. “She’s taking some creative license. ”
“You sure as hell wouldn’t know it. ”
“I’m beginning to think she’s a fucking savant. ”
Whitney took another sip of beer, watching their mother steer Rubi away from the cousins, who both looked distraught and pissed.
“Okay,” Whit said, “here’s a good test. ”
Wes sent a sideways glance toward Rubi as she and his mother approached his father. “Man,” he said, “she’s not wasting any time. ”
“Mom likes her,” Whit said, “and believes she can hold her own with Dad, or she wouldn’t introduce them so soon. ”
Wes grew a little nervous. Shifted on his feet. “I can’t hear. ”
Rubi shook his father’s hand. He didn’t smile—he was a stoic kind of guy—and then crossed his arms. Within thirty seconds, Rubi had their man-of-few-words father talking. Even gesturing.
“Holy shit,” Whitney said, her voice soft and filled with awe. “He’s stringing sentences together. I haven’t seen Dad talk that much since…since…I don’t even know. ”
A single surprised laugh popped from Wes’s throat. “Fucking A,” he said. “She’s got him talking about the crops. ”
Whitney gave him a what-the-fuck look. “You sure she’s a city girl?”
God, the woman floored Wes. It was always something new with her. “I mentioned on the drive here that he was pissed about a problem with those new sensors he put in. It’s probably a programming glitch; otherwise, I can’t imagine how she got him talking. ”
Rubi and his dad were speaking freely now, back and forth. Then she said something that made Dad crack a grin. Then, miracle upon miracles, he laughed. Whitney’s jaw dropped the same time as Wes’s.
Their mother turned her head just enough to catch Wes’s gaze—as if she’d known he’d been watching the whole time—and winked.
“She’s in,” Whitney said, awed disbelief in her voice. “Holy shit, she’s fucking in. ” Whitney gripped Wes’s arm, drawing his gaze from the conversation to find Whitney’s eyes intense on him. “I want to know how she did that. I’m giving that trick to my next boyfriend before he meets Dad. ”