“No. ” Wes put out a hand to stop her. “I don’t want to see it. I’ve hired someone to look it over. I just want to talk. ”
“Okay,” she said on an exhale as if her patience was waning. “I don’t have anything definite yet, but I have three different companies interested. I’d be working this contract as an agent, since none of Russo Industries are equipped to manufacture the rig. You would get fifty percent of the licensing payment and two percent royalties on the retail cost of the rig for every sale. ”
“Uh-huh. ” He wished he had more time. Wished he could take the money from this deal to do what he really wanted to do—buy that house for Rubi. But he didn’t. This was all he could think of in the short amount of time he had left to work with. “Numbers?”
“It’s really premature to be—”
“Ballpark me. ”
Another irritated clamp of her lips. Another heavy exhale. “You can’t hold me to any of these numbers. Things change—”
“I understand. ”
“Ballpark thirty million for the license and about a hundred dollars for every sale. With the market for the rig, we estimate your take to be two to three million for the first five years. ”
Wes felt like he’d missed the airbag from a sixty-foot fall. He didn’t want to look like an idiot, so he lowered his gaze to the table and scraped both hands through his hair, forcing himself to breathe.
“Look,” Courtney said, sitting forward. “Like I said, it’s just a guesstimate. I generally err on the low side because I’d rather you be pleasantly surprised when I get more than expected. Because this invention is so unique and so high tech, Dolph may be willing to raise the royalty to three percent, but…” Courtney shook her head. “With that nonnegotiable stipulation you’ve made on selling his house to Rubi, his flexibility might be iffy. ”
Whatever. He waved his fingers. “Okay, let me have it. I’ll have someone look it over and get back to you tomorrow. ”
A little grin curved her mouth. One he didn’t like.
He looked down at the slab of paper she set on the table between them. Christ, it had to be half an inch thick. When he glanced up again, movement at the door drew his gaze. Rubi pulled one of the glass doors open.
His first response was visceral—his gut flipped on itself and twisted. His heart added a few beats to the rhythm. Then reality hit. He flashed hot. Then cold. His mind spinning what-the-fucks upside down and sideways.
“Shit. ” He pulled the contract into his lap.
Courtney glanced over her shoulder, then back at Wes. “I’ve never met her. She won’t know me. ”
No, she’d just see him with another woman. Or she’d talked to her father and already knew what he had planned and was here to crush his balls.
But then she stopped halfway in the door and turned around. But she didn’t leave. She just stood there with her back to the door, arms crossed. Turned again, shook her hair back, and opened the door.
“What is she doing?” Courtney started, trailing off when Rubi scoured the restaurant and her gaze landed on them. “All right, I’ll run with however you want to play this. ”
Wes cut a look at the woman across the table. “This is not a fucking game. ”
In his peripheral vision, Rubi swayed into view and stopped at the table. But Wes would have known she was there even if he hadn’t seen her walk in. He smelled her. The scent brought memories spilling back. And he had to clench his teeth to keep himself from going boneless and dropping his head on the table in defeat.
/> She would hate him when he found out what he’d planned.
“Who are you?” Rubi asked.
Courtney slowly tore her gaze from Wes’s and looked up at Rubi. She held out her hand. “Courtney-”
“Marshall. I know your name. ” When she kept her arms crossed, Courtney lowered her hand. “That’s not what I want to know. I want to know who you are to Wes. ”
Courtney just as slowly turned her gaze back to him. “I think I’ll let Wes field that. ”
“I asked you. ”
Against his will, Wes’s eyes fell closed in dread. At the same time, he gained the slightest sliver of sugary-sweet pleasure hearing her voice, smelling her scent, just having her near. This was why he’d come up with this stupid idea in the first place. He needed her back.
“Well,” Courtney said, “contrary to what you might believe, Ms. Russo, you don’t always get what you want. ”
Holy. Fuck. Wes opened his eyes and shot a curt “Courtney,” at the woman.