Page 12 of Shifting Winds
Rowan tugged at a lock of my hair that had escaped my messy bun. “You think these would sell?”
I snorted. “Like frigging hotcakes.”
He laughed. “Alright then. Let’s do it. You take eighty percent.”
My stomach lurched. “What? No. Absolutely not. This is your cultivar. I’ll take five.”
“Nope. You’re doing all the legwork to get it registered and caring for all the cuttings and doing all the sales. Seventy.”
“Rowan. No. You are terrible at business.”
The Lord laughed. “I’m not, but I like you and never thought something like this would be worth anything. It’s a hobby, after all. Fine. Fifty-fifty. Final offer.”
My eyes narrowed. I hoped he met someone who understood just how giving and generous this man was. “How about I give you sixty percent, I take ten, and the other thirty goes into a scholarship fund for botany and horticultural students who maintain a B+ average in school?”
Rowan blinked in surprise. “I—Dammit, Evie. Think I could take Caelan in a fight?”
“Let’s not find out. So how about it?” I held my hand out. Texas has a ton of good colleges, but so does your territory. Any preference on a college?”
“None.” But he didn’t shake my hand.
“Rowan,” I groaned. “It’s a good deal.”
“It’s a great deal, but I have a counteroffer. I take thirty, you take twenty, then we put fifty into that scholarship.”
I wouldn’t get a better deal. “Sold.”
We shook, Rowan’s callouses sliding over my equally work-roughened hands. I’d taken too much time off and my hands had paid the price.
“Deal.” Rowan wandered over to the couch and sat down. “There are a couple more goodies in the box, but that’s not the main reason I’m here.”
I followed, laying a hand over my chest. “I’m wounded to my very soul that you didn’t make a special trip from the PNW out to see little ol’ me.”
He grinned. “Sit, Miss Sassy Pants.”
I settled opposite him. “Is the world ending? Because I just got back to work and that would be a real bummer.”
“Not quite. I’ve just come from Caelan’s, and he asked that I pop by here to warn you. He’s caught up in meetings all day.”
“Warn me about what?”
“The Council is pissed about Donovan, and I smelled your magic all over his territory. Want to tell me what went down?”
My cheeks colored. “Erm. How about the highlights?”
Rowan grinned. “From Caelan’s preening, I take it things went well that night?”
“Shut it.”
He threw his head back and let out a bark of delighted laughter. “About time.”
I rolled my eyes and started the tale, leaving out all the things I couldn’t tell him. When I finished, Rowan’s eyes had narrowed, a hint of gold shining in his hazel irises. “You’re leaving a lot out, aren’t you?”
“I told you everything I could so I could leave it at PG-13.”
“Hmm. You took out two Chimeras all by yourself?”
“With help.”
