Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 106150 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106150 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
“True story. But—” I let my grin build slowly. “—she wanted to make sure I knew how impressed she was by your work on the MRO project. She said your team’s just waiting for clearance from the folks in Legal so you can move into beta testing and that you’d already found a municipality willing to test it for us, too? Fucking amazing.” I leaned back in my chair.
Austin’s ruddy face went even redder at this praise. “It just hits different when the project you’re working on is an invention you came up with yourself. When the patent is going to be in your own name. This one’s special to me.”
I nodded in total understanding. That had been one of the reasons I’d talked my friends into expanding Sterling Chase as a startup incubator, even after we’d gotten our windfall. I’d seen the importance of a company that would offer support and resources to inventors and entrepreneurs when launching products that would hopefully go on to improve people’s lives.
I thought it said a lot about our company when an employee like Austin, who’d been working on his brilliant MRO plan in his free time for years, decided to bring it to Sterling Chase for development.
“And it’s gonna net us a tidy profit on this thing once it hits the market. I think there are many avenues we can explore with this, also. Like the insurance component—higher reimbursements for companies with this technology in place, for example. But really, once we open this up to the marketplace, it can be used in many ways. The potential ROI is… Sorry.” Austin gave me a sheepish look and shifted in his seat. “I’m getting carried away. First things first—beta testing. Not sure if Clarissa mentioned to you that Upper Valley County in Virginia is the municipality that’s willing to test it?” He pulled his phone from his pocket, consulting his notes. “They’re going to install the system in all of their vehicles by the end of the week—”
“Did you consider my suggestion about the satellite uplink?”
A shadow of something passed over Austin’s face, and his smile turned wry. “Bash. We’ve talked about this. The kind of uplink you suggested would cost at least five times as much. That means the budget just to test it would be astronomical, and when we tell the buyers what their investment would be to run it? Nobody’d be able to afford it.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to say, “Then let’s work harder. Let’s develop new technology and bring the cost down.” But I had to remind myself this was Austin’s project, not one of the ones I was personally managing, so I sighed and nodded. I had to remember I was scaling back. That meant trusting Austin to manage things his own way. Letting go still wasn’t easy. That was one of the reasons I’d tried distracting myself with adventure travel recently. Maybe I needed an even bigger distraction.
“For a guy with a business degree, you’re very idealistic, and I love that about you. But we’ve gotta be logical since we operate in the real world.” Austin’s teasing grin was back, taking the sting out of his words, telling me that he didn’t begrudge my control-freak tendencies, and encouraging me to smile with him. “Remind me again why a bunch of savvy operators like the folks who founded Sterling installed a bunch of idealists and dreamers onto the board of directors?”
I gave a half chuckle. “Austin, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you. But go on. What’s the next step, after the system is installed?”
“Right, yeah. So, Legal’s getting us final approval before the beta program can go live,” he said earnestly. “There are a few i’s to dot and t’s to cross, but it should be out of our hands late next week, and I’m thinking I’ll do a celebratory lunch for the team. Jonas is working on pricing models now, and even though it’s a bit premature, I think…”
Austin droned on about cost/income projections, but despite my interest in the project, I found my gaze straying over his head to the picture on the wall screen, my focus stolen by a pair of big brown eyes.
There was nothing logical about my fascination with Rowe Prince. He was a bright blob of technicolor ink that had come out of nowhere and splashed across the orderly canvas of my life. A distraction I couldn’t afford. A risk that wouldn’t pass any of Austin’s cost-benefit analyses.
But looking at his eyes, at the curve of his cheek… I couldn’t make myself care.
He couldn’t manipulate me when I already knew he was a liar. I wasn’t going to fall for his con when I was already on the lookout for it.
And I wanted him, more than I’d wanted anything for a long time.