“Seriously, dude.” Zach tossed a couch cushion at him. “The people below you have to hate you.”
“Whatever.” Scott shoved his hands in his pockets and stopped pacing. His toe tapped against the carpet.
“I'm done.” Rae spun in the chair in front of Scott's desk. She rolled her head, stretching out her neck.
“And?” Scott was next to her in an instant, looking over her shoulder.
“That's the best I can do for you.” She gestured at the screen. “You two have to decide if you can work with that.”
Zach joined them, standing behind her. A series of spreadsheets with numbers stared back. He recognized the labels, but that didn't mean they made any sense. He was as unsuccessful translating Rae’s work as he was trying to ignore the whisper of her strawberry shampoo. “Point us in a direction.”
She grabbed the mouse and clicked one cell after another. “Each of these numbers links back to a tab. They tell you how much you can spend on salaries, advertising, office rental, all of it, and how I got those numbers. This will keep you solvent for eighteen months. You'll have to start turning a profit by then, or mortgage a house. There are some suggestions in there about things like pre-orders and online monetization to help you meet the goal.”
As she explained, the figures started to make sense to Zach. “What if we take a pay cut?”
She rubbed a spot between her neck and shoulder. “You could, but I wouldn't recommend it. I've given you enough to pay your bills and still have some fun. If you cut yourselves off too completely, you'll be miserable and start to wonder if it's worth it.”
“Not going to happen. It’s worth it.” Giddiness ran rampant through Scott's words. “So we can really do this?”
“Yes.” It was the first time she'd given them a direct, positive answer.
Zach rested his hands on her shoulders, thumbs kneading into her neck. Her skin was soft under his fingers, and she relaxed as he worked almost unconsciously on a knot. He realized he was leaning closer, and moved his head back again. “You're brilliant. I'm sorry I doubted you. One more question. Okay, more than one, but one to start.”
Scott looked at him, something marring the joy in his eyes.
Rae sighed and leaned back into the massage. She closed her eyes. “Sure.”
Zach nodded at the screen, even though she couldn't see it. “That number there…next to office space.”
She opened one eye long enough to look at the screen again. “That's based on what you pay now, with a bump in rent for inflation. You probably don't need as big a space to start, so you should be able to make it work.”
“I'm not worried about that.” Zach knelt next to her. Heat flowed between them.
Scott sniffed and took a step closer.
Rae's entire body went rigid, and she sat up, pulling away. “Okay?”
Zach's frown vanished almost as soon as it appeared. “If we didn't have to pay rent, could we get another employee?”
She stood and moved aside, gesturing for someone else to sit in the chair. “Yeah, depending on what you wanted them for. But I already took into account everyone you told me you needed.”
Zach rested a hand on her arm and turned her so they were face to face. The only sound in the room was the whir of computer fans. A large explosion burst from the surround-sound system, and everyone jumped.
“If we set the whole thing up—oh, say—in my basement, could we afford you?” Zach asked.
Scott's eyes grew wide as he studied Rae. “Good call.”
She took a step back from Zach, looking between him and Scott. “I… I mean… Me?”
Scott's posture shifted, shoulders relaxing, hands resting in his pockets.
Good. No one was on edge anymore. Zach slid into the chair and began clicking through tabs and numbers too fast to be looking at them. “Of course you. This is your plan. You've got experience. Is eliminating the building rental enough to buy you away from contracting? Because we’d want you full time.”
“I can't— I mean, I didn't…”
Zach whirled in the chair and grabbed her hands between his. He told himself it didn't matter how delicate her fingers were or how soft her skin felt. That wasn’t what this was about.
She pulled away as if she'd been shocked.
He didn't flinch, but something inside snarled at the recoil. “You say we can do it, right?”
“Right…”
“You're confident enough in us, you'd let Chloe sign on again,” Zach said.
Rae nodded slowly.
“Confident enough you'd let both of us blow an early retirement on it.” Zach told himself it was all about proving her numbers. If she wasn't certain enough in them to take a job, they weren't solid numbers. It had nothing to do with keeping her around longer.
“Neither of you would have been happy retiring anyway.” The look on her face didn't give away whether or not she figured out the line of questions yet.