“Yes, but I would lose my agency in all of this. I won’t be able to be independent. You make the choices, you choose the rodeos. You pick the circuits.” “True, that being said we get you into more exclusive circuits, we are able to book better competitions, those with a higher pay out.” She had a point and she knew it. It took connections, skills, and sponsors to get into some of the more profitable shows.
“For the top three.”
“You don’t think you will be top three?”
“That’s not what I am saying. You… you have a point.” Luke seemed almost amused, his body relaxed visibly.
It only served to enrage her, make her more vigilant in her argument.
“I know I do. I am trying to show you that this is the best possible solution for you.”
“I don’t like being told what to do.”
“I don’t either, but sometimes we all need it.”
It was an admission she wasn’t ready to give, because it meant she would have to admit to herself that she needed to be told what to do. Luke was all too ready to tell her what she needed, and she barely knew him. Her stubborn nature rallied against his personality, but right then, with her life, with her business it was exactly what she needed.
He paused, thought about what she said, and then let her go, leaving her in the middle of the dance floor.
“Let me think about it. Meet me at Ray's tomorrow. We can talk about it some more.”
Ray's was one of the few real cowboy bars left in this town, the only other one she knew of was Boonies, but it was hours away. She would rather have driven the distance, because Ray's wasn’t known for being particularly friendly. What kind of guy was he, if it was his establishment of choice?
She couldn’t show fear.
“Okay. I can do that.” She didn’t know if he heard her, because he made no acknowledgment.
He just walked away.
“Mary, can you get my mom on the phone?” Jayda asked her secretary from her intercom in the office. Her dad’s office. But hers now, she guessed. She was still trying to get used to it. His leather chair engulfed her. It even smelled like him still.
That they still had the seventies style intercom was hilarious, but once she got used to using it, it was innately practical.
She had spent most of her working hours at the office, but she never got used to the ins and outs of it. The way that it was mostly quiet, but at any point in time, a dirty, dusty man could walk through the doors to negotiate training fees, coaching, or even ask for an advance on paycheck. It amused her, while at the same time provided a much needed foil for the very serious backdrop of the office.
Thomas didn’t even bother to ask her last night how it went with Luke, which meant that he knew what the mostly likely outcome was, and it wasn’t good.
“You came to talk business, Jayda. Not pleasure. But if you want to mix the two, I am sure I can oblige.” That was what he said, it was burned into her brain, right down to his voice. His dark, sultry voice.
She knew he was going to be a hard sell, but she was determined to do it, and keep their interactions strictly business. Even if the way he eyed her ample curves did threaten to unravel her at any moment.
She was a business woman, and she trained for this kind of life. College was all about business and finance, but the last few years of working as a clerk in a few small offices were not enough to prepare her for running a business of this magnitude.
So much for all those years as a glorified secretary.
“Ms. Rivers, I have your mother on the line, would you like me to put the call through?” The question came through the intercom, and Jayda nodded, before realizing that she needed to respond. It had been that kind of morning, no coffee, no breakfast, just an up and out kind of morning.
Especially after the night she had, she was left reeling.
“Yes, please.” Jayda picked up the phone and waited. Talking to her mother was not the most pleasant of experiences, but it needed to be done, or else her mother was going to think she was avoiding her.
And the last thing she wanted to do was set her off.
“Darling, is that you?” Her mother’s voice wavered. She was probably on the second drink of the morning.
“Mom, how are you doing?” Jayda knew the answer to that question before she even asked it. It was silly game they played. Her mother tried to act as though she was fine, but the sobs always started before she got off the phone. Why. She would say. Not a question, but a wail. Why.
“I’m doing okay. How is the business going? I hear you are taking it by storm.” Pride was thick in her mother’s voice. To be honest, she was a little jealous that Jayda got the business while she got very little. A small month endowment from her father was all that he had for her in his will. Enough to supplement her living, and more than more ex-husband's give, but they were also lovers. Her mother had been angry at him ever since he died.
A smile started to form at the edge of her lips. “Thomas been talking to you again?”
“How did you know? That is the only person who can bring me any comfort these days. Wish you would phone as often as he does.” Guilt dripped off her words.
She knew that was going to come. Her father had been the brunt of her mother’s unreasonable expectations for so long that she expected nothing less than to be the one who got all that blame after he was gone.
“Mother…” She started, but was quickly interrupted.
“It is fine. I am used to being treated like this, Lord knows. When your father was alive we were left alone for so long, I almost forgot what he looked like. At the end of the season, he would come riding up, a big smile on his face as he got out of his truck, babbling about how he ‘won the west,’ or some garbage. That man… I still don’t know how to live without him.”
It always shifted, in that manner, first he was a devil and then a saint. But the truth was, he was neither. Just a man, trying to make a living, a legacy.
Even if that meant leaving his family for a few months and earning on the rodeo. Then setting up shop in a little town among the plains of Indiana while his wife opted to stay in her lake house on the Erie.
One that he bought her with his winnings.
“Mom, the business is doing well. How is the lake?” Jayda hated the lake. The homes were beautiful and so affordable she was able to rent one when she lived there after college, but it wasn’t where she wanted to be. She took every opportunity she could to get back to the lodge, with her father.
He wanted her to earn her own way, those were his words, and she did that. Right up until the day he died, and left her with so much responsibility.
“Oh, the same as ever, you know nothing changes around here. Except for the faces. Roger Kinny passed away last week. Stomach cancer…” The woman droned on and on about the various comings and goings of people in the area. Weddings, funerals, diagnoses of various ailments. She was a wealth of information about the community, people Jayda didn’t even know very well. So she just nodded into the phone, making various noises that sounded like she was listening. Because she was a good daughter, after all.
Finally, after she had listened long enough, she was able to escape, saying her good byes and putting the phone down. This time was different. It was the first time her mother didn’t actually guilt her on the phone.
Jayda exhaled a long breath and leaned against her chair. She had taken in too much, and she didn’t even know where to begin. Most days were just whirlwinds until she could go home, signing papers, and sitting in on meetings. Occasionally she came in to the office just to be told to go home, there was nothing to do that particular day.
All this responsibility and it seemed like she didn’t even know what she should be doing.
She pressed the little button on the intercom. “Mary, would you mind getting me a coffee? I have a feeling it is going to be a rather long day.”
***
Ray's wasn’t exactly her choice of a hangout. It was set ou
t from town a little ways, just on the corner of a main road and a dirt road, making for the perfect, rural backdrop. Apparently honky-tonks used to litter the rural Indian back in the seventies, but as the times changed, so did the landscape. Now, there were redneck bars, sports bars, and any memory of the old honky-tonks were few and far between.
Except for Ray's. It stood there, proud and tall, still going strong.
Jayda approached the bar that was known for the rusted, old mechanical bull on the roof, complete with a metal cowboy hat attached. She knew before she entered, that it was going to be lacking any class, but then again, why did rodeo cowboys and buckle bunnies need class? The aim was to have a good time and get drunk doing it.
Ray's certainly advertised that well.
She climbed the wooden stairs to the old fashioned porch, and then opened the big swinging door into a whole different world from the quiet, serene country night just on the other side of the door.
It wasn’t like the rodeo party. This was more. A permanent fixture. The decor, the lights, were tailored to the wild cowboy type. Bull horns, deer antlers, and horse shoes decorated the walls, along with the old kind of hardwood that you just didn’t see in establishments anymore. It smelled of beer and wood and dust. Just like she imagined it would when she first saw it.
This time she wasn’t paralyzed by the party people or the dancers. She knew exactly what she was doing. Jayda walked up to the bartender.
“Can I help you?’ The way the bartender looked at her, it was like he was saying “You don’t belong here.”
But she did, and she got tired of seeing that look on people’s faces. Rather than questioning it, she just ignored it.
“You got top shelf whiskey?” She desperately needed a drink, and she wasn’t going to go for something cheap.
“Yeah.”
“Double shot. You know Luke Daniels?”
“Who doesn’t?” He snorted, wiping out a shot glass with his cloth before slamming it down and filling it up with her liquor of choice.
“He here?”
“Over in the corner, sulking. As usual. Alone.” Bartender rolled his eyes, and slapped the bar.
“Put it on his tab, I’m here, meeting him.” She didn’t expect this to fly, but he just nodded and walked away, leaving her to her thoughts. She downed it and then made her way straight towards him, confidence flooding her for the first time.
“Of course.”
It couldn’t be the Crown, it hadn’t gone into her system yet. This was all her. She was going to rope that bull in, she knew it. He was interested, he wanted to talk to her, and he was damn sure ready to sign.
Thomas had said as much, and now she was going to do something right. Something good. For her father’s company.
Her company.
“What took you so long?” he asked, smirking.
“Had work. You know, that thing I do,” she shot back, her tone just a bit unprofessional. He had a way of unnerving her, but not this time. Even if she had to get a little rude.
She had to let him know who was in charge.
“Oh, I am sure you work, sitting there in your air conditioned office, your ass on a leather chair, not bothering to get covered in the dust you make your money on, Princess.” His deep, gravelly, voice drove her crazy, he had a way of flirting with her. Even when he was insulting her. It was enough to make her want to scream at him and pull him in for a kiss.
A kiss that shouldn’t happen. Couldn’t happen.
He unbalanced her again, but that only made him smile, the quick smirk coming to his lips and then off again before she even had the chance to glare at him.
“You know what real work is?” he asked, no sarcasm or snark in his tone.
“I’ve been working my whole life. I didn’t get anything handed to me, Luke. I think, if you knew my father, you would know that for certain.”
“It’s true, one of the things I most valued about him. He was a good man. And he ran a good company.”
“Why didn’t you sign with him when he asked?”
“Because I thought I could do better, myself. For a long time. I thought more offers, better offers, would come to me. And they didn’t, not at first. After a while, a few did, but their terms weren’t fair. Your dad’s was, but I still want to be my own person.”
“And now?”
“I’ll be honest, Ms. Rivers. I’m not sure how I feel about your operation.” Luke pulled down the bill of his cap giving her a dark, challenging stare. Any emotion was gone, she wasn’t Jayda anymore, she was Ms. Rivers.
But that was lost on her, what she heard was his insult, the one to her father’s legacy.
He had no right.
“This company is flawless! My father…” The air left her lungs. This was not the beginning of the business relationship she had expected. Jayda worked so hard to show that she was a business woman, she played the part just right, and he saw right through her.
He saw a scared little girl. She was sure of it.
“Your father ran a great center. Men were lucky to have his coaching expertise, his support. Since you took over, folks aren’t sure what to make of your company. You aren’t decisive enough. You like to hand the reins over to Thomas so that he can make the decisions for you. Let him choose your candidates. It lacks soul. Confidence.” A crooked smile appeared slowly as he stared at her.
She could feel her blood pumping, her shoulders shaking. Her nostrils flaring. She wanted to scream at him. How dare he question her father’s company? Her intentions?
But he was right.
She stopped mid-argument and righted herself. She turned to leave but he grabbed her arm and pulled her back.
What the hell?! She fought the urge to punch him in his self-righteous face.
“If you, and I do mean you, decide to take a chance on me, I might just let you. But it ain’t gonna be so easy. You need to become involved in the everyday operations ‘round here, Jayda.” His eyes softened a little with his grip on her arm. “I know you wanna snag me. Your dad did too, but I didn’t make it easy on him, and I sure as hell ain’t gonna make it easy on you.”
He used her first name and it caught her off guard. Just a little.
“What do you propose?” She asked, clearing her throat and trying not to notice that his touch was warm on her skin. “What do you need me to do for my business?”
Breathe. Just breathe.
“What I propose is that you come to your own training center. At dawn. Tomorrow. Work with the riders already under your control. Work with me. Get your hands dirty the way your father did.”
“But I’m not a rider, Luke.” She was out of her depths and she knew it. She loved the rodeo, but her daddy kept her away from it. Kept her safe. She was just a young woman fresh out of college. She didn’t know anything about this world. “
“No but you probably know it just as well as any rider. Think about it. You have been knee deep in the rodeo since you were a kid. You know the ins and outs. You know the business.”
Luke had a point. She wasn’t that little girl anymore, but she still knew the rodeo. It was her home away from home. Jayda looked up when she realized he was right, staggered by the proximity of him. His body was closer than she thought, she could feel the heat radiating off of him as he looked down at her. His lips were so close and so full.
“I, uh, yeah. That sounds good.” She could have said anything to get away from him and out of there. She just wanted to be let go so she could run as far as possible.
But he didn’t let her go. He pulled her closer, bent down and kissed her softly. She surrendered to him without any fight whatsoever. Her lips molded to his just as her soft curves pressed against him. He deepened that kiss, his tongue exploring her mouth, filling her as he gripped her with both hands, even tighter.
The effect was surprising, a surge of want flooded her senses and her body. She could feel the sticky wetness building between her thighs. An effect he caused. Business. Not person
al. Wasn’t that they deal they struck?
Get a hold of yourself.
Jayda pressed against his chest, separating herself from the burly cowboy, she was determined not to let him get the best of her. She took in one ragged breath, then another. Willing away her feelings.
“Is that all, Mr. Daniels?” She tried to turn on her cold business tone but faltered, her voice shaking instead. Using his last name made her feel less formal, and more silly.
This man knew exactly how to rock her.
“For now, Ms. Rivers.” He released her, taking a step away from her, the crooked smile right back on his face.
“For now.”
Jayda took a sip of her gas station coffee, just glad something was open and waiting for her at this ungodly hour. Five A.M. was not her choice time to be up, but if it was when the riders got started in training, she would be there. She never broke a promise.
So Jayda was here. At the rodeo training facilities, waiting on a man that she barely knew, trying to convince him to sign with her.
Because Thomas said he was important.
She walked over to the first corral that presented itself on her property. Her father had achieved his dream: a facility for every aspect of rodeo and equestrian on the property. Quite the operation. It was a theoretical nirvana for cowboys and cowgirls. A series of different pastures, holding pens and corrals as well as trails and courses, dotted the hundreds of acres. Each one set aside for a specific sport.
It was all encompassing, and it had been a strategy that a lot of people advised against. But he had a dream, to create something that could house many different people’s training. Especially because a bull rider may also compete in a variety of sports in the rodeo and a barrel rider may also work the equestrian circuit. Amateurs were not like professionals. They didn’t always get to specialize and this facility accommodated them all.
The Rider's Dangerous Embrace (An Interracial Bad Boy Romance Story) Page 4