“I’m sorry,” the woman stuttered. “I’m just…”
“You’re just what?” Candy pushed. “Rude?”
I brought my coffee up as Candy pushed even farther between me and the woman who’d sat down next to me, taking a drink. At this point, Candy’s ass was right next to my face, brushing my arm and making me think naughty things.
“He never mentioned he had a girlfriend.” The woman continued to try to defend her actions.
It wasn’t going to work. Not today.
Thank God Candy was there.
I could handle my own, and in fact would’ve rebuffed her easily, but it was nice to have someone there to do it without having to listen to all the reasons why that was a bad idea. Or have her grope me and try to rub herself on me while I tried to gently extricate myself from the situation.
“He doesn’t need to have a girlfriend. Everybody should respect boundaries. It’s okay to come talk to him. It’s not okay to take a seat at his table without first inquiring if it’s okay to sit down. Then, following permission, you should then hold a conversation with him, without groping him or touching him. You should try it sometime,” Candy snarled.
My prospective sponsor started to chuckle.
Dean Worthers was the CEO of a company that made chaps. He was in the process of trying to convince me to wear his chaps for my upcoming eighteen bull riding events this year when the woman had interrupted.
Bryce Tanner, another prospective sponsor who sold dip, also sat there grinning like a lunatic.
The woman finally stood from her seat next to me and said, “Well, I don’t have to stay and deal with this abuse.”
Candy scoffed loudly.
“You shouldn’t have come over here in the first place,” Candy all but bit out.
That was when Bryce started to chuckle.
The woman stomped off, and Candy finally removed her ass from my arm as she stalked back to her seat.
Retaking it, she scooted up closer to the table, reached for her coffee, and angrily took a sip.
“The nerve,” she muttered darkly.
My lip kicked up at the corner in a half smirk.
“See what I mean?” I asked her.
She rolled her eyes at me.
“This is partially your fault,” she said. “If you weren’t so freakin’ nice all the time, nicely telling any women that come up to you to ‘please don’t touch me’ or ‘please give us a moment’ then they might actually respect your boundaries. But Jesus. You can’t even talk sharply to a woman. It’s like a freakin’ train wreck waiting to happen.” She paused. “Why is it that you can be mean to people you know, but not to strangers?”
“If it makes you feel better,” Dean said, leaning forward in his chair. “His ‘nice guy’ persona is what draws people like me to him. Despite the fact that he could, and does, deserve to have a big head due to his success, he is down to earth and courteous. He’s also very family friendly and has zero skeletons in his closet. That’s like a match made in heaven where we’re concerned. All pluses and no risks.”
Candy sighed.
“But in the meantime, he has women trying to drug him. Entering his trailer without permission and getting naked on his bed,” she countered. “One day, what if they succeed?”
Dean didn’t have anything to say to that, and neither did I.
To be honest, they wouldn’t succeed.
When this entire fucking spiel was mentioned to Candy by my family, I wasn’t sure what it was that they were trying to accomplish. I mean, sure, the near drugging and breaking in had happened.
Also, I’d been stalked by numerous ladies, to the point where they were now trying to follow me home to the farm.
And yes, I was having a problem keeping them off of me without being mean like I usually was.
But, again, I was a grown ass man.
I could handle it myself.
But seeing Candy handling everything for me? Major turn on.
And having my family suggest that she come with me to ‘protect’ me?
Damn, that was genius.
I’d have to make sure to get Callum and Desi an extra special present this year to say thank you.
“Let’s talk sponsorships,” Dean suggested, very interested in changing the subject.
“Agreed,” Bryce said. “With our team sponsoring you, we have a few stipulations.”
I sat back in my seat and waited, hearing the first few that were fairly normal to hear.
No drug use. No excessive partying and drinking. No fighting.
But then I started to hear the non-usual ones.
“There’s also a clause that I know you’re probably not going to like,” Bryce said.
I gestured with an impatient gesture of my hand. “Out with it.”
“There’s going to be a ‘no getting married allowed’ clause,” he said.
I blinked. Then blinked again.
“Well shit,” Candy said, slapping her hand on the table. “What the fuck are we supposed to do now?”