Authors: Elle Saint James
Tags: #Romance
They didn’t need to add a rodeo competition on top of it all. She wanted to convey a more country fair atmosphere where families could roam around together and enjoy their day. Not spend the extra money it would take to erect a special building and seats for bull riding and calf roping events and the like. They’d have to set up schedules and do more than one show to accommodate everyone they expected for attendance.
The DRMC private event had been different. They already had a place set up for the competition on the property. Plus, they had the money to spend for exactly what they wanted. The cash prizes offered by the DRMC for the rodeo competition had been very generous. It was also what had helped her sell it to the cowboys she’d enlisted, including the two special men she’d coveted for herself. Although she suspected the date was more the prize they’d sought. A smile shaped her lips before she could stop it.
Back to business
. The children’s orphan charity didn’t need to spend extra money.
No. Adding a rodeo of this magnitude would not work for this cash-strapped event. A charity needed the best bang for their limited buck.
Sabrina walked up to Kurt’s open office doorway. His secretary was on vacation, so it was an open door policy all week. When she stepped across the threshold she saw that her boss was seated behind his desk with an exuberant smile on his face.
Good
. It was always a great idea to start the day with the boss in an uplifted mood.
She turned to look into the room and saw quickly that he wasn’t alone. Ben sat in one of the chairs in front of his desk.
Damn it
. Sabrina had wanted to discuss her issue with Kurt alone regarding Ben’s behavior. Now she’d have to postpone it.
“Come in, Sabrina. Ben has a pretty great idea to possibly add to the County Western Day event.”
Sabrina plastered a smile on her mouth, entered, and seated herself in the other chair next to Ben. She wasn’t convinced he would ever have a good idea, and likely if he did, it wasn’t originally his.
To say she didn’t like Ben was the understatement of the decade. He was all things nasty, sleazy, and disreputable all wrapped in a bookish exterior that he used to disarm the people he dealt with. But very few people understood this like she did. And only because she’d been unfortunate enough to spend the most time with him since he’d started working here.
She wanted to have Ben removed from the County Western Day project. She’d wanted that before he ever showed up on her doorstep last Friday night. But he was related to someone in Kurt’s wife’s family. Nepotism was the only way Ben had a job here. He hadn’t been with the company very long. Just long enough to cross Sabrina on more than one event they’d worked on together.
Ben wasn’t going to get away with showing up at her door Friday night uninvited, but that particular discussion would have to wait. First, she had to endure the explanation of Ben’s
great
idea. Her fake smile hurt the muscles in her face.
Sabrina inhaled deeply and pushed the breath out quickly. “Well, that event is pretty much complete in the planning stages. I don’t know that we have the time or extra funds to add anything.”
“Well, if we don’t, we won’t make as much money for the children’s charity.” Ben’s hopeful face just made her want to tilt her head back and scream with primal fury. But she didn’t. She folded her hands in her lap and put her most interested face on.
She smiled at Kurt. “What’s the idea?”
Kurt said, “What would you think about adding a Mr. Sexy Cowboy contest to the evening event? We can have an auction and let single women bid on some of the local single cowboys or rodeo stars.”
Ben joined in on the surprising description. “We could get the men up onstage to pull off their T-shirts and show off some six-packs to entice women to bid higher amounts. What do you think? Great idea, right?”
Sabrina felt her mouth open. She couldn’t have been more shocked.
What the hell?
Ben said, “I’ve already talked to several men who are very interested in helping us with this as a charity event for the children.”
Sabrina was so taken off guard with this she didn’t respond right away. She resisted the urge to smack the joyful expression off of Ben’s face. He’d been spouting off ideas of a rodeo competition this past week and not the western version of a men’s peep show for rowdy single women. They would certainly be rowdy if shirts came off and six-packs were displayed.
Kurt turned to her with an expectant expression. He obviously wanted to add this to the program. Feeling like she’d just gotten the rug pulled out from under her she said, “Well, it’s not a bad idea if you think that’s appropriate for a family setting.”
He shrugged. “We could just add it to the evening dance hall agenda. There will be a stage set up for the band. We can just adapt it when the band takes a break. And that portion of the event wasn’t really set up for kids, was it?”
Sabrina pushed out a breath. “Not exactly, but we weren’t barring children from it either. I sort of expected a family atmosphere throughout the whole day and into the night. I hadn’t ever considered the idea of a bunch of half-dressed cowboys strutting across a stage to garner bids from single women for who knows what later purpose.”
Ben jumped in and started talking fast to keep the discussion alive. “It would just be for a date
that
evening. The men don’t have to do anything they don’t want to.”
“Where would they meet? In their cars? Or would we have to provide a place for them to have their
date
.”
Ben thought a moment. “Well, we could parcel off an area toward the front of the room near the stage. The men could bring their date a special dessert or something and eat it with them. That’s simple enough. I mean it’s not like I expect them to drop and have sex on the dance floor with the women who win their bids.” He laughed as if he’d just told the joke of the century.
“I would hope not.” Sabrina couldn’t even garner a smile. She wondered if Ben expected Parker to join in on the fun. He’d seen him at her house. He knew they must be together. Was he one of the
already interested
cowboys? She hoped not and made a mental note to call Parker later on to ensure Ben hadn’t sought him out to bother him.
Sabrina shrugged and forced another smile. “I’m sure it would all be aboveboard. However, I’m not sure it would play well with what we already have planned. There are several family-oriented sponsors who’ve already invested quite a bit in this event. I wouldn’t want to spoil that or make them uncomfortable enough to pull their support.”
Kurt frowned. “She has a point, Ben. Since this show is really a big benefit for a children’s charity, perhaps adding a sexy bidding competition of this nature wouldn’t be appropriate. But hey, there are no bad ideas.”
Sabrina disagreed on that final point, but she’d won this round and didn’t plan to gloat.
“Well, it was just a suggestion,” Ben mumbled.
Kurt, ever the diplomat, said, “Tell you what, we won’t nix the idea. We’ll kick it around and decide in a day or so whether it would work or not. We can run it by the sponsors we already have and get a feel for if they’d be okay with it or not. How ’bout that?”
Ben looked suitably cowed, as if he had given his idea the old college try, but wouldn’t press the issue if the boss didn’t like it. He shrugged, disheartened that his great idea wasn’t scooped up and heralded to the world. “Okay. That’s fine.”
Poor, sad Ben
.
Whatever
.
Sabrina still thought he was a huge suck up annoyance.
He adjusted his glasses. “Well, if that idea won’t work, what about asking the cowboys to compete in a rodeo? They could display whatever their strength is. For example, bull riding, pole bending, bronco busting, calf roping and the like. Kids would definitely love to see cowboys doing all of that. We could have a full-fledged rodeo competition.”
Kurt made a face like that wasn’t a bad idea at all. He nodded and then turned to Sabrina. His eyebrows rose in question as if to say,
what do you think?
Sabrina knew she’d sound like a bitch when she answered. And also that she wasn’t interested in any of Ben’s ideas—because she honestly wasn’t—when she turned this new idea down, too, but couldn’t help it.
“It’s a great idea.” Sabrina then paused for a couple of seconds. “Unfortunately, I’m not sure that it’s practical to put that large of event into motion at this point. We’re already two months out from the event. We’d have to get permits in order to build a special arena to support a rodeo of that size along with a place to house the animals and for the performers to change. I’m not sure we have the time or the budget to make that happen.” She put on her best sad face and sent a sympathetic look to Ben.
Sucking up or not
,
I still trounced you, Ben.
Now go away
.
His first unguarded look was one of seething anger, but his grim expression shifted quickly before Kurt could see it. “Well, I tried,” he muttered and looked down at his notebook.
“There are no bad ideas, Ben,” Kurt said again. He was always completely magnanimous. He probably had to be. Ben was his wife’s cousin or brother or something. She wasn’t sure of the exact familial connection, just that there was one, and Kurt had to live with it. Sabrina just wished
she
didn’t have to.
She shifted the conversation more pertinent topics to keep Ben from opening his mouth again. She gave Kurt an update on all the plans she’d already put in place for the County Western Day event. She noted carefully everything that had already been written in stone. She also mentioned all of the tentative plans that would be ironed out in the very near future.
Sabrina had several calls to make in the next couple of days in order to true up this coming event. She had things under control. She didn’t need Ben’s help. Lucky for her, because he hadn’t been
any
help thus far.
Ben sat sullenly listening to her recite all she’d accomplished without comment. Kurt likely assumed that Ben had helped in some minor way, but he hadn’t.
Kurt told them both, “Good job.” Then he dismissed them to go forth and work.
Sabrina sped away from his office not wanting to speak to Ben any further. She darted quickly to her office, sat down at her desk, and picked up the phone to start making phone calls. She wasn’t behind, but had a very full schedule of work planned for today.
Ben followed right into her office as if he lived there and plopped down in her extra chair. He pushed out a long-suffering sigh and looked at her like she should now console him.
Fat chance.
She’d gone through this with him on the last couple of projects. He spent his time as an anchor around her neck doing nothing. All of his
great
ideas were summarily shot down in some way throughout whatever project he was on. He didn’t offer to help with anything that needed to be done. And then inevitably
he
needed to be cheered up during the project? It was a bad habit that needed to stop.
Childish though it was, Sabrina pretended she didn’t see him. She finished dialing the number in front of her and then turned putting a surprised look on her face that Ben was intruding on her office space. He opened his mouth like he was about to say something, but Sabrina put up one finger to keep him from speaking. Could he not see that she was on the phone? She then pointed to the phone and hoped he would take the hint and leave. He didn’t.
The person she’d called wasn’t there, so she had to dash off a quick message and hang up. She quickly picked up the phone and started dialing another number.
“How long are you going to pretend I’m not sitting here?”
Sabrina banged the phone down in its cradle without dialing the last two numbers. “I guess for as long as it takes to get you to take the hint that I’m busy and to go away.”
“That’s not very nice.”
“I have work to do, Ben. Perhaps you could try it.”
Ben didn’t respond. He just sat there pouting and didn’t move. “Well you won’t let me do anything and you don’t like any of my ideas. What am I supposed to do?”
Sabrina shuffled some papers on her desk, trying not to let anything derogatory slip out of her mouth. It was a struggle, and she hated it. She hated to be put in the position of guarding his hurt feelings when he didn’t seem give a shit about hers. “I don’t know. Perhaps you could file the paperwork on the last event we did for the local flower show.”
“Bor…ring,” Ben said drawing the word out. He rolled his eyes as if filing paper was below him. “No, thanks.” He didn’t offer any further response. He just sat there as if to say the ball was in her court now to determine his next move. She wanted to tell him to take a flying leap, but calmed herself. How could she get rid of him without making waves?
And then he spoke, “That guy you were with Friday night, isn’t he a rodeo star or something?” She wished he’d taken her up on the filing.
Sabrina closed her eyes and counted to five. She was not discussing her personal life with Ben.
Politeness be damned
. She was done being nice. She opened her eyes, looked at Ben, and said, “Listen to me closely. Please leave my office. I have lots of work to do today. I don’t have time to chat. Go ask Kurt what you should do next if you really can’t figure it out for yourself.”