Page 100 of Spur It On

I was seething when I heard someone call my name. "Cody!" The voice belonged to a woman.

I turned. Ty did the same a second later, and I saw the smile taking over his face. Heading towards me was a woman in jeans that were just a little too tight. Her shirt was the nice kind, not a t-shirt like everyone else here was wearing. That her eyes were on me and her smile seemed to be the real kind had me smiling back.

"Hi," I said politely, not knowing a better way to greet her.

She held out a rolled-up poster. "Let me get your signature in the bottom corner of that?"

"Sure," I agreed, pulling out my marker to scribble my name in the first spot I got unrolled.

It wasn't easy, since I had nothing to write on, but I managed. I was also pretty sure I'd seen this lady somewhere before. It wasn't until I passed the poster back that I figured it out.

"Are you with one of the sponsors?" I asked. "I'm pretty sure we've met."

"Grace with Under Armour," she admitted, offering a hand.

I took it, clasping her palm before letting go. "I didn't expect you to be in the middle of this mess. Working or pleasure?"

She laughed, but the scream of women made us both look over quickly. Nope, that wasn't an accident or a tragedy. It was an entire herd of cowgirls, and it seemed they'd all spotted Ty. The pitch was from their excitement.

"Ty McBride!" the boldest shouted as she ran straight towards us.

The rest of her cohort followed. I could hear them talking about pictures, autographs, and more. Reaching up, I gave Ty a push, making it clear he should go deal with that. He glanced back, looking like he wanted to refuse, so I tipped my head at Grace and gave him a pointed look. That seemed to be enough. Then I gestured to the side, inviting Grace to step away from the estrogen overload with me.

"Wow," Grace laughed. "Is that normal?"

"For Ty, yeah," I assured her. "He's the playboy of the PBR."

"Boyfriend?" she asked slyly.

I shook my head. "I'm with Tanner."

Grace gave me an apologetic look, both of us still walking away from the thickest part of the crowd. "Forgive me, Cody. I think bull riding is interesting, but the truth is that I'm from corporate. I'm here the whole weekend, and I'm allowed to have fun, but I'm more of a tourist than a true fan. Which one is Tanner?"

"The bullfighter in purple," I explained. "Some people call them clowns, but the only clown in the PBR is Cletus."

"Ah," she said, catching back up. "And that was the kiss at the awards, right?"

"Yes, ma'am," I assured her.

"But you made it clear you didn't want to talk about your relationship status in that last meeting." Then she lifted a brow, giving me a chance to explain.

"Because I've officially been dating him less than a week," I said. "I do not promise to marry him. If he treats me like a toy, I will dump him. I'm not riding on the PBR's Tough Enough series to find love. I'm here to earn a check. Nothing more, nothing less."

"And yet your scores are going down," she reminded me, making it clear the sponsorshadnoticed.

"But I haven't been bucked off," I countered. "Scores are half due to the rider's ability, and half due to the bull's. The animal we ride is assigned randomly, so I have little control over that. My world ranking has been steadily increasing, and I'm getting good at staying in the top ten."

She smiled. "Nice answers. Now for the big question. Max says he intends to have your official PBR photos taken next week." She flicked a finger at my upper chest. "Willing to show a pink Under Armour shirt under that one?"

"Not showing my cleavage," I told her.

"No, but it looks like you have on something under that. Blue?"

Which was true. I had on a blue tank, just in case my shirt got torn. It was a thing my dad had taught me about the time I started wearing a bra. But the fact that she could see it surprised me, so I glanced down. Sure enough, where my top button was open, a smidge of blue was just visible.

"It's a tank," I explained. "In case they have to cut off my shirt."

"And Under Armour makes tanks," she pointed out. "I just think pink is working very well for you."

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