His Cowboy

Billie Bob Jones

The annoying sound of my phone ringing woke me up disturbing my peaceful sleep. For the past week I had been training for the rodeo leaving me with all kinds of bruises and pains. I was a crippled mess and today was one of the few days I had off.

I had planned to sleep in but whoever was calling me at 6 in the morning! Seemed to be having a different idea.

"Hello?" I groaned into the speaker after snatching the hellish device from my bedside table.

"Good morning Barbie."

I sighed deeply as the baritone voice ran shivers down my spine. "Morning Dito," I rolled onto my back and looked up to the ceiling.

"How are you?"

I almost growled with his annoying question. I had not seen the man in a week and he chose to call me in the morning on one of my days off to ask me, 'how are you?'

"I'm tired, what about you?" I decided to bite my tongue and try to be civil for once in my life.

"I'm good. I will be returning to Houston in three days. Clyde and I discussed that you and I will have a meet Thursday morning in my office," he simply said.

What if I had plans Thursday and was unavailable? Did he not care to know? Did he think my world revolved around him? He had been gone for a week due to the emergency that interrupted our dinner. Apparently he had to leave the country immediately.

"Where are you?" my curiosity had gotten the better of me.

"Bulgaria," he chuckled.

"Is that why you are calling me so early?"

He chuckled again seeming to find my irritation funny, "My apologies I forgot to check the time before I called."

"You should next time," I mumbled, "very well. I will see you Thursday morning."

"Excellent, goodbye."

Before I could answer him he had ended the call leaving me staring at the screen. Clearly the man must have been dropped as a child. I placed my phone back on the table and pushed my face back into the pillow. Hopefully I could still get some sleep.

It was Wednesday morning and I was on my way to Houston for a meeting with one of my sponsors. Being one of the top rodeo riders in the world did not have me earning a good amount of money every year but left me with multiple sponsors to pick from.

From one of the top energy drinks company in the world, clothes and riding equipment was something businesses wanted for me to the face of. It was a lot of work but the paycheck was extremely rewarding.

Every month I was off doing a photo for one of the brands and today it was for Great American. They were one of the largest companies in the world that dealt with rodeo equipment and gear, and they had asked me to be the face of their brand.

I was no model do not get me wrong, it took me a long time to get used to smiling in front of a camera and even longer to get used to the idea that I got paid thousands just to walk out of the house dressed in their jeans.

Most of the money I earned were from my sponsors and even though I would have much rather preferred my face not to be on a billboard, it was something I had to get used to every time I saw it.

I parked by their headquarters and was instantly greeted by Tamara. She was the manager of this branch and even though she was a lovely woman at times her flirting could become too much for me.

She made it no secret that she was interested in me and even though I was flattered, I genuinely had no interest in her. She was dressed in a red pencil skirt, a white blouse purposefully showing cleavage and white heels. Her long smooth blonde hair reflected the sunlight and brightened up her crystal blue eyes.

Her red lipstick covered lips that were stretched into a smile showing of her beaming smile as she watched me climb out of the truck.

"Good morning Bobby," she instantly walked to me swaying her hips making me rigid. Even though I was not interested in her, she was technically my boss and sometimes kissing ass got you the best seat in the house.

"Beautiful as always Tamara," I smiled, lifted my hat and kissed her cheek making her blush.

"You look handsome today," she placed her hands on my chest, "have you been working out or something? You've gotten so much bigger."

"Something," this was the time I wished I could fall off the face of the earth. She had no shame.

"Hmm well keep it up," she winked, "We should get going we have a busy day ahead of us."

A busy day it was. It started off with a two hour meeting going through different samples of what I could wear for a mini rodeo that was coming up in three weeks. There were multiple chaps, with different designs, colors and fits. I never liked anything fancy or that stood out which the team always seemed to hate.

I always had to compromise just a bit by maybe allowing a hint of color of the design on my leather chaps and protective vest. Out of twenty boots I had picked seven designs I actually liked and knew would be practical for the rodeo scene, including hats, saddles, ropes and even something as simple as a shirt.

After that I had a photoshoot showing off their latest jean styles and I never understood why I had to be shirtless for them. The female gazes in the studio made me uncomfortable as they all stared at my bare chest.

"Don't mind any attention to them Bobby, it's not every day they see a man with eight pack abs," James, the photographer chuckled as one of the set assistant's put an oily spray on my body. The young woman blushed by her boss's statement.

Other women looked at her with mean glares probably because she was always tasked with moisturizing my skin.

"Sorry," I chuckled and looked down her making her face even redder.

"It's fine," she squeaked and quickly finished. The makeup team did some final touch ups before leaving.

I was dressed in black boots, matching jeans that had a very nice design on the back pockets and on the sides running down my leg with a black hat. Sunglasses covered my eyes because it was my signature look.

I had been doing this for over three years but every time still felt strange. To me it made no sense on why people would want to sexualize my body when I simply saw it as my body. With the work I did it was obvious I was going to have a body like mine.

I knew I was handsome that much was for sure and the gap between my two front teeth seemed to really win me people's hearts over the years. That was why the company used me for their more racy photoshoots because I fit the part. Only if they knew I had to give myself a pep talk before I even stepped out of the dressing room.

"You're doing great Bobby," James said as he snapped pictures of me, "put your hands in your pocket… excellent!"

The photoshoot alone took three hours and by the time I was done I was exhausted. Everything I had chosen would be delivered to me tomorrow, but overall I was happy I could finally leave.

"Bobby," I heard Tamara's soft voice just before I left the office.

I was exhausted and was really avoiding her, but plastered on a fake smile. "Tamara."

"I'm so glad I got to you before you left," she brushed her blonde hair behind her ears, "I was wondering if you would like to go out for dinner sometime this week."

And there it was again. "You know I'd love to Tamara but things with Delilah," I sighed faking stress.

"Oh no it's totally fine, I understand," she smiled.

Delilah and I always used each other as an excuse to avoid relationships because we both had no time for them. I had a goal of being one of the greatest rodeo stars of our generation and she was in medical school which was extremely demanding.

Everyone already thought we were a couple because of how close we were so we never corrected them but used it to our advantage. That was why Tamara flirted with me all the time and so did I, but I was so in love with Delilah and trying to make things work that cheating on her would simply kill me.

Each time she tried hoping I had finally ended things with Delilah but unfortunately I had not. I just believed being with Tamara would add an unnecessary complication to my work with the brand, especially if things went bad.

"Thank you so much Tamara," I pressed a lingering kiss on her cheek before I walked out the door.

After all that was the façade I chose to have, the playboy cowboy who just was not ready to settle down but flirted his way through each situation.