Studs

Joey Jones was 8 years old when her bitchy mother told it to her like it is: “You’ll have to work your ass off, just to have no one take you seriously. And if you even try to have it all as a woman, get ready to have it explode in a giant A-bomb shitstorm of misery.” Fun stuff, Mom! And Joey’s hypercritical hardass Dad isn’t much better. So as a 23-year-old salesman at American Sire Service, the number one bull stud in the country, Joey has made it a point to ignore all that bullshit (pun intended!) and be such a force of nature at her job that everyone’s respect comes naturally in her wake. But when a schmooze-happy bro/secret romantic named Grant Turner waltzes his way into the Old Boys Club of the company, with an invitation to take the open account manager position Joey has her eye on, she views the situation as a challenge.   Joey charges into Act Two by getting her boss to agree to consider her for the position, if she gets on board with training Grant like they want her to. Grant, meanwhile, is recovering from a cheating ex. But when his friend from college/new boss tells him to distract Joey from her ladder-climb ambitions with his irresistible good looks, Grant people-pleases his way into agreeing. As Joey tries to intimidate Grant out of going against her for the job, and Grant tries to charm her at every turn, they clash and banter their way into becoming fierce frenemies. But when an emergency birth (human, not cow!) forces them to work together at the Midpoint, they both begin to recognize their growing feelings toward one another. Which leads Grant to back out of the job competition all together, taking a job at a lowly competing stud. This could be great for Joey, except that her bosses think she must have known Grant’s plans and threaten to throw her under the bus for how dumb his desertion makes them look. Now Joey has to scramble to land a huge client to convince them to keep her job. Normally this would be no problem for her. But this client really likes the girls American Sire often sends his way. Just as Joey is about to back down from this bad idea, alone in a barn office with the guy, in walks Grant. Joey is already furious at Grant for apparently stealing some clients of hers for his new company, so she holds onto her pride and pretends she didn’t need a way out of that barn office. Grant thought he knew who Joey was. And he was really starting to like who she was. The two of them angrily go their separate ways, split by misunderstanding and pride. There’s no way Joey is landing this client now. And worst of all, she’s not sure she cares. Alone in her apartment, she nurses her Low Point mistakes. Until her youngest brother, who knows her screwed-up family dynamics all too well, talks her out of her futile quest to take over the world all alone.   So Joey breaks into Act Three by facing her over-critical dad, quitting her job with the douchey bosses, accepting a job at the less prominent stud where Grant now works, and tracking Grant down for a hash-it-out talk. Grant’s not sure he can trust her again after she shoved him away in a way that wasn’t too different from the situation with his ex. But after a heated confrontation, the two of them are able to bond over the suckiness of their new company, and they kiss as they relish the prospect of working together to make it as fantastic as they are.