Page 37 of Cowboy Seeks Husband
“The odd finger maybe.”
Roan’s eyes grew wide.
Walker chuckled, obviously delighted. “Not because the fish bites it off,” he clarified. “At least, I’ve never heard of that happening. But in rare instances, maybe, because of an unexpected bacterial infection from a scrape or something. The real danger in the water is the snakes and snapping turtles.”
“Snapping turtles?” Could this get worse?
“Yeah. Sometimes they make their nests in abandoned catfish holes, so we’ll have to choose wisely.”
“You’re joking now, aren’t you?” Roan’s heart pounded and he put his hands on Walker’s arms to steady himself.
Walker’s eyebrows flew up. “No,” he said, dead serious, and pulled his undershirt off too.
“Oh, wow,” Roan whispered before he could stop himself. His hands hung right in front of Walker’s chest, which was all taut skin over hardened muscles, but he didn’t touch. Walker’s forearms and neckline were tanned, but the rest of him was startling, almost fragilely pale. A bead of sweat ran down the center of his breastbone.
Roan’s eyes snapped back up to Walker’s face to find him looking surprised, and just for a fraction of a second, a little vulnerable. Roan bit into his lower lip and wished the overalls had pockets to shove his hands into. Instead, he dropped them to his side.
“You ready for this?”
Roan swallowed hard. “Shit. Um. Okay. What…what do we do now?”
“We go in. I’ll go first, and you can spot me.”
“I don’t know what that means.” He watched as Walker stepped into a pair of wading boots he’d brought out from the back of the truck. “And why aren’t you wearing overalls like me?”
“I figured you wouldn’t want to mess up your designer jeans.” He motioned toward his faded Wranglers. “I don’t care about mine.”
Roan’s face heated. “Oh. Okay.” He knew his clothes looked expensive, but if it hadn’t been for Philip, his ex-boyfriend, he’d never have been able to afford them. They were all he had left of his college life, and he cherished them. “So how do I spot you?”
“You just make sure I don’t get pulled under if I catch a big one. No big deal.”
Roan felt faint. “Right, no big deal.” He pulled his V-neck T-shirt over his head and tried not to feel self-conscious about his scrawny, white chest. He deliberately didn’t look at Walker as he tossed his shirt aside, not wanting to see what he thought of his lack of real muscles either. God knew he was no Ben.
“You ready?” Walker asked, handing him a pair of gloves before putting on his own.
Roan took a deep breath and donned the gloves. “Nope. But after you.”
Walker laughed a soft, rumbly sound that made Roan smile despite his nerves and headed for the river. When he’d waded carefully in, he held out his hand to Roan and beckoned, eyes twinkling. His chest gleamed in the destined to be short-lived sunlight. Dark storm clouds were drawing together in the distance. Walker had left his cowboy hat in the car, and while his hair was flattened a little bit, it still looked soft and thick. His eyes were like gold. Leonine.
“I don’t like this,” Roan said under his breath, hitching the waterproof overalls back on his bare shoulders. “I don’t like this at all. Don’t I need a fishing license?”
“All taken care of,” John said.
Jesus. Was that an ambulance pulling up behind the second car?
John saw him watching. “Just a precaution.”
“Right.” The water was so murky Roan couldn’t see the bottom. He had no idea what was swimming underneath. His mind flipped through all the images he’d seen in his pre-show internet research endeavors. And, really, why had he ever looked up all that stuff? He met Walker’s eyes again, steadied himself, and stepped off the swampy bank. His boot sank into the moist, slushy river bottom. “No gators?” he asked.
“Just stay close,” Walker softly answered. For a second he hung on to Roan’s hand and squeezed it. “Try to have fun.”
Roan’s mouth went dry as he nodded. “Okay.”
His second boot joined the first and when he tried to move, the ground sucked at him before it let go. He shivered violently despite the sweltering heat.
“There,” Walker encouraged. “You’re in. The worst is over.”
Roan laughed a little desperately and said, “I highly doubt that.”
