Page 52 of Cowboy Seeks Husband
And maybe what Roan’s mouth tasted like.
And if he’d moan when Walker kissed him for real.
Maybe Walker was a bad man, but he really wanted to know how Roan liked to fuck or be fucked.
No, Roan couldn’t go home yet.
Andy was makingWalker interact more with the contestants he hadn’t had as much contact with before now. Not because Andy cared about their participation but because he needed them to have some screen time for “dramatic tension.” Emphasis on the dramatic aspect, since no natural tension existed between these other men and Walker.
Still, he did what he was told. Not only because it was expected of him, but also because he felt bad they’d come all this way and he’d been all but ignoring them.
So he spent some time showing Nick, Jaden, and Davis how to milk the dairy cows he kept for personal farm use. Tessa usually dealt with it, since she sold unpasteurized milk, cream, and butter at the local farmer’s markets. But Walker took over the job for the day, and everyone seemed to enjoy it once they got the hang of it. Apparently there was “good TV” in grown men squirting each other with milk from a cow’s teat, and a few buckets of spilled milk wouldn’t be too much of a loss to Tessa. Though it really was a crying shame.
Then, later in the week, he’d taken Peter out on a “date” to the feed supply store and to grab a milkshake in town. The guy was nice, handsome enough, but truly nothing compared to Roan. Walker had to fake his interest the entire time, and when they’d shaken hands at the end of the date, he thought Peter was glad to be done with it, too.
To be honest, Walker was looking forward to the next elimination round, dying for it, actually. Not because there was anyone he especially disliked since sending Antoine home, but so that there’d be even fewer contestants he was required to spend time with. He’d never considered himself an introvert, but the constant interaction with people was starting to wear him down. Every night he went to bed exhausted, drained in a soul-deep way that the hard physical labor of farming had never once left him.
Only four and a half more weeks to go.
Walker had been joking when he’d suggested mucking stables as a group date, but the producers had loved the idea. Dirty farm work made for good TV, they claimed. He didn’t get to choose the group, either. At least Victor, Peter, Clark, and Jaden gave the traditional cowboy work of shifting horse shit their best shot, none of them holding back despite the stink. Even though Walker could’ve done the whole thing a lot faster by himself, it probably did make for entertaining television, what with the gagging and all.
With the cameras rolling, and John, Molly, and another producer constantly issuing instructions that were more like orders, Walker barely got to lift a shovel to muck. And, worse, whenever they were alone for even a second, Peter tried to grope him. He was surprisingly determined to get a handful of Walker’s ass. Walker suspected Molly was behind this sudden fixation, since Peter hadn’t seemed that into him on their milkshake date. But he couldn’t know for sure, so he tried to avoid him as much as possible.
Spending time in the stables reminded Walker that he needed to confer with Marlon about the winter feed. He ducked into one of the clean stalls to clear his mind and make a mental list of all that he was getting behind on. He was thinking about how soon they’d need to castrate the remaining calves when a flash of blond hair over the side wall made him jump in fear that Peter had cornered him again, but it was only Tessa’s sweet palomino’s tail.
Victor and one of the show’s hired animal handlers led the mare back into her clean stall.
“Any chance we can ride these sweethearts?” Victor asked, spotting Walker watching from the empty stall.
“You ride?” He went over to pat Callie’s neck. She nosed at him, and he laughed softly. “Sorry, doll. I don’t have any apples on me.”
Victor smiled, the most genuine grin Walker had seen on him yet. “I used to ride. It’s been a while.”
“Did you grow up on a farm?”
“No.” Victor shook his head, running his hands along Callie’s flanks. “But I took riding lessons as a kid. I was obsessed with horses back then.” Victor stared at Callie with longing in his eyes, and Walker suppressed a laugh.
“You falling in love there, cowboy?”
Victor grinned again. “A little bit.”
Walker looked at him. Victor studied him in return, but with none of the predatory vibe he’d given off before. “You’ll have to ask Andy about liability and whatever, but as far as I’m concerned, sure, you can ride.”
“Is that a date?” Victor teased, and Walker laughed again, holding up his hands.
“No promises,” he said, and slipped out of the stall before Victor could pin him down to any specifics. He went over to John to float the idea, though. He hadn’t spent nearly enough time on his horse Cormac recently, and taking Victor out on a ride would be a lot less of a burden than having to actually have a conversation with the man.
John thought it was a great idea. What’s a cowboy romance without taking his potential lover out on a horse? But, alas, Andy said they didn’t have the insurance to cover the contestants actually getting on the horses. However, Victor’s request to ridedidgive Andy the idea to squeeze in a second group date in the afternoon. This time with all the contestants.
The idea was to let them play around with the horses for a while—petting them, feeding them apples, and learning how to put a saddle on and take it off. Walker was fine with all of that because his horses were as calm as the animals could get. He trusted them with the contestants. But most of the guys didn’t have Victor’s experience and needed guidance on how to behave. At least that meant the conversations went easily enough for the most part.
Molly tugged him aside right at the start and said that Andy wanted another kiss today. Preferably a couple of kisses. With a couple of different guys.
“And none of them can be Roan. Or Ben.”
“Why not Ben?” Walker asked.
Molly’s left brow arched. “Oh, you’d like to kiss Ben?”
