Page 54 of Cowboy Seeks Husband
Walker tipped his hat down a little and glanced around. Chad, Victor, and the others were brushing down two of the horses. Ben had his arm slung over Callie’s neck as she lipped at Roan’s hand. Roan laughed delightedly and when he pulled his hand way, Walker saw he was holding an apple. He suppressed a smile. He’d taught Callie years ago to take dainty bites of an apple rather than eat the whole thing in one go.
Ben’s eyes ate Roan up like he was a piece of candy, and Walker got that. He really did. But the irrational spike of irritation building in Walker the more he watched the two of them together he didn’t understand at all.
What was he jealous about? He barely knew either man. But they knew each other, didn’t they? That was pretty evident in the comfort they took in each other’s presence and the easy smiles and laughs between them. They had time to develop that, didn’t they, cooped up with the other suitors in that barn all the time?
Walker kept watching until he realized the look on his face was probably being filmed in such a way that it would be easy to manipulate and use out of context. And, yep, there were two cameras aimed particularly at him. Walker knew who he wanted to kiss out of those two. But that didn’t mean that he shouldn’t take Molly’s advice. Who knew if his feelings were even returned? And he didn’t want to be a failure as a bachelor, ruin the one of the first reality gay romance shows with his stubborn inflexibility, and not even end up with Roan in the end anyway. Molly was right—he was in this for the money. They all were. His feelings for Roan were out of proportion and ridiculous.
He took a deep breath, the salty-sweet air filling his nostrils, and breathed out slowly. Steeling himself, he made up his mind. He’d go bust up their little one-on-one to ask Ben out for a date tomorrow. And he’d kiss him real fast. Not on the mouth, maybe, but…yeah.
“Hey, man.” Walker flinched in surprise to see Chad at his elbow.
Molly caught Walker’s eye and raised her brows as if to say, “Do it. Kiss him.”
When Walker had grown to read her facial expressions, he didn’t know, most of the time he worked with John. But Molly had a way of radiating what she wanted a guy to do and enough bite in her glare to make even a grown man like him think he ought to do it.
Chad put his hand on Walker’s forearm and tilted his head as he asked, “Do you think we can talk for a sec while everyone else is occupied?”
“Sure, what’s up?” Walker nodded in the direction of the empty pen and they began to walk. Chad was a handsome guy, but a little too artificially so. Walker hadn’t hated the time they’d spent together so far, but he hadn’t really enjoyed it either.
Cameras were on them like white on rice. Three to be exact. Plus the one wired up in the corner of the pen. Jesus, they’d really covered every inch of his ranch in cameras. And they were all body mic-ed, too.
“I just want to be honest with you,” Chad said, peering up at Walker with an earnest expression.
“All right.” Walker studied him for a second, hooking his foot over a slat on the fence and resting his arms over another one. He tipped his hat farther down. “I’m listening.”
“The thing is, I’m an actor. I’m on this show in the hopes it’ll kickstart my career.” He darted a look toward Molly. “I’m not supposed to say that. She’ll probably murder me in my sleep tonight for it, but I thought it was better to be honest. I thought it might actually help things move along.”
Walker wrinkled his brow.
“Don’t get me wrong, if I’d met a great guy in the process, that’d have been a bonus, obviously. And you are a great guy! But this life—” he indicated the ranch “—just isn’t for me. No offense.”
“None taken,” Walker said, a bit bemused. “It’s not like the two of us are bleeding chemistry.”
Chad’s face brightened. “Right? That’s what I mean. I wanted to come clean with you, so you knew what was up. You can send me home any time you want, and don’t feel bad about it.”
Walker smirked. “But it’d help you out if I let you stick around a little longer?”
“It would, yeah. And if you interacted with me more often. But I’m not going to ask that of you. If you don’t like me, you don’t. And that’s fine.”
Walker nodded slowly, biting his bottom lip. “You’re a decent guy, Chad. I have the feeling you’re the only one so far who’s been completely honest with me.”
Chad’s eyes grew a little sad. “That doesn’t mean they’re all hiding awful secrets,” he said. His eyes shifted toward Roan and Ben, and then he met Walker’s gaze again. “Or that they don’t really like you.”
“I know.” Out of the corner of his eye he saw John rushing over, shaking his head with a big frown on his face. Probably about to yell at them that none of this was usable material. An idea began to blossom. “So an actor, huh?”
“Yeah. Trying to be at least.”
“You any good?”
Chad gave him a curious look. His white teeth gleamed despite the overcast skies. “I like to think so.”
Walker tilted his head to the side. John was almost here. “Play along with me?”
“Okay.” Chad grinned, eyes twinkling like his curiosity had been piqued.
Walker flicked back his hat, looked down, and toed the ground in anaw shuckskind of way. Then he reached out and touched Chad’s arm, sliding from shoulder to wrist, and took hold of his fingers.
Chad scooted closer, tilting his head invitingly. “You’ve got callouses,” he said, flipping Walker’s hand over and touching them softly.
