Chapter 1

Chapter One

“ W ait, did I hear you correctly?” Tom tilted his head, trying his damnedest to parse what the drawl on the other end of the phone line could be saying.

Tom’s little side hustle website was becoming quite a business, and he knew it. Cowboy Wanted was very popular—both on the side of the folks wanting help and the cowboys hunting work.

He got help for ranchers. He found drovers for gentleman farmers. He hired cowboys for bailing hay and rounding up horses.

He had a contact with a passion for helping wild mustangs. He had a section in the ads for handyman work and babysitting.

He’d even managed to get someone a date who saved a crumbling marriage.

But this was new.

“You wanna take naked pictures of a cowboy?”

“What?” That was pure-D shock. “No, not naked —kind of shirtless maybe. You see, I write romance novels. In fact I write gay romance novels, and I need a cover model. Everybody’s used everybody. I feel like there’s no new faces in the world. And we don’t, you know, we don’t even have to show faces. It can just be like a chin and down. But I need somebody with a decent belly. I need somebody who can wear a pair of Wranglers who seems like he was actually meant to wear them. I don’t need some sort of a bulked-up bodybuilder. I really need a nice-looking man, possibly with a tan and a six-pack, who can wear a cowboy hat and has great hands. You know, that’s the big thing I need. Great hands. Great hands on a belly. Great hands on a belt buckle. Great hands shoved into a pocket of their jeans. I need great hands.”

Wow. Okay. So, writers obviously were chatty. Cool.

“Do you have a photographer?” This was the weirdest thing he’d ever heard of, but cool.

He was totally not the right type, but he would totally be willing to get naked and stand for a photographer. Koby would love that.

“Of course I have a photographer. She’s having trouble finding the right cover model, and I happened to come across your site. I’m local, you see, and I thought I’d give it a try. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to waste your time.”

“No, no, no, Mr.—”

“Williams. My name is Austin Williams.”

Tom hooted. “That is a kick-ass name.”

“Thanks, I use it for my books too. I—yeah…”

“So, Mr. Williams, you didn’t waste my time. I can do it.” He wasn’t really sure how he could do it, but God knew he could do it. It might require a spray tan, but he could do it.

“Call me Austin. And you think so? It would save my life. I’ve got a whole series that I’m recovering, and we’re going to put them out. I’m trying to relaunch before my new series starts, and I just—I think I can make it work. I have money in the budget for the photographer and model fees. ”

Lord have mercy. “Well, okay. Let’s make this happen. So how does this work exactly? I’ve never done this.”

“I’m not the professional, but I can e-mail you my photographer’s information, and she’ll be able to talk to you about cover model releases. And, you know, locations and all of that stuff. I don’t even have to ever meet the guy. It’s not skeezy, and it’s a no-contact thing. I’m trying to help the photographer and myself out. I’d love to have a cover model who’s mine, exclusive.”

Okay, dude. Breathe. “Fair enough. I mean, seriously. I can do this.”

“If you can do this, it would really make my year, man. I appreciate it. I’ll e-mail you all the contact info, budget, everything like that.”

They finally said their goodbyes, and Tom hung up the phone and started thinking hard. Who did he know who was sexy?

Someone who wasn’t his lover, because he didn’t want his husband on the cover of sexy books. He wanted his husband to himself.

Whoa. That sounded like an awful possessive thought. Tom grinned feeling a little like the Cheshire cat. He’d have to go tell Kody. It would so turn him on.

Then they could figure out who the second hottest cowboy was in Aspen and start from there.