Winning the Cowboy Billionaire - Emmy Eugene Page 0,67
deck. Our mother called.”
Tam looked right, where the back deck was. “Could be hours.”
“Nah, he has a date tonight,” Trey said with a grin. “He said he can’t be late.”
“A date?” Tam’s pulse raced again, and she glanced at Trey. “Blaine?”
“Right?” Trey laughed and picked up his bowl of cereal. “He wouldn’t say who it was with, but when Ma called, he rolled his eyes and said, ‘I don’t have time for this.’”
“He still answered.”
“Yes, he did. Blaine is such a momma’s boy.”
Tam knew that, and she actually found it charming and endearing. He cared about his mother, and out of all the boys, he was the one who stuck up for her the most.
“You look nice,” Duke said, scanning Tam as he went past her. “Blaine’s all dressed up too.” He continued down the hall, calling, “I’m headed out with Alli. Don’t wait up for me.”
“You don’t even live here,” Trey called after him, but Duke just went out the door without another word.
“I’ll call Blaine tomorrow,” Tam said, not daring to meet Trey’s eye. “Don’t want to interrupt his date.” She turned and walked down the hall too, somewhat annoyed that she couldn’t just say she was Blaine’s date.
“Hey, Tam, wait a second,” Trey called after her.
She considered continuing as if she hadn’t heard him. That seemed like it would be impossible, so she paused with her hand on the doorknob and barely twisted back to the kitchen. “Yeah?”
The sound of his boots against the tile floor met her ears, and he switched on the light in the hall. His eyes slid down her body to her feet and back. “You do look nice tonight.”
“Thanks,” she said. “I’m—”
“Are you going out with Blaine?” Trey interrupted.
Tam opened her mouth to respond, but words seemed to fail her.
“Someone has to go check Mom’s dishwasher.” Blaine’s loud voice carried all the way to where Tam and Trey stood in the hallway. “She’s detailed all the issues with it, but it sounds like the trap just needs to be cleaned out.”
No one responded, and Tam twisted the knob to get out of the house.
“Trey?” Blaine asked, his footsteps coming closer too.
Trey turned back to his brother, and Tam wished she could disappear into one of the lockers in the mudroom.
“I’ll do it,” Trey said, his voice moving away as he took a few steps. “Your date is here.”
“She is?” Blaine asked, and he looked past Trey to Tam. Their eyes met, and Blaine pressed his teeth together so that his jaw jumped. “Tam…” He sighed and stalked toward her.
She turned and went out the door first, the storm that was Blaine not one she wanted to be confined with in a hallway.
“I said I’d come out,” he said as he followed her through the garage.
She didn’t want to lie and say she didn’t get that message, but she couldn’t explain why she’d come in either. She just got behind the wheel of her truck and watched as Blaine paused.
“I’m driving,” he said.
“I can drive,” she said.
He shook his head and walked toward his truck. Tam suddenly wanted to go home. Everything felt like it would be a fight tonight, and she really didn’t want to do that. Sighing, she got out of her truck and hurried after him.
“Blaine,” she said. “Let’s just cancel.”
“No,” he said over his shoulder. “I’m starving, and I already told my brothers I was going out tonight.” He went around to the passenger side of his truck, which was admittedly much nicer than hers, and opened her door.
He didn’t smile at her while he waited for her to follow him. Tam paused a few feet away. “I don’t want to argue tonight.”
“We won’t,” he said.
“It would’ve been nice if you’d have told me the rules before I showed up.” She gave him what she hoped was a piercing glare and got in the truck.
Blaine turned toward her and leaned into the opening. “I texted.”
“I just got it five seconds before I got here,” she said. “I didn’t think it would be that big of a deal if I came in. I’ve come in a thousand times.”
“Not when I’ve said I’m going out.”
Tam searched his face. “You called it a date.”
That strong jaw jumped, but he didn’t speak.
“Is it a date, Blaine, or just us meeting to go over the rules of our fake relationship?”
He ducked his head, hiding those light brown eyes. He’d clearly cleaned up for a date, and Tam would’ve known it had he just come