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Hours later,he lay on the couch with her in his arms. They’d watched dozens and dozens of movies together over the years. He was a very touchy-feely person, and with the right person, so was Tam.
He was, apparently, the right person.
She’d fallen asleep after eating a double cheeseburger and fries, and Blaine had been awake, thinking and trying to get his pulse to play nice.
The movie ended, and yet he didn’t move. He didn’t want to move. He wanted to be the rock Tam needed in her life. He wanted to be the one she came to for help, just like she had tonight. He wanted to be her best friend and her boyfriend.
He was going to fully commit. He’d realized about the time her breathing had deepened that he hadn’t fully committed to taking the step from friend to boyfriend. He may have said he wanted that. He may have acted irrationally, and said some whack things, and kissed her a couple of times.
He’d sent mixed messages about the rules, and that he needed them, then he didn’t.
All of it was because Blaine was very, very good at waffling.
No wonder it took you a month to break-up with a woman who was cheating on you, he thought.
In some aspects of his life, he was very good at making decisions. Big decisions too, like which breeder to call to get a stud scheduled. Which transport company to use. If he should call the vet for a horse or not. All of those seemed so much easier than the step he was about to take.
But if he could commit to being Tam’s real boyfriend, he could stop thinking so hard about whether heshouldor not. He’d call her when he said he would. He’d ask her out, and they’dgoto dinner and movies and community events.
He’d kiss her without apologizing, and he’d find out if his scarred heart could love again.
“Dear Lord,” he said as a vein of fear struck right next to his heart. “Please help me.” He didn’t want to hurt Tam—or lose her in any way—and he certainly couldn’t take another lash on his heart.
“If this doesn’t work out, I’ve lost another girlfriendandmy best friend,” he whispered. “How will I ever recover from that?”
The only reason he’d survived his break-up with Alex was because of Tam. If he didn’t have her…
He didn’t even want to think about it, and his arms around her instinctively tightened. She moaned in her sleep, and Blaine eased his hold on her.
He couldn’t lose her. He just couldn’t.
4
Tam’s muscles ached, though she worked very hard not to show it. If she so much as hitched her step even the littlest bit, Blaine would be all over her, demanding to know if her head hurt or when the last time she’d taken medication had been.
She cut a glance toward the man, her heartbeat doing the same thing it’s been doing for a couple of months now. Stuttering.
He was far too handsome to be out in the dust and dirt working. A man like him should wear designer suits and strike poses for the best photographers in the world. Blaine didn’t even seem to know how good-looking he was. How kind his heart was. Or how his smile could light Tam’s world for days.
He looked her way, a question in his eyes. Tam quickly looked back toward the truck coming down the road. The huge one-ton vehicle had a horse trailer hitched to it, and it was her turn to greet the owners.
She put a smile on her face—none of her “attitude” in sight. Blaine had told her after the first day of breeding that if she even so much as showed one ounce of that attitude, he wouldn’t let her come back.
Tam adored Bluegrass Ranch, and she couldn’t imagine not being able to come here. Therefore, she’d shelved her attitude and only gave it to him in the evenings, when he tried to come sleep on her couch.
She’d let him for the first two nights, but last night, she’d insisted she was okay. She was. She didn’t need a babysitter, especially one as tall, and as tan, and as tantalizing at Blaine Chappell.
He’d said he’d be her fake boyfriend at the hospital, and Tam had no idea what was going on. He’d refused her at first. Then driven over to say she’d forgotten him at the ranch—and then he’d kissed her.
Then he’d stood her up for dinner. Let a week go by. Said he didn’t need rules—especially ones about kissing. Gotten mad when she’d come to pick him up for their second date-slash-meeting. Let a few more days go by. Then he’d come to help her after her car accident.
She had no idea what was going on beneath that sexy cowboy hat, and she glanced at him as she approached the driver’s door, her smile still stuck in place.
A cowboy got out, and she said, “Welcome to Bluegrass, Mister Harvey. I’m Tamara Lennox, and I’ll be escorting you to the breeding pens today.” She stuck out her hand, and Wayne Harvey shook it.
“Mornin’,” he said pleasantly. “Will I see Spur or Duke inside?”
