She leaned her head forward, touching her forehead against the back of Colt’s arm, and she wasn’t sure how long Brandt stood there staring at them before he said, “Fine, but this isn’t over, Elaine.”
“Oh, yes, it is,” Colt said. “If you evenlookat her again, you’ll have me to answer to.”
Brandt laughed, a high-pitched cackle she’d never heard him make. She couldn’t believe how fully a few drinks had transformed him, but when she dared to lift her head and take a peek at him, she didn’t even recognize the man glaring at her.
Brandt spun and stalked away. A sob fell from Elaine’s throat at the same time Colt turned and wrapped her in his arms.
“It’s okay,” he said, his voice a complete one-eighty from what he’d just used speaking to Brandt. “You’re fine, sweetheart. I got you. You’re all right.”
He held her close against his heartbeat as she sobbed and smoothed his hands through her hair as his voice continued to lower and lower into a whisper. “I got you, sugar,” he murmured. “You’re okay. You’re going to be okay.”
Elaine clung to him, because she wasn’t sure she could stand on her own. She didn’t know where her purse was or how far Brandt had thrown her keys, but none of that mattered, because she believed Colt when he said, “You’re okay. I’m here and I got you, and everything is going to be all right.”
29
“Come on, beautiful,” Colt urged, refusing to let go of Elaine’s hand. That same something that had propelled him across the parking lot to her roared within him still.
He scanned left and right as he took her to his truck. His mind raced, because he already had one woman waiting for him in the vehicle. Yes, he liked Sariah a whole lot, but holding Elaine’s hand—even as distressed as she was and as messed up as this situation was—Colt’s feelings foamed in his blood, telling him that there was something different between how he liked Sariah and how he liked Elaine.
He knew with every step he took that he would have to break up with Sariah and do his darnedest to go out with Elaine. She most likely wouldn’t be ready for a new relationship right away, not after what had just happened, but Colt would rather be alone than with the wrong woman.
She planted her feet and said, “Wait.”
Colt turned back to her, his arm getting stretched out between them. “He threw my keys,” Elaine said. “And my purse.” She looked toward the grassy area that separated the parking lot from the road. “It has my phone in it.”
“I’ll find it, baby doll,” he said. “But I need you to get in the truck first.” She blinked at him, and he took a step closer to her, his other hand easily sliding up her arm, along her shoulder, and coming to rest on her upper back. “Honey, I’ve got my girlfriend in the car, okay? She’ll sit with you while I find your things.”
“What if he hasn’t left yet?” Elaine asked, searching his face. “What if he hurts you?”
Colt’s jaw hardened, and he had no idea how she could be thinking of him in this moment. “We’ll have Sariah call the police,” he said, though Colt certainly didn’t want to involve them if he didn’t have to.
“My brother is a police officer,” Elaine said, a fresh wave of tears flowing out of her eyes. Colt wanted nothing more than to wipe them away and kiss everything better. His heart twisted, and his chest collapsed, shrinking when he realized how stupid he’d been. If he’d asked Elaine out months ago when he’d wanted to, she wouldn’t have even been with Brandt tonight at all.
“Then you can give Sariah his number,” Colt said calmly, making his voice slow and steady. “And she’ll call him. It’s gonna be all right, okay?”
She nodded and got moving again. Sariah, to her eternal credit, got out of the truck and came around the front. “I’ll take her, Colt.”
“I guess he threw her keys and purse,” he said. “I’m gonna go try to find them.”
“It’s got an orange case,” Elaine said through her tears. “My phone, I mean. My purse is…red. I think I brought my red purse tonight.”
Sariah extended her arm, and Elaine flew into her embrace, as if she were her mother. Colt hated seeing her broken like this, because he’d only ever known Elaine Walker to be stalwart andstrong. She’d intimidated him, in fact, and turned his mind to mush.
Except for tonight, thankfully, he thought.
Sariah nodded at him and then continued the last few steps to the back seat with Elaine, where she let her load first and then climbed into the truck behind her. Colt exhaled and turned back toward Elaine’s SUV. Of course it was the nicest one money could buy, as Elaine was classy and sophisticated and the Walkers had money coming out their ears.
He knew he should be concerned about other things, but he really wanted to take Sariah home first, and then go to Elaine’s so he could spend as long as he needed with her, help her get into bed, and hold her until she fell asleep, whispering that no matter what, he’d be there.
Because he wanted to be.
Thatwas the relationship he wanted with Elaine, and his heart ached as he stepped onto the grass, because he’d have to hurt Sariah in order to have Elaine.
Colt switched on the flashlight on his phone and found Elaine’s bag quickly, the bright red leather reflecting the light. Her keys took him another minute, but with everything back together, Colt returned to the parking lot. Elaine’s worry over Brandt coming back streamed through him, and while Baker’s was a busy place, Colt didn’t want to get into a confrontation in front of the whole town.
Thankfully, he didn’t see Brandt Lyman anywhere, and he hurried back to his truck and vaulted into the driver’s seat. “I got them,” he said, passing the bag to Sariah.
Elaine wasn’t fully sobbing anymore, but she still sniffled and her voice hardly sounded like her own as she said, “Thank you. I’m sure I can drive myself home.”
